[AT] OT: non-tractor covid-19 activates

[John Hall]

My boss has never bought hardly any used equipment in my 30 years--and 
it was all manual machines (2 horizontals, radial drill, long bed TOS, 3 
grinders and some small stuff from an acquaintance that was retiring). 
All 3 of our CNC lathes are Mori's, great machines. We have never pushed 
them hard like a lot of shops, their accuracy is great. I do have one 
that couldn't repeat the last job we ran on it, so it will need some 
attention from the dealer. Of course as slow as things are now........

John Hall


On 4/1/2020 7:56 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> Not surprised about the compression, Spencer.  Japanese bikes are 
> built more or less like Toyotas and Hondas (go figure)... they just 
> last and last.  I see you're tooling up, and wanted to mention THE 
> go-to source for motorcycle-specific special service tools, Motion 
> Pro: https://www.motionpro.com
>
> So, speaking of Japanese.... at work, one of the many things I do is 
> manage and grow our CNC capabilities.  We are small, funds are tight, 
> and we aren't a job-shop so I can't just finance a sweet new piece of 
> equipment and pay for it by selling parts to others.  We build parts 
> for our own internal needs, so I pick and choose parts we currently 
> purchase from others, figure out what we can save doing it inhouse, 
> and use the projected savings to fund the acquisition of used CNC 
> equipment.  Once I locate a suitable machine and coordinate shipping 
> and rigging, it lands on the factory floor, I next get it all set up, 
> leveled, aligned, and powered, then on to figuring out what's wrong.  
> Bear in mind we're talking say $15,000 for a machine that was $200K 
> new in 1997, so they have some miles on them.  I do all the necessary 
> refurbish, largely myself, but I also know a great independent CNC 
> repair tech for stuff that is beyond me.  Then I do all the 
> programming, tooling, debug, and finally write detailed "cookbook" 
> setup instructions so I can hand-off to the shop floor guys for daily 
> operation.  Sorry, I'm rambling a bit... my main point was that these 
> CNC machines are Japanese, and ~25 years later, they will still 
> happily run 10,000rpm on the main spindle, and still hold tolerances 
> in the +/-0.0001" range.  I like older Japanese stuff.  Back to your 
> Kawasaki, we've got two vintage bikes:  my wife has a '76 Honda CB-200 
> and I've got a '75 Yamaha DT-175.
>
> SO
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 8:53 PM Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com 
> <mailto:spencer at rdfarms.com>> wrote:
>
>     So I mentioned a little while back that I was doing a valve lash
>     adjustment on my 1989 Kawasaki 454LTD. It is been awfully hard to
>     start, and valve adjustment is a common culprit. I’m glad I did it
>     because the adjustments were definitely out though I could tell
>     they were not so far out to affect starting to a degree its been
>     happening.  So I started looking for other explanations.  I seem
>     to have spark and had the smell the fuel on spark plugs. So I
>     didn’t think it was fuel or spark. I then did a compression test: 
>     For a 30-year-old bike it’s got startlingly nice compression. 135
>     both sides cold with no oil. But I also noticed that it took 15-20
>     seconds of starter time to actually get the four or  five
>     compression strokes you need to get a max reading.  Hmmm.   That’s
>     suspicious.
>
>     So while the alternator crankshaft “peep-hole” cover was off so I
>     could rotate the crankshaft for the valve adjustment, I took a
>     look see at how fast the starter was spinning the engine.  The
>     engine wasn’t spinning at all except about every 5-10 seconds it
>     would catch and turn over once.  Clearly the starter clutch was
>     slipping.   This would explain why I had better luck roll starting
>     it than using the starter. But the engine is big enough and I’m
>     small enough that I need a pretty big hill to roll start it and
>     that just isn’t viable where I live or wherever I might stop so I
>     have to fix it to be in “riding” condition.
>
>     So I took this opportunity to order a few things on eBay like
>     flywheel puller and a fuel petcock that this bike desperately
>     needs. They should be coming in a few days.  My guess when I get
>     it disassembled is to find weak springs in the clutch.
>
>     The goal is to have this bike starting and running smooth before
>     the covid-19 zombie comes to get me so I can out-run it. :-)
>
>     Spencer
>     _______________________________________________
>     AT mailing list
>     AT at lists.antique-tractor.com <mailto:AT at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>     http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/pipermail/at-antique-tractor.com/attachments/20200401/3f474f50/attachment.htm>