[AT] OT: non-tractor covid-19 activates
John Hall
jtchall at nc.rr.com
Thu Apr 2 19:13:25 PDT 2020
About .0002' is as close as I care to hold. We often make offsets of
.0002-3. Want some fun, try turning something 1/4" in dia sticking about
1 1/2" out of the chuck---a 10" 3 jaw that is. Slow on work so we pulled
back in a job we had subbed to a screw machine shop. Yeah, those Swiss
machines will kick my butt all day on the tiny stuff.
John Hall
On 4/2/2020 6:03 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> Our CNC lathes are all Swiss-type, Star and Tsugami, from the 1990's.
> They all have magazine bar feeders (now they do; one machine used to
> have a single-stick tube that I retrofitted with an Ebay bar feeder)
> and we run them unattended after-hours, aka "lights-out". Despite
> having worked in unknown other shops and beat who-knows how hard, they
> all can still hold tenths, and the Tsugami has encoders that go out to
> .00001" - not that we could ever work to that level of precision;
> between thermal issues and the ability to make measurements down
> there, that's way beyond what we need or could possibly do. We're
> slowing down but we're still plodding forward, customers are still
> ordering, some. We're keeping the people employed and building
> inventory where it makes sense.
>
> SO
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 9:06 PM John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com
> <mailto:jtchall at nc.rr.com>> wrote:
>
> 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
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