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

[Stephen Offiler]

I was just out on the factory floor and noticed one of the CNC's was about
to hit a bar change, and figured I'd try to capture a video of the whole
thing.  It starts with a quick overview of the CNC and the bar feeder
sitting at idle.  Then it shows the part being made, which is the handle of
our double-ended machinist scribe.  Then I fire it up to make the last
possible part before the bar is effectively consumed, then we see a part
being made, although it is kind of hard to see due to the coolant splash.
Then it does the bar change, consisting of pulling back the "remnant" (the
end of the bar that's now too short to make another part) while dropping a
new 12' bar, engaging it, and feeding it into the machine to continue
automatic operation.

https://youtu.be/uy57CqHdicg


SO


On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 10:27 AM Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com> wrote:

> Wow, Cecil, that's quite an equipment list!  Some big heavy stuff on that
> list!  The only manual machining I do is making little tools, jigs &
> fixtures, and "my" shop here at work has just one (very nice) Hardinge
> HLV-H "Super Precision" lathe, a 2J-head Bridgeport, a Kent 6x18 grinder,
> and a DoAll bandsaw.  The magic is always in the accessories; the 5C
> collets and the 4-jaw chuck for the Hardinge, the R8 collets for the mill,
> the various precision vises and other workholding for mill & grinder,
> indexing heads, and a whole compliment of cutters, drills, taps, wheels,
> etc etc.
>
> Oh and I do owe you a response on the ESAB plasma cutter.  Unfortunately,
> it's a pass.  Sorry.  We have this one job we're developing now that
> involves making rather precise cuts, but we're already down that road with
> a chop-saw that's working quite well.  We just do basically zero with sheet
> material most suited for plasma.
>
> SO
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 9:54 AM Cecil Bearden <crbearden at copper.net> wrote:
>
>> I planned to open a machine shop when I retired..  However, here in OK
>> there is not much demand and the only jobs I had were making some
>> decorating crap for some traveling vendors.  The biggest job was wire
>> forming for some Potpourri Pie holders.  I had to build a jig to bend
>> the handles with an air cylinder and rack and pinion. Then I had to roll
>> a ring and weld it together with m spot welder then spot weld the rings
>> to the handles  The handles were also the feet to hold it above the
>> stove burner.  I lost the pics of it.  I had a 20KW spot welder and had
>> traded for a 10hp Variable frequency driver and motor from a technical
>> school.  I dropped the amperage with the variable frequency drive to
>> keep from burning the wires up.  The wires were about 3/16 dia.
>> It was fun for a while, then I felt like I was wasting my talents on
>> crap...  Machine shops were  closing down here to send jobs offshore.
>> So, I have a building with a 36x120 lathe, a 16x84 lathe, a 9x40 lathe,
>> a Cincinnati Mill with a 16x72 table and universal head,  2ea Kearney
>> Trecker mills with universal heads, another later model Cincinnati
>> overarm mill with a 16 x 72 table, A Bridgeport, a couple of knee mills
>> one Japanese, the other old old US made.  I did one job with the newer
>> Cincinnati overarm making T-nuts for a big holding table.  Now they just
>> sit in case I need to make a part for my old junk.  Then I was going to
>> build industrial engines, and bought the boring bars, head work
>> equipment and a big big crank grinder.  Never got the crank grinder set
>> up.  It is still on a trailer and a stray tornado took out the building
>> it was stored under.
>> Cecil
>>
>> On 4/3/2020 7:01 AM, Mark Johnson wrote:
>> > Hey - no problem with the CNC talk, at least not from me. I've been a
>> > software guy all my life but I find machining absolutely fascinating -
>> > wish I had learned more about it! I'm learning now...
>> >
>> > Mark J
>> >
>> > Columbia, MO
>> >
>> > On 4/3/2020 5:38 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
>> >> Hi John -
>> >>
>> >> Hope the list will tolerate some CNC banter.  We have 1 job that we
>> >> hold close, using .0001" offsets; all the rest it would be more like
>> >> .0005" or more.  Swiss excels in small precise stuff and also long
>> >> slender stuff, and we are heavy on the latter. Don't need all that
>> >> precision, but it's handy to have:  I can give the guys setup sheets
>> >> with .XXX" dimensions and no tolerance, and they can hit the numbers
>> >> dead-on quite easily. Keeps me from having to even think about
>> >> tolerances which is quite a luxury for an engineer.
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