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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.<br>
<br>
John Hall<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/2/2020 6:03 AM, Stephen Offiler
wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CAP6upcgiNGfcpeb+7iUSqSEmibRpy6bUyW4W8z3Mes6v5TNO5w@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SO</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 9:06 PM
John Hall <<a href="mailto:jtchall@nc.rr.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">jtchall@nc.rr.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div> 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........<br>
<br>
John Hall<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 4/1/2020 7:56 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">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: <a href="https://www.motionpro.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.motionpro.com</a>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SO</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Mar 31, 2020
at 8:53 PM Spencer Yost <<a
href="mailto:spencer@rdfarms.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">spencer@rdfarms.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px
0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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. :-)<br>
<br>
Spencer<br>
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