Pat: I'm green with envy....and not in the way you would think. Wish I had friends that were close enough and got together to just hang out on occasion.
I have been blessed with a lot of friends. Good friends in a few circles. Heck I still see my old High/College buds a few times a year. We are at that age where the kids are gone and there is more free time.
Saturday morning 6 am the Coffee is going on and the guys will file in one by one getting their mental game ready for the All Star Family Dysfunctional Christmas weekend to begin. It is a sanity check for most of us...
I love the tower crane model! There are some companies that make some awesome construction models.
Got that from Mom and Dad's house when they down sized and moved into assisted living. They could never afford something like that when I was a kid. But this was something they gave the Grandkids and they had it broken in about 10 minutes. I dreamed of things like this when I was a kid. I use to build tower cranes from my erector sets.
I can remember finding a quarter in 1973-74 when the Maplewood Mall opened. I was standing in the hobby store trying to decide which color $0.19 bottle of paint I should buy...Black, Red or Orange??? Mom could afford another quarter at the time.
The Nephews and Nieces have no idea the value of a good toy...I certainly did and have most of them yet today.
TVs are a perfect place to have a Roku and stream Youtube (bigger screen than a PC) or Pandora with a sound bar.
Nutts...bare with me here...what is Roku?...LOL...I hardly watch TV...a little youtube on Sunday mornings when I am up before the sun. I might watch more if I put a screen in the cab of the Tractor...or I could stream TV in the machine Shop.
What do the operating costs look like on a water jet like yours? Electric, grit, planned maintenance, etc.
In my head, I had future plans for a CNC Plasma/Router table for my shop, but now you have me looking at water. Like you, I have grown accustomed to laser qualities and think I may be disappointed by a plasma.
Thanks,
Matt
You know Matt I would be lying if I gave it any real thought at this point.
The Garnet is 0.31/ lb and at 52K PSI I am burning 14 oz per minute.
Water is about a gallon a minute. I am on a well so not quite sure what the dollars per hour would be.
Electrical...well that is a mess. I have 400 amp 480 3 phase commercial source coming in the building on a residential property. Thus the billing seems to be based on an average estimate of what a 8-24 hour a day commercial business would be charged on a monthly rate. So we get a big bill and then we go without out a bill for up to 3 months when they do a correction to an actual reading.
Now since I am using this machine 99.9% for my own stuff I don't look at an ROI like I would when we make a Capital Investment at work...I would end up without a shop if I did that.
So if I do outside work my rate is $150 per hour for design and programming and $125 per hour on the Jet or Welding/Brake Work/ whatever. Yep it is high but I value my time at my shop and if you want some of it you are gong to have to pay...unless I see a challenge and an opportunity to learn something. Or you are just flat out in need...plenty of people have helped me over the years and I am returning the favor.
The Omax software does have a quoting module in it. I have the rate set at $125 per hour and the numbers are high per part based on my Laser experience.
The module allows you only to enter a dollar per hour rate. No Garnet cost, Electricity or water. If I was running this in the business I would like to see those as rates separately so we can change to see where we can pick up savings by reclaiming/recycling, machine travel time (tool path reduction) and yield.
I know my shop uses less electricity than the house...even running all this equipment.
Not sure if that helps???
Tonight was the first night in a while I had some time to play. I cut some Sikorsky H5 Gear Box parts for a friends son who is building a Radio Controlled Helicopter. This is a freebee...I don't mind doing a broke recent College Grad a favor. He is working for Bell Helicopter in TX as a Test Pilot and Design Engineer. I guess they don't have too many young applicants that have been flying Helicopters since they were 5 like him...
I've known his Dad for 30 years. Great guy, a welding specialist designing Robotic Welders since 1985. He took me up in his Copter about 18 months ago...what a blast.
Heading into the weekend I am not sure what the plan is...think I will work on the Chevelle project and clean up the Machine Shop. Too many chips laying around the mill from the AR Mounting Project.
The Copter:
Arial View of the "farm" as I call it from 1800 feet:
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That's a thought. I have an older Snap-on socket and it's not 3/8" drive nor is it 1/2" drive. I guess I need to break out the calipers and see if it measures a .3125, keep us posted on what you learn. I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow.
