Burns Projects that will never be finished

[trytochaseme]

Was a hectic week at the shop last week. We had to shuffle machines around so we could have 2 chunks cut out. We needed thicker pads for these nicer machines. They are all poured now so waiting for it to cure so we can move machines back.



On the Okuma with a robot I have been knocking out the last few issues that would keep it from running 24/7. One of which was the airline on the Touch setter. As talked about in a previous post it will check tools every so often for breakage. There is an airline made up of loc-line that would go off during a touchsetter cycle to blow chips off the touchsetter. For somereason the loc-line would fly off every time so I would have issues with chips throwing it off and triggering a broken tool alarm even when it wasnt. So I made this fixed line that has worked perfectly. A week in and not a single false alarm now.



Another issue that would pop up would be an error for the ATC door. There is a prox sensor for the tool changer door inside the tool changer area. It would get some chips on it that would give an alarm. So I tapped in off the washdown coolant and added a line that sprays off the prox.



Some of you may remember me mentioning a 300 win mag AR10 previously. I ended up removing all mention of it. We ended up trying to get a patent for it and the patent was submitted last week so I am free to talk about it now! The design is 95% finalized. I am working on tweaking it a bit and getting machines ready for production. I have parts coming so in 3 months these should be for sale!



The "gravel" bike has been a riot. Weather has been perfect here



working on a billet derailleur cage for it and the enduro bike



last but not least here are some pics of the new shin dig. Still waiting on family to work out some stuff but getting closer. Hoping we can move into it this summer. Cant wait to get cracking on building the garage out. Already playing around with layouts in cad lol The house isnt anything too exciting but I am really just in for the land and the garage.

 

[trytochaseme]

Check out what got dropped off last week



Its currently getting installed, it has a lot of options so wont be up for another 2 weeks most likely. I will make another post with more info.

I also recently got a "promotion". I am now Head of Manufacturing and in charge of it all. We had another guy who handled the lathes but they let him go. My lathe experience is very slim but I was able to reprogram our barrels. The old cycle time was 10 minutes 15 seconds for a 223 Wylde 16" Chromoly Barrel. The current run time is now 3 minutes 27 seconds and the finish is so much better. Have been able to acheive the same results with literally everything single on of our barrels. The 24" barrels when from 24 minutes to 8 minutes lol.

I thought I would share another simple code review. I was pretty stoked with this simple macro. On our Okuma horizontal I have the operators run a warm up program first thing in the morning. Now the issue with this is the last tool in the program is a chip fan, and chip fans can only spin so fast before they explode. The issue is if the operator wouldnt do a tool change the fan would expode during the warm up program. The other issue is there is usually a tool preloaded they would have to clear, it also could be on pallet 1 or 2 and to start the program from the beginning it would need to be on pallet 1 or it would crash. All this isnt really that hard to sort out but putting it in the operators hands usually doesn't end well or causes them to need my help every morning.

So I put together a warm up cycle that is at the beginning of the main program so that way the operator would not need to switch around between the warm up and the main program. It would also check what tool is in the spindle and what pallet is currently loaded and could figure out where to start from there.




So first thing up on line 7 its checking if there is a tool preloaded. What that means is in the program if Tool 1 is being used and Tool 2 is going to be next. It will have Tool 2 preloaded. T2 will be in the tool change position so that way when it goes to make the tool change you do not have to wait for the tool changer to cycle around to the right tool. The issue with having a tool preloaded is if I wanted to manually call up T5 and T2 is preloaded it would alarm out unless I cleared the preload T2.

So line 7 is seeing if there is a tool preloaded. IF there is it will run N4 which is on line 34. M64 is the code to clear the preload tool.
If i just put a m64 in there in there and no tool was preloaded it would alarm out. hence this little IF statement

Back up to line 10 now it checks to see what pallet is currently loaded. It pallet 2 is currently in the machine it means the operator is going to be loaded Pallet 1 first. So if Pallet 2 is in the machine it will Preload T4 as that is the first tool used on that pallet. Likewise is Pallet 1 is in the machine it will be doing Pallet 2 first so it will preload T1 as that is the first tool used on pallet 2.

Then in lines 19 thru 30 it runs the warm up cycle that Okuma recommends to get the spindle ready to go. G4 F[60x10] is telling it to dwell for 10 minutes. G4 changes the feed rate to a time. It goes by seconds so [60x10] is just telling it 10 minutes. I could also have just put 600, idk why i made it more complicated.

Line 31 has us jump to N10 on line 39. Here it is again checking what pallet is in the machine. If Pallet 2 is in the machine it again means we will be machining pallet 1 first so it will continue on with the beginning of the program. But if Pallet 1 is in the machine and Pallet 2 is going to be running first then It will skip to N122 which is the where the machining of Pallet 2 begins.

Line 41 is M60 which is telling it to rotate the pallets now. It will only do this once the operator has loaded the pallet in the loading station and has hit the button telling it that the pallet is ready to go. If it reaches this part of the program it will just wait for the button to be hit and then it will continue on its way.

Line 43 is again now checking what pallet is loaded. This time though it is making sure Pallet 1 is in the machine, if it is not it will then alarm out so as to not crash.

Then we continue on with the program start with N101. Once it has ran though both pallets it will start back at N101 again and skip over the whole warm up cycle.

The operators will load the pallets before they leave so it will continue running once they are gone. When they come in the next morning they hit the RESET button to stop the program. Then they hit CYCLE START and it will start off with the warm up cycle again.

Nice and simple and reduces almost all room for error.

 

[trytochaseme]

Been getting out on the bike a lot lately. Although I have been riding for over 10 years now I was never very into riding very far. I usually only would do 6 or 7 miles rides or I would just go to the bike park for the jumps. Maybe its just me getting older but this year I have been trying to build up endurance and strength. Ive also somehow gotten into road riding over the last little bit which is ironic as I have made fun of roadies for years .

I have been slowly transitioning my State Allroad back from an offroad build to a road bike. I love this bike setup for offroad so I plan on picking up a new frame to swap the road parts over too but for now its staying in road mode. I got a 50 mile ride in this weekend which is by far the longest I have ever done. Ended up hitting 100 miles over this past week which felt great.



Ignore how terrible the bar tape is, I am waiting for my new bars to come in to rewrap. Have some more parts coming in for this and am on the lookout for a new frame.

On the MTB side of things I swapped some new forks over to my Druid. Now I am probably the only person who would put dual crowns on a 130mm bike but so far I have no regrets lol. Although it is only 130mm out bike the Druid punches so far over its weight. It also isnt a light bike so adding a little more isnt a big deal. I was already running 160mm forks on it which most do on the Druids so I modified the air spring on the Boxxers so that they are only 160mm travel as well. There will be a fair bit of custom parts made for the Boxxers once I have a few more rides on them and decide if I am fully going to keep them.



I also have started a new build a little bit ago. This is my Ultra weight weenie downcountry build. The goal is to build this as light as possible but still keep it to where I can thrash it around and not worry, that means proper suspension and brakes still. I have a whole build list planned on that should put me right around 22lbs but its not friendly on my wallet. So it will be a slow build as I collect parts, especially since I started buying road bike parts now.

 

[jbmatth]

I used to be really big into road riding, mostly due to the triathlons I was doing at the time. There is nothing like the agony of doing a century with the last 50 miles home being a headwind. We don't have many great shoulders near me and I was pretty nervous about distracted drivers so I hung it up a few years ago.

JB

 

[trytochaseme]

I used to be really big into road riding, mostly due to the triathlons I was doing at the time. There is nothing like the agony of doing a century with the last 50 miles home being a headwind. We don't have many great shoulders near me and I was pretty nervous about distracted drivers so I hung it up a few years ago.

JB

I don't blame you there at all. Thankfully we have a pretty solid bike path network over here. Where I am at I also have plenty of back roads that don't have much traffic.

 

[trytochaseme]

I have been putting in quite a bit of road miles and decided I need to just build up a dedicated road bike so that my state allroad can go back to the frankebike it once was.

I looked at quite a few name brand frames that were used, the price of brand new road bike frames blows my mind. they make mtb frames look cheap. In the end I ended up ordering a chinese frame. I went with an Elves Falath Evo. I was gonna do a lightweight build but this aero frame just looks amazing in my oppinion. For $1200 for frame, fork, and handle bars its hard to beat. Plus it even has a few year warranty. This company seems to have been good customer service so I feel better about this then just a frame off aliexpress. A few reviews have popped up of this frame and they have been very positive so I am super excited. It was about an 8 week eta from order date so it should show up sometime first half of september. I have a family trip up to traverse city in September so I am hoping it shows up before then so I can bring it with me.

Here is the frameset



I might end up repainting it later but I thought I would do a stealthy build.

I have some tan wall tires coming so It should look pretty close to this one



I have picked up a few other parts for it so I have everything to put it together when the frame arrives.

One of which was a set of Cane Creek EEwings w/ power meter. For those who are bike nerds they are a titanium crankset that are handwelded here in the states. Super trick and look sweet.

Also picked up a good deal on these Sram Red shifters that had a little rash on them



Pretty stoked to see the progress since I started doing road riding as training. A month ago I did my first ever 30 mile ride and this weekend I just did a 100k ride. It has pushed my mtb riding a ton, I just beat all my PRs on the trail next to my house by over 20%. Ive been riding this trail for 10 years and that was the biggest jump in times Ive ever had.

As far as the mtb side goes I have made a few changes there as well.

I decided to put my druid up for sale. Now it is an amazing bike, I really love it. The issue though is it is only 130mm out back. It does not ride like a 130mm bike, it feels like it has way more travel which is awesome, but it doesnt pedal that well. Now that is not really something I care too much about but I also have a 160mm enduro bike and the sniper 120mm XC bike. So the druid sits in the middle in a weird spot. I realized I rather get some money back from that back since we are buying a house and just finishing the sniper.

So thats what I did, should have the sniper up for first ride next week and the druid is up for sale on pinkbike.



As it sits its about 27lbs, I have new tires and brakes on the way and those will bring it to under 25lbs. I have a few parts I want to swap out later on but I should be able to get it down to close to 23lbs well still keeping it burly enough I am not afraid it is all just going to snap on me.

 

[trytochaseme]

New lathe is pretty much ready to rock n roll

I need to get a few more tools for it and then find the time to program it but really excited to get this things rolling.



Also got some new tires on the Sniper, dropped 2 lbs of rotating weight with them. Total weight is now 27lbs according to my cheap scale, Id like to get that down more but I am having a ton of fun on it so I can't complain. Been really training this year to actual push myself. The loop right next to my house at the beginning of the year It took me 44 min to complete. Yesterday I did a loop in 29 min 41 seconds which put me at 15th fastest time overall this year and 41st fastest all time on strava. Yea I am basically a full blown strava guy now . haha not going for a KOM here I am still 4 minutes from that but I am having a ton of fun pushing myself and trying to set new PR's.

Some other work projects y'all may be interested in....




The Long Action AR10 is getting closer. Tweaking some design things to function as best as possible. I will keep y'all posted on here but production is just around the corner.


This new printer has been amazing. Being able to rapid prototype so much faster.




Here is the fixturing for the long action as well. This will be my fixture for the production to make the lower receivers and the magazines together in one machine. The far end will be mounted on the 4th axis and then I made my own end support with a bearing instead of using a tail stock like we do on the other machines.




Here is how it will look once finished

 

[trytochaseme]

My tool box use to be so organized and neat, its been a few years since I first foamed it all out. Since then my scope of work has changed a lot and my tool box has thus changed a lot as well. It has become a complete mess and it drives me crazy, plus I let my guys use my tools so others are in and out of my box pretty often as well. Thanks to the the member @slodat on here I got the inspiration to make organizers. I was going to order a ton more schaller bins but the 3d printing solution is so much better.

Yesterday morning I decided I would pick one drawer and work my way through my boxes. Starting off with this terrible drawer.



A few minutes on F360 and let the X1C go to town



Its not quite done yet but its oh so much better. I will prob use double sided tape to keep the ones in place in this drawer but moving forward I might just get some magnets and put magnets on the bottom of them to keep them from moving.



We are getting closer to closing on the new house/garage. I think I will end up picking up a X1C for home use so I can just make organizers for the entire garage. I refuse for it to become a mess there.

I will probably redo all my drawers with schaller bins and then I can color code and adjust the sizing and what not so it works even better for me

 

[trytochaseme]

Some more 3d printing organizers. Need to stock up on more filament at the current rate I am moving thru this stuff.
Trying to make these quick and easy but made a few mistakes where I didn't quite give myself enough room so its too tight or the object just doesnt fit but getting better as I go lol. This drawer is about half way done now.




It was done out in foam before



I like the bright blue for the easy of seeing stuff. Need to order some more for other drawers.

Also just picked up this fatbike frame for pretty cheap. Planning on building it out for this winter. Just a cheap chinese carbon frame, nothing special.

 

[trytochaseme]

The chinese road frame arrived monday!

The quality on this is really really good. I am super impressed with it.





Waiting on a couple small parts but should have it wrapped up for its maiden voyage friday.

I 3d printed a new peice so that the front mount will fit my quadlock



I cant get over how amazing this bike looks in my oppinion. So excited to ride it(never thought Id be this happy about a road bike lol). Also pretty shocked I only have about $3k into this bike. Everything but the frame I got great deals on used. The cranks alone brand new are $1400 and I picked them up for only $500.


The state all road will go full on gravel mode. I picked up a set of wheels for it last week. Going to swap to a leaf spring seat post for a little comfort and then a one peice bar and stem. Only parts I need to actually get it together is brake calipers. I took the ones off it for the elves. I will get a set most likely of Hope RX4+ calipers but not sure if I want those on the state or the elves yet.

 

[trytochaseme]

almost 100 miles in on the new steed



I am extremely happy with it!

Took it on a 40 mile ride last night that was about 50% gravel. Some of it quite rough and the bike didn't sweat. The tire choice was poor but I have the room to fit some better gravel tires.



Beautiful time of the year to get out and ride with the leaves changing color.

This bike handles the gravel no prob I am not quite sure if I will end up riding the allroad much. I think I am going to put some knobby tires on it and plan on using it more for single track riding or taking back roads and connecting up to single track. Otherwise I would probably end up choosing the Elves instead when heading out for a ride.

Being that the sun is setting earlier now I picked up a cheap light and 3D printed an adapter to mount it on the outfront mount. I first made one that was just flat but the mount is angled up slightly so then the light was pointing up a bit. It worked no prob for me last night but I printed a new one this morning that is at a 5 degree angle so its pointed slightly down now. Gives me little better illumination on the road and isnt pointing straight up into the eyes of other people.

 

[trytochaseme]

We have not done a full public reveal yet but the info has been sent to distributors about the Long Action AR10. First order already has come in even. Full reveal will be within next week or so but so excited to have these hitting the market. Been a long process of getting them going. 300 win mag is the launch caliber but tonight I made magazines for 7mm, 6.5 PRC, and 30-06. The barrels are done and assembled on uppers so now we will start some testing. With certain ammo we were getting sub .5" groups at 100 yards in 300wm. Most rounds you could key hole. Right now I am running some 270 win barrels so those will be on the list along with 6mm creedmoor.



These are the 5 colors they will be availble in.
Sniper Grey
Black
Woodlands Camo
Burnt Bronze
OD Green

I got serial #000001 and am having the guys do it in a one off camo for me which I am super stoked on.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Those look amazing! Congratulations, I've been watching as you've progressed with them.

 

[bugnut]

Those are very nice. Just wondering are they all milspec? Thanks

 

[jbmatth]

Oh pretty, I'm very interested in getting a Burnt Bronze in 30-06, I'd like to know how I should go about ordering one if you have a few minutes to PM me.

JB

 

[trytochaseme]

Those look amazing! Congratulations, I've been watching as you've progressed with them.

Thankyou!

Those are very nice. Just wondering are they all milspec? Thanks

The design has quite a bit of custom stuff. The lower and upper keep the exact same overall size as a normal AR10 but they are not compatible with standard Milspec AR10 upper/lowers. The charging handle and BCG are also custom. That said everything else is the same as AR10. So you can swap out the lower parts to a different trigger, swap out to an ambi safety or whatever else you might want. The stock is just an A2 fixed stock so you can swap that out, it comes with a Hogue one that is very nice.

Oh pretty, I'm very interested in getting a Burnt Bronze in 30-06, I'd like to know how I should go about ordering one if you have a few minutes to PM me.

JB

Once the 30-06 is done, tested and for sale I will contact you! They will be available on our website too - glfallc.com
MSRP on these is $1170, we are shipping out the first batch to distributors this week. Once we have filled all the other pre orders we will put them up on our website. For now it is just 300 winmag, 7mm rem mag is currently being tested and tuned but should be up for sale in a few weeks as well.


We have a big industry show in a couple weeks so 3d printing these stands for the displays for the GL-10 Long Actions.




Another project we are working on is 1911/2011s. Ive been working on the slide design and we knocked these out this week.

 

[jbmatth]

Excellent work, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. I presume your array of color options will be offered as well.

JB

 

[trytochaseme]

Excellent work, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. I presume your array of color options will be offered as well.

JB

yes sir!

 

[trytochaseme]

so we have had some more issues with the new house, without going into it basically one family member is causing a lot of drama. Looks like the earliest we will be able to move forward at all is March. We moved into my inlaws basement 2 months ago, its a fully finished apartment so its not bad at all. Only downside is I still don't have a garage or workspace at all. In the basement they do have a utility room that has a work bench. Its basically just storage, it was super messy with no clear space. Ive been cleaning it up and turning it into my bike room. Its not a lot of space but Id being lying if I said I was so excited to have a bike room .



I have the room to store 2 bikes hanging right now, might get up another hook or 2 but I don't plan on storing all my bikes in here anyways. I plan on bringing in my husky tool box to get all my tools out of the packout and clear up the workbench space. Going to clear out what they have on the pegboard and take advantage of that too.

I got my little air compressor here which works very well for bike tires. It is also crazy quiet, like it doesnt even make sense haha



I picked up this cheap digital inflator from amazon and its super handy. You can tell its cheap though, will probably buy a nicer one at somepoint. Came with an adapter for presta valves too which is great.



As far as bikes go I knocked out my first century 2 weeks ago!



Had a few mechanical issues along the way but overall was a ton of fun. Super stoked with it, did 112 miles in 6.5 hours. My goal is to do the 100 mile barry roubaix pyscho killer in the spring. Going to try to keep training all winter for it.



Swapped on some gravel tires to the evo and also put on a Hope RX4+ front caliper for a little more braking power.



Trying out bigger rear cassette. Was running a 10-36 and the new one is 10-44



Also picked up a 48t Oval chainring. Seems really smooth, first mile was a little weird but after that couldn't even notice it anymore.



This guy is almost back together too, Just need brakes and its ready to ride but I have a few more parts I will eventually swap out too.

 

[jbmatth]

Congrats on the century ride, that is a heck of an accomplishment, its been many years since my last one. I remember they were just starting to come out with oval chainrings when I was getting out of riding, it seemed like a very cool idea but never bit the bullet and got one.

JB

 

[trytochaseme]

Congrats on the century ride, that is a heck of an accomplishment, its been many years since my last one. I remember they were just starting to come out with oval chainrings when I was getting out of riding, it seemed like a very cool idea but never bit the bullet and got one.

JB

Thanks! I never thought I'd be doing centurys but here we are and I am having a blast! I only have one ride in on the oval ring so far but after that one ride I came away really happy with it. More time on it and ill post what I think.

This little section of pegboard was already up so I threw some tools up on it. I need to print some hangers for it to better organize and fit more tools up. Would also like to get some more pegboard up on the wall.

I did bring my 3d printer over and 1 of my tool boxes. I did end up ordering a Bambu Lab P1S as I have alot of organizer and stuff I want to print. The X1C at the shop is running 24/7 now so no time to print my own stuff there. We actually just ordered another X1C for the shop so I have an X1C coming in tomorrow and my P1S should be here the day after!



Ive got a lot of schaller bins I purchased awhile ago, so I filled up this cabinet with them. They are better then nothing but as I get all my parts and hardware put in the box I will end up printing my own most likely. I have another identical husky box I am going to bring over and but next to this one. I have alot of parts in boxes with no organization I am so excited to finally clean up and have in order.



Just one drawer started to get a few parts put in.

Having some space to work on bikes again has ignited the desire to make some tools again. First up is this wheel truing stand. Send out the arms and uprights to get laser cut out and the hardware is ordered. Only need to machine a few parts for it.



I also ended up trading my forbidden druid for this Commencal Meta AM. The druid was an awesome bike but at only 130mm travel it didn't make sense for it as a second bike when I have the sniper with 120mm travel. Although those 2 bikes rode very different for a second bike id rather more travel. I have had it up for sale for awhile but basically no interest. I had it listed for $500 less then what I paid just months ago too. Ended up having a local guy ask if I wanted to trade frames so I figured why not. Time for another downduro build!

 

[trytochaseme]

we have also been turning this trailer into a mobile show room. They just took it out on the road this week for its maiden voyage

 

[Firstram]

we have also been turning this trailer into a mobile show room. They just took it out on the road this week for its maiden voyage

How does that trailer ride with so little weight in there?

 

[Michigan Mike]

I live just south of you in the Zoo. Where is this trailer making appearances?

 

[trytochaseme]

How does that trailer ride with so little weight in there?

Good Question, I will ask them when they get back from the maiden voyage!

I live just south of you in the Zoo. Where is this trailer making appearances?

Right now its heading out to the other side of the country but I will let you know if its going to be close to Kzoo!

 

[trytochaseme]

Started getting some hardware stocked and organized. Just ordered a basic kit to start. The qty looks a lot less now that its in the bins so I am going to order a couple more of the same set. M3-M6 covers probably 90% of what I need for bikes. I am going to add in M8 and a little bit of M10 but do not plan on stocking any imperial hardware.



The second X1C also just showed up, My personal P1S is suppose to come tomorrow.



And because I love how this thing looks here is a pic from a ride last night. Trying out a more aggressive 40mm front tire. I wanted a little more traction cornering on gravel roads.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks for the reply on trailer location. Are any of the local gun shops going to have examples of your work?

 

[trytochaseme]

Thanks for the reply on trailer location. Are any of the local gun shops going to have examples of your work?

A lot of shops around michigan do carry our rifles. I am not sure if any in Kalamazoo do but I know that Shanz Supply in Otsego and Thin Line Firearms in Lawton both do. Those are kinda close by.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks I am about halfway between those two shops. I will have to check them out.

 

[trytochaseme]

The P1S showed up friday and Its been running non stop since!

Starting with my brake drawer making organizers



I cant describe how happy this makes me haha. I can not wait till the entire tool box is like this. Then I need to buy another toolbox so I can keep going


The purple people eater is all back together too





Also started building up the new Commencal Meta AM 29 frame. Really excited for this bike. Looks like Ill be in tennesee for work in january so want to bring this along and hit a bike park well I am down there.

 

[trytochaseme]

Brake drawer is almost complete!

 

[trytochaseme]

Brake Drawer is done! well for now atleast. I know I will make changes but I think that is the sweet part about 3d printing these vs foam is that I can redo just one section when I need to change it up. I want to get spare brake pads in for all my bikes so and keep the backups in this drawer. I am sure I will find other parts/tools i want to add at somepoint. I also want to dye all the yellow plastic for my mineral oil bleed kit to a different color so that way I can easily tell the 2 kits apart.



Now onto the Drivetrain drawer. This one is going to have most of the spare parts for drivetrain related things and then some tools as well.



Last week I was at NASGW which is a show for firearm distributors. We showed off the new long action and people were really excited about out it which is pretty sweet. We also had a 1911 we showed to a few of our distributors to get their input on it. They are really excited for the 1911 as well. Here is one finished up in a Black Cherry Cerakote. Still tweaking things and making changes but this should be close to final minus the grips.



We want to do a 2011 but the parts we can get from one supplier we cant get till april. I said we can't wait that long so I decided to start on one myself. Few hours yesterday and got this frame about 90% done!



I only did the frame, the slide and grip are just for mockup and not what would actually be used. Ive got some visual tweaks and stuff to make and I think this thing will be killer. The goal is sub $1k, I think we will offer a metal and plastic grip options but do not hold me to that yet.

 

[trytochaseme]

Getting more organizers printed



Also working on getting all my bikes up and operational. The smuggler 4x build is now on 27.5 wheels. This will bring it a little lower to the ground and should be a little more playful. Going to take it over to a buddys house this weekend who has a awesome backyard bike park. If it is fun and doesnt feel weird to ride then I am going to pick up an Ohlins fork for it and lower it too 100mm travel. I also will strip the bike back down and have it cerakoted. Waiting on a longer chain to show up and need to swap out the tires too.



The commencal is getting pretty close to ride also. Was hoping to also bring it over to a buddys but I ordered the wrong bottom bracket so now I am not sure. Need a bottom bracket, chain, brakes and a couple other small parts for it.

 

[trytochaseme]

Our MB4000 has had a problem with chip build up. This problem has caused bigger problems. The first thing that happened was that one half of the door for the pallet changer got bent. This first happened a few months ago and I could not figure out what caused it. It wasnt until a couple week ago when it randomly got even worse. It got so bad that when the bent side was on the tool changer side the door for the tool changer would hit it and couldnt open all the way so no tool changes could happen. I was able to bend it back a little bit in the machine, not much better but it was enough the tool changer would work so the machine could keep running. This was not ideal, chips and coolant were getting sprayed into the pallet changing area.



After i bent it back I realized the cause of this problem. Above the doors are flaps that lift up when the pallet changer rotates. There was a severe mount of chips being built up above these flaps so they couldn't fully move up. Because of that the door was catching on it.



So I cleaned out the chips from up there. It was actually crazy how many chips were packed up there. once cleaned out I got I adjusted a coolant nozzle to spray up there and it seems to be working pretty well now.

The next issue that came about from chips has to do with the angle head I have in the machine. I have noticed its been slowly moving position along the Z axis for some reason. I adjusted in once and it had been fine but last week a operator came up to me and it had been moving again. Then on the next cycle before I could look at it the tool in the angle head broke. So I went to change that out. I called up the angle head to do a tool change and when It when to put it in the spindle it was out of rotation and crashed. I walked it in by hand holding it in the right position. Once It was in the spindle I noticed the issue.



For some reason the whole body is coming off the arbor. The mounting screw for it barely had any thread in it it was backed out so much. What was the reason? The socket that the locating pin fits in was filled with chips. Some machine will have air blast or coolant thru that pin but we do not have that on this. My idea was to make our own air blast for it. The machine does have an air blast nozzle right next to this. You can see the loc line for it to the right on the spindle pointing off to the side. I am not using it at all. So I drilled a cross hole into the side of the mounting plate and jammed the loc line into it. I can trigger it with an M code and let it run for a few seconds before it does a tool change with the angle head. Jamming some chips in there it seems to do a really good job of blowing it out. This will hopefully fix this problem.



The angle head does need some work still. The chips building up and slowly pushing it out more and more caused the pin that locks it into place for tool changes has gotten worn down and no longer works at all.



Since the machine is down well I try to figure this out I took the time to take the pallet pool door completely out of the machine and fix it. You can see how out of whack it was.



Well I was in there I took off panels all around the pallet changer as I have been having problems of chips building up so much under there that it will error out mid pallet change. With everything cleaned out and back together it looks so much better!


Now to actually fix the main problem. EFFFING CHIPS!

This machine has a ton of coolant nozzles for washdown but I can only run them for a couple minutes at a time at most. The coolant tank will surge too much if I run it for longer along with the thru spindle coolant and it will get to low and alarm out. The coolant nozzles also cant hang down too low or they get in the way of the pallet changer and get knocked off when it rotates. Currently it is using large flat nozzles but they dont have enough pressure to reach where they need too. So I have a few hundred bucks of loc line coming from mcmaster with the plan to downsize all the 1/2 nozzles to 1/4. I got splitters to get 2 1/4 for each 1/2 line and the nozzles also have smaller holes. Hoping this will give me more points with more pressure to reach where I need to. The 10 station pallet pool is on track to be here in January so I really want to have this issue sorted by then. Once that is in if this issue persist it is going to be even more of a pain and cause more issues. So fingers crossed can get this sorted out!

 

[baileyautowerks]

Very interesting work, not an expert by a long shot but it looks like good stuff to me. Following with intrest

 

[trytochaseme]

Machining aluminum in production is just a mess. Although its super easy to machine and you can run things very fast it that combo means you are dealing with a lot of chips really fast. They get flung around everywhere and it will pile up in every single spot. Even if its a 45 degree angle you can bet there will be a mountain of chips there if you don't do something. Sometimes you can get away with certain spots. You can see its built up in the back corners and around the sides but the table is clear. You can see the chip fan in the spindle that runs at the end of each program too blow off chips so that they do not cause any issues with the robot. The fan is spring loaded so when not running the blades fold in so they can fit in the ATC. once it hits a certain RPM the blade flip out.




There are areas where chips can build up and it doesnt matter or cause any harm. That means I can use the nozzles in that area for other places that really matter. You see I have a few nozzles pointed up and to the left. I am throwing so many chips that they will build up on top of the tool changer arm.



When the ATC door opens and the arm rotates it will then throw chips all over the ATC room. Its not necessarily a problem to have chips on the floor in there but it bothers me. It was so bad at first that after a month there would be 6" of chips in there. It also throws chips all over the ATC chain and other mechanisms that should not have chips in them to operate smoothly. I was able to use a few nozzles to point up and blow chips off the arm before tool changes. This has drastically reduced the chip build up in the ATC.


Inside the ATC room is a prox sensor for the ATC door. even with a cover on it, it will still get a chip on it that will cause the machine to alarm out as the door will be open but the sensor will trigger saying its closed. That is no fun as it only ever happens at night when I am not there to fix it. I tapped into the coolant line that runs thru the ATC room and added a line to blown off that prox sensor. I think I made a post about this before. It worked for awhile but started occasionaly having that issue again. I changed the nozzle to a wider one with smaller holes so a little more pressure and the issue has not popped back up for a few weeks.





The latest issue I have fixed is chips building up in the door tray. When the door opens chips will fall off into the tray. I have placed coolant nozzles to try to remove chips from the doors before they open but no matter what I can not get them all as the surface area is so big. The tray under the doors would end up being filled with chips after about a week, if left not cleaned out it would just get packed and start over flowing.

Here is a pic of how it was after 1 week



The door rails and wheels would get chips in them causing the door to move not so smoothly. I have just been trying to clean it out every so often but its an easy thing to forget.



That actually has a slope to it and goes back to the inside of the machine. So any coolant in it will drain back into the machine. I decided to add a coolant line to flush the chips thru it. When I tapped into the line for the line to flush the prox sensor I added a T so I had a spot for another line if I needed it. I drilled a hole on the side of the machine and added in a bulk head, ran a rubber hose from the T to the bulkhead.




Then just a little bit of loc-line and 2 fan nozzles.



This kicks on at the same time as the rest of the washdown coolant, so before most tool changes and then at the end of the program. It seems to be working very well so far. There is a seem that some coolant is leaking thru, you can see the little puddle on the floor. I just need to caulk that seem and I think everything will be good to go. I guess we will check back in a week and see for sure!

I really like these small little projects that don't take long but make things run smoother. Its usually to fix somewhat minor things but once they all add up it makes life a lot easier.

 

[trytochaseme]

Very interesting work, not an expert by a long shot but it looks like good stuff to me. Following with intrest

Thankyou!

 

[trytochaseme]

Although the chip management was much better the door tray still was getting chips in it. First I messed around a bunch with the nozzles in side the machine.



I use to have 3 lines dedicated to just getting chips off the ATC arm. I decided to take one, add a splitter that downsized it to 1/4 loc line. Then I was able to route 2 lines directly to the arm. There is another splitter right at the end on the far side so there is plenty of coolant there to clean it off. It got a little tight in there and with that amount of length the loc line would not stay in position. I took a bolt in the sheet metal and added some washer that I could hook a zip tie too to strap the line in place. Few days in its working great.

I now had more open lines to use specifically for the door. I changed the nozzles on all the lines, some are a narrow flat nozzle that have some good pressure and then some lines have the larger fan nozzle to cover more area. I did some testing to see where at on the doors where the worst and tried to hit each spot with a different coolant line. I was also also able to take the line in the back and move it to keep the chips from building up in the back left corner. The manifold back there has a few open spots so I added a second line off it to hit the back right corner.



Those pics are from when I first put them on so hadnt cleaned out the built up chips yet.

Looking at the door tray more I noticed a bracket that holds the bottom rail in and a cover in place. It was another prime spot where chips would build up and when the door open it would push them off into the tray. Not many in this pic as i had cleaned it off a few hours before.



I decided to mill a few slots in it so most of the chips could just fall thru.



A few days in now and it seems to be working great. The door tray has nothing in it. I am really happy with it.



The only thing I might change is to get rid of the loc line on the outside. Thinking of maybe making a little bracket to hold it in place and running a flex line or something so that way it wont get bumped and spray on the ground.


I got a more permanent line in on the horizontal mill for the air blast too.




Just got the pins in to get the angle head back together so trying to get that done. Then I just need to finish messing with the coolant lines on the inside of the horizontal to help with chips. One side is done but I ran out of loc line and nozzles so had to spend another couple hundred bucks on more. Stuff sure isnt cheap for probably costing pennies to make lol.

 

[jbmatth]

I'm sure it is a slow and iterative process that will take some time to perfect, but will pay dividends for a long time to come. That is some very nice machinery, thanks for sharing everything with us.

JB

 

[trytochaseme]

Getting back to the frame designs again. I am determined to actually make progress on bringing them to life. The hardest part I have is the time to do the machining. It is not that I can not do it but most of these parts are very time consuming to do on 3 axis. To get the time to make all the parts needed would take me months of an hour or 2 here and there. For this reason I have decided to outsource the machining. From another guy I found a company out of taiwan that does prototyping for extremely good prices. It kind of pains me to even say that but if this is what I need to do to start then I guess it is what it is. It will get me closer to being able to do it 100% myself in the future.

This is the Burns Guajillo First Degree. It is a steel front triangle with machined steel lugs and machined aluminum rear end. It is a 130mm down country bike. It has great pedal efficiency but little more relaxed geometry so it can still get thrashed around on the rough stuff. Pinion gearbox to top it off. The first degree is steel front end but I am working on the third degree version which will be aluminum machined lugs with carbon tubes.

Here are a few renders of it thru out the process so far








Tubing for front triangle arived today. I am finishing off the design still but plan on having the cad files sent off to get machined before the end of the year. Working on a full scale 3d print proto right now to test fit everything.





A handful people have asked me if I will sell these and right now I do not plan on it. Maybe in a year or 2 after alot of testing. For now this is a fun personal project for myself and to make some frames for my buddies. I think I would only sell them if I can do something different. Id love to be able to make a frame and sell them for $2-3k if possible. Otherwise its not anything that special and its just another $5k bike no one can afford.

Once this one is finalized I plan on making a 170mm version. I would also really like to make a custom hardtail frame for dropbars. My ultimate gravel bike per say with 100mm front suspension and a gearbox. Shortended reach for drop bars. Gotta stay focused and get the first one done though haha