Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop

[RickP]

The fabrication on that meter/switchgear enclosure looks absolutely incredible! Really nice work.

After all the CAD time you put into the model, wouldn't it be nice to receive a couple more orders for the same item? (too bad it's not more commonly used in the field) Are the dimensions standard enough that you can at least use some of the parts in other designs?

 

[ODIS]

Beautiful and amazing work!

 

[loganb]

I saw the stuff on IG and was hoping to get a run thru on the full scope after you caught your breath...awesome work! Love seeing the progression and capability improvements as you keep moving forward!

 

[Jayman17]

Nice work, glad to see things are going well and you are getting orders! Your finished products look great.

 

[Finallygotit]

WELL DONE Steven!

 

[MadeByMiller]

Congratulations on another job well done, and a seemingly monumental one at that! The hard work you and your crew put in is evident in the final product. I would say it's quite rare for a small shop to be doing a job like that all in house, and you're already doing it at a high level!

Have you put Solidworks on hold for a bit? If I understand correctly, these sheet metal parts were modeled in Fusion? Speaking of, really well done on your model. I think it's more complex than people suspect. If you find yourself in another Fusion marathon like that and you could use a second opinion on something, please reach out! I'd love to nerd out on Fusion with you.

Cheers Steven!

 

[Maxcustody]

 

[zanyad]

I mention it all fitting because it was such a huge milestone and accomplishment.

Having worked a little with bending metal and Solidworks, I can appreciate the work you're doing and the tolerances you're able to hold. Fantastic job! It's wonderful to see the strides you've made in your capabilities.

 

[john.k]

Some have turned nasty when I said No ..........one said he will report me to the council ..........for having an empty shed??

 

[slodat]

Outstanding work Steven!
It's got to fell great when things start to fall in place without having to tweek this or tweek that.

Mac- thank you! This one felt great. I got my *** handed to me in different ways several times. The compressed schedule with a hard delivery time added to the pressure and stress. Having the parts fit was such a big milestone. Thanks for following along and cheering me on!

 

[slodat]

Impressive!

Seems so odd all of the electrical switch gear components coming out of your job site vs from the OEM suppliers but I am not in that market to fully understand.

In this case we were afforded the opportunity due to a really short lead time that others were not able to meet. We barely did.

 

[slodat]

Having worked a little with bending metal and Solidworks, I can appreciate the work you're doing and the tolerances you're able to hold. Fantastic job! It's wonderful to see the strides you've made in your capabilities.

Thank you!! It has been, and hopefully continues to be a wild, amazing ride.

 

[slodat]

The fabrication on that meter/switchgear enclosure looks absolutely incredible! Really nice work.

After all the CAD time you put into the model, wouldn't it be nice to receive a couple more orders for the same item? (too bad it's not more commonly used in the field) Are the dimensions standard enough that you can at least use some of the parts in other designs?

Thank you for the kind words. We were all really happy with the final product. Plenty of room for improvement in the processes of course.

The thing with making it again is the customer would need the same section to just blanket make it again. Same width, depth, main bus rating, same feeder rating, and same utility requirements.

Some of the parts are able to be used entirely. There’s a custom aspect always due to the nature of the clients specific needs. And that’s the point of what I’m doing.

What does transfer to the next one is the process, our internal work flow, lessons learned, and everything gained in design intent.

 

[slodat]

Congratulations on another job well done, and a seemingly monumental one at that! The hard work you and your crew put in is evident in the final product. I would say it's quite rare for a small shop to be doing a job like that all in house, and you're already doing it at a high level!

Have you put Solidworks on hold for a bit? If I understand correctly, these sheet metal parts were modeled in Fusion? Speaking of, really well done on your model. I think it's more complex than people suspect. If you find yourself in another Fusion marathon like that and you could use a second opinion on something, please reach out! I'd love to nerd out on Fusion with you.

Cheers Steven!

Austin- thank you!! As mentioned above, I have figured out how to get what I need out of Fusion. SolidWorks is on hold in the short term because I’ve been working non-stop on other things. I do still think I will migrate sheet metal to SW over time. I have to do things like that while maintaining continuity of operations. No rush at this point.

Every part was modeled in Fusion by me. Lots of measuring things like the breaker, standoff insulators, bus support, etc. Fusion is handling my sheet metal needs well. As I build out my press brake tooling, I’ll want SW’s deeper features to leverage that. For now, I’m proceeding with Fusion.

To me, the assembly model is quite complex. And it all works. There’s only one yellow sketch on the timeline. The timeline video takes several minutes to play start to finish and most parts are external components, so that stuff isn’t fully extrapolated out in the playback. Fusion performed flawlessly on this project in all respects.

 

[slodat]

As things progress the shop is evolving. Mostly in little ways. The main bay of the shop is becoming the assembly and shipping area. Having a convertible multi use bay is really working out well. The Vidmars are getting some attention lately. One thing I’ve done is change my bin design to get more out of the drawer depth. These are about 0.3” taller. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the 2” drawer it adds up quickly.





These are made from PLA that I have on hand. I doubt I’ll buy more PLA once it’s all gone. I like PETG and ABS a lot more.

The powder coating is going really well. Generally speaking I think we have made the transition to powder coating all our parts. It makes for much more professional looking parts.



I was able to do eight of these in one batch.



They turned out really nice.



The wide belt sander hides the sins from plasma to a great degree, the powder coating makes it significantly better.





I changed over to the box feed from the small 500ml gun mounted hopper. The box feed works great.


Ran this bigger batch at the end of the day today.




The big oven is going to allow for bigger batches. And it’s a lot better design for even heating throughout the oven. It should be here in less than a month.

 

[Finallygotit]

The powder coating is going really well. Generally speaking I think we have made the transition to powder coating all our parts. It makes for much more professional looking parts.

Steven, what are you talking about? Those are professional looking OEM parts as far as I'm concerned.

 

[slodat]

Steven, what are you talking about? Those are professional looking OEM parts as far as I'm concerned.

Dan - thank you! What I'm getting at is I've never been fully satisfied with the paint. It's okay, but not great. Given the very short turnaround times I've had on a lot of the projects I've done, I had to come up with a fast-drying paint solution. It works, but it has always left me knowing I wanted powder coated parts leaving the shop. Now that I have powder coated parts in hand, they look and feel like what I've been wanting. Next up will be a fiber laser. I've tuned the plasma quite a lot. It doesn't compare to a laser cut part though. I'm really happy with where the parts are right now. I know my clients will really love the powder coated parts.

Seeing the evolution of the parts has been really cool. I like what we are putting out on the sheet metal side. I'll never stop trying to improve though. It's all in the details.

 

[Finallygotit]

Dan - thank you! What I'm getting at is I've never been fully satisfied with the paint. It's okay, but not great. Given the very short turnaround times I've had on a lot of the projects I've done, I had to come up with a fast-drying paint solution. It works, but it has always left me knowing I wanted powder coated parts leaving the shop. Now that I have powder coated parts in hand, they look and feel like what I've been wanting. Next up will be a fiber laser. I've tuned the plasma quite a lot. It doesn't compare to a laser cut part though. I'm really happy with where the parts are right now. I know my clients will really love the powder coated parts.

Seeing the evolution of the parts has been really cool. I like what we are putting out on the sheet metal side. I'll never stop trying to improve though. It's all in the details.

Steven, I get it and I think we all get it. Carry on!

 

[Mr.zippy]

Dan - thank you! What I'm getting at is I've never been fully satisfied with the paint. It's okay, but not great. Given the very short turnaround times I've had on a lot of the projects I've done, I had to come up with a fast-drying paint solution. It works, but it has always left me knowing I wanted powder coated parts leaving the shop. Now that I have powder coated parts in hand, they look and feel like what I've been wanting. Next up will be a fiber laser. I've tuned the plasma quite a lot. It doesn't compare to a laser cut part though. I'm really happy with where the parts are right now. I know my clients will really love the powder coated parts.

Seeing the evolution of the parts has been really cool. I like what we are putting out on the sheet metal side. I'll never stop trying to improve though. It's all in the details.
[/QUOTE/】

Will that laser etch a logo on the panels? I think your incredible work should have a company logo on it!

 

[Mr.zippy]

Will that laser etch a logo on the panels? I think your incredible work should have a company logo on it!


Sorry, double post. I messed the reply up.

 

[slodat]

Great idea, and one that comes up often in various forms. The CO2 will remove powder coating. It would reveal bare steel in this case. That would be prone to rusting, and coating failure once rust set in.. I think.

I'm not a big logo/branding on everything guy. I like simple, clean lines. There are no banners or other such in my shop. Simple, clean. With that said, the tools that I make and sell all have my maker's mark as well as my distributor's logo. We do offer custom engraving as well. A few companies have opted for the custom engraving on the tools. The custom engraving replaces the distributor's logo. I think that looks really sharp, which goes counter to my typical preference. These steel parts are for a client and my logo wouldn't be appropriate in my opinion. It's job shop work.

 

[Finallygotit]

Yeah......but it's your work! Wouldn't it be nice to have someone else that might be interested know who made ________ or am I ?

BTW, you could engrave first then powder coat later. We have done this in the past and the engraving will telegraph through the powder.

 

[lilscorpion]

Man, I don’t know Steven…powder coating everything is a little nuts. I mean, pace yourself. Don’t over rotate. Keep a balance between powder coat finishing and using other also acceptable coatings.

Bawahahaha!

 

[slodat]

Man, I don’t know Steven…powder coating everything is a little nuts. I mean, pace yourself. Don’t over rotate. Keep a balance between powder coat finishing and using other also acceptable coatings.

Bawahahaha!

@lilscorpion Something about pots and kettles!

 

[CudaChick1968]

... BTW, you could engrave first then powder coat later. We have done this in the past and the engraving will telegraph through the powder.

"

Yes it will and it can look really amazing. Keep in mind though the best powder coat prep is media blasting the metal to provide "tooth" for the powder to adhere for long-term durability. Any fine engraving is going to get fuzzy, and masking off said engraving first is going to leave an obvious difference in your project.

Blast it first, and then engrave it. (Apology for the screenshot.)

 

[slodat]

It has been really nice having a team working on projects and parts. We are keeping up with the workload and our lead times are much better. Things like this are common now:



I’m still trying to figure out how to handle the two shop threads. I believe this one will continue to have all the project and machinery related stuff. The Building 2 thread will be only about the building itself.. with some overlap here and there.

With that said, made some progress over there this week. Moved a few things to the basement, including the new air compressor.



I’m installing the same Sharpe three stage filter/desiccant setup with the refrigerated dryer as in the main shop. I *think* I have it all ordered.

I picked up two M18 SDS roto-hammer drills yesterday. The 1-9/16” SDS-Max for the core drilling through the floor and other bigger work. I used one on a client site earlier this year and was impressed by how quickly it got the big jobs done. The Home Depot special where it included a Fuel angle grinder helped with that decision. I also got the 1” SDS+ for the routine stuff. I’ve never really liked how the standard drill style worked in concrete. The SDS stuff is really nice.

Also began the process of some of the more specialized upholstery stuff going down the road.



Bitter sweet really. I am very happy with what’s going on with and in the shop. The previous direction of the shop was a true passion that I’ll miss. I am keeping a machine for work around the shop and some personal projects. At some point I do plan to enjoy some of my weekend time tinkering on my own projects.

Speaking of which, I got the big Wilton assembled. I bought the missing parts online. It’s complete now.





I put it together with some assembly lube for now. It deserves to be refinished. I’m thinking once the surface grinder is setup I’ll tear it down, clean everything up, powder coat, and grind the anvil area and the jaws. Until then, it’s a daily driver.

 

[rvieceli]

Steven everything looks great as usual. Glad things are progressing nicely for you.

Ron

 

[zanyad]

Speaking of which, I got the big Wilton assembled. I bought the missing parts online. It’s complete now.

 

[slodat]

We make this i-beam bracket somewhat regularly for a client. There are small changes in dimensions, but the part is common.



The photos are of a part that recently shipped.



Side note- the powder coating is turning out very well. We’ve all but retired the paint gun.

I spent some time yesterday changing this to a tab and slot design. First up was a symmetrical gusset.



It works like this:


This is what's going on inside the part:




And the tabs and slots in the main components:






Now to cut the parts and see if my 0.01" gap is the right amount. More to follow. This is something I've wanted to sort out for a while now. Will really be nice for these small welded assemblies.

Back on the powder coating.. One thing that we ran in to was the time wasted waiting for parts to cool before running the next batch.



A second rack should do the trick!

 

[slodat]

I made a section of the parts to test the tab and slot stuff. I made a mistake in CAM resulting in the lead-in and out happening in the part instead of the drop. Wasn't worth cutting new parts over..

The parts went together quite well with the gap I selected (guessed).




The remaining part drops into position.


I'm not sure if I'll use this in the customer's parts just yet. It does work quite well, and I think it would save fabrication time vs. manual layout. The slots could easily be filled with weld and ground flush if desired..

 

[SamYoung]

If your worried about the visibility of the slots after weld, maybe compromise and only do them for the gussets in center support. It would line them along the length and height, but they'd only be visible in the channel of the beam. You'd only need a square to line them up then. I know you'd still need to manually align the top and bottom plates to the center support, but it'd still be a step up.

If you haven't already, potentially cut a negative sheet metal template to align the center support depth from the edge of the top and bottom plates during welding. Even if this value shift, if the design is common you can cut a new set with each cut package for minimum cost. I did a quick sketch of what I mean. The top and bottom can be removed from the design depending on your orientation during weld up.


Obviously a lot of this has to do with your specific setup and procedure, but food for thought.

 

[slodat]

Started working on the air line install on Building 2. I'm going to post all the tool, fabrication, etc work in this main thread and keep the Building 2 thread to just the building itself.

I picked up a M18 roto hammer so I could core drill the floor. By the time I drive to pick up a rental, use it, and return I end up spending almost what buying one would cost. So, I bought one. It's a fantastic tool. It made really short work of drilling through the floor and the hole is really clean.



The FastPipe kit includes mounting brackets. At first, I wasn't sure I'd use them, and work with Unistrut instead.


It was quickly apparent these would be handy in some spots. Like under the floor to support the pipe. The trick with the ceiling is the elbow would space the pipe a lot farther off the mounting surface. I'm sure you all know what's next..



I made a short test piece to check fitment.


Then I printed a tall part.


The two parts slide together with a slight friction fit. Here they are installed.




That's the basement ceiling. That is the main line going upstairs through the floor.

Upstairs:


The core drilled hole is about as close as I could get to the column and have a plumb hole. I printed a 1/2" standoff for the bottom clamp and used the test piece for the next clamp up. All in all the standoffs work really well. This kind of thing really makes for a nice-looking install. There's a main header isolation and then the first drop. The first drop will have the gauge line for the big gauges like I've used in the main shop. I had one left. These large gauges are really nice. In this case it will prevent having to run downstairs to check header pressure. I'm working backwards on the rest of the install, back to the compressor. This will place the compressor in the right position relative to the filtration loop and refrigerated dryer. Then the electrical can be ran.

 

[Finallygotit]

Very nice!!

 

[slodat]

I'm working on a roller (gravity style) conveyor for the outfeed of the wide belt sander. I tried to find something commercially available, and they stuff I found was several thousand dollars, plus LTL freight. The rollers won't see a lot of accumulation of parts, so I'm going with a budget friendly roller from Amazon. The width (roller length) is the challenge. Lots of shorter stuff out there.



This a perfect project to scratch the itch of making something for the shop. This is what I've come up with so far:



There's a dust tray under the rollers:


The adjustable feet attach with a weld nut that will close in the two mitered bends at the bottom of the leg:


The idea is the conveyor will sit below the level out the outlet of the sander by some nominal amount.. like an inch or so. The parts will roll on to the conveyor, waiting for the operator to run them back through, etc.

I still need to sort out the end stop so the parts can't roll off the conveyor. Current plan is to store belts on the lower shelf.

 

[loganb]

Nice work!

Thought about putting it on wheels to make rolling back to the infeed side for doing the other side with minimum manual handling? If it wasn't so wide finding a used Hytrol style conveyor section would be pretty easy, wider ones are definitely less common

 

[rvieceli]

Steven I agree that casters would be nice. If you need wider no reason a double row of rollers wouldn’t work just have the rollers stick above the center support.

Laser bros have a free cart plan CNC download you might want to take a look at.

Laser Bros SHOP

Laser Bros SHOP

laserbros.shop

Ron

 

[slodat]

Nice work!

Thought about putting it on wheels to make rolling back to the infeed side for doing the other side with minimum manual handling? If it wasn't so wide finding a used Hytrol style conveyor section would be pretty easy, wider ones are definitely less common

Steven I agree that casters would be nice. If you need wider no reason a double row of rollers wouldn’t work just have the rollers stick above the center support.

Laser bros have a free cart plan CNC download you might want to take a look at.

Laser Bros SHOP

Laser Bros SHOP

laserbros.shop

Ron

Initially I considered this to be somewhat confidently a stationary piece. I still think it will be. AND.. one of the things that has been true for a long time is it's nice to be able to wheel things out of the way when the need arises. The sander is not moving save for a minor rearrange of the area or something. I don't want to have the conveyor on wheels and rolling front to back of the machine with parts on it. The flow just wouldn't work.

With all that said, the outfeed conveyor needs to have some height adjustment. I'm not seeing any reasonably priced stem mount heavy duty casters with a few inches of thread on the stem. Still looking. I think I may make it and then see how it works.

Ron - I have seen the Laser Bros cart design. I plan to make one at some point.

 

[loganb]

With all that said, the outfeed conveyor needs to have some height adjustment. I'm not seeing any reasonably priced stem mount heavy duty casters with a few inches of thread on the stem. Still looking. I think I may make it and then see how it works.

In my factory support days I used some longer stem 3/4-10 thread casters from McMaster when the need arose for extra adjustability. Don't have the PN I used any longer or the cart design files...but they worked well for an "low usage" application in a larger factory. Low usage here just means it was only moved around a couple times a shift in more constrained work environment vs being pushed around the factory multiple times an hour

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

May be cheaper elsewhere...but with the ease of ordering from them and CAD files for almost everything...there was no place easier to do business with.

 

[slodat]

We settled on using the pallet jack for moving whenever the need arises. Shouldn't be too often and the pallet jack is perfect for it.

Thank you for the suggestion and info!

Made a few minor changes. The rollers are now a little proud of the inner side rails. This makes room for a full width part to run on the rollers. There's an additional vertical flange to keep the parts from running off the side if they are so inclined.





And, I lowered the lower cross members so the pallet jack can lift the whole thing.

 

[slodat]

May be cheaper elsewhere...but with the ease of ordering from them and CAD files for almost everything...there was no place easier to do business with.

This point is probably worthy of it's own thread! McMaster is a double edge sword. For example, I have an account with a local fastener supplier that has a truck route and will deliver to my shop no charge on their weekly route. Their prices are substantially lower than McMaster. I try to use the local outfit as much as possible. The other side of the coin is they only come through once a week, and clearly don't have the same product offering as McMaster. I don't mind McMaster's pricing. A while back they contacted me and offered my open terms. Part of that was I now get overnight shipping for the price of ground. That makes McMaster hard to beat for anything I need tomorrow, or anything that the local outfit doesn't have on hand.

I will always prioritize local vendors. It's important to me. And, I still have at least one order a week with McMaster.