Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop

[slodat]

Running a full 25' stick of this part. Starts off as an unequal angle.



OP1 ready to run:


After OP1:


Ready for OP2:


The softjaw has a stop on the right side that registers the previously machined edge.

After OP2:


Final part. The nature of using the angle stock is there's two machining operations in two setups that ideally need to line up. Otherwise there will be a step on each end of the part. I'm happy to say it doesn't even snag a fingernail. Pretty fun part to sort out the operations and work holding.

 

[slodat]

Picked up this automatic (semi-automatic?) strapping machine off craigslist today along with an additional roll of strapping new in the box. If I would have ordered from Uline, I would have spent over $1000 more than I gave for it. Felt like a really good deal. This will really help with wrapping up my parts for shipping. Pretty excited about it for such a non-fun thing!

If anyone knows how to stop these stupid ads at the top/bottom of the screen depending on what you're viewing GJ on, I'm all ears. Super annoying.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Neat machine! I know that Ratha Sochenda just picked one of those up recently as well. They look kind of fun

 

[slodat]

Neat machine! I know that Ratha Sochenda just picked one of those up recently as well. They look kind of fun

Too funny, Austin! I’m chatting with him right now on IG about press brakes. He’s the reason I went in cl looking for one.

 

[MadeByMiller]

Too funny, Austin! I’m chatting with him right now on IG about press brakes. He’s the reason I went in cl looking for one.

Ah, very good! Tell him I say hi! I've never talked with him but I learned of him through David Irving from Nub Tools. I really admire what Ratha is doing as a one man band in his home garage shop and he seems to be having some well deserved success!

 

[slodat]

Finally sorted out using the CNC feature of the press brake! Enter the parameters for each bend, hit cycle start, place the material, and press the foot pedal. Works really well. One of the things I didn't know about was the corrections. This is how you tell the control to tweak the bend angle to dial things in. The corrections vary based on bend length mostly once you have a material dialed in. Made short work of the eight doors I needed to bend today.

 

[Finallygotit]

Nice work Steven!

 

[slodat]

Nice work Steven!

Thank you sir! Being self-taught is a mixed bag for sure. I am certain I make sophomoric mistakes and over complicate things.. daily. With that said, I love it and it’s working well enough to continue.

 

[slodat]

As it goes when learning… two steps forward, and a huge awe **** as I sipped my early morning coffee this morning pondering my recently accelerated timeline on this project..


Part on the left is correct. Part on the right is oversized by about 1/8” when measured with a tape measure. These sit into a recess on the equipment. I was super proud of my progress with this stuff. I intentionally made the parts 1/16” undersize so there’s no way they wouldn’t drop right in. How the hell did I screw it up? SEVEN times. I have one good panel of the 8 I need.

After spending much of the day I finally sorted it out. The first part was made in manual mode on the press brake. The other seven were made using the program mode for the first time. It for some ungodly reason did the the favor of inserting a -0.07 X axis correction. This went undetected by the programmer (me), operator (me), QA (me).. you get the idea.



Once I got that out of the program “all” I had to do is make 7 more of these parts, prime, and paint them.. so I can be back where I started when I woke up today. I’m happy to report that after a 15 hour day I have five painted, and the remaining three are primed and waiting for paint first thing in the morning. Some of these lessons come at what feels like great expense the day the learning happens. It’s also why this stuff is so very far from point and click.

Happy to report the 3M HGP version of their Accuspray setup is moving the thick waterborne paint without issue. Sprays out REALLY nice. The HGP uses a H/O cup that’s pressurized from a port off the gun near the tip. Paint application issues are resolved!

 

[rvieceli]

Look at it this way. You now have seven nice trays for the shop.

Ron

 

[GeddyT]

Have you figured out why the control added the offset so you can avoid it in the future?

 

[slodat]

Look at it this way. You now have seven nice trays for the shop.

Ron

It’s funny you say that. As the day progressed yesterday I started thinking about that very thing. They could end up being a set of shelves or something.. we shall see!

 

[slodat]

Have you figured out why the control added the offset so you can avoid it in the future?

I did! The control is a touch screen. When I scrolled ALL the way to the right in the “correction” menu I found the X axis corrections:



I snapped the photo just prior to zeroing it out for the fourth bend. Once I did that, I was good to go. Still had to cut seven more parts on the plasma, wipe off the oil film and water from the plasma table, run the knotted wire wheel around the edge to knock off what I feel is minimal dross, the hit with 120 grit on both sides with the RO sander, wipe off the sanding dust, back to the press brake for the bends, wipe down with acetone, prime, cook in the booth for two hours, top coat, cook another hour, and DONE!

I’ve got a process I’m happy with for now. It’s working reliably. It was just the one detail in the program mode on the press brake that did me dirty on these doors. Back at it this morning!

 

[GeddyT]

How did the X-axis correction get there in the first place? Was it just something that was left there from your training sessions?

Really glad it worked out in the end.

 

[slodat]

How did the X-axis correction get there in the first place? Was it just something that was left there from your training sessions?

Really glad it worked out in the end.

Best I can guess is it was a default or something. I created the program from scratch. Now that I know it's a thing it won't get me again!

I just checked freight times and it looks like I'm good to go with getting to the jobsite on time.

 

[slodat]

This project included making a duplicate of the parts to house a panel meter and it’s associated devices.

Existing:


CAD model:


With the door. Meter mounts in the opening in the center.


My parts mocked up prior to paint:


Top and bottom after paint:


The strapping machine makes quick work of wrapping the parts in foam:


The whole order:


The forklift is an essential and really nice addition:


Money shot:


Some REALLY long days to get this order shipped. Lots more learned. Grateful for the opportunity, and the process. This order had some 10ga parts. First time I’ve worked with it. Previous projects were 12 and 14ga. The 10ga isn’t available in cold rolled, but they did have hot rolled picked and oiled (HRPO). Neither CR or HRPO has mill scale. Both are a dream to work with and make very nice parts. The plasma process leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s getting the parts made. While the cuts could be a little nicer, it doesn’t change the quality of the finished product and that’s what matters. The drill unit is great and I’m glad I opted for it.

Lots more to do this weekend!

 

[Finallygotit]

Again, nice work! It's great to see American ingenuity at work.

 

[lilscorpion]

Why did the parts require 10ga?

 

[slodat]

Why did the parts require 10ga?

It’s what the engineers called out. I did ask if 12ga could be substituted for these brackets. They said because of the weigh the support, 10ga was needed.

 

[slodat]

On site installing the parts I made. I didn’t do the bus.



Meter enclosure went in reasonably well. It was on the tight side. Ultimately everything lined up and bolted together.

This shows the bus and how the supports go together.



Rubber meets the road.. things don’t align perfectly, so you field fit to get the job done.



I’m referring to the bolts on the horizontal supports. Had to elongate the holes to get the supports level. All good at the end of the day.

 

[lilscorpion]

On site installing the parts I made. I didn’t do the bus.



Meter enclosure went in reasonably well. It was on the tight side. Ultimately everything lined up and bolted together.

This shows the bus and how the supports go together.



Rubber meets the road.. things don’t align perfectly, so you field fit to get the job done.



I’m referring to the bolts on the horizontal supports. Had to elongate the holes to get the supports level. All good at the end of the day.

Sweet! We’re measurements/specs off or do you just need to make ‘em slots next time because they vary in the wild?

 

[slodat]

Sweet! We’re measurements/specs off or do you just need to make ‘em slots next time because they vary in the wild?

There’s all manner of stack ups that mess with fitment and alignment. Slotting in the field is completely acceptable and the way to go. I didn’t put any mounting holes in the outer covers and doors. It’s easy to fit in the field and then there’s no Swiss cheese. It’s really difficult to measure this stuff accurately and then build parts off it. I’m really happy the meter enclosure went together!

 

[rvieceli]

@slodat from the pics that is an excellent looking slot. What are you using to make those in the field?

Nice work as usual on everything. Is this a different job than the parts you shipped?

Ron

 

[slodat]

I use a M12 band file. I have both of their offerings- 3/8 and 1/2.



I brought the 1/2”. In the future I’ll bring the 3/8” in the field. I use the end of the arm to remove most of the material and then a round ******* file to get the round shape. It’s fast and does a great job. The end on the 3/8” is a little smaller and would work a little better.

Yes, these are the parts mentioned a few posts up. The washers help trim out the somewhat rough field work.

 

[GeddyT]

Are the stacks of plates that bolt onto those supports bus bars? Why stacks instead of solid?

 

[slodat]

Yes, that’s bus. My assumption is it makes the gear a lot more modular. Layers are added for more current carrying capability what the application needs.

 

[slodat]

Been busy making parts lately. My netgear router was on the outs..



Replaced with current offerings from Ubiquiti. Very nice equipment. The mesh wifi is effortless to setup and works really well. Same with the vpn. Really happy with it all.

 

[GeddyT]

I have an Amplifi mesh network by Ubiquiti, and I couldn't agree more with how effective and simple it is.

 

[slodat]

I have an Amplifi mesh network by Ubiquiti, and I couldn't agree more with how effective and simple it is.

I have the previous generation product line for the link between my two buildings. Still going strong. The new UniFi stuff is really nice. I can’t believe how effortless it was to setup. And their zero config VPN is awesome!

 

[Xti04]

I have an Amplifi mesh network by Ubiquiti, and I couldn't agree more with how effective and simple it is.

I have the house setup on amplifi. Need an antenna for the shop once the electrical get done so I can have a bit better wifi in there. Was amazed at how much simpler wifi has gotten to setup since my last router purchase in 2009!

 

[slodat]

My old netgear router did me well for many years. It wouldn’t take updates for the last long while. Looking at the logs had me concerned. The Ubiquiti ease of use drew me to their gear. I wanted the VPN to work. I only ever succeeded in getting OpenVPN on the netgear to work with my phone. One the Ubiquiti I have the VPN client working on every device I want with essentially no fiddling. The stuff is a little spendy, but I think it’s worth it.

 

[GeddyT]

What are you working on these days?

 

[slodat]

What are you working on these days?

Making steel and GPO3 parts, and working on a tooling production run. Just grinding.

 

[RickP]

My old netgear router did me well for many years. It wouldn’t take updates for the last long while. Looking at the logs had me concerned. The Ubiquiti ease of use drew me to their gear. I wanted the VPN to work. I only ever succeeded in getting OpenVPN on the netgear to work with my phone. One the Ubiquiti I have the VPN client working on every device I want with essentially no fiddling. The stuff is a little spendy, but I think it’s worth it.

Ouch. Those old Netgear routers were a royal pain for me with VPN setups over the years. I finally gave up on them completely. I'm glad you're liking the Ubiquiti stuff -- they seem to have the right combo of easy setup and good specs.

 

[slodat]

Ouch. Those old Netgear routers were a royal pain for me with VPN setups over the years. I finally gave up on them completely. I'm glad you're liking the Ubiquiti stuff -- they seem to have the right combo of easy setup and good specs.

They were a pain for me as well. I only had OpenVPN working on my phone, which was the bare minimum I needed. The Ubiquiti VPN server setup is dirt simple. Along with the rest of it. I ordered one of the nice POE switches. It will have a 10G uplink to the router. Future proof for many years for my uses.

 

[slodat]

Proud to share the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business certification process for my company is completed! ⁣

 

[MadeByMiller]

Proud to share the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business certification process for my company is completed! ⁣

Congratulations and thank you for your service and sacrifice!

 

[slodat]

What are you working on these days?

Apparently making a lot of scrap!

 

[slodat]

Came across this thread on Blue Iris and found out I can make a small change on my camera settings and free up a bunch of CPU utilization. Before:




And after:



Machine has 16GB RAM. Adding an additional 32GB is only a few bucks. I’ll probably add another big storage drive while I'm at it. Doubling cameras shouldn’t be an issue for this machine at all now.

 

[GeddyT]

I'm kind of surprised security would be an issue in your neck of the woods. Small town USA not what it used to be?