Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop
- Thread starter slodat
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
Long, hard day in the shop.. the upside is it dawned on me I could use magnets and moving blankets to keep chips from the Haas off the router. Worked really well.
I’ve been working on how to form these 3’ x 7’ switchboard doors on my 5’ brake. The trick is to split the bend. Like this:
Then each half can be bent separately. Took some noodling to get it dialed in. An in progress iteration:
After some more experimenting, I got this:
Obviously I have some more learning to do on the metal finishing. This is the first one I welded up.
This is the blank preparing to bend:
3’ x 7’ of 14ga weighs in the neighborhood of 60 pounds. I had a friend helping me manhandle these at the brake today. I thought they were going well.. until I leaned the second up against the first, face to face.
That bow is bent across the width. I don’t have a way to flatten it for welding. I think if I had a fixture table or similar, I could have sorted it out, and then welded up the slit. Being down to the wire schedule wise doesn’t help with the stress, neither does being tired. I signed up for all of it, so no complaining here. Simply living the reality of it all. Truly grateful for amazing clients that take calls on a Saturday, and are willing to look for a path forward.
The path forward:
Not what my client or I wanted to do on this project, but it’s where we are. I have to weld in a 1/2” “inlet” of sorts that frames each opening from the back of the panel. This keeps fingers from getting into the panel when operating the circuit breaker handle. The existing door is cut open and this is bolted to it, forming a trim bezel or something along those lines.
Lots of learning. Which I love. I often don’t love it while it’s happening, and am grateful for the knowledge and experience once it is installed and folks are happy. Thanks to @cycle61, for everything.
I’ve been working on how to form these 3’ x 7’ switchboard doors on my 5’ brake. The trick is to split the bend. Like this:
Then each half can be bent separately. Took some noodling to get it dialed in. An in progress iteration:
After some more experimenting, I got this:
Obviously I have some more learning to do on the metal finishing. This is the first one I welded up.
This is the blank preparing to bend:
3’ x 7’ of 14ga weighs in the neighborhood of 60 pounds. I had a friend helping me manhandle these at the brake today. I thought they were going well.. until I leaned the second up against the first, face to face.
That bow is bent across the width. I don’t have a way to flatten it for welding. I think if I had a fixture table or similar, I could have sorted it out, and then welded up the slit. Being down to the wire schedule wise doesn’t help with the stress, neither does being tired. I signed up for all of it, so no complaining here. Simply living the reality of it all. Truly grateful for amazing clients that take calls on a Saturday, and are willing to look for a path forward.
The path forward:
Not what my client or I wanted to do on this project, but it’s where we are. I have to weld in a 1/2” “inlet” of sorts that frames each opening from the back of the panel. This keeps fingers from getting into the panel when operating the circuit breaker handle. The existing door is cut open and this is bolted to it, forming a trim bezel or something along those lines.
Lots of learning. Which I love. I often don’t love it while it’s happening, and am grateful for the knowledge and experience once it is installed and folks are happy. Thanks to @cycle61, for everything.
The holes in the panel are for the circuit breaker handle. This is a dead front that I'm making. The goal is for it to look nice. two of the breakers have a 3/4" setback from the plane of the panel. I'm making an inlet for these openings.
The plasma table's drill unit continues to be awesome:
After the drilling, then the cutting:
A little metal prep, and a trip to the press brake yields these:
Jason's (Fireball tool) various fabrication tools are a huge time saver, and they really help with the overall finished product. An example:
I'm happy with my vertical welds.. finally:
Welded up and ready to weld to the panel:
The holes are for a plug weld on each side. Fixture table really rocks for this project.
The end result:
The milling clamps hold things in place and help with warping and other movement of the metal from the weld heat. The larger openings don't have an inlet. Long day. Lots to do in the morning.
The plasma table's drill unit continues to be awesome:
After the drilling, then the cutting:
A little metal prep, and a trip to the press brake yields these:
Jason's (Fireball tool) various fabrication tools are a huge time saver, and they really help with the overall finished product. An example:
I'm happy with my vertical welds.. finally:
Welded up and ready to weld to the panel:
The holes are for a plug weld on each side. Fixture table really rocks for this project.
The end result:
The milling clamps hold things in place and help with warping and other movement of the metal from the weld heat. The larger openings don't have an inlet. Long day. Lots to do in the morning.
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I had to make about 35 of the inlets. That’s what I’m calling them anyway. This took quite a bit of figuring to get them right. They need to look OEM.. Once I had a design that worked and that I could produce consistently, it went really fast. Two bends on the press brake yielded these:
The Fireball Tool shims made a quick welding fixture.
From there I had to trim them when they are close together.
Ready for paint:
Getting good coverage on all the nooks, crannies, and crevices is a challenge.
Once I sorted that out painting went a lot better. I’m fighting outside temperatures with the paint. It’s causing some texture that I don’t see a way to avoid completely. I don’t think it looks bad, but I wish it was smooth like it’s supposed to be. I look forward to having a powder coating setup.
This one turned out smoother. It was significantly hotter yesterday and I got that texturing.
The Fireball Tool shims made a quick welding fixture.
From there I had to trim them when they are close together.
Ready for paint:
Getting good coverage on all the nooks, crannies, and crevices is a challenge.
Once I sorted that out painting went a lot better. I’m fighting outside temperatures with the paint. It’s causing some texture that I don’t see a way to avoid completely. I don’t think it looks bad, but I wish it was smooth like it’s supposed to be. I look forward to having a powder coating setup.
This one turned out smoother. It was significantly hotter yesterday and I got that texturing.
CudaChick1968
Member Emeritus
Cool!
From the future powder perspective, the spot welding is going to present you with some Faraday issues where the panels and backside "boxes" meet up. There is just enough gap to repel good adhesion which can create light spots on the front where you don't want them.
From the future powder perspective, the spot welding is going to present you with some Faraday issues where the panels and backside "boxes" meet up. There is just enough gap to repel good adhesion which can create light spots on the front where you don't want them.
Machine and machining update:
The Tree CNC mill had a bad X axis servo. It failed slowly, and took a lot of time and effort to troubleshoot. DMM warrantied the motor, but wouldn’t cross ship. Needless to say it has been down a while. Installed and tuned the new motor and it’s running great. I’m finally getting the rapids this machine should be running. Especially important on the longest axis. Upgraded the control to Centroid’s latest release and it’s good to go. It’s setup for a run of parts.
The Haas continues to be a reliable workhorse. I look forward to an enclosed replacement with a chip conveyor and through spindle coolant. For the time being, I’ll be sticking with the reliable workhorse and managing chips manually. It could be so much harder or worse.
I think I’m starting to make headway on the YCM/SuperMax Rebel 1. I finally got this:
It was easy once I knew where to ask. YCM sent me the whole manual stack in pdf. Just took a minute to sort out how to contact the right person. The Fanuc control is new to me, and a staple in the industry. I hope to have it making chips today or tomorrow.
The Hardinge CNC is about to start its first production contribution. It will be handling the OP2 on the brass pins- face to length, threading, and chamfer. Excited to no longer have to thread with a die on the manual lathe.
The Pacemaker is a dream to operate. Production manual machining is not something I get excited about. If I have to do it, and I do until the Okuma is setup and running, the Pacemaker is a nice machine for the task.
I haven’t started with the Okuma yet. I think I have most of what I need. I just need the time. Still hoping the seller will spend some time with me getting it going.
I have a big run I need to make a lot of progress on. I think I’ll have 2-5 spindles running the next several days.
The Tree CNC mill had a bad X axis servo. It failed slowly, and took a lot of time and effort to troubleshoot. DMM warrantied the motor, but wouldn’t cross ship. Needless to say it has been down a while. Installed and tuned the new motor and it’s running great. I’m finally getting the rapids this machine should be running. Especially important on the longest axis. Upgraded the control to Centroid’s latest release and it’s good to go. It’s setup for a run of parts.
The Haas continues to be a reliable workhorse. I look forward to an enclosed replacement with a chip conveyor and through spindle coolant. For the time being, I’ll be sticking with the reliable workhorse and managing chips manually. It could be so much harder or worse.
I think I’m starting to make headway on the YCM/SuperMax Rebel 1. I finally got this:
It was easy once I knew where to ask. YCM sent me the whole manual stack in pdf. Just took a minute to sort out how to contact the right person. The Fanuc control is new to me, and a staple in the industry. I hope to have it making chips today or tomorrow.
The Hardinge CNC is about to start its first production contribution. It will be handling the OP2 on the brass pins- face to length, threading, and chamfer. Excited to no longer have to thread with a die on the manual lathe.
The Pacemaker is a dream to operate. Production manual machining is not something I get excited about. If I have to do it, and I do until the Okuma is setup and running, the Pacemaker is a nice machine for the task.
I haven’t started with the Okuma yet. I think I have most of what I need. I just need the time. Still hoping the seller will spend some time with me getting it going.
I have a big run I need to make a lot of progress on. I think I’ll have 2-5 spindles running the next several days.
A turret or capstan lathe is indispensable for manual production lathe work.
Seller of the lathe and VMC came over and spent a few hours in the shop answering questions this afternoon. End result is I’ll have the VMC making parts hopefully tomorrow, and we did this on the Okuma:
End result:
I’m blown away at how user friendly the 1986 vintage control is on the Okuma. The surface finish will get even better when I’m not babying the feeds and speeds. I’m really happy with the machine and the results. Looking forward to a great day in the shop tomorrow!
I’ve been using more and more of the Haas tooling, inserts, etc. Really happy with it all. I’ve ordered nearly all the tooling for the Okuma and VMC from them. Price is good and quality seems to be there as well.
End result:
I’m blown away at how user friendly the 1986 vintage control is on the Okuma. The surface finish will get even better when I’m not babying the feeds and speeds. I’m really happy with the machine and the results. Looking forward to a great day in the shop tomorrow!
I’ve been using more and more of the Haas tooling, inserts, etc. Really happy with it all. I’ve ordered nearly all the tooling for the Okuma and VMC from them. Price is good and quality seems to be there as well.
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GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I have some turning I want to do this winter, so I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a good deal on a turning center. The plan has always been to pair a small turning center with the VMC and then maybe a pair of benchtop manual machines for small, quick jobs or stock squaring.
A few weeks ago, I noticed there was going to be an auction only a half hour from me, and they were selling an old turning center. Bigger than ideal, but I think I could make it barely fit. Since I wouldn't be able to make the preview, I figured I'd only bid if it were selling for a crazy low amount. For some reason, I confused the auction close date with the start date, so I logged in a few days ago to see this:
So, yeah, big forehead-******* there. At the same auction, a small Grizzly lathe sold for more.
There's another one in Everett that I have my eye on. Dual spindle, live tooling, 2003 vintage, and fits in the same footprint as the one above. We'll see.
A few weeks ago, I noticed there was going to be an auction only a half hour from me, and they were selling an old turning center. Bigger than ideal, but I think I could make it barely fit. Since I wouldn't be able to make the preview, I figured I'd only bid if it were selling for a crazy low amount. For some reason, I confused the auction close date with the start date, so I logged in a few days ago to see this:
So, yeah, big forehead-******* there. At the same auction, a small Grizzly lathe sold for more.
There's another one in Everett that I have my eye on. Dual spindle, live tooling, 2003 vintage, and fits in the same footprint as the one above. We'll see.
Been working long days trying to get a tooling order done. This run is going better than the last for lots of reasons. Incremental improvements really add up.
I’ve been working on getting the VMC and Okuma lathe up and running. Cleaned up the Kurt vises that came with the Haas, and mounted Carvesmart jaws. This one is close to being ready to run parts.
The Tree is doing a great job now that the servo issue is resolved. The communication cable stuff for the Okuma finally arrived today. Then I spent way too many hours trying to get the Okuma to receive a program over serial. I’m out of time to continue messing with it. Something is up, and I need to get these parts made. So.. I keyed the 160 lines in by hand. Not how I want to load programs into a machine. But, it’s where I’m at. Had a couple typos. Single Block mode helped prove it out. Here’s the end result:
I’m going to get the coolant system up and running first thing and then run the rest of these parts.
I’ve been working on getting the VMC and Okuma lathe up and running. Cleaned up the Kurt vises that came with the Haas, and mounted Carvesmart jaws. This one is close to being ready to run parts.
The Tree is doing a great job now that the servo issue is resolved. The communication cable stuff for the Okuma finally arrived today. Then I spent way too many hours trying to get the Okuma to receive a program over serial. I’m out of time to continue messing with it. Something is up, and I need to get these parts made. So.. I keyed the 160 lines in by hand. Not how I want to load programs into a machine. But, it’s where I’m at. Had a couple typos. Single Block mode helped prove it out. Here’s the end result:
I’m going to get the coolant system up and running first thing and then run the rest of these parts.
GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
When you get up and running and comfortable with that Okuma and are taking orders, let me know. I need a couple of steering stems, and I've decided to put off the search for a turning center.
LONG couple days in the shop sorting out the Okuma. For 1986 technology, I am truly impressed with the lathe. It is making some REALLY nice parts. I can only imagine what a 2000's era machine would do, let alone a new one. Bottom line with loading programs is, it's not trivial. Device communication has been a big aspect of my professional life for decades. This one is quite particular. It is really nice being able to get programs out of the control. It will be nice when I'm more experienced with the hand coding.
I succeeded in getting the Ellis bandsaw cutting a lot closer to square. This really helps with the following operations. Stock ready to feed the Okuma:
After a few minute cycle:
There's plenty of room for improvement. For hand coding the output of Fusion, and a lot of modifications after, I am quite happy with these first results. Then on to the Haas for OP2. I'm running two sizes at the same time. This gets the cycle time up.
Work in progress:
This gives an idea of the milling operation:
Feels good to have the Okuma making parts. I have two more turned parts to get programmed in it.
I succeeded in getting the Ellis bandsaw cutting a lot closer to square. This really helps with the following operations. Stock ready to feed the Okuma:
After a few minute cycle:
There's plenty of room for improvement. For hand coding the output of Fusion, and a lot of modifications after, I am quite happy with these first results. Then on to the Haas for OP2. I'm running two sizes at the same time. This gets the cycle time up.
Work in progress:
This gives an idea of the milling operation:
Feels good to have the Okuma making parts. I have two more turned parts to get programmed in it.
MadeByMiller
Well-known member
Really nice looking parts! Glad you're happy with the way things are headed with your new machine. Hopefully you're able to solve the communication issue.
GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
So is the turning op facing down in the vises in the milling op? The tapered end is opposite the milled end?
GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I'm guessing you've seen this thread on cnczone?
I kept dialing it in on different material shapes and sizes while I was cutting stock for this production run. It was really far off and it has been since new. Because it was far off, I snuck up on it from that direction. If it weren't far off, I'd knock it far off so you know which way to adjust. I do the same thing when tramming in a vise on the milling machines.
I’ve decided to move on with the Okuma. It is not accepting program transfers into the control. Continuing to spend time on it is most likely a wasted effort. I bought an offline conversational CAM program (KipwareT) that I think will help me write efficient gcode that leverages the Okuma canned cycles. If the only thing it does is OP1 on the six component I’ll be really happy with the machine.
In other news I signed with a new insurance company today. Getting insured as a machine shop/manufacturer is not trivial or inexpensive. It does seem worth it though.
Lastly, I completed my Prusa XL order yesterday. They shipped within a few hours. Excited to have the two head XL in the shop soon. Hopefully next week.
In other news I signed with a new insurance company today. Getting insured as a machine shop/manufacturer is not trivial or inexpensive. It does seem worth it though.
Lastly, I completed my Prusa XL order yesterday. They shipped within a few hours. Excited to have the two head XL in the shop soon. Hopefully next week.
MadeByMiller
Well-known member
Sorry to hear that you won't be able to solve the communication issue, but it sounds like you have a good plan moving forward with the machine. You must have placed your XL order really quickly! Hopefully that means that mine will be coming up soon. Yesterday I read a post that was sent to me where a guy claimed to have placed his order near the end of the opening pre order day. He asked Prusa when he could expect to receive his shipping notification, they told him some time in November...
Succeeded in getting one of the brass pins programmed in the Okuma. Ended up buying an offline conversational lathe CAM program KipwareT. They did a training session this morning to help get me going with the software. I hand-keyed it into the Okuma, setup the chuck jaws for the smaller material, and this is what we have:
End result:
And, I came across a really good deal on a rather large, awesome VMC today. It will be a couple weeks before it gets to the shop.
The photos don't do the size justice. 50 x 26 travels with a 59 x 26 table. It has all the trimmings and appears to be in really good shape.
Of course a call to @GeddyT was in order to get his input on the machine. Thanks, Tom! I believe I will be moving the press brake into the main bay, and removing the Mohawk lift to make room for it.
End result:
And, I came across a really good deal on a rather large, awesome VMC today. It will be a couple weeks before it gets to the shop.
The photos don't do the size justice. 50 x 26 travels with a 59 x 26 table. It has all the trimmings and appears to be in really good shape.
Of course a call to @GeddyT was in order to get his input on the machine. Thanks, Tom! I believe I will be moving the press brake into the main bay, and removing the Mohawk lift to make room for it.
RickP
Well-known member
That new VMC looks like it's in great shape.
The Hurco brothers unite!
The Hurco brothers unite!
MadeByMiller
Well-known member
Wowww, congrats on the purchase!
GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
With the conversational CAM software for the Okuma, how do you get those programs into the machine? Are you still entering by hand at the control?
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Steven, you are going to have a well equipped machine shop. And now that you have all of those machines, is a new employee going to be in your future?
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Dan - good question. I am thinking about it. I feel it’s quite a way down the road at this point. Obviously time will tell.
I fought turning the larger brass pins all day yesterday. It’s 4.5” x .8125”. One end has a simple chamfer, the other a 1/2” long thread. OP1 in the Okuma has 4.1” of material sticking out the chuck. Brass gets these waves when there’s vibration. I fought it all day. As soon as I thought I had a good program, a couple parts later and it would be weird. I just never got it sorted. I didn’t take a single photo. I had the same thing happen on the manual lathe, but turning hand wheels you can make dynamic changes. Good news is I know the Okuma control pretty well now.
The threaded end is being done on the Accuslide. For some reason after the third perfect part, it started screwing up. Hoping to get that figured out this morning.
I share this to say.. this stuff looks easy when it’s all photos of decent looking parts and what not. It takes a ton of time to learn how to run a new machine, material, cutter, nose radius, control, process, etc. Most of that time is chasing my tail!
The Prusa XL cleared customs and I promptly paid the $130 customs duty bill. DHL still says it’s going to take 10 days to get here from Ohio. Excited to put it to work. I’m hoping the long wait results in a good working machine out of the box.
I fought turning the larger brass pins all day yesterday. It’s 4.5” x .8125”. One end has a simple chamfer, the other a 1/2” long thread. OP1 in the Okuma has 4.1” of material sticking out the chuck. Brass gets these waves when there’s vibration. I fought it all day. As soon as I thought I had a good program, a couple parts later and it would be weird. I just never got it sorted. I didn’t take a single photo. I had the same thing happen on the manual lathe, but turning hand wheels you can make dynamic changes. Good news is I know the Okuma control pretty well now.
The threaded end is being done on the Accuslide. For some reason after the third perfect part, it started screwing up. Hoping to get that figured out this morning.
I share this to say.. this stuff looks easy when it’s all photos of decent looking parts and what not. It takes a ton of time to learn how to run a new machine, material, cutter, nose radius, control, process, etc. Most of that time is chasing my tail!
The Prusa XL cleared customs and I promptly paid the $130 customs duty bill. DHL still says it’s going to take 10 days to get here from Ohio. Excited to put it to work. I’m hoping the long wait results in a good working machine out of the box.
It took all dam day, but I have the Accuslide running OP2 on the pins.
The timelapse is deceiving. It's a six minute cycle. The nature of the setup, stickout, tool, etc mean I take 0.015 depth of cut at 8in/min. I'll take reliable and slower over fast and problematic every single time.
Parts are looking good as well. They get tumbled, so it's not a big deal to have a small surface finish anomaly.
This is the current tool setup. It may be in this configuration for a very long time now that it's working!
The timelapse is deceiving. It's a six minute cycle. The nature of the setup, stickout, tool, etc mean I take 0.015 depth of cut at 8in/min. I'll take reliable and slower over fast and problematic every single time.
Parts are looking good as well. They get tumbled, so it's not a big deal to have a small surface finish anomaly.
This is the current tool setup. It may be in this configuration for a very long time now that it's working!
lilscorpion
Well-known member
Bad ***. Bet you’re running between machines trying to keep them fed…miss this days. Parts are lookin good!
I'm getting there. I will be on the next run of all these parts. I'm still getting everything setup. Trying to go easy on myself and the process. I've literally never ran a CNC lathe prior to a few days ago. I'm excited for the next run. It should be a dance with the machines.
Once the parts are machined, and tumbled focus moves to the lasers. The co2 laser cuts all the foam.
It took a lot of trial and error earlier this year to get working setups for the 30mm and 57mm thick foam. Each kit has two layers of each thickness. There’s about an hour in cutting all four layers for each kit.
In progress shot shows layers.
This production run getting engraved.
The money shot! Dropped with the freight company. This run went a lot better, faster, and noticeable improvements in the end product.
This run was the first time using the Accuslide in a production setting. A key to the collet lathe is a depth stop. I was able to make do with some stuff I had, but I wanted to reduce the stick out from the collet.
These collet extensions and collet stop are really slick and perfect for the parts I’m making.
It took a lot of trial and error earlier this year to get working setups for the 30mm and 57mm thick foam. Each kit has two layers of each thickness. There’s about an hour in cutting all four layers for each kit.
In progress shot shows layers.
This production run getting engraved.
The money shot! Dropped with the freight company. This run went a lot better, faster, and noticeable improvements in the end product.
This run was the first time using the Accuslide in a production setting. A key to the collet lathe is a depth stop. I was able to make do with some stuff I had, but I wanted to reduce the stick out from the collet.
These collet extensions and collet stop are really slick and perfect for the parts I’m making.
GeddyT
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Does the Prusa do something the X1 doesn't or is this just added capacity?
360mm cubed build volume, hopefully Prusa reliability, and two tool heads for the one I bought. After getting the X1C, it’s build volume for me. Obviously the X1C has four spools at the ready. I was in the first wave of dual head pre-orders. I’m excited to put it to work. 14” is a big print.
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