Above 1200 Sq/FT Eastern Washington Workshop

[loganb]

Reaching out to see how things are in WA and hope the shop(s) and life are treating you well up there!

 

[Jayman17]

Yeah me too, I was thinking it’s been awhile since you have posted anything.
Hope you are well...

Jay

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Well I think he's still a newlywed, you know, just saying.
I hope all is well!

 

[Jayman17]

Yes, now that he is married I expect his shop time to increase dramatically

Jay

 

[slodat]

I haven't gotten used to the new forum software yet. I completely deleted tapatalk after I read what Ryan posted they had pulled with him.

Not a whole lot going on in the shop really. I changed jobs and I use the shop for my office. So, I'm spending time in the shop, just not much project work going on lately. A few things for the wife here and there.

Edit: some things just don't work out. I'd rather not talk about it. Back to my regularly scheduled programming. I'll have more time for the shop.

 

[cycle61]

Hey, this is Nick. You owe me about a half a night's sleep, I just powered through this whole thread in the last 24 hours. Awesome build! I'll have to try and make it up there soon.

 

[slodat]

Hey, this is Nick. You owe me about a half a night's sleep, I just powered through this whole thread in the last 24 hours. Awesome build! I'll have to try and make it up there soon.

Nice - glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for checking out the shop (online). I told you there was a lot here! You are welcome anytime. Let's make it happen!

 

[slodat]

These two showed up in FB memories today. Crazy that it has been four years since this was completed. I smile every time I drive up to the shop. So much better. Maybe one day in the not too distant future I'll get concrete going on the shop drive.

 

[zmotorsports]

Shop has come a long way over the years Steven. Hope things work our for you in whatever you're going through. Best wishes as I know life can throw us some curve balls once in a while.

 

[slodat]

Thanks Mike! This thread is inspiring. That sounds weird to say because it's my shop thread. I really appreciate the support and encouragement!

Anyone curious: While I don't want to get into it in a public forum, because it's not productive and it doesn't matter, I also understand that this is a community. Simply put, no longer married. It happens. Like I said above, I'd rather not talk about it here.

More shop time!

 

[Bob Heine]

Steven, none of my business and please know I'm here because of your shop(s). My attitude is that every day is a gift. Sometimes the gift is a flaming bag of poop on the front porch.

How's the '54 doing?

 

[Finallygotit]

This too shall pass........no worries. Things usually happen for a reason and usually work out for the best. Too bad we're not closer, I'd take you out for an adult beverage or two.

Take care!

 

[slodat]

Bob - '54 is doing a good job keeping the lift company and holding the floor down It's on the list of priorities. I'm thinking it's time to get it to the shop that's going to fix the door openings (the door edge gap is goofy) and fit all of the door glass & stainless. Yeah.. that's probably next.

Dan - I like adult beverages!

Thanks guys! I'm doing well. I've been slowly, barely, starting to run and ride my bicycle. It ***** right now because I'm nearly fifty and didn’t exercise much for way too long. I trust the process and I'm sure(?) I'll be enjoying it sometime in the future. I like the part where it's getting me outside.

The top bike I’ve had a long time. Turns out the shop that sold it to me changed how they fit bikes over the years and now they agree it’s too small for me.

The workout gear:


(yes.. I have two pairs of the same running shoes in different colors. I know...)

The new ride:


It's a damn nice bike and a BLAST to ride. The 1x "mullet" drivetrain is amazing. Mullet meaning single small chainring in the front and very wide range rear cassette. Hydraulic brakes, wireless electronic shifting. It is a great ride!

 

[slodat]

After a lot of reading, asking questions, more reading and so on... ordered another robot for the shop:



Shop Sabre SideKick 8 (4' x 8') CNC plasma table with a Hypertherm 85. I opted for the drill attachment:



And the operator station like in this photo:



Lead times on everything are really long. This is no exception.

 

[Jayman17]

I was wondering about you when I saw your thread on my list of watched threads the other day.
Nice to see an update and that will be a cool new addition to your shop.

Jay

 

[rattle_snake]

Wow that is a nice plasma table. That and I want one so I shall give you a 'you ****'.

 

[slodat]

Jay- thank you. Will be a nice addition to the shop.
Justin- they are taking orders

They sent the serial number today. I’m officially in the production queue. Looks like end of January.

Ordered consumables and a refrigerated air dryer. Should have everything ready when it arrives.

 

[harley jim]

Glad to see you back Steven

 

[slodat]

Some of the plasma air supply stuff started showing up. Schulz (made in Italy) high temperature refrigerated air dryer, Sharpe 2 stage filter and desiccant and some associate plumbing. The Shulz dryers come highly recommended. Seems like a good setup for the price. The high temperature input wasn't necessary because the compressor has an aftercooler. It was available without a long lead time and it didn't add a whole lot on price. So, I went with it.





The two filter stages will be upstream of the refrigerated dryer, the desiccant downstream.


Lastly, a bunch of Hypertherm consumables.

 

[harley jim]

Somebody is playing with a plas table

 

[slodat]

Ordered a CNC plasma a couple weeks ago. Doing what I can to get ready for it while they build it. Received an email yesterday day saying it was in the production queue and all parts were on hand. Pretty cool that they have customer liaisons that keep you updated on the status of your machine build.

 

[harley jim]

That is very cool in this day and time.
I had a hypertherm table when I ran the fab shop, it was a good table

 

[slodat]

Decided to run a bypass around the air filter / dryer setup. Hopefully my last order from Rapid Air on this portion of the project. This is the basic idea:



from the left:

• tank main isolation valve
• Full pressure outlet with moisture drain and isolation valve
• Pressure regulator
• Solenoid operated soft start valve (allows remote control of header)
• T: up is bypass, straight to filter inlet isolation valve
• Stage 1 filter
• Stage 2 filter
• Refrigerated air dryer
• Stage 3 desiccant
• Filter outlet isolation valve
• Bypass T
• Out to the shop

This allows the entire filtration/dryer system to be bypassed for times when I don’t want or need it in service.

 

[Bob Heine]

Steven, excellent idea. Then again, I'm biased because I did basically the same thing but my system doesn't have a refrigerant dryer. It feels like a waste to be drying a wet engine with filtered and conditioned air.

 

[slodat]

Bob - that's the idea. I don't have reason to believe I have much in the way of moisture in the air system in general. Everything I've read about cnc plasma says to get the air as clean and dry as possible. So, that's what I'm going for. I plan to have the filtration/dryer bypassed when I don't need it. The laser, plasma and any painting will appreciate it though.

 

[slodat]

Slowly beginning to adjust, recover, and heal from the nightmare that was my last year (failed marriage). Aka I finally had a really nice day in the shop. Making things is always a good day. Organization is often also quite cathartic.

I ordered (a lot) of hand tools from Tekton for my road box. I don’t do much in the way of work in the tools these days in my executive management role. With that said, I still want a dialed in road box for when I’m on job sites for many reasons. I picked up a few things in the Tekton order for the shop. One of which was their made in USA punch and chisel set. The longest punch doesn’t fit in the Schaller bin.



I’ve been wanting to draw these up so I can make custom bins for way too long. My coworker got me thinking about Fusion recently. So.. this.



All dimensions in this model are parameters. This makes it trivial to change size. Next was to print it.






End result:




I like the way it turned out. The Prusa i3MK3 is an amazing printer. I pre-ordered their XL they just announced. It has a 36cm cube volume. I’ll be able to print 14” bins among many other, more useful things.

I have some red PETG coming. Maybe it will match the Schaller’s red better.

 

[harley jim]

Nice box!
I've been wanting to jump into 3D printing for a long time, a friend of mine keeps asking me to come and see his print farm, and it might help me decide what to buy.

 

[slodat]

Hands down, my advice is to buy an assembled Prusa from Prusa. A lot of people suggest assembling yourself. I didn't want a project, I wanted a printer that works. I've had it two years. Hundreds of error free prints later, it was a great choice. I ordered the XL assembled as well.

 

[harley jim]

That's the name that keeps coming up, I just need to bite the bullet

 

[loganb]

Another member here excited to get the pre-ordered XL in 6 or 9 months....

And agree....for people who want a printer that works and allows you to print instead of work on the printer you can't beat a Prusa if the budget allows it.

 

[slodat]

Also recommend building an OctoPi for the Prusa. Makes sending G code to the printer effortless. Well worth the minimal effort.

 

[slodat]

Waiting for me when I got to the shop this morning. Got a little fuzz in one corner on each one. Not sure what’s up with it. Doesn’t matter for my intended use and it cleans up with minimal effort.

 

[nicholam77]

I’ve been wanting to draw these up so I can make custom bins for way too long. My coworker got me thinking about Fusion recently. So.. this.

Cool! I made a similar box recently for some drill bits. I have little to no CAD experience but hacked my way through it in Fusion. Being able to 3D print custom projects and the parametric design is awesome.

Also recommend building an OctoPi for the Prusa. Makes sending G code to the printer effortless. Well worth the minimal effort.

I really want to get this set up, but can't find a Pi board that's not currently priced as to what can only be described as extortion. I don't have Raspberry Pi experience, but with the new Zero 2 W board certified for OctoPi I think I'll try that... when it's not going for 3x the MSRP.

 

[23ford]

Sir I hated to see things did not work out but to let you know a similar thing happened to me after 6.5 weeks of marriage. But a couple of years later it did and we have been married for over 30 years.

 

[slodat]

Cool! I made a similar box recently for some drill bits. I have little to no CAD experience but hacked my way through it in Fusion. Being able to 3D print custom projects and the parametric design is awesome.



I really want to get this set up, but can't find a Pi board that's not currently priced as to what can only be described as extortion. I don't have Raspberry Pi experience, but with the new Zero 2 W board certified for OctoPi I think I'll try that... when it's not going for 3x the MSRP.

If you haven’t already, take a look at user parameters in Fusion. All dimensions in that model are user parameters. They are editable in one table. Change the length and the model is updated. Works really well for making every sized box in one model.

I didn't know the Pi’s were short on availability. The OctoPi makes the printer so much more user friendly and effortless. Drop the gcode in a browser window and it starts printing. No more sneaker net with an SC card.

Thanks for following along and contributing to the conversation!

 

[slodat]

The red Overture PETG is plenty close enough in color to the Schaller bins. Looks good! Now I can make any size I want, with straight vertical walls.





I ordered one of the new HF 34” service carts today. Black Friday deal was too good to pass up. It along with the Tekton stuff I picked up will tool up the lift bay quite well for when I’m working on a car.

Lastly, Toolbox Widget did come through with a more complete wrench label set. The Tekton wrenches and sockets are hard to beat for the price.

 

[slodat]

Well… If all goes according to plan, I’ll be bringing these two machines and a lot of tooling home next weekend.

2001 Haas Tool Room Mill.



Acra 16x40 engine lathe


Both are very well tooled up. Also lucked upon this guy when we ran to HF today.



They really got it right with the Icon stuff. Now to get to rearranging and making room for the new machines.

 

[cycle61]

Not only a decade head start, but you're increasing the lead. Unfair. Lol.

 

[racer-john]

Nice haul, I don't know if this deserves a "you ****", no price shown. Lol.

 

[slodat]

We shall see what tools and tooling come home with me. It’s not a “you ****” kinda price. It’s a fair price.