Workshop
Chips
The metal machining area and tools of my workshop have seen some action today. The Taig CNC mill has been busy cutting the 6061-T6 aluminum making 1 inch wrenches I designed for the Taig ER16 spindle and collet nut. I have been selling them under the KautzCraft brand in my store. It seems appropriate that the machine the wrenches are designed to fit are also making the wrenches.
The aluminum was purchased from Online Metals. They have a distributor in Grand Prairie, TX which is southwest of Dallas. Round trip from my studio was exactly one hour 30 minutes. Tolls and gas were probably almost as much as shipping would have been. I had the time and I wanted to see the supplier. I didn’t get past the will-call, but it is a large impressive warehouse and cut to order shop. It’s actual business name here is ThyssenKrupp. I don’t know anything beyond that.
Win 10 was giving me a bit of a struggle running CNC as I forgot to disconnect the LAN connection and WIN 10 decided it needed to do an update in the middle of my wrench making. No choice. It just corrupted MACH3 and locked it up, luckily just after I finished a part. Only choice offered was load update and quit or load update and reboot. No wait until later.
I had to find something else to do for about an hour as Microsoft did its thing. I won’t forget to pull the LAN connection next time. I did just that when I resumed work. Next upgrade will be on MY terms. Grrr… I think there is a way to block internet connection while letting the computer access and share files on the LAN. That’s all I need it to do.
The wrench… Continue reading
Model Engine Builder 2016
I have always looked forward to getting my copy of Model Engine Builder (MEB)
If you want to build model engines this is the publication to get. There is also a free Newsletter:
“Sign up today for our free newsletter at www.modelenginebuilder.com. The sign-up form is on the right of the page. This newsletter contains some articles from the magazine but more information about other relevant issues like taking good pictures of models, etc.
Go check out their website listed above or click on the logo and start your subscription today. I just re-newed my subscription and I am not even sure where I stood on my previous one. The fact is for me each issue alone is always worth the cost of a subscription.
The author, Michael Rehmus just sent me (and probably many other subscribers) an email regarding the timeliness of his publications. The schedule is intended to be tri-monthly. However, Michael has been and still is enduring some very serious heart problems. He received a new heart valve replacement and is presently battling an infection with that surgery.
That has understandably slowed down work on the magazine. The next publication has been pushed to late October, 2016. He and his wife Toni, run a very small publication house they call Elmwood Publishing, Inc.. But he hasn’t forgotten about his subscribers. Let me say his heart is still in it. Sorry Mike, bad pun, but it’s the truth…
I figured my renewal is a vote of confidence. If you have never subscribed, now is the time. It is not all that expensive and the information is priceless, whenever it comes.
If you ARE a model engine builder, this is the publication to which you want to contribute. Mike is always looking for tips, tricks, pictures of… Continue reading
Adding and Subtracting
Taig CNC Mill with 3D Parts.
I purchased a new 3D printer I have been using intensively for a few weeks. It is a low end hobbyist machine of what is called a RepRap design. You can read much more about it in Ramblin’ Dan’s Workshop. Here is a link to the section on 3D Printing.
What’s so cool is that now I am capable of both additive and subtractive creating. I have put the two together in an article, Taig Mill Swarf Blower, in the THMS main web site. The resulting combination is shown in the picture on the right.
I have a little struggle with where I should publish my efforts with the 3D printer. Does it really belong in with the regular “old school” machine shop? It’s certainly not old school but I think it would fit in well here. I have chosen to publish what I do with 3D printing over in Ramblin’ Dan’s Workshop as I include all my nonspecific to machining activities there.
The 3D printer I own and wish to afford cannot compete with the precision I can obtain with conventional machining. It’s the second reason I don’t publish it here. My output surface quality with the printer is a little bit in conflict with the “perfect” in my slogan, “One Perfect Part at a Time.” But that doesn’t make it a bad tool.
3D printing, as I can produce it with my machine, will have a lot of application in the machine shop. The first practical application I developed is linked in the second paragraph above. I can make plastic parts I would not try to do otherwise. The entire process is based on slicing a 3D object into 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, or 0.3 mm layers. Then building… Continue reading
Killer Heat
I operate three PC type computers in my workshop and each controls a separate CNC machine. I have two Taig CNC mills and a home brew (HB2) CNC gantry router. Two of the computers are refurbished., small form factor size. I paid no more than $100 for each of them. One is an HP Compaq and the other is labeled a Compaq. Their styles are different. The third is very similar but larger bare bones built up. Probably $250 invested in it.
None of them have great internal cooling as they were designed to operate in conditioned spaces. My shop operates at outdoor temperature. It’s been running 95 degrees in there for the last two weeks. Outside it has been very near 100.
The larger case unit running the HB2 has stopped suddenly twice in the middle of a long run. It ruined one piece and almost ruined the re-run second. It is not going to be put back into service again in this hot weather.
The HP-Compaq computer is a sweet little machine, or at least it was. I just let it upgrade from Windows 7 pro to Windows 10. I use it with a smooth stepper so I don’t have to be concerned about pulse timing. The upgrade took many hours of loading and saving files. It converted just fine and MACH3 and the Smooth Stepper were performing well with Win10.
HP-Compaq
I left it on for a day with it doing nothing but staying on the network. I wanted to see if WIN 10 was going to do any self-updating since the install. When I came back to it the computer was dead. There is a single blinking LED on the motherboard constantly flashing at about 1 Hz with a slight audible click.
I did a lot… Continue reading
Coasting on the Flat
Maintaining steam but not building speed on the A3. I am coasting at the moment. A honey-do piano stool restoration has taken over the workspace in my shop. Staining, shellac and urethane require a fairly pristine atmosphere. With the cool temperatures and now (finally) a bit of rain the drying process is slow.
Staining is over but I am looking at about three coats of shellac and then a coat or two of polyurethane. Sanding between coats of course.
The teardown and rebuild is the easy part but finish work is laborious. Metal chips flying soon.