hobby
What will it cost to make this for me?
I receive requests from designers and people with ideas asking if I can make something for them. Most of the time I say no, because I have enough projects of my own on which I would like to be working. There are also some designs that are beyond my means, usually because it is too large or requires special tooling and materials. (I wish I could charge the designer for the new tools!!) Some if not most of the designs also suffer from knowledge of how things are made on machine tools. The sketches and drawings show holes where they can’t be drilled or unnecessary and difficult areas requiring multiple setups.
These requests show that there is a need for prototyping services and these inventors and idea people have problems turning their ideas into products.
But prototyping is not as simple as sending out an unproven design for bids. (Yes, I know it is done.) But I am talking about solicitations from hobbyist and small time inventors who have never worked with a prototype or even in a machine shop. A good design is one that can also be made as inexpensively as possible on standard machines and tooling. That seldom happens on the version #1.
What I am saying is the folks who approach me don’t realize their design may need a lot of cooperation (face time) between the designer and the maker. Of course I am not talking about a bar of aluminum with two holes drilled into it. The designer can do that himself. I see the hard stuff, like machining threads on a very thin tube and the tube is thinner than the thread depth. (Yes, I have seen this.)
Outsourcing prototyping is not inexpensive. Building a prototype may cost 100 to 1000 times what… Continue reading
Weekend Puttering
While waiting for the new stepper couplings for the HB2 to arrive, I decided to do a little house cleaning around the shop. After pushing things around for a few hours, and sucking up what debris I could with the shopvac, I figured I should lube the ways on my machine tools. I can appreciate a one shot lube system as I have to do mine the long slow way. I finished and every machine is operating pretty slick now…
I spent a lot of time detailing out the Taig CNC mill. It is still in wonderful shape after all the machining it has done. That is really a great little milling machine in its size and class. I had to fire it up with the MACH3 in control and it wasn’t long before I was dreaming about the next project I should be running in CNC on that machine. In fact I “air cut” a couple of projects just to give the parts (mechanical and electronic) a little work out. It runs so sweet!
I have added a new Proxxon rotary hand tool to my workbench. I have more than I can handle (literally) but there is always room for just one more. This new tool is the Proxxon Micromot 50/E low voltage rotary hand tool. This is the first one of the 12-18 volt tools I have tried and I am amazed!
I already have and operate the Proxxon IB/E professional 120 Volt rotary tool. It is wonderful and definitely exceeds my two Dremel rotary tools in quality.
The 50/E is about ½ the size and power of the IB/E but is every bit as good. It is lighter, smaller and easier to hold for long periods of detail rotary work. I think I will prefer using… Continue reading
Broke My Axe
The HB2 broke a coupling on the Y axis again. The couplings have been fine for 6 months. Must be more loads on it than I thought, but it is the axis with the dual steppers. It should have ½ the loads. The X and Z axis have never been a problem.
I thought it was most likely an alignment problem causing the couplings to flex too much. I was very particular in checking the alignment in the last replacement.
This time I am ordering extra heavy couplings from PDJ. They are the same style and exact size as I have been using but are built much stronger. They are a bit less expensive too, probably because Phil buys them in greater volume.
The failure spoiled a project I was cutting. Always happens near the end don’t you just know… I am glad it was a concept part and not some valuable slab of rare wood.
Cold Weather Choices
I spent the weekend deciding weather (sic) to spend time in my 35 degree workshop or my 72 degree home office. (Pun intended). You can probably correctly guess the office won the fair share of the coin tosses.
I can warm up the garage with electric heaters and make it a somewhat enjoyable work space at approximately 62 degrees air temperature. However, I am working on installing a very precise digital readout (DRO) on my big mill and I would like the temperatures to be a bit more stable. I can get the air to 62 but it takes awhile for the big chunk of cast iron and steel (of which the machine is made) to get up to temperature.
I have the non critical work done but the fine tuning needs a few days at a bit warmer temperature. It is all in the joy of trying to maintain precision in a changing environment like an unconditioned garage shop. Open the garage door in winter conditions and “whoosh”, instantly floods in 27 degree air.
I am jealous of the climate controlled workshops of some home machinists. Actually the temperature is not a problem when it stays constant. It is the warming and cooling that is the problem. Starting a series of milling operations at 40 degrees and finish at 75, the dimension reference (datum) will change. It changes anyway because the part being milled gets hot while cutting, but it is nice to reduce some of the variables. Home shop projects usually don’t demand super tight control.
The DRO PROS project will have a full product report in The Hobbyist Machine Shop is a few weeks. Watch for it. (Tell ’em Dan’l sent ya!)
The office work consisted of upgrading two of my computers. I won’t spend much… Continue reading
Taking Stock
I am sitting here in my work shop typing away at the shop computer. Until I started typing I was just surveying the machine tools and just sort of taking stock. I always do that, especially after a clean up session. That’s another thing I just did. I gave the workshop a good clean up.
Now the clean up is not a perfect one but it looks better than it has in a long time. I have had just too many things going on with the disasters and all, to stay on top of it. But now I actually have clean space again to work on projects.
To me “taking stock” is not so much a literal term but includes examining myself and deciding what are my work shop goals and objectives. I let the HB2 project kind of rule the shop. That is what was needed to stay on track and get it completed. HB2 took about a year. Time really flies. Now I am considering , “What now”? HB2 will get a workout on carving projects but I need some metal work too. The Pennsy A3 is still calling me.
I renewed my subscription to the Model Engine Builder. I like IC engines as well as EC and there are some folks doing wonders in miniature engines. The shop I have is perfect for most of that work so I am considering another engine project. Probably a model airplane Diesel or glow plug engine. I’ll see what grabs me…