Making due with what you have.

[Chipmakr]

I was researching work holding and automation and ran across this video. I thought it was a cool example of using your brain to figure out how to create capacity and get the most out of what you have to work with.

 

 

 

If you guys have anything similar please share.

[Sticky]

I've seen that one a few times. I really like the attitude and idea, parts wouldn't exactly be showcase samples but its just too creative to really bag on it.

[Greg Williams]

Nice one, A mill with a barfeeder

[Newbeeee™]

Love the idea and implementation of the cut off slide.

To me, this is the true definition of engineering - very creative ideas.

Thanks for posting

[specv]

I remember doing a part with 2 dowels pressed in (light press) and we loaded up the parts and loaded a little fixture with all the dowels, we made a sleeve with a detent that would hold the pins in the spindle. We machined the part, blew out the holes and pressed the pins in with the machine and the parts came out complete and went to shipping.

[specv]

Also on the part in my sig, I built a Right angle tool to create an internal radius using a right angle air grinder and a carbide ball-burr. Using the air through the spindle to run the grinder and worked awesome.

[The Cathedral]

I remember doing a part with 2 dowels pressed in (light press) and we loaded up the parts and loaded a little fixture with all the dowels, we made a sleeve with a detent that would hold the pins in the spindle. We machined the part, blew out the holes and pressed the pins in with the machine and the parts came out complete and went to shipping.

 

We're running a job now doing something similar: hinge pieces for armored vehicles, each hinge half has to have two bronze bearings pressed in. The machine swings a tool to the door and the operator slides a bearing on the tool, and then it presses it in. Afterwards it reams and mills them to size. Of course, this is an HMC so no worry about the bearing sliding off the tool.

[Helmut]

Very cool ideas for sure, but I fail to see how the time and effort to design the saw slide and the cycle time to cut it of is worth the effort unless the material is unobtainium and it's not worth throwing away material in order to use a 1/4" EM to part that sumbitch off in a fraction of the time...

[taperlength]

Ingenious devices. Of course, a multi-axis lathe will do the same thing a lot easier.

[Chipmakr]

Thanks to you guys for sharing your good ideas.

 

To you guys who are being critical, I believe your kind of missing the point.

 

I can't say that I would have everything the way this fellow did it. That does not stop me from being able to appreciate his ingenuity. He obviously had a very nice Star swiss turn set up with bar feeder that the camera man walked right by. He also had a full size Haas cnc lathe in the other corner.

 

The real beauty of this is the attitude.

 

When a customer calls and offers more work on your swiss turn machine, but your booked solid. How do you use what you have to generate billable hours?

When your swiss turn machine goes down and service department is booked solid and you cant get a tech for 3 weeks. How do you use what you have to generate billable hours?

When your cash flow is low and you need to solve a problem, how do you look around and use your own time and machine to build (instead of buy) a solution?

Any noob with a phone can call people up and go into debt and buy a solution of the shelf. The determination to make what you have work and make money with that until you can upgrade is an awesome thing. To solve problems and grow you business in a profitable way that is something to be admired.

 

I am not even saying this guy did all these things. Again I just appreciate his ingenuity & determination. At the end of the day it just really emphasizes the difference in attitudes. A lot people are content to say " I tried" or to just do enough to say they made an effort. Folks who say "I am going to do this" and hit roadblock #1 then regroup and try again, hit roadblock #2 then regroup and try again, on & on & on & on until they reach their goal. Not with shortcuts either, but people who try to do it right. Those are the people are really enjoy working with.

 

I am all for have the right tool for the job, believe me we have one of the nicest shops around and I have bought a lot of the nice things. Its things like this that made that possible though.

[The Cathedral]

Ingenious devices. Of course, a multi-axis lathe will do the same thing a lot easier.

 

"Making Due With What You Have"

 

I agree with Helmut--rigging up that saw seems like more hassle than it's worth if you can get away with emilling it.

[Rstewart]

True true with the whole saw idea, but a Really Creative guy for sure!

[Helmut]

To you guys who are being critical, I believe your kind of missing the point.

 

I did not miss the point. In fact, my first statement was to acknowledge "the point".

 

The real beauty of this is the attitude.

 

...it just really emphasizes the difference in attitudes. A lot people are content to say " I tried" or to just do enough to say they made an effort.

 

I was doing this kind of bar feeding 2 decades ago and even considered using a slitting saw similar to what this guy did, but it wasted too much time to design and build the fixture and the cycle time made it a real loser of an idea so I went with an end mill and sacrificed the little bit of lost material but gained huge on cycle time and setup time. And there is going to be cleanup using both methods so the argument that he might not need to clean up the last surface doesn't hold much water with me.

 

Again, it's a great idea and he clearly thinks out of the box, but like so many engineers that have little to no common sense, it is over-engineered when it comes to parting it off.

[The Cathedral]

If you guys are interested in plant tours, here's my shop

I don't know what joker made this video, but the good stuff starts at 3:15. Of course it's a little out of date; we've added two new LU3000EX and two new swiss machines since this video.

 

[RaiderX]

this to me is absolutely ingenious for lights out on the cheap. dont think many neg. comments are coming from those that pay a payroll. jus sayin.

now with that being said. it has some serious risk. one tool breaks its a domino from there. idk. does not fit in my world but is very cool all the same.

 

doug

[Helmut]

one tool breaks its a domino from there.

 

This was our biggest problem. Our first time doing this was with brass and the stringy chips were a biatch to get out of the way. We ended up using a special manifold on the spindle to do a wash cycle that worked most of the time.

 

Another issue we had is that we used pneumatic vises to do work-holding (plugged in to an auxiliary port on the mill so we could activate it using M-Codes). Unfortunately it was very difficult to adjust the vise pressure to grip the part hard enough to machine it but not so hard as to crush the material and pop the part out. One time the part popped out and the movable jaw hit the stationary jaw so hard it knocked it off the back of the vise. Good times.

[GoetzInd]

Yes very clever outside the box thinking. Although you would annihilate that cycle time making that part out of strips in hi density changeable fixture plates using Mitee bites. Not to mention the time getting that thing up and running would be a whole lot less.

 

Mike

[Zoffen]

I agree it is very clever.....but just because you can....doesn't mean you should.

 

It probably works great when it works, but one domino missing and the whole process falls apart very easily.

 

i give it a 10 for cleverness....

 

and a 5 for the overall process