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My wife (who is a ceramic artist) is doing a 10-week residency at Anderson Ranch, in Snowmass, Colorado. I flew up and visited her last weekend and took the opportunity - with permission - to photograph their pretty amazing metal shop. This is a big photo dump... I resized all my photos to 1024x681, click for that size, and let me know if you want a full-size image of anything. Some kind of shear?   lathe    grinder  belt sander  drill press  Huge bending thing!   And behind the bending thing is... a... forge?  Yeah this is a forge. I've never seen one like this. If you look at the above photo you can see the lid is on a wheel so it pivots off easily, so you can stick a work piece in there and mostly close the top. I would have thought this would leak a huge amount of the heat compared to a forge with door on the side, but I suppose there must be advantages. Here's the plackard:  The bending thing again  I like this welding table   View of part of the shop, and the anvil. This anvil is set very high - probably four inches too high for me - but the resident guy is a bit taller and I guess he likes it like this.   I think this is some kind of shear?   Hydraulic press! At least, I think it's hydraulic. They've got it set up for shaping metal, like you would on an english wheel, I think? I've never used something like this so I'm not sure exactly but they have some different tool inserts for it.     There were a lot of welders  Combination disk and belt sander, and the quench bucket   OK I took a bunch of photos of this thing, partially because my wife was using it. It's a spot welder rig attached to an arc welder. I'll come back to this in a bit as well.   Plasma cutter. Cuts through plasma like a hot knife through a gas-like cloud of free electrons and atomic nuclei.   Another combo belt sander/disk sander. These things are super-useful in knifemaking, because you can adjust the table to a place where you can make a hollow grind to the blade edge.  Looking back across part of the shop. The shop is arranged like a donut around a central wall, and there was tons of equipment everywhere, so it was hard to get a good shot of the whole place.  Tools tools tools  Another view across the shop from a different spot  I think this is an english wheel? Or maybe another type of metal shaping thingy.  All anvils should say "ACME" on them. (This is just a tiny jeweler's anvil.)  Another welder   So this is what my wife was up to. Step one, cut some short lengths of steel wire. Step two, bang an end flat:  Step three, position two wires with the join between the arms of the tack welder:  Then step on the pedal. There's an adjustable timer - you get some length of time to change your mind and lift your foot. In this case she was using a 1 second delay. If you like the pinch, a keep your foot down and a second later it goes Zap:  And there's your join.   No shielding gas, no flux, it just superheats the metal while pressing it together a little to get the join. Here's another shot where I caught the little shower of sparks. Yes, my wife melted a tiny hole in her shirt, because she was totally inappropriately dressed for welding. After this shot I made her go put on a leather apron.  A huge shear or press or brake, I'm not sure which:  Anther one:  A third one, outside on the porch (there's an overhang so it doesn't get rained or snowed on):   And a fourth one. This one seems pretty antique, but they've got a small anvil out here and it seems to be in regular use.   I hope you enjoyed this tour! The shop is in near-constant use year-round, as residents stay during the winter, students come during the summer, and various staff and visiting artists cycle through all the time. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Mar 16, 2014 |
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Mar 16, 2014 22:05
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porcellus posted:Hi goons. I'm having some trouble controlling warping. Using 1/16" 6011 rod on 16 ga. positive electrode at around 35 amps. What are your ways around this? I've heard of placing a peice of wire underneath to "pre-bend", or shimming it. I think I'm just going to preheat the whole thing with a torch. I'm making a table for my bandsaw, so I need to make it straight as possible. The problem is the whole thing is warping in contortions I never thought possible, if it were just 90 degrees I would be fine.. Have you considered torch welding it? 16ga is thin enough that you'd probably get better results (with some extra effort.)
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Mar 17, 2014 01:31
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I haven't messed with oxy fuel welding in years, but I'm pretty sure that's a sure fire way to warp the poo poo out of it. Does it have to be 16 ga? You could try going with heavier plate and using a couple really good tacks to minimize heat input.
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Mar 17, 2014 05:47
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CrazyLittle posted:Photo dump of this weekend's progress Another week and more progress. New platform made from 1" plywood and old hardwood 2x4's. This one's a lot more stiff/stable. If I have any vibration troubles with this platform then I'll just bolt it to the concrete floor. Ballscrews and mounting kit came in so I took the mill completely apart this time and cleaned everything. Took the saddle in to the local hacker space and milled out a pocket for ball nut clearance. Rebuilt everything, mounted ball screw mounts, mounted oldham couplers and stepper motors. I sleeved the stepper motor leads in wire braid and finished it off with tape. Started mounting and wiring the stepper controllers on a board that will fit in an old ATX mini tower. I still need to order some power plug/socket crap to wire up the DC power supplies properly. http://imgur.com/a/RnDwX/all             
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Mar 17, 2014 08:48
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CrazyLittle posted:Another week and more progress. New platform made from 1" plywood and old hardwood 2x4's. This one's a lot more stiff/stable. If I have any vibration troubles with this platform then I'll just bolt it to the concrete floor. Ballscrews and mounting kit came in so I took the mill completely apart this time and cleaned everything. Took the saddle in to the local hacker space and milled out a pocket for ball nut clearance. Rebuilt everything, mounted ball screw mounts, mounted oldham couplers and stepper motors. I sleeved the stepper motor leads in wire braid and finished it off with tape. Started mounting and wiring the stepper controllers on a board that will fit in an old ATX mini tower. I still need to order some power plug/socket crap to wire up the DC power supplies properly. 
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Mar 18, 2014 04:56
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So, I started the process of being approved on the Bridgeport at the local hackerspace. The process starts with getting "Tier 1 Certified" where they make sure you can run a drill press, use the horizontal bandsaw, and know what grinding wheels and other abrasive devices are ok with what material. Then you can get cleared on the big iron. I'm already cleared on the Claussing lathe.  That's a 1lb top. You would think it would be fun to use, but the only way to spin up that top is to use an electric motor. ... from 23,000rpm down to "fell over" took more than 15 minutes, on a linoleum floor. The "job" they have you do, is take a big chunk of stock, and make a precise cube from it.  That's not me. But that's the work being done. He didn't complete his that night. I.. stayed. We all started with some very rough cut 3x3x2.5" chunks of stock.  It's within a couple thou of 2.020. And the sides are quite parallel. More parallel than my crappy measuring tools can measure. The cube is larger now, than when I cut it Saturday night. Of course i'm using a different set of calipers. And my micrometer is only 0-1". I'm told that the rated rate of removal for a 2hp motor, is about 5 cubic inches of aluminum per minute. So that whole cube could be gone in about a minute and a half. And yet it took me something like 4 hours to go from my 22.5cubic inches of aluminum down to 8.
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Mar 18, 2014 09:24
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Eh, that material removal rate is going to be with a CNC machine running perfect feeds and speeds for the alloy, a carbide tool, and high-pressure flood cooling right at the tool interface. It's a lot slower in anything less than the ideal situation. I don't know if you've used a mill like that before but machining aluminum by hand without coolant is a pain and a couple of hours to get it to +/- .005 on all sides is pretty good.
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Mar 18, 2014 22:50
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Thanks for the photodump Leperflesh. I have seen those big forges before. They are great for large awkwardly shaped items. And yes, it definitely does look like a hydraulic press. I have heard great things about Anderson Ranch. She must be a very good ceramicist. If she's a goon, have her check out the new ceramics thread I created.
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Mar 19, 2014 07:50
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Nerobro posted:
Cheer up, I had to do that project with hand files.
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Mar 19, 2014 13:46
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The Proc posted:Cheer up, I had to do that project with hand files. I know something of files..  When I built my little mill, I had to hand file all the sheets to shape. it's not the same as making a cube :-) But that was a few weeks of dedicated work.
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Mar 19, 2014 14:55
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ArtistCeleste posted:Thanks for the photodump Leperflesh. I have seen those big forges before. They are great for large awkwardly shaped items. And yes, it definitely does look like a hydraulic press. Not a goon, but I'll probably show her the thread when she gets home. Also: I think Anderson liked her project (she's building a ceramic robot).
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Mar 19, 2014 23:20
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Speaking of files, are powered die filers that common in shops anymore? I have one that I use quite a bit, but every time I show it off no one knows what it is.
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Mar 20, 2014 02:37
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Nerobro posted:I know something of files.. Jesus Christ 
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Mar 20, 2014 02:45
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Hu Fa Ted posted:Speaking of files, are powered die filers that common in shops anymore? I have one that I use quite a bit, but every time I show it off no one knows what it is. Never heard of one until just now but I have about a thousand uses for one all of a sudden.
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Mar 20, 2014 06:46
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Die Filer? Old school precision. They're neat. People seem to forget old tools. CNC blinds people. The Proc posted:Jesus Christ  I'll hurt your head a little more. It can take a .75x.5 cut in aluminum. Now I have a few more hours on the Sherline.. I don't want to see it on steel. Built from aluminum, it would take steel though. I'm still proud of it. Every bit of PVC there was filed to size. And there was a poo poo ton of hand tapping on it. Tapping goes slow because the PVC warms up, and you can't cut threads when it's gummy. Now that would be a hell of a job of filing. But who needs to file now I have a Bridgeport to play with! Why do I mention a Sherline? Well the Bridgeport was busy, and I needed a bike tool tonight. So I used that wimpy little machine to cut down a Craftsman socket. Turns out, compared to a bicycle freewheel, they're made of cheese. Nerobro fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Mar 20, 2014 |
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Mar 20, 2014 10:07
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King of Gulps posted:Never heard of one until just now but I have about a thousand uses for one all of a sudden. I got mine at an auction for $30 bucks, looked neat figured I'd figure it out. Nerobro posted:Die Filer? Old school precision. They're neat. People seem to forget old tools. CNC blinds people. Finding files for it has been dicey, the old timers tell me that power die files are upside down from regular files. Victor machinery used to have a stash of NOS power die files. I guess people have forgotten them.
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Mar 21, 2014 01:05
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Hu Fa Ted posted:I got mine at an auction for $30 bucks, looked neat figured I'd figure it out.
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Mar 21, 2014 01:28
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Ambrose Burnside posted:https://www.fedfile.com seems to stock machine files but they don't list what they have available online. I just looked at Victor Machinery's website and they got cleaned out from what they had when I ordered a couple years ago. http://www.victornet.com/subdepartments/Parallel-Machine-Files/2215.html Speaking of old tools, I got a hot deal a while back on Starret redstripe power hacksaw blades. I think I paid like a dollar a blade for them so naturally I bought out the entire stock. If anyone is curious, here's what a power die filer is:  (Beer can for uh, scale.)
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Mar 21, 2014 03:34
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What am I looking at? Which part did you make?
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Mar 21, 2014 06:25
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You are looking at a 3-axis CNC machine and it looks like he made all of it except the rotary tool.
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Mar 21, 2014 06:34
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Sagebrush posted:You are looking at a 3-axis CNC machine and it looks like he made all of it except the rotary tool. I don't think it's CNC (no stepper motors/servos) but yeah I remember nerobro posting about making that mill.
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Mar 21, 2014 07:20
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CrazyLittle posted:I don't think it's CNC (no stepper motors/servos) but yeah I remember nerobro posting about making that mill. It's not CNC... yet. I have the steppers. and I have the controller board. and I have the psu. Just.. haven't thrown them all in a pot and stirred.
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Mar 21, 2014 14:21
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Nerobro posted:It's not CNC... yet. I have the steppers. and I have the controller board. and I have the psu. Just.. haven't thrown them all in a pot and stirred. That's loving spectacular man.
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Mar 21, 2014 17:41
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Just scored a free 1.5KW three phase motor for my lathe. It's lived in a high end server room all it's life and it's ultra clean. Time to shop for an Inverter, no more belt changes for me 
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Mar 21, 2014 18:10
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Nerobro posted:It's not CNC... yet. I have the steppers. and I have the controller board. and I have the psu. Just.. haven't thrown them all in a pot and stirred. Are you kidding me? Wasn't it you who accused me of taking too long to make chips when I built that same mill, and you haven't even put your motors on?  e: and yes, tapping eighteen trillion 4-40 (or whatever they were) holes in pvc was bullshit.
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Mar 21, 2014 18:51
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Bad Munki posted:Are you kidding me? Wasn't it you who accused me of taking too long to make chips when I built that same mill, and you haven't even put your motors on? Do as I say, not as I do. :-)
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Mar 22, 2014 09:18
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CrazyLittle posted:Another week and more progress. Electronics round. Got an old P4 3ghz machine with poo poo specs to run XP. The rest of the breakout board, stepper controllers, DC power supplies went into a gutted mini tower from a former mate to the p4. Jameco has a PC-style fused/switched socket for cheap, so that'll do. Crimp terminals make this job a whole lot neater. I'll plug in everything and give it a test run tomorrow.  
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Mar 22, 2014 09:21
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I had to put my stair rail project on hold to make a lamp, which needs to be done by Monday morning. I have tons of forging footage that I need to post. In the meantime, this is what I was up to this week.  It will hold a dim globe light in between the flowers.
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Mar 23, 2014 08:20
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CrazyLittle posted:Electronics round. And success! I had a lot of trouble getting the Z-axis to turn smoothly without binding. Turns out I had the thrust bearing assembled backward, where the top plate had a smaller diameter than the bottom plate, and that would cause it to bind on the ball screw instead of turning freely.   Full gallery: http://imgur.com/a/RnDwX travel test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIYsCH-JlzI CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Apr 11, 2014 |
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Mar 24, 2014 07:54
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you marked the video as private, you oaf!!
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Mar 24, 2014 08:25
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Not totally sure just from this video but it looks like your controller isn't synchronizing your rapid moves. When you're writing your code, be aware of that, or you might have some nasty accidental collisions.
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Mar 24, 2014 08:44
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Sagebrush posted:Not totally sure just from this video but it looks like your controller isn't synchronizing your rapid moves. When you're writing your code, be aware of that, or you might have some nasty accidental collisions. Nah that's just me manually jogging with the keyboard. It doesn't like me mashing keys faster than the accel/decel curve allows. Also the computer sucks balls so keyboard lockout won't let me key-jog all three axis at once. rotor posted:you marked the video as private, you oaf!! you sure?
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Mar 24, 2014 08:56
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CrazyLittle posted:Nah that's just me manually jogging with the keyboard. Oh, alright, cool. Still a good thing to test though: zero the machine at the center left of its travel, then do something like G00 X12. Y-1. G00 X11. Y3. G00 X10. Y-3. G00 X0. Y0. (add a feed value if your code requires it) Then for each move, watch carefully and see what the machine does. If it's synchronizing its rapid moves, the axis with the short move (eg. Y in the first line) will move slowly as the other axis moves quickly, so that the toolpath is linear and both axes arrive at their destinations at the same time. If the machine doesn't synchronize, it will drive both at maximum speed and the toolpath will be a short 45-degree path in X and Y, then a dogleg as the Y reaches its commanded location, then a straight line to finish off the rest of the X motion. Unsychronized rapids can lead to you running the tool into a fixture that you thought you'd clear because the path is no longer a straight shot from the previous location (and most CAM software defaults to assuming synchronicity, so be careful there too). Standard moves (G01) should always be synchronized.
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Mar 24, 2014 09:15
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That's a great tip. I'll have to give that a whirl tonight
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Mar 24, 2014 16:11
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CrazyLittle posted:
that's what it said yesterday idk about computers and stuff
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Mar 25, 2014 01:41
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rotor posted:that's what it said yesterday idk about computers and stuff probably wasn't done processing yet
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Mar 25, 2014 01:46
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What would be the best way to weld big aluminium rings? Made of wire/rod maxing out at maybe 3/16"? Because the butted ends of the rings would be pressed together I'm inclined to think spot-welding might be the ticket, but I don't have any experience with them so I have no idea how beefy a welder I'd need. Oxyacetylene's an option too, and I've already got the equipment on hand, but I've never brazed/welded aluminium with any success (albeit without having the right fluxes on hand).
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Mar 25, 2014 16:27
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Ambrose Burnside posted:What would be the best way to weld big aluminium rings? Made of wire/rod maxing out at maybe 3/16"? Because the butted ends of the rings would be pressed together I'm inclined to think spot-welding might be the ticket, but I don't have any experience with them so I have no idea how beefy a welder I'd need. Oxyacetylene's an option too, and I've already got the equipment on hand, but I've never brazed/welded aluminium with any success (albeit without having the right fluxes on hand). Simplest, easiest and definitely cheapest will be Dura Fix rods and a simple propane torch. http://www.durafix.com/
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Mar 25, 2014 18:27
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You could also get a pound of aluminum SMAW rods and two car batteries in series.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:33
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Sir Cornelius posted:Simplest, easiest and definitely cheapest will be Dura Fix rods and a simple propane torch. http://www.durafix.com/ I've used those before and they only work acceptably with cast alloys, so no go there. Tbh I have no intention of using a fill material at all, if possible, smaller resistance/pulse-welded rings never do. Because I'd be hypothetically welding dozens or hundreds of rings I'm looking for something more production-oriented. Speed and attractiveness + consistency of the weld are primo, which is why resistance/pulse spot-welding is the go-to- as long as you're welding the same size of ring over and over, you can do some timer configuration wizardry to get things perfect without much struggle. The catch is that the go-to machines people typically use for welding rings for maille can't handle the size of ring I want to use, and do poorly with high heat conducting metals like aluminium. I don't know if the spot-welders people use for sheet metal and such would be appropriate for what I want to do. Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 19:35
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