|
Ambrose Burnside posted:
That is so loving awesome! What would you charge (roughly) for a dragonfly on a square sheet of copper maybe 6"x6" or 7"x7"?
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2014 03:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 05:58 |
|
|
kastein posted:I know exactly what you're talking about and it was impossible to find last time I went looking for it. Then I found it. Checking youtube viewing history now... YES! Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2014 16:57
|
|
|
Super easy (ha!) welding question for the weldbros: I'd like to do some casual/hobby welding in my garage. Just stuff like welding square/tube/flat/angle stock to make boxes, racks, work benches stuff like that. And maybe repairing broken metal things that are within my skill set. I doubt I'd do any sheet metal work. I did some stick and MIG welding in high school, and as much as I loved MIG welding I doubt I'd want to go through the hassle of gases and more expensive welders. So I'll probably start with stick welding. I was thinking about using something like this: http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Arc/70A-Stick-Arc-Welder/8169385.p My question: I'm currently finishing my garage. I'm wiring in circuits and I want to make sure that I don't limit myself in the future. I don't want to run 240v circuits if I'm never going to use them. I'd rather run it off a 120v. What amperage should I make the circuit? I'm thinking 20A would be best so I don't limit myself in the future. Some of the reviews say they're running the welder off a 15A circuit but I'm thinking 15A would be pushing it. Thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2014 00:22
|
|
|
DrakeriderCa posted:Super easy (ha!) welding question for the weldbros: If you don't intend on welding over 1/4 thick material, you can use Flux cored wire unshielded. Just saying.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2014 01:33
|
|
|
iForge posted:That is so loving awesome! Hmmmm, maybe ~$150, give or take some depending on the design complexity? I can do designs 6" square and bigger but my tools are sized for smaller work so it takes significantly longer than it might otherwise and costs start rising fast. I can also just make new custom-tailored tools for the task, which works out well for me, but still adds a bunch of labour costs to the project.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2014 06:08
|
|
|
DrakeriderCa posted:My question: I'm currently finishing my garage. I'm wiring in circuits and I want to make sure that I don't limit myself in the future. I don't want to run 240v circuits if I'm never going to use them. I'd rather run it off a 120v. What amperage should I make the circuit? I'm thinking 20A would be best so I don't limit myself in the future. Some of the reviews say they're running the welder off a 15A circuit but I'm thinking 15A would be pushing it. Thoughts? If you intend on welding, run a 240v circuit to the garage. The wattage you can draw over 120v is extremely limiting for welding purposes. For stick you'll be limited to using 1/16" rods, which are much less common than 3/32" or 1/8" rods. A 20amp 120v circuit is not enough for the vast majority of welding processes out there. That being said, if you really insist on doing it with 120v, a 20amp circuit is what you want to go with. At least you can run some thin self-shield flux core wire (no bottled gas required) without constantly popping the breaker.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2014 18:27
|
|
|
Hey welding students, post pictures. We love to critique! Just got a job as lead inspector at a vessel shop doing a 6" thick reactor vessel. Hell yeah. Were going to get a tandem arc subarc setup for the job. ASME 8 Div. 2 construction code. I'm pretty excited. Also I'm writing my final exam to get certified to certify pressure welders in Alberta next week. Pretty exciting too. I'll have to post pictures of my hijinks. Looking forward to being a ridiculous hard rear end to guys who already have frayed nerves 😛
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2014 02:19
|
|
|
DrakeriderCa posted:Super easy (ha!) welding question for the weldbros: If you have 240 to the garage and just don't want to run a 240 outlet drop, just wire with 10/2-wg romex and toss in a 20 amp single pole breaker and 120v 20A outlet. You've now futureproofed it, you can always pull the 20 amp breaker and outlet, recode the neutral to a hot with black tape, drop a 30 amp duplex breaker in and a 30 amp 240v outlet and now it is good for basically any welder a hobby user could need. Hell, my 230 amp snapon MIG runs off that size outlet and it will weld some real thick stuff, I welded 1 inch plate to 3/8 and 1/4 plate a few months ago easily. 10ga romex isn't THAT much more than 12ga, and no 240 welder is going to need a neutral so this isn't a very difficult thing to set up futureproofed with a couple bucks extra into the wiring. E: remember you need fume extraction or lots of ventilation! You don't want metal fume fever, lung cancer, lead poisoning, other heavy metal poisoning, or manganism. And I am the last person to sperg about safety poo poo, believe me. poo poo, I set my pantleg on fire using an angle grinder a few weekends ago and my forearms are peeling because I was welding barehanded in a tshirt 
kastein fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Sep 29, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2014 03:03
|
|
|
Ambrose Burnside posted:Hmmmm, maybe ~$150, give or take some depending on the design complexity? I can do designs 6" square and bigger but my tools are sized for smaller work so it takes significantly longer than it might otherwise and costs start rising fast. I can also just make new custom-tailored tools for the task, which works out well for me, but still adds a bunch of labour costs to the project. Thanks for the reply! I showed your pictures to a friend that likes copper work and he asked about a dragonfly, I'll get you two in contact if he decides he wants something.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
kastein posted:If you have 240 to the garage and just don't want to run a 240 outlet drop, just wire with 10/2-wg romex and toss in a 20 amp single pole breaker and 120v 20A outlet. You've now futureproofed it, you can always pull the 20 amp breaker and outlet, recode the neutral to a hot with black tape, drop a 30 amp duplex breaker in and a 30 amp 240v outlet and now it is good for basically any welder a hobby user could need. Hell, my 230 amp snapon MIG runs off that size outlet and it will weld some real thick stuff, I welded 1 inch plate to 3/8 and 1/4 plate a few months ago easily. The welder might not need a neutral, but 10-3 isn't much more than 10-2, and you might get another machine in the future that does need one. Just wire nut it off in both boxes and mark it well.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2014 18:01
|
|
|
Do we have any machinists in the house? I need some custom CNC milling. Small job, but I'll pay decent money. Small piece, but it is a mold, so the job requires knowledge of draft angles and intersecting radii. I have the blank already (an aluminum cylinder with a steel locating pin).
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 02:58
|
|
|
Squashy Nipples posted:Do we have any machinists in the house? I need some custom CNC milling. Small job, but I'll pay decent money. There are a few but not many that are set up to take work from the forums I'd bet. If you don't get a reply here try practicalmachinist.com. If you put up a good easy to read print or send it via PM, you can get some pretty competitive prices.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 04:47
|
|
|
DrakeriderCa posted:Super easy (ha!) welding question for the weldbros: I actually have the Mig/flux core princess auto welder, and am running it off 120v using flux core, it's not a fantastic creature and it gets routinely stuck/sputtery when you put it on the lower settings required to not burn through sheet metal, but it can do some nice looking welds in thin stock, which sounds like your primary application. Its routinely on sale for the same price as that stick welder. It might be a better 'future proof' welder for you, because you can get an argon gas can and get less sputtery welds on sheet metal if you want, but it will work fine for putting together the same sort of pieces that you can put together with a 110v stick welder while providing the ease of use of the wire feed process.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 05:07
|
|
|
CarForumPoster posted:There are a few but not many that are set up to take work from the forums I'd bet. If you don't get a reply here try practicalmachinist.com. If you put up a good easy to read print or send it via PM, you can get some pretty competitive prices. Thank you. A friend also sent me this link: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/usa-rfq-s/ The issue is that it's been 15 years since I was a engineer, so I don't have a functional 3D modeling program. The last package I was using when I quit the profession was Solidworks... what are people using these days?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 11:51
|
|
|
I've finally come to the conclusion that the tool I really want is a mill, and luckily I can beg use of the ones at work on occasion. They have a big old Bridgeport-type jobby as well as a little 5 axis Matsuura and a massive (8x4m bed) Asquith 3 axis. Problem is though, I want to learn to mill manually first, then progress onto the cnc ones. Where can I learn about milling? I can't get on a training course at work as my job doesn't justify it, but they'll let me play if I'm already trained/competent. I'm starting from scratch, no question will be too stupid for me to ask.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 12:47
|
|
|
Cakefool posted:I've finally come to the conclusion that the tool I really want is a mill, and luckily I can beg use of the ones at work on occasion. They have a big old Bridgeport-type jobby as well as a little 5 axis Matsuura and a massive (8x4m bed) Asquith 3 axis. Problem is though, I want to learn to mill manually first, then progress onto the cnc ones. I went through this when I was a young engineer: no one wants to let you use dangerous equipment that you don't know how to use, and the toolmakers/prototype guys are too busy do their jobs to teach you. You've got the right idea though: start by learning manual machining on a Bridgeport. The knowledge about Speeds and Feeds, tool selection, indexing and offsetting, all apply to running CNC equipment. Learning the G and M codes is easy, learning how to cut metal properly is the complicated part. In my case, one of the toolmakers took a shine to me and gave me a few basic lessons, enough that I could start doing some simple stuff on my own.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 13:11
|
|
|
Squashy Nipples posted:Thank you. A friend also sent me this link: Solidworks, still, by and large. Autodesk Inventor is pretty common, too, and straight AutoCAD for sheet metal parts.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 13:35
|
|
|
Cakefool posted:Where can I learn about milling? I can't get on a training course at work as my job doesn't justify it, but they'll let me play if I'm already trained/competent. I'm starting from scratch, no question will be too stupid for me to ask. Machinists are greedy, pay one $20/case of beer to stick around a bit after work and show you the basics. That'll keep you from killing yourself or, more importantly, loving up the machine too much. Be sure you know how the hi-low gear shift works so you don't grind the gears. If you're using a wrench to tighten the drawbar, it doesn't leave your hand until you put it back on the table. If it's got power feed motors, don't use them. You're going to break tools and screw up parts, that's part of learning. Just try not to mill/drill into the vise or table. I can't imagine letting a non-machinist run one of our 5-axis machines. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 16:09
|
|
|
oxbrain posted:I can't imagine letting a non-machinist run one of our 5-axis machines. Hey, why would they make rotary tables out of iron, if you weren't meant to cut into them?  oxbrain posted:Machinists are greedy, pay one $20/case of beer to stick around a bit after work and show you the basics. That'll keep you from killing yourself or, more importantly, loving up the machine too much. Be sure you know how the hi-low gear shift works so you don't grind the gears. If you're using a wrench to tighten the drawbar, it doesn't leave your hand until you put it back on the table. If it's got power feed motors, don't use them. You're going to break tools and screw up parts, that's part of learning. Just try not to mill/drill into the vise or table. This was pretty much my experience, as well. Seconding the thing about not using feed motors, you'll learn a lot about cutting metal by how the dials feel when you move them. One more thing to add, a Hardinge collet lathe is a great way to learn how to turn, they are smaller and simpler then full sized lathes. at the date posted:Solidworks, still, by and large. Autodesk Inventor is pretty common, too, and straight AutoCAD for sheet metal parts. I just installed Solidworks 2014, and wow... so much has changed, but so much has stayed the same. I was able to get a decent model going in under an hour. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 19:33
|
|
|
Cakefool posted:I've finally come to the conclusion that the tool I really want is a mill, and luckily I can beg use of the ones at work on occasion. They have a big old Bridgeport-type jobby as well as a little 5 axis Matsuura and a massive (8x4m bed) Asquith 3 axis. Problem is though, I want to learn to mill manually first, then progress onto the cnc ones. Check your local community college or trades college. I took night school machinist courses for about $400 and got a solid foundation in tool bit grinding, milling, turning, drilling, and filing. I also grabbed a few machinists textbooks that are great for getting some basic answers. Machining Fundamentals by John R Walker is particularly good.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:34
|
|
|
Squashy Nipples posted:Do we have any machinists in the house? I need some custom CNC milling. Small job, but I'll pay decent money. Got a CAD file or some kind of drawing? We only do Wire EDM but I may be able to get it done for you somewhere else. Also, where are you located?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:35
|
|
|
Squashy Nipples posted:I just installed Solidworks 2014, and wow... so much has changed, but so much has stayed the same. I was able to get a decent model going in under an hour. Thanks! In about 7 hours you went from not knowing what the latest and best cad was to having a decent model completed on software that cost $4000 and isn't sold directly through the web? Share your secrets. I'm desperate for Solidworks, Alibre is becoming very frustrating but I haven't found any other way to get it. Not gonna do 
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:52
|
|
|
kafkasgoldfish posted:In about 7 hours you went from not knowing what the latest and best cad was to having a decent model completed on software that cost $4000 and isn't sold directly through the web? Share your secrets. I'm desperate for Solidworks, Alibre is becoming very frustrating but I haven't found any other way to get it. Not gonna do I've found the tutorials and help system built in to be pretty drat nice. I've surprised myself with what I've been able to pull off without any actual training.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:56
|
|
|
Brekelefuw posted:Check your local community college or trades college. Machining Fundamentals is TERRIBLE. I thought it was great while I was using it for three semesters, but that changed severely once I got my hands on some of the eval copies of other books that were going to waste on my instructor's shelf. Fitzpatrick's Machining and CNC Technology especially blew me away, even after 2 straight years of classroom and on job training there was something on every single page of that book I should've been taught but wasn't. It gets a lot more into the practices and procedures and HOW to do things, while Walker reads more like an illustrated glossary of terms. The 2005 edition is still useful and used copies are almost as cheap as free. I can't reccomend it enough.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:57
|
|
|
A Proper Uppercut posted:I've found the tutorials and help system built in to be pretty drat nice. I've surprised myself with what I've been able to pull off without any actual training. You referring to Alibre? It gets the job done and is probably the best parametric cad out there for hobbyist no doubt. But I can't help but get jealous when I see how certain things in Solidworks take half as many clicks as Alibre and their assemblies are soooo much nicer.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 21:58
|
|
|
kafkasgoldfish posted:In about 7 hours you went from not knowing what the latest and best cad was to having a decent model completed on software that cost $4000 and isn't sold directly through the web? Share your secrets. I'm desperate for Solidworks, Alibre is becoming very frustrating but I haven't found any other way to get it. Not gonna do Well, it's been a very long time since, but I did used to do this for a living... And I had some decent training in the original Solidworks, by official Solidworks trainers. In my time as an engineer, I put in well over 3000 hours on CADDs, AutoCAD, CATIA and Solidworks. Speaking of which, let me tell you about the CATIA interface: a full unix keyboard, a mouse with 4 main buttons and 4 side buttons, a rack of 8 dials, and an auxiliary keypad with 32 context-sensitive buttons. Compared to that, Solidworks is a piece of cake. As for how I got it, I did some ERP consulting a few years back with a small factory that still uses Solidworks, and I've stayed friends with their IT guy. One of the best things about being a consultant is how insanely deep my rolodex is. EDIT: found a pic of the CATIA stuff 
Squashy Nipples fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Oct 1, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 23:34
|
|
|
kafkasgoldfish posted:You referring to Alibre? It gets the job done and is probably the best parametric cad out there for hobbyist no doubt. But I can't help but get jealous when I see how certain things in Solidworks take half as many clicks as Alibre and their assemblies are soooo much nicer. Haha, no I was actually talking about Solidworks. We have a few seats at work I have to figure out how to use occasionally.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2014 23:55
|
|
|
Cakefool posted:I've finally come to the conclusion that the tool I really want is a mill, and luckily I can beg use of the ones at work on occasion. They have a big old Bridgeport-type jobby as well as a little 5 axis Matsuura and a massive (8x4m bed) Asquith 3 axis. Problem is though, I want to learn to mill manually first, then progress onto the cnc ones. A technical school/college Squashy Nipples posted:Thank you. A friend also sent me this link: Solidworks, NX, Autodesk Inventor, Pro-E
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2014 02:10
|
|
|
kafkasgoldfish posted:In about 7 hours you went from not knowing what the latest and best cad was to having a decent model completed on software that cost $4000 and isn't sold directly through the web? Share your secrets. I'm desperate for Solidworks, Alibre is becoming very frustrating but I haven't found any other way to get it. Not gonna do I can buy a fully functional Solidworks 2014 with a 12 month full use license for $20 (Student License with Veteran's Discount). That's kinda insane since functionally it isn't different from the $4000 commercial release. (Although you could probably argue that it really costs $1200 if you argue in tuition costs for a semester.) Machining is fun, we need more machinists in here. (I'm not one, yet). I've had the fortune to be exposed to almost every facet of metal work from foundry to fine finishing detail, manual and computer controlled and I love it all. The only downside is I need to buy a second piece of property or buy a shop just to house 1/3rd of the tools and equipment I want to play with at home. :| Do any of you do metal spinning? Do you also happen to live with-in an hour and 45 minutes drive of Asheville NC? I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want to learn it, partly because I can make a helmet while I'm learning, partly because I want to build a spinning lathe at home, but really need to see a commercially built one functioning and try the process before I slice my arm off or something equally retarded as I'm prone to do when trying things I've not actually been trained to do. On the subject of building tools at home. Saint Gingery's books are amazing if you ever want to learn to build a fairly precision machine shop out of literal scrap metal. http://gingerybookstore.com/ Don't skimp out, buy the hard backed copy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2014 21:19
|
|
|
Metal spinning is something that I hope to be doing in the next 3-5 years. I need to learn so I can make trumpet bells. There is a guy about 7 hours away from my who makes custom spinning lathes and all the tooling for about $4000, so I will likely buy my lathe from him when I can figure out where to put it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2014 22:04
|
|
|
Autodesk fusion 360 is pretty powerful and free for students/hobbyists
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2014 10:09
|
|
|
I'm seriously interested in picking up a micro CNC mill and learning how to use the thing + CAD/CAM programs, mostly as a means to an end for making conforming dies and tooling, but it's such a daunting proposition that I'm dragging my heels on even familiarizing myself with a CAD program. I used to do a little bit of 3d modelling years back so it shouldn't be -completely- baffling right off the draw.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2014 18:28
|
|
|
Kasan posted:On the subject of building tools at home. Saint Gingery's books are amazing if you ever want to learn to build a fairly precision machine shop out of literal scrap metal. http://gingerybookstore.com/ Don't skimp out, buy the hard backed copy. That's pretty drat cool. Any idea on how much the builds cost?
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2014 06:30
|
|
|
Karia posted:That's pretty drat cool. Any idea on how much the builds cost? Depends on your ability to scrounge and the price of scrap metal in your area I suppose. I've invested about $60 including the cost of 100# of coal so far. Scrap aluminium out here is $.12/lb to purchase and there is a local plant that junks huge chunks of the stuff by the semi-truck, so it doesn't really cost me anything. I haven't actually started casting the lathe bits yet because I'm still working on properly casting metal at all with my current setup. I managed to explode a stainless steel crucible and took a lung full of smoke that included zinc oxide a couple weeks back and decided to a take a break from working with metal to see if I was going to die or not. Free and in the clear now, but I need to replace my crucible and adjust my foundry to prevent breaking the next one. Edit: A lot of the pieces of casted aluminium could actually be replaced by cement. I'll have to dig out the link if I can find it again, but there's an entire lathe literally made out of scrap parts (designed for 3rd world countries that don't have access to machined parts) that uses concrete and black iron pipe for about 80% of it. The concrete base ends up being something like 400# and stable as gently caress from what I've read from people who've built it. Edit 2:  Tell me that isn't sexy as hell. http://opensourcemachinetools.org/ Kasan fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Oct 5, 2014 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2014 05:46
|
|
|
Kasan posted:Depends on your ability to scrounge and the price of scrap metal in your area I suppose. I've invested about $60 including the cost of 100# of coal so far. Scrap aluminium out here is $.12/lb to purchase and there is a local plant that junks huge chunks of the stuff by the semi-truck, so it doesn't really cost me anything. I haven't actually started casting the lathe bits yet because I'm still working on properly casting metal at all with my current setup. I managed to explode a stainless steel crucible and took a lung full of smoke that included zinc oxide a couple weeks back and decided to a take a break from working with metal to see if I was going to die or not. Free and in the clear now, but I need to replace my crucible and adjust my foundry to prevent breaking the next one. Not bad! I wish I'd found out about this over the summer, though, I probably couldn't cast until the spring, or even next summer. I'll consider it then, right now I've got access to school shops, and it's really not necessary. Concrete would actually be really drat good for that, better than aluminum, for sure. It damps vibrations well. A couple machine tool builders (including Hardinge) apparently do some machines with polymer concrete bases. It's not your everyday concrete, of course, but it'll be pretty heterogeneous no matter what, which is pretty much the key. http://www.productionmachining.com/articles/concrete-reasoning-on-swiss-turning http://americanmachinist.com/features/rock-solid-machine-bases Also, I was testing out a new tool for one of our shop classes a couple days ago. 10-24 form tap. I think I'm in love. We could never get rigid tapping to work with the cutting taps, they broke left and right (mostly because we never got ones for that.) Now?  2 seconds per tap. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2014 07:49
|
|
|
Anyone familiar with Atlas/Clausing lathes? I was in the middle of making something when the handwheel started having a few dead spots which got worse and worse. It got to the point where turning the handwheel did nothing, engaging the auto feed would turn the handwheel bUT still wouldn't move anything. Engaging the threading lever would still move the tool post.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2014 16:39
|
|
|
Karia posted:Not bad! I wish I'd found out about this over the summer, though, I probably couldn't cast until the spring, or even next summer. I'll consider it then, right now I've got access to school shops, and it's really not necessary. I love form taps, I used to do a ton of 4-40 and M3 sized holes in aluminum prototypes and that was always the way to go. Any idea why you were breaking cut taps though? If I use tapping collets (regular collets with a square EDM'd into the bottom) I can rigid tap all day with without worry. (On my Fanuc it's M29 S[spindle speed]; G84 [Params]  No chance you're using conventional tapping cycle right?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2014 17:08
|
|
|
CarForumPoster posted:I love form taps, I used to do a ton of 4-40 and M3 sized holes in aluminum prototypes and that was always the way to go. Any idea why you were breaking cut taps though? If I use tapping collets (regular collets with a square EDM'd into the bottom) I can rigid tap all day with without worry. (On my Fanuc it's M29 S[spindle speed]; G84 [Params] We've got Haas machines, no need for the M29. Make sure you've got S M03 before, then G84 Z R F. To do tapping with a compensating head, you'd set F slightly smaller, otherwise the same (I believe, never done it. All our machines have rigid.) Our explanation for it ultimately is that A. our coolant isn't optimized for lubricity and we keep the concentration pretty low, B. the specific machines we're using for the class are Minimills from 2001 that haven't been treated very nicely, and C. nobody could be arsed to order machine taps, so we were just using lovely hand taps. Do you really recommend the tapping collets? We've got some, but we use TG75 most of the time, and if it's properly torqued there's not going to be any spinning issues. We did use them on the cutting taps, though, didn't make much of a difference.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2014 20:38
|
|
|
Why would you use a smaller feed for a compensating head? I always use those at the same settings as rigid. Tapping is boring. Thread mill everything.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2014 06:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 05:58 |
|
|
oxbrain posted:Why would you use a smaller feed for a compensating head? I always use those at the same settings as rigid. Ive never thread milled anything but those that have swear by it. I should probably start. +1 on why the heck would you run less feed on a tapping head.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2014 06:49
|
|