Ok, progress update time.
I went into the shop on Saturday ready to start cutting eye covers.
While I was prepping the CNC machine I noticed a few things:
1) In my flurry of machine maintenance I somehow overlooked the fact that the compressed air regulator, moisture separator, and particle filter are missing from the CNC. The aforementioned components died sometime in '05 and I just bypassed them with a hose from across the shop. No big deal, a little clumsy perhaps, but functional. However, since then, THAT regulator has also died. Not that it didn't have a long and illustrious career (it was like 12 yrs old), but now I am without a regulated air supply for the CNC, and I cannot simply dump 120 psi shop air into that system, there are something like 14 solenoids I'd destroy, and each one costs around $750. No thank you ma'am.
2) My cleaning stalled out at about 85% complete. Mostly done, but all my flat spots were still occupied by things with homes all their own that they had been displaced from during use (IE I needed to put my hand and cutting tools all away.
So, since I was SOL in CNC land for the weekend, I decided to go ahead and finish my cleaning.
I build up another set of portable shelves I'd been hoarding as another work bench around the CNC and moved all the CNC tools over to the aforementioned new shelves. I relocated all my cutting tools from the various and sundry boxes they had been living in to a new rolling cart I bought just for them. I sorted and put away all the hand tools that were laying about. I cleaned up all the clutter laying about on the one end of the shop under the mezzanine. I swept the floors and tried to generally tidy up and improve my organization. I reclaimed my two rolling work tables from the pile-o-junk monster than had settled in on them. I tinkered with and improved the reception of my antique tunes box (IE it's a hard core old stereo that hangs in the shop, 8 track player and all
). I sorted and stowed the various collet series floating around the machine shop so that I can now find them when I need them. And I reassembled the enclosure around the CNC machine.
I then took some pics (which I haven't cropped or posted yet), and came home to do some shopping at McMaster Carr. I bought the stuff I needed to finish my electrical install, a new regulator, filter, dewaterer, and oiler for the CNC machine, some air hose and pipe fittings needed for that install, and a couple of other piddly little things. Still ended up spending the better part of $300. You can make money disappear at McMaster Carr faster than lighting it on fire, that is for sure. Oh well, it'll all be good stuff, and it'll be here Tuesday morning.
So, that leaves me these things to do next weekend:
1) Button up the coolant pump wiring and change out the conduit couplers on the 3phs power into the CNC machine
2) Install new reg, filter, oiler, et al
3) Finish cleaning up and organizing around the old bench and welding table
4) Tram the head on the Sharp
5) Load the required tools into the ATC on the CNC
6) Load the program for the eye covers into the control
7) Test the program
8) Probe the tool lengths and enter the offsets into the control
9) Cut off and square one end of the bar stock for the eye covers
10) Cut the eye covers
11) De-burr and check the eye covers for correctitude
12) Rejoice!
If I get thru to and complete #5 next weekend, I'll be doing good. Still so much to do.
Oh well, progress is progress.
I went into the shop on Saturday ready to start cutting eye covers.
While I was prepping the CNC machine I noticed a few things:
1) In my flurry of machine maintenance I somehow overlooked the fact that the compressed air regulator, moisture separator, and particle filter are missing from the CNC. The aforementioned components died sometime in '05 and I just bypassed them with a hose from across the shop. No big deal, a little clumsy perhaps, but functional. However, since then, THAT regulator has also died. Not that it didn't have a long and illustrious career (it was like 12 yrs old), but now I am without a regulated air supply for the CNC, and I cannot simply dump 120 psi shop air into that system, there are something like 14 solenoids I'd destroy, and each one costs around $750. No thank you ma'am.
2) My cleaning stalled out at about 85% complete. Mostly done, but all my flat spots were still occupied by things with homes all their own that they had been displaced from during use (IE I needed to put my hand and cutting tools all away.
So, since I was SOL in CNC land for the weekend, I decided to go ahead and finish my cleaning.
I build up another set of portable shelves I'd been hoarding as another work bench around the CNC and moved all the CNC tools over to the aforementioned new shelves. I relocated all my cutting tools from the various and sundry boxes they had been living in to a new rolling cart I bought just for them. I sorted and put away all the hand tools that were laying about. I cleaned up all the clutter laying about on the one end of the shop under the mezzanine. I swept the floors and tried to generally tidy up and improve my organization. I reclaimed my two rolling work tables from the pile-o-junk monster than had settled in on them. I tinkered with and improved the reception of my antique tunes box (IE it's a hard core old stereo that hangs in the shop, 8 track player and all
). I sorted and stowed the various collet series floating around the machine shop so that I can now find them when I need them. And I reassembled the enclosure around the CNC machine.I then took some pics (which I haven't cropped or posted yet), and came home to do some shopping at McMaster Carr. I bought the stuff I needed to finish my electrical install, a new regulator, filter, dewaterer, and oiler for the CNC machine, some air hose and pipe fittings needed for that install, and a couple of other piddly little things. Still ended up spending the better part of $300. You can make money disappear at McMaster Carr faster than lighting it on fire, that is for sure. Oh well, it'll all be good stuff, and it'll be here Tuesday morning.
So, that leaves me these things to do next weekend:
1) Button up the coolant pump wiring and change out the conduit couplers on the 3phs power into the CNC machine
2) Install new reg, filter, oiler, et al
3) Finish cleaning up and organizing around the old bench and welding table
4) Tram the head on the Sharp
5) Load the required tools into the ATC on the CNC
6) Load the program for the eye covers into the control
7) Test the program
8) Probe the tool lengths and enter the offsets into the control
9) Cut off and square one end of the bar stock for the eye covers
10) Cut the eye covers
11) De-burr and check the eye covers for correctitude
12) Rejoice!
If I get thru to and complete #5 next weekend, I'll be doing good. Still so much to do.
Oh well, progress is progress.
).
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