Todays Rant

[Trucker47]

Well to say the least today was just bad ontop of more bad for me i went out to the shop to work on my robotics project for school at about 2 in the afternoon and within 5 minutes i brake a drill bit from my brand new set that i just got then while putting in a 1.5mm set screw i break one of my nice inetgy hex drivers so at this point i think i've hit rock bottum for today and it can only get better, boy was i wrong. I had to make an adapter from a 3mm motor shaft to a 10-24 threaded rod and lucky for me i managed to ruin 2 of them while tapping in the 10-24 rod by now i was really starting to get pissed off so i decided to move onto something else. For my project i need to make 3; 2 inch actuators so i milled out a end cap with a 3mm hole to attach to my project. cutting this out went perfect some how, which started to make me happy. But then when i attached it to the rod, the "perfectly marked out holes" were off even though i measures twice and cut once. i assembled the pieces without noticing this and put in the set screw and cut it off so it could be flush with the OD of the inner tube and so it could slide into the outter tube, so by now i i have it all assembled and polished so the tube could easily slide in and out. But then since the holes were off the cap just fell out and the set screw, well now is stuck in my end cap that took an hour to mill out
by now i was starting to get sloppy in my work because i was so angry but i had to keep goin since i dont have a whole lot of time left to work on it. And now for the finale to my terrible build day. i was doing a little bit of structual soldering with some brass tubing and because it was with large tubing it retains heat for a while before cooling down cold enough to hold. I somehow forgot this and picked up a piece and burt off about 3 of my finger prints... well that todays rant. hopefully tomorrow goes better

Thanks,
Chris

[tc1cat]

Sounds like just another day at the office Hopefully, you will get everything sorted out and done on time.

[rcman]

hehe boy i can relate when i had my own business and i had days like that i usually just told my customer see ya tomorrow! then just pack my toys up and head to the house

[Trucker47]

well i decied to take a complete break from it today, played with the highlift and ill get back at it tomorrow,

[td9clyde]

very true they didn't build rome in a day and i shure didn't build a terex dozer in a day took 7 months to build and almost 2 years to finish it to make it move

[Heavy Metal]

I can totally appreciate this rant Chris. Good stuff. We've all been there. I've been running CNC milling jobs lately and some of these jobs run for 1 or 2 hours and require tool and setup changes in the final stages...which is ALWAYS when I make a mistake and ruin the part. Never happens in the first 5 minutes!! Joe

[ihbuilder]

Originally Posted by Heavy Metal

I can totally appreciate this rant Chris. Good stuff. We've all been there. I've been running CNC milling jobs lately and some of these jobs run for 1 or 2 hours and require tool and setup changes in the final stages...which is ALWAYS when I make a mistake and ruin the part. Never happens in the first 5 minutes!! Joe

yea tell me about it always when your on the last set up

[tc1cat]

Have you ever heard of a set-up piece Wait until you are working on a $12,000 part and the very last tool breaks You say a lot of words and try to find a way to save it. Usually, it turns out to be a piece of junk with about an hours worth of time.

Like I said, just another day at the office!!

I do feel for you Chris. It has happened to me too many times to count.

[9W Monighan]

If in doubt pour a cold one and listen to this song

http://www.youtube.com/user/Scentles...42/rUjFxgO4das

[Trucker47]

Well i waited a day and started fresh today with new material and it was a success! I had to make an electric actuator with 1.75" stroke. I measured everything, did it right the first time and when it was all assembled it worked perfectly! I'll try to take a picture tomorrow to show you guys what i made.

SANDCRAFT TRANSPORT - yea i was running thin on patience that day hahaha. I geuss after 8 hours alone working in the shop with everything going wrong i got a little ancy.

td9cycle - So far i think i've got easily 100 hours in the shop, probably half on my drill press/makeshift lathe/light duty home made milling machine, 100 on my computer designing it and probably 24 writing the report; i think its up to 300 words or something like that.

Heavy Metal - Oh man! I think thats when i would just get extremely angry and walk out.

9W Monighan - Yeup thats usally the case, i get excited since its almost all done and overlook a step on the last piece and it all goes downhill from there.

tc1cat - $12,000 dollars?!? What are you making? must be cool if its that pricey. Hahaha yes i've been there and done that. You always think it will work just barely, but in reality it won't, doesn't and ruines what you working on. Like when i was tapping the 10-24 thread the tap i had; snapped so i thought, "i'll just use half of it, it SHOULD work". Well lets just say the hole got ruined and the broken tap landed in the neighbors yard

9W Monighan - Yea i love Pink Floyd so i turn on some Dark Side of The Moon, lie down and relax.

[tc1cat]

My main 9 to 5 job is for an orthopaedics company. I make replacement hips, shoulders, and elbows. Mostly out of titanium or cobalt chrome. Been at it for almost 25 years. Most of my time is spent running a CNC lathe with live tooling- milling and drilling heads in turret. Lots of ops. done at the same time compared to 10 years ago.

[ihbuilder]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

My main 9 to 5 job is for an orthopaedics company. I make replacement hips, shoulders, and elbows. Mostly out of titanium or cobalt chrome. Been at it for almost 25 years. Most of my time is spent running a CNC lathe with live tooling- milling and drilling heads in turret. Lots of ops. done at the same time compared to 10 years ago.

It would be so nice to have 1 of them right now . but I'm not about to take out another mortgage since I'll be just under 50 when my first is paid

[tc1cat]

I think that that is most expensive hip we make. Most are a lot less. Hospital bill and surgeon's bill will make you cry. My knee op 3 weeks ago has a $11,000 hospital bill plus the surgeon's bill which I have no idea how much it will be. And this was out-patient surgury, in at 9AM out at 3PM. 2nd surgery yesterday for bladder stones was about the same for time in at 7AM out at noon. Can't wait to see that bill Looks like my buying things went done the drain for the foreseeable future Lots of nice things out there to get with no money to buy

[Trucker47]

tc1cat - Oh cool so im geussing you machines have a 4th and 5 axis?

ihbuilder - how is your shop coming now? i remember talking to you a while ago about it on scale4x4

tc1cat - wow! im hoping i dont have any health issues with prices like that. Hope you get better and dont need any more surgeries!

heres a picture of the actuator to show you guys what they look like:


Chris

[td9clyde]

nice job on that actuator

[tc1cat]

Feeling much better now. Back to work tonight-3rd shift. CNC mill has 4th axis. Been running it for almost 25 yrs with the lathe added in for about 10 yrs.

[Trucker47]

thanks! any pictures of the mill?