Eyeball Engineering

[rlockwood]

Don't have any pictures of "my" machines (they're not mine) but perhaps i'll snap some tomorrow. Only interesting pics I have on my phone are of a project from a few months back. I dont get the design credit on this one.. I just got stuck figuring out how to make it :P

[Duuuuuuuude]

Ok guys, stop with the awesome stuff, you're screwing up my crappy thread.

[xjman]

Some of the best tooling at my shop looks like it was machined with a chisel and a hammer.

While I was in school 90% of everything I made was things like what you are making. handles, no spark hammers, t-nuts, made threaded stock, parallel clamp, drill point gauge for off hand grinding. While I was doing this bitching about how it doesn't relate to what I'm going to be doing in the field the guys I work with just laughed. One of them told me you will spend a lot of hours making what you need to run your parts. Doesn't matter how good you are, if your tooling is crap, your part will be too.


I have some pictures of some of the things I've made, I'll post them up here tonight. My meat mallet is my pride and glory.

[CarterFab]

You're definitely going about this the right way. Manual machining is becoming a lost art. More and more button pushers out there that couldn't run a machine to save their life. This way you understand every process that goes into making a part and will start dissecting things like I do instinctively. You'll also get an idea of something that is way overpriced or if someone is over complicating because you realized there is nothing to it. There is also more pride in making your own parts. I generally don't job out anything I can do unless I'm just too busy. You can see all the custom axle work I've been doing out of boredom and parts availability. When you get your hands on a lathe you'll really start having fun. not to take anything away from people like myself that do this as a profession but it's not as overwhelming as some think if you have a general mechanical knowledge and understand how things work together. I went the college route and got a degree and learned programming also. The manual stuff is way more rewarding. Hell I even had a job reworking stuff that came out of CNC machines to save them from the scrap pile. We are a full manual machine shop where I have been for the past 10 years and we hold extremely tight tolerances. .0005" on a part that can be 4' long. Made this on a manual machine years ago when I was bored


Stay with it and it will reward for years to come and it's a lot of fun just making random stuff to see if you can.

Clay
Carter Fab & Machine

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by CarterFab

You're definitely going about this the right way. Manual machining is becoming a lost art. More and more button pushers out there that couldn't run a machine to save their life. This way you understand every process that goes into making a part and will start dissecting things like I do instinctively.

I love seeing what some good cnc programming can do, no doubt about it, but there is really something to admire about someone who can carve something amazing out by hand.

Originally Posted by CarterFab

You'll also get an idea of something that is way overpriced or if someone is over complicating because you realized there is nothing to it.

I see quite a bit of overly complicated stuff in my day job. Most of the time it looks like someone is trying to justify their engineering position more than making a quality part.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

I love seeing what some good cnc programming can do, no doubt about it, but there is really something to admire about someone who can carve something amazing out by hand.



I see quite a bit of overly complicated stuff in my day job. Most of the time it looks like someone is trying to justify their engineering position more than making a quality part.

I agree with you about CNC programming, but there really isn't anything that a CNC machine can do that can't be done on manual machines, where the CNC shines is the ability for repeatability for production runs and the ability to not have to set up 2-4 manual machines to accomplish the same thing. CNC does make it financially possible to do super delicate and intricate designs on a single machine.

Carter fab makes a great point, there are way too many 'button pushers' who think they are machinists, the reality that 95% of them have no actual idea of what they are telling the machines to do as they 'fill in the blanks' in a program. When I worked in aerospace, every summer the GE interns would show up, ready to show us how it's done because they had a full semester of CNC training! It was non-stop fun to hear them tell us that we had to show them how to turn on the machines because that wasn't a part of their training and it wasn't their job....

We would walk them over to the Bridgeport and tell them to square up the stock for the Milltronics machine. They would look at the mill and ask which handle did they have to turn?

[Stormin2u]

Way to go Dude now your free to create, I'm stuck buying everyone else's creations. I don't have the time or money right now but I still look at machines for sale I'd love to start hacking away at it, keep it up.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Something else to make my life easier...I need to pick up a couple more screws for it, but it works just peachy.







And...ever since I learned what Turners Cubes are, I've been a bit obsessed by them. There's a little but growing pile of failures, but I'm getting better. Here's the latest that I didn't screw up...

.7 x .7 x .7

[JohnRobHolmes]

Whats the first part for, mounting your indicator?

[CREEPERBOB]

Very nice Chris, you must have a thin slitting saw, something I'm still in need of. I do like my low dollar magnetic base indicator holder, and you could probally find one of those magnets for holding blueprints, the ones about 2" O.D. and adapt to what you have there.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Whats the first part for, mounting your indicator?

Wasn't my original intent, but I suppose you could. Its a stop so you don't have to recenter every time you put something in the vice. I'll have to get another picture for you.

Originally Posted by CREEPERBOB

Very nice Chris, you must have a thin slitting saw

Yup, but around these here parts we call it a "bandsaw".

[CarterFab]

I was gonna mentions vice stop. Yours will work fine but there is a better design that is super simple and small.

And some screw jacks. Notice how the head can swivel separate from the base.


And your most valuable asset for doing really fun stuff is a rotary table or indexer. I use the indexer almost more than a standard vice.

Makes bolt patterns and wheels a breeze.

Clay
Carter Fab & Machine


Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

[Duuuuuuuude]

Does that vice stop just clamp onto the jaws or what?

A rotary table is definitely on the list.

[Duuuuuuuude]

I like this one. Maybe I'll make one.

[CarterFab]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Does that vice stop just clamp onto the jaws or what?

A rotary table is definitely on the list.

Yes. Clamps on to one of the vice jaws. The stationary side usually. Trust me. That little stop will be your best friend. Compact, quick one hand adjustment and holds its position extremely well.

I would buy an indexer before a table. I have used it probably 200:1 compared to a rotary table. Only thing that table is gonna do that you can't with an indexer is to be able to make things like ovals or complicated radius like that. The indexer is by far my favorite accessory for the mill. Lay it down, stand it up, set at an angle. Just my .02 cents.


Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

[CREEPERBOB]

I got a universal indexing head with tailstock, it can be rotated a full 90* plus from horizontal, comes with assortment of indexing plates, is 40:1 with the worm wheel and also has a simple indexing plate with 36 divisions. I also have 2 4 jaw chucks and a 3 jaw chuck as well as a faceplate for it.
Very handy and useful, have cut hexes and bolt circles with it as well as flats on axle shafts at 180* divisions.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Here is vice stop v2.0. I like this one better.

[C*H*U*D]

I was digging through my desk looking for a stapler, and found this. It made me think of this thread so I snapped a quick picture.

I made this when we first got our knee mill at work, so it's about 11 years old. It's a mini fly tying vise that I planned to take camping. The pivot shaft was going to be replaced by a longer one with a clamp on the bottom for attaching to a table or maybe a steering wheel. I never finished it, but got a chuckle when I found it today.

[rlockwood]

Originally Posted by CarterFab

You're definitely going about this the right way. Manual machining is becoming a lost art. More and more button pushers out there that couldn't run a machine to save their life. This way you understand every process that goes into making a part and will start dissecting things like I do instinctively. You'll also get an idea of something that is way overpriced or if someone is over complicating because you realized there is nothing to it. There is also more pride in making your own parts. I generally don't job out anything I can do unless I'm just too busy. You can see all the custom axle work I've been doing out of boredom and parts availability. When you get your hands on a lathe you'll really start having fun. not to take anything away from people like myself that do this as a profession but it's not as overwhelming as some think if you have a general mechanical knowledge and understand how things work together. I went the college route and got a degree and learned programming also. The manual stuff is way more rewarding. Hell I even had a job reworking stuff that came out of CNC machines to save them from the scrap pile. We are a full manual machine shop where I have been for the past 10 years and we hold extremely tight tolerances. .0005" on a part that can be 4' long. Made this on a manual machine years ago when I was bored


Stay with it and it will reward for years to come and it's a lot of fun just making random stuff to see if you can.

Clay
Carter Fab & Machine

I agree with alot of what you're saying, there are alot of incompetent cnc and manual machinists alike. A good machinist, manual or not, understands the processes are the same, and are worth their weight in gold. I would make the argument however, that literally ANY part made on a manual machine can be made faster, more effeciently, and to higher quality standards on even a relatively inexpensive (for instance, haas or fadal) CNC machining center, assuming a competent individual is present to perform the work.

[CarterFab]

Originally Posted by rlockwood

I would make the argument however, that literally ANY part made on a manual machine can be made faster, more effeciently, and to higher quality standards on even a relatively inexpensive (for instance, haas or fadal) CNC machining center, assuming a competent individual is present to perform the work.

I'll take that challenge all day long! I love making high dollar machines and baby soft hands look bad. You set a basic wheel in front of me and a CNC guy and I guarantee that by the time the program is written and his part is done, I will be sitting at home watching the boob tube.
Our company is all manual because that's the only way it can be done efficiently. We rebuild or reproduce better than oem parts for the internals of natural gas compressors. We get oem stuff that came from a CNC line that is garbage and have to rework a $10k dollar part so the engine won't vibrate all to hell. This is not little 4" pistons either. Some of these are 24" diameter and the customer wanted it yesterday type deal. There's not a single job we handle that a CNC can even touch in efficiency compared to manual.
The only time CNC is better is on high volume runs and extremely intricate parts.



Carter Fab & Machine: Hand Made Customs