What did you do today?

[Dan Dubeau]

Inspection day 1 of 2. I get to find out how screwed up the fixture I've designed and built over the past 2.5 months is lol

It's a checking fixture for an engine cradle assembly and the main base is 60x56". Lots of slides and flips on this guy. This isn't the biggest I've done, and it isn't the most complicated, but it has certainly been the most frustrating and stressful. My favourite part of this particular fixture is when it will leave the building .



It's too large to check with our CMM, and our normal 3rd party guys, so we call in the mobile romer arm. We've checked each individual sub assembly to itself on our CMM, and are now bringing it all into tolerance together as an assembled unit. I have 0.2mm true position tolerance on the holes and details, except a few that are tighter at 0.15mm. Tomorrow will be lots of grinding to bring all the feeler plates and nets into spec. We leave them full, as it's easier to grind material off, than put it back on at the end .

So far so good. I might have to move a couple plates and re dowel, but that's pretty standard on a fixture build this large.

I'll get some better pics of it when it's off the table and we get some more of the finishing touches on it.

[Ridgerunner]

Trouble with the furnace. I got it working while waiting on a new control module. There were three of these bugs on the module and a large spider. It shorted the one fan terminal. This is the second time with this furnace that this happened.

[Cenedd]

Could you get a spray-on conformal coating for the PCB? Might provide enough insulation or just dissuade the wildlife from entering.

[nickel-city-fab]

Welded up the crack in the main boom on a mobile crane.
Welded up the slide rails on a roll-off semi. (cracked/sprung)
Re-installed the ladder on another crane after an operator had bent it into a pretzel
(spent a few days fabbing new mount channels and re-welding the whole thing)
Swept the floor. All of it. It needed it.

Now I'm gonna eat and sleep. A lot.

[Ridgerunner]

Could you get a spray-on conformal coating for the PCB? Might provide enough insulation or just dissuade the wildlife from entering.

Thank you for the good idea. I ordered an extra control module just in case. The furnace is going to be replaced after the weather moderates when we may not need it for a couple of days.

[J Tiers]

Trouble with the furnace. I got it working while waiting on a new control module. There were three of these bugs on the module and a large spider. It shorted the one fan terminal. This is the second time with this furnace that this happened.

Looks like a centipede. They are good, they eat insects etc. Must have been other bugs in there

[danlb]

Thank you for the good idea. I ordered an extra control module just in case. The furnace is going to be replaced after the weather moderates when we may not need it for a couple of days.

My mother's heating repair guy suggested a couple thousand dollar upgrade. I found a replacement control board for less than $85 on the internet. It was easy to replace, as it was a 1 for 1 replacement and all connectors were labeled the same as the original. It took about half an hour to replace the board.

[Tim The Grim]

Finished and mounted the rail I was working on. Now Brownells doesn’t have the raw profile extrusions in stock except 36” painted , which I don’t want.

[PStechPaul]

Could also be a millipede:

https://carnegiemnh.org/centipede-or-millipede-whats-the-difference/

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like a centipede. They are good, they eat insects etc. Must have been other bugs in there

I never bother them. I figure they are here for a reason and usually only see them at one time of year.

My mother's heating repair guy suggested a couple thousand dollar upgrade. I found a replacement control board for less than $85 on the internet. It was easy to replace, as it was a 1 for 1 replacement and all connectors were labeled the same as the original. It took about half an hour to replace the board.

These boards are common to Carrier, Bryant, and Payne, and can be found new for around $240.00 or used for $30.00 and up. The last time this board got damaged it was a spider. As you said, an easy replacement.
This furnace had a problem where the sail switch was bad and also the circulating fan locked up and the heat stayed on. It melted part of the AC evaporator pan so condensation runs down through the furnace instead of out the evaporator drain. The furnace was new in 1999 and although efficient at the time, needs to be replaced with something better now.

Could also be a millipede:

https://carnegiemnh.org/centipede-or...he-difference/

The common name here is "thousand legger" no matter what the correct name is lol. They seem to be around in the Fall when other bugs are moving in for the Winter. At least that seems to be when I see them.

[Dan Krager]

Finished machining a clone cutter head for a size I did not have, could not find, and could not afford if I did stumble into it. This 9/16" cutter head is for a Stanley 77 dowel cutter. The internal threads were a challenge since it was my first time cutting away from the head on the back side. That technique seemed desirable because of the few threads being cut. The bolt that holds the cutter head is an antique size that McMaster Carr happened to have a tap for, 12-24 and they got it to southern Indiana in less than 24 hours! Wow! Yes, pricey. I was practicing "precision" games and am pleased with the outcome. It cuts beautifully and is a good workout.
DanK

[The Metal Butcher]

Spent too much time on a half-assed solution as it wasn't working out right. Probably would have been better to have spend the time and made it right. Well it mostly works. I will be continuing on with the rest of the phase converter soon.

[The Metal Butcher]

Interesting, stressful day.

One of the old Russian engineers at work kinda screwed the pooch on schedule by not getting some acme nuts threaded for a new machine we are setting up at work. 1"-4 LH, brass, about 2" long. I told him to buy a tap and get 'r' done. He was afraid of it, but did so.

I was around by maintenance when he comes looking for a bigger tap wrench, but there is none around, and the 14" lathe can only swing so big anyway. So I show him how to do it with an adjustable wrench, carriage set to the same feed, and crank in the tailstock center to keep it straight. We get the practice nut done and I'm about to leave him on the second, but he starts off, doesn't crank fast enough and immediately the tap goes sideways and nearly breaks. So I took back over, but no matter what we did the 10" Bison 3 jaw just wouldn't stop slipping. I convinced him to take it off and put the 4 jaw Bison I sold them on. 4 jaws never slip. Sure enough. Worked fine. I returned later and to find him on the second one, he sent it straight through without issues. So I guess he learned something today, and so did I. I've never tapped something that big before. Hopefully the 3 jaw survived its abuse, the chuck key is not bent slightly. It was running .0002 when new, so I would like it to stay good. I thought for sure that adjustable wrench was about to send a jaw into orbit, it opened at least 1mm under pressure and isn't straight anymore lol.

What a day.

[dalee100]

A day late, but I taught a bunch of math students to calculate Pi buy tossing frozen hotdogs on Pi Day. They got and excellent estimation of 3.21

[The Metal Butcher]

Turned some Moly. Would have gone through $120 of inserts if they weren't used up from graphite work. Tough on tools, but turns nice with the right insert. With the wrong one, good luck.