Author Topic: The NEXT step for my shop  (Read 3945 times)

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Frank S

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The NEXT step for my shop
« on: April 30, 2021, 03:07:26 AM »
OK I can take a hint  ::)
Not really doing much to the shop lately since I have been quite busy developing a prototype machine for production
 But have added a few things to the shop and getting some other work done that doesn't show much
One thing I did that at first was thinking it would be just temporary but seems to be so handy will probably keep it  although eventually may modify it and rig it so I can raise it out of the way.
 Also made a couple of racks for steel storage, Need more but those will be added as time goes along.
 The curtain was hung to create a welding booth. Every shop needs a welding booth doesn't it? Well mine happens to be 15 feet by 35 feet
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It is populated by obviously a welder and a plasma and cutting torch, additionally I put my tilt top work table in there and built some weld fixtures on it for making the beams for the machine I am prototyping. Well not exactly proto typing as we already have one in existence which has been in operation for the past 5 years I am making it so it will be production manufacturable. More about it at a much later date
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These are the beams I made They are made out of 3/8" ASTM 514 T1 110KSI steel
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the Steel racks
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Populating the shop with a drill press
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Bruce S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2021, 09:09:58 AM »
Nice welds on the I-beam!
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Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2021, 04:52:10 PM »
Nice welds on the I-beam!
Thanks Bruce S
 My table is a tilt top that I made about 30 years ago to serve as a fit up table by adding or removing fixtures as needed.
 The stiffening spine is an 8 inch wide flange beam.
 Since I needed something very straight and a means to clamp the pieces of the beams together using the spine of the table seemed the most logical thing to do by adding a pair of pipes to the ends then adding a pair of 1" all thread for the clamping screws I then welded 2 larger diameter pipes to the ends of another beam to become the top clamp. Then some pipes with tabs sticking out on them to position the web.
 All I had to do was to tilt the table to its side and drop in the 3 components of the beam to be welded clamped it down.
 Tacked everything together Slightly warmed the pieces then skip welded it together rotating the table form 45° on one side and then the other until all 4 sides had been skip welded then kept rotating until all 4 sides were welded out 100%.
Leaving it in the fixture until cooled. The pair of beams I made are straight and true and square to one another to within 0.030" in 8 feet the flanges are parallel to within 0.05° Short of milling a beam there is no way that I can see to get a fabricated member and truer.
 A few of the reasons why I made my own beams was #1 the size I required for my design does not exist unless 1 flange is milled on both sides #2 the strength I would have had to have used 8" tall wide flange to achieve the strength that I will have in my 5" beams and design parameters met with an 8" tall beam
#3 straightness steel mill run beams are never all that straight from the mill let alone after they have been chained down to a trailer for transport.
 
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Bruce S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2021, 02:13:14 PM »
Watching the trucks bring in I-beams for the new hospital across the street, I can surely say there's a bunch that went up that were nowhere near that straight ! Much less true .

Cheers
Bruce S
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SparWeb

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2021, 09:18:57 PM »
Holy smoke, Frank.
If I'd been taking bets, I would have lost. 
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
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Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2021, 10:13:55 AM »
Think of these beams as being similar to the telescopic section of a forklift mast the main difference will be they will be deployed in the horizontal plane. They are made out of the same type and grade of material that the multi axle low bed heavy haul trailers are made of. This gives them double the strength of structural grade beams and almost the memory of spring steel once fabricated.
 When I was working in Kuwait I once designed a set of beams for a gymnasium floor which was to be the practice gym on the 2nd floor right above the main basket ball gym, so obviously the floor was clear span. We fabricated them on our beam line which was capable of making beams up to 30 meters long.
 I also made my own 10 ton bridge crane beams but they were only 15 meters long when tested to 15 tons load in the center the bridge had a 12mm total deflection
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JW

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2021, 09:30:41 AM »
Great to see your progress Frank S. I am looking to put another building on my property. I have this HES engine lathe its 14ft long. Good machine I can have it for free but have to haul it to my space.

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2021, 01:19:34 AM »
Great to see your progress Frank S. I am looking to put another building on my property. I have this HES engine lathe its 14ft long. Good machine I can have it for free but have to haul it to my space.
JW where are you located Getting things hauled is something I know several people who do that.
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2021, 01:35:09 AM »
I really need to keep all of the forums I frequent more up to date
Recently I built a jib crane for my shop its first task as most already know was to assist the construction of the tower stand for my 3000 gallon water storage.
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 Plus dragging many of my machines from their storage to populate the shop
Most can be placed under power as they are but all need various things done to them or re assembled, and a few really could use a good refurb but where ZI have them placed I can run power to them and use them also do any repairs or refurbishing where they stand
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I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2021, 01:59:10 AM »
To get my horizontal mill out of the container
 I rolled it on pipes than pulled it onto the forks of my backhoe loader
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Then I decided that I want to clear out the back 25 ft of the container and turn that into a paint spray booth complete with a sepperate paint mixing area between 2 bulkhead walls that will serve the duel purpose of filtering the intake air and a means of entering the spray booth from an already filtered clean environment the far end of the container will have a Plenum and exhaust filtration for particulate entrapment the air exchange will be at a rate of 3 to 4 times per minute.
 But to do this the first step was to cut a hole somewhere in the side of the container which coincidently just happened to be where I had a 1916 Leblond 16inch lathe and a knee mill with the head removed
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 I needed a place to store some of the things in the container as well as create another work station on top of the container so I built a Mezzanine between the school bus and the existing work station where I have my plate roller
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the first items to the stored on the mezzanine were 4 small band saws 3 of them run 1 needs repair all need cleaning and attention given
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I then put my 600 lb work station electronics repair desk on the mezzanine
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Then I cleaned out all of the debris from the school bus pressure washed it and put my Shop office desk and Credenza in it
 this does not make it an office, but it is a start
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JW

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2021, 01:39:27 AM »
I like to check on this thread from time to time.

Im also working on a R&D area but its tiny compared to Frank's.

You better build a rocket engine ;D 8) over there. I have that thread "recent activity" but im going to highlight a separate/specific to the solid fuel burners project. :)

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2021, 12:10:41 AM »
Finally after 18 years I have my Taylor 22,000 lb forklift back
 When we left for work in Kuwait back in 2003 I sold my part of a property that I co owned to the co owner And leased the equipment I didn't ship to Kuwait to a guy who had been renting part of my shop from me. My then partner in the property said he would look after the equipment however time passed much of the equipment was removed from the shop and sold by the guy who had leased it from me. When we returned from Kuwait in 2013 my former partner said he would like to hang onto the forklift for a while to use. then last year he sold the property to some guy and that guy tried to claim the forklift went with the property but another friend of mine told him no that he had already bought it from Rick. Rick my former partner is in his 80s and had forgotten all about the forklift still being there. Himie called me and said I needed to get the forklift out of there soon if I still wanted it so I had a friend of mine load it and bring it to me but during the time it had sat there one of the drive tires had gone flat when they tried to air it up it split open so I had to spend a $1000.00 for a tire and have it put on.
But it is sitting in front of my shop now and not going anywhere unless I move it
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 I have also closed in the remainder of the South wall and part of the West wall where a container once filled the space.
With the sides out of the tarp that was once a Conestoga kit on a flat bed trailer
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I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2022, 11:43:37 PM »
Finally got around to installing my air compressor that I assembled with a compressor and motor I got from one guy and a tank I got from another. And installed the beginning of my air system.
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this is a surge tank / water trap which I will eventually make about 10 of them as I install more of my system right now I only have the single surge tank mounted in the corner where I brought the air line in will have to add mor epictures when I think about snaping them
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I also started the door for the West side of the building this will cover 33 of the 48-foot opening just need to add the sheeting to it now


I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

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Re: The NEXT step for my shop
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2022, 01:34:12 AM »
The last couple of days I have been stealing time from myself to work on getting my 2nd RPC built and hooking up the 9KVA transformer for the 460v At the same time getting all panels closer to being able to install all of the covers The single phase main panel has 1 more temporary 220 line to remove then that panel can be closed permanently, the breakers with red tape are not to be switched on until other things are completed, the transformer is ready to have that cover installed after I get the phases of the 2nd RPC to a balanced output. I can close the door on the main 3ph disconnect now and the encloser below it as everything that is going to be needed in those is complete. I need to connect the magnetic contactor to a breaker and add a 24v transformer in the 3ph 240v panel "bottom right" then that one can have the cover put on I don't have any conduit run out of the 3ph 460v panel "top right" as of yet so no need for the transformer to be switched on until something is connected for it to power.
I am thinking about not installing the capacitors in the connection box for the larger RPC but rather install them in a much larger separate panel to be mounted below the shelf due to my calculated number of capacitors needed to get proper output. By installing them in a larger panel is will also have enough room to add more capacitors should I require another idler motor later on.
All single-phase 120v lines are black #2 lines for 240v single phase are RED all #3 lines for 3ph 240v are blue and the 460v line are BOY #1brown $2 orange &#3 yellow. any neutral lines through out are white and the bonded grounds are green
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I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin