I'm Moving

Sorry about the layoff. I've been there more than once. The one that hurt the most for me was when they decided to "not hurt anyone's feelings" and just laid people off in reverse order of hiring date. They kept the idiots that created problems and got rid of those of us who came in and fixed them.

Anyway, based on Jim's summary of your skills and your own accounts here, it occurs to me that a lot of these young startups with a line of CNCs tend to be run by guys without the first clue about machine maintenance and genuine mechanical ingenuity. They often have the attitude that all they have to do is buy the machines, plug them in, and feed them code and stock. Most seem too arrogant, but some may be interested in someone with real experience. The most successful startups have at least one very experienced "old-timer" (who is not necessarily very old by most people's standards) in at least an advisory position. Someone who has experience solving complex problems could really benefit them when they get into a bind.

My recommendation is to go about it with the attitude that they need you, not the other way around. If you go in with the demeanor of a pity case then that's how they will see you and you won't ever again rise above that.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
 
The mill's ready. Rolls pretty easy. Now on to the Lathe.

IMG_0864.jpg

So much to do yet. :)
 
cvairwerks said:
4gsr: I hadn't realized until I looked this morning, that we have at least 10 machine shops within a 10 mile radius of Denton. I've dealt with Hoop's before, but that's the only one.
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Hoops is one of the shops we deal with. The other is Marshel Machine. Ken
 
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Question for those more knowledgeable about wood than I:

I'm using two furniture dollies to move the lathe: one under each end/foot of the bed. On these dollies, the end pieces that are carpeted are the load bearing pieces I believe as they are over the casters. The two smaller rails underneath just connect the end pieces?

So what I did was screw down a piece of 3/4" plywood onto the dolly with the idea of setting each 'foot' of the lathe bed onto the center of the dolly. I then took the cutoff from the piece that I bought and screwed it down to the center of the piece I just attached. Like this:

IMG_0865.jpg

In this configuration, the carpeted end pieces support the weight of the load. Then I noticed the gap underneath and wondered if it would be better to put the top piece under the larger piece to better support the middle of the large 3/4" piece of wood. So I mocked it up to take a pic:

IMG_0866.jpg

While looking ok, I am now putting weight onto the smaller attaching pieces and I don't think they were intended for that. So, my question is will 1.5" of plywood supported from the ends only support 600 lbs or so of machine bolted to the center? I am liking the original idea, and stood on it and even jumped up and down a bit but I'm not quite half the load it will have to support. It was solid as a rock. The dimensions of the larger piece is 30"x18".
 
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I think either way would work. If that is a HF dolley, the casters are bolted through both of the pieces. I have bought several just to get the casters, cheaper than buying just the casters. If you glue and screw everything together with some wood glue, it will be solid as a rock. Maybe take the carpet off, that will help stiffen it up.
 
Thanks Jim. I'll stay with the original configuration. Seems pretty stout.
 
Here's one for the 'don't do this at home' category: Went to take the four bolts out of the headstock end of the lathe and nothing was even finger tight. Either I didn't check after tightening the first time, or never tightened them at all. I remember setting them loose when putting the lathe together to let everything 'relax' for a day or two, but that's all I remember. So this thing as literally just been sitting on top of the stands with the bolts only controlling lateral movement. Sheesh...

Now I haven't really pushed the lathe any as my doings don't require it. But I have had that big 8" PB chuck spinning at or near 2000 rpm with some irregular pieces chucked up. Machine never shook at all. There were a couple of rpms that would uncover some harmonic but they were very slight in that the worklight bolted to the flimsy chip guard would vibrate slightly but I couldn't feel anything when putting my hand on the headstock. I only really took notice of this when some folks were having issues with their 1340s vibrating and whatnot.

This lathe may be even better when I get it back together and this time tighten all the bolts! :D
 
I moved my lathe on 1/2" plywood.

Sent from somwhere in east Texas by Jake!
 
Hey Bill,

Sorry you fell through the cracks of the... 'we can get someone cheaper' trap... :(
Seems to happen too much these days.

For what it is worth... I have a bunch of heating and AC contractor friends in the Dallas/Ft Worth area... that area has LOTS of business (they want me to move over there... :) ).
There are lots of military contractors in the area... so a couple of things might could be assumed:
*Lots of govt contracts to keep the shops busy...
*Lots of job work for small shops to do for the larger shops...
Obviously, any assumption needs to be verified before making plans based on the information.

As I understand it... the weather is just hot... more humid to the east and less humid to the west...
Which would mean the Ft Worth area may be a bit drier... which of course would be better for the shop.

Regardless where you go... hope it works out.

Ans as some have said, I think you under-estimate your abilities...
I think you are gonna figure out something... it takes a bit to get beyond the 'change' part... and get motivated to 'just do it'... :)

Keep up with us... :)

John
 
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