- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 3,962
Hi all,
I had a request to construct some doors for an aging industrial high speed meat slicer, that were obsolete from the manufacturer.
the other route would be to convert the machine to the new style stainless steel door assemblies at a cost that is astounding.
the quote really was ridiculous , but i gave the customer the option of a rock solid replacement door constructed from polycarbonate that was still expensive but less than 1/3 of the factory solution even with my labor factored in.
the customer was elated to say the least and asked the question of durability,
my reply was that they make safety glasses from the very same material, and i reminded him that the door that i proposed was exponentially thicker than said safety glass lenses.
There was no further consultation, just a moment of agreement ....
As you can see the door got clobbered and glue was not a good savior for the old door, but they tried
the picture is poor but there are precisely drilled mounting holes as well as a safety sensor mounting point that has a total error of only +/- 3mm.
it sunk in for me,
i was asked to reconstruct, from broken parts, a fairly precise outcome-
sounds like another workday.....
next you can see the other victim...
it wasn't as beat up, but there were stress cracks surrounding the mounting hardware
I used the broken covers as templates, and scribed the outline on the protective skin of the polycarbonate sheet.
(When working with polycarbonate, leave the skin on until you are nearly done- polycarb scratches easily)
With the basic layout completed,
I used a 140 tooth plywood panel blade, and i cut out the new blank from the full sheet with 7 1/4" skill saw.
I made rapid continuous cuts to minimize friction but maximize accuracy.
the template worked flawlessly, i clamped the templates to both respective doors for the hole layout, drilling & countersinking operations- all performed with a battery powered X4 18v Rigid drill rig
Here's the completed work:
this would be the left side (operator oriented)
and the right side with the operator controls
It's a precision PLC / Inverter controlled meat slicing/portioning machine manufactured in
Oberlahr, Germany.
here's a video clip of it's operation without product and a overview shot( sorry for the crappy video)
as always thanks for reading.
questions and comments , are welcomed
I had a request to construct some doors for an aging industrial high speed meat slicer, that were obsolete from the manufacturer.
the other route would be to convert the machine to the new style stainless steel door assemblies at a cost that is astounding.
the quote really was ridiculous , but i gave the customer the option of a rock solid replacement door constructed from polycarbonate that was still expensive but less than 1/3 of the factory solution even with my labor factored in.
the customer was elated to say the least and asked the question of durability,
my reply was that they make safety glasses from the very same material, and i reminded him that the door that i proposed was exponentially thicker than said safety glass lenses.
There was no further consultation, just a moment of agreement ....
As you can see the door got clobbered and glue was not a good savior for the old door, but they tried
the picture is poor but there are precisely drilled mounting holes as well as a safety sensor mounting point that has a total error of only +/- 3mm.
it sunk in for me,
i was asked to reconstruct, from broken parts, a fairly precise outcome-
sounds like another workday.....
next you can see the other victim...
it wasn't as beat up, but there were stress cracks surrounding the mounting hardware
I used the broken covers as templates, and scribed the outline on the protective skin of the polycarbonate sheet.
(When working with polycarbonate, leave the skin on until you are nearly done- polycarb scratches easily
)With the basic layout completed,
I used a 140 tooth plywood panel blade, and i cut out the new blank from the full sheet with 7 1/4" skill saw.
I made rapid continuous cuts to minimize friction but maximize accuracy.
the template worked flawlessly, i clamped the templates to both respective doors for the hole layout, drilling & countersinking operations- all performed with a battery powered X4 18v Rigid drill rig
Here's the completed work:
this would be the left side (operator oriented)
and the right side with the operator controls
It's a precision PLC / Inverter controlled meat slicing/portioning machine manufactured in
Oberlahr, Germany.
here's a video clip of it's operation without product and a overview shot( sorry for the crappy video)
as always thanks for reading.
questions and comments , are welcomed
Last edited:
