Gerald

It always rains here. The paint companies make special reducers just for us. If we wait 'till the rain stops to paint, the MM's will be too busy to stop.

Dave

Good weekend progress with the three of us chipping in - the table bases are welded. I am grateful that the base is bolted together due to transporting it 40 miles to home. Just the base (minus the 8" channels) weighed the trailer down pretty good.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0135.jpg Dave and Dennis made a rolling frame for Dennis' table

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0153.jpg Making second base....

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0160.jpg The third base and getting ready for Home... (sorry for all the baseball analogies - I love puns)

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0166.jpg Learning to weld - this is the first time I have welded. Sorry Gerald - some grinding will be required...

Hey Scott, we all had to learn welding somewhere! The kids these days have baby angle grinders to clean up........we had to use a file, or a big straight grinder if we could afford one. Believe it or not, angle grinders are relatively new technology; they started at 9" and only a good few years later did they get down to half size.

What with basketball tournaments and shop preparation - work has slowed for now on the three machines. Dave is working on his MechMate shop and I am upgrading the power source for my shop. Weather has been challenging and the trenching was backbreaking but the shop is ready for the MechMate - Oregon has been having some rain, snow and sun - a nice variety...
Gerald - I do have one of the smaller grinders and will clean up the welds. I only want to carry on the fine name of the MechMate in style..

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0183.jpg Saturday...3/7/09

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0229.jpg Sunday ...3/8/09

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0210.jpg ..later that same day and a ton of rocks and gravel being dug up (with the help pf my wife - what a wonderful woman)

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0215.jpg and the final leg to the shop..100 amp service for all my woodworking needs - and the Mechmate

and now - back to working on the table!

I really enjoy hard work . . . . .I can sit and watch it for hours! :)

That curved spade is a first for me - never seen anything like it.

Do you guys also bury a tape/ribbon about 6" above a power cable? We sometimes use a tape marked "danger, electrical cable below" (or similar) for warning the next guys trenching there.

The curved shovel is actually for removing asphalt shingles from a roof. It just happened to fit nicely in the bottom of the trench for cleaning up loose dirt.

I like the idea of laying a ribbon in the trench, Not a common practice that I have heard of. We have a national service that will come out and sot the various utilities underground - power, gas, water, phone, etc. It's free too.

Status Update - March 29th
Another beautful spring day in Oregon - Mechmate work continues with tables ready to go to their respective homes.
Dennis came up with a piano wire set up that helped line up the v-track rails for punching and drilling in the 8" channel.
Now it's time to prime and paint the bases and get them ready for the gantry.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0460.jpg Wire setup for rail alignment

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0470.jpg Gantry cross tubes

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0475.jpg Rails loaded up and ready to travel...

Things should start moving faster now; Dave has more time to work on the Mechmate’s. This is a picture of him leaving work last Friday. Leaving for the last time ever, he is retired now after 20+ years at a paper mill and 20+ before that at an Aluminum plant.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8095/daveslastday.gif
[URL=http://g.imageshack.us/img27/daveslastday.gif/1/][IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/daveslastday.gif/

One more shot. Tacked and rolling.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2633/rollingf.gif
[URL=http://g.imageshack.us/img12/rollingf.gif/1/][IMG]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/rollingf.gif/

Congratulations, Dave, on your retirement. Enjoy!:D

I've been retired 12 years from my primary job and 5 years from a Consulting job...I don't know how I ever found time to go to work?

Happy building! Looks like you three are making good progress.

Regards,
John

Dave, I look forward to that retirement day!

(first time I see a padded turnstile - must be to stop the skin sticking in winter?)

Dennis, the bracket for the x-cable chain is not on the normal side that we are now used to. Did you have a special reason for putting it on that corner of the gantry? Cable chain location & orientation

Gerald,
We dont seem to have them padded here in Canada, but we sure do get winters. :)

Gerald
The short story on the turnstile is that they have only been there about two years. The children that work there don't like not having free travel in and out of the mill, which they had since the mill was built in about 1965. They need a card to go through the turnstile and some have been caught in them and a very few have been trapped in them for a few minutes mostly because of the luggage they take through them. So the company padded the upper half so no one would bang their head. As soon as the did that, the complaints started to come about the plastic cable ties that were used to secure the padding. The temperature rarely get below 25F (-4C ) here on the north Oregon coast.

Dennis put the cable chain attachment there because of the location of his machine. We talked about it before we decided on that location.

I actually googled "padded tunstiles" and discovered that padding at heel height was quite common out there. Out here we have powerful motors on the turnstiles to "force-feed" the labour masses into the workplace at about 2 per second! :D (tongue in cheek)

Ours don't have motors, although if they did 2 per second would be about going in, but not nearly fast enough for the folks going out :D

Wow! My goal is to build a 6'x12' MM. My metal guys flaked out on me so I'm having to locate an affordable metal fabricator in El Paso, Texas. You guys are doing a great job, very inspirational. If someone wants to work with me building my Mechmate.

Aggghhh - painting
 

Painting and assembling begin - I picked a Blue as close to MechMate as possible, Gerald. I have a white trim theme on the rails and the inside work area.
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0523.jpg Prime material

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0531.jpg A great day for painting

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0533.jpg Watching paint dry...

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0841.jpg Clearing a spot in the shop

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0847.jpg Getting ready for assembly

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0857.jpg Getting ready to put the beams up...

Dennis is waiting for me to get my rail to rail dimension so we can weld the gantry at the proper distance for the wheels - 78.125"

Thanks to all for your pictures and examples!!!!

Scott,
That was a really nice day for painting! I thought it always rained in your parts? :) You have some solid progress there.

Heath - The dry spell continues and the painting is getting done... yes - it is very green here but not humid

Now for the moment of truth -

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0903.jpg Yes - I wanted white on the inside... Gerald - I was looking to illuminate the work area better while maintaining the recognition of the equipment as a MechMate.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0912.jpg The base and main gantry tracks will be assembled this week

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0918.jpg

I was out at the main shop today and dennis has the gantry and trolley put together on his table - and it rolls so smoothly - just a fingertip push and it glides - Gerald - wonderful design. My next big worry is the electronics...

Looking good, Gentlemen!:) Nice looking finish.:)

The electronics are straight forward if you're following, at least generically, the plans so many on the Forum have used. I did some things a little differently, but I stuck to the Forum design for the most part.

Looking forward to the rest of your builds.:D

Scott I can`t wait to see that white paint full of dust:)

Yes, Hennie, but it will hide the dust so much more than the blue. I was really going for a brighter work area - don't ask me why, I don't expect to have my head in there all that much. Here it is with all the rails in place - next stop....the gantry

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_0922.jpg

Scott,
Your table is looking good.

I like the white paint!

The internal white makes me think of a military tank, or a coal mine, that have surprisingly white interiors. Nice touch!

Getting more done!
 

Getting more done today. Who needs a tool changing spindle!

Dennis
:)



http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7070/3gantry.th.gif
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/6015/3ycars.th.gif

...and more paint...
 

All the gantries and y cars are welded. Biggest time consumer now is the painting... and painting, preceeded by sanding...and sanding. I'm a woodworker, and maybe a little picky about finishes. I'll only get one shot at painting this and when it is finally running, be so covered in dust that I'll wonder why I spent so much time on surface preparation - call it pride in having a fine piece of machinery. Here's what happened this weekend - next step will be to put the racks on and start thinking about the electronics - I'm terrible when it comes to understanding it - but there is a ton of help in these forums and I should be able to succeed - with help from all of you -

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_1016.jpg The gantry and y-car (with a Z car in the background)

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...d/IMG_1021.jpg More progress - getting ready for all the fine points...

That looks *really* nice!

Scott,

Why don't I drive out Oregon and haul off that 240Z that's just getting in your way? :) I had an orange '72 back in high school. Sure wish I still had it.

Drive parts are starting to show up. I'm wishing for a June 1st start up.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/6...veparts.th.gif


I'm probably just dreaming.

Dennis

Dennis,
Watch that fabric material under your electronics. Depending on what the material is you could have some static damage to your circuit cards if you are not careful. Better to not use it and be on the safe side. :)

Heath, I cannot imagine any part of the power supply or Gecko's getting damaged by static, and I see the PMDX lying on its original wrapping, so Dennis is a careful guy :)

Gerald,
The problem is not it just sitting there, but more when you would pick up the pmdx for example. It is probably low on probability, but just thought I would mention it. Also depends largely on what the material is made of. I did not mean to infer that Denis was not careful. :o

Are opto-isolators sensitive for static? I can't think that a PMDX contains any other item which may be sensitive - it has no memories or processors or stuff like that. Quite frankly, I have never thought to handle any of the MM parts with any precautions other than for welding sparks! :D

Gerald,
This may be just me being over cautious, but any semiconductor device (integrated circuit) is capable of being damaged from electrostatic discharge. The problem is that damage does not always cause catastrophic failure. Sometimes the failure is just partial damage with intermittent problems for example. The geckos are the most protected because of the shielded case used around the circuit card, but the inputs could still be damaged. The pmdx card is wide open and you could have a discharge to any on the integrated circuit pins when you touch it. Best practice is to ground yourself before touching any of these components. :) Just to be safe. Same goes for computer cards and motherboards, touch the grounded case before touching the electronics. All those ESD courses at work may have poisoned my brain though. :) There used to be a time I did not care. :eek:

This is the back wall of the room dave made in his shop for his MM. His wife had to paint this on the wall before he could put his MM in. He is now assembling his MM. More pics to follow.

Dennis


http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/2...smmroom.th.gif

Dave (Dragonfinder) has found another dragon. Nice picture! I can guess what Dave's first cutting project is going to be. :) Why the interest in the dragons?

I’ve admired dragons for a long time, I have several guarding our house. My wife wants to be reincarnated as a komodo dragon. The dragon in the MM room is an oriental dragon, rather thin. I’m built more like a European dragon a little thicker in the middle.

A dragon is on a list of projects, however not the first. The first one will be a life size Holstein cow that we’re going to put in a friends yard when she’s not home, she has a house of black and white cow stuff

Ok, I have decided. I have seen blue and black, blue and white, blue only and red. Mine is blue and yellow. It is now assembly time!

Dennis
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9830/painted.th.gif

I am like the European Dragon also a bit bigger in the middle.
Just a silly question / observation... How do you do you pictures on the forum. When I am home or on my Blackberry, I see all your photo's. When at work I see some of them and some not....part of it must be a problem on this computer, but then I would expect to see no pictures....and they show up very small on this computer....
Just wondering....other posts on this forum the pictures are all OK.