Thanks for the SolidWorks files
 

Hi Pablo & Gerald,

I greatly appreciate the SolidWorks original files and thanks both of you for your kind generosities and hard works.

I thought of asking for the SW files so that I do not have to reinvent the wheel :). My intention is to make certain changes to suit my purpose as not all the materials are readily available here. Like you, I prefer working in 3D though I can read the 2D drawings without any problems.

Should I make any changes and think it will benefit others, I will no doubt share it in the spirit of this great community.

With my thanks and great appreciation,

WT

I downloaded these files and opened in Inventor 2009. They opened perfectly. Good job.

Just an update, I didn't dissapear, I read the forum almost daily but since I need to move from my current location to a new place I can't move forward in the project, hopefully this will happen soon.

Since my last post I can give one good news: I was father again! :)

Not a mechmate fotolog, but you can see pictures here: www.peu.net/alex :)


Pablo

Congratulations! That's a beautiful family. I can tell by the pictures that you are very proud.:) Go tell mama one more time how beautiful she is...

Congratulations to mother & father!

Congrats Pablo, have fun with the new one! :)

God bless all!

RGDS
IRfan

Thanks guys, and thanks Gerald for the temporary title change.

I miss the good sleep nights :)


Pablo

Pablo
Congratulations! :):cool: All the best to the family!

Wow - I remember last year trying to complete my build with a baby on the way....then waiting, then waiting, then waiting...then baby! (wiring was done during this waiting phase)
Congratulations.

Felicidades !!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations and well done...another Scorpion born.;)

Congrats!!

Thanks again guys!! :)

Back on topic.

Do any of you guys have a work order sheet, I mean the one you fill when a new work comes to your shop, what do you guys ask from the customer? what are the minimum requierements?

Since I can't build the machine, I want to create a business flow model around the mechmate, from customer call/visit to delivery

I was also thinking about a 3 tier price list, something like:

top tier: job finished today
mid: Job finished in the next 48hs
bottom: finished in less than a week

Do you guys see this as doable?

And last one (for now) customers bring the material or its provided by me?

Thanks!!

Gracias Amigo.

Wow, nice solids model. It better helps me visualize the finished product. :)

Hi, I think I found a place to build my shop not many blocks away from my home, its small because I live in a city and zonification don't allow for big shops, the lot size is 8.6m wide x 25m long and I can build one extra floor over the roof only (ground + 1st floor)

Since I need to demolish the actual home there because its very old and cannot be restored, I tought why not ask for ideas, I asked in this thread before, but now that I have better idea of the space available, Im asking again.

What do you guys think of this ground floor layout? http://peu.net/plano1.pdf (800kb)
(non obvious translations: Cocina=Kitchen / Area Trabajo=Work Area / Entrada taller=Work Area entrance)

Comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks

Pablo,

A suggestion regarding the Dust Collector.

My workshop is in a residential area, so having the Dust Collector outside the building is not possible...too noisy. So, I added a Dust Collector room in one corner of the workshop. It has a vent back into the workshop with double filters. This means that when the Dust Collector is running, no air is being sucked out of the workshop. I insulated the inside walls to reduce noise. I also used an exterior door so there is a weather seal.

There is no perceptible noise outside the workshop. The noise inside the workshop is also greatly reduced.

Regards,
John

What would be the problem of sucking air out of the workshop? I can add a room next to the workshop toilet for that purpose, but ventilation to the outside would be complicated.

Now that you talk ventilation, Buenos Aires is not a very cold or very hot city (year range 5C to 35C) cooling can be done by wind blowers as most shops do here, but how do you heat? gas furnaces I guess are a no-no in a wood shop. BTW, natural gas is the usual way for heating here.

Thanks

Pablo, if you have spent a lot of money to heat the air in the workshop, then you do not want to pump it outside with the dust collector. Then you make it a "closed system" - no cold air comes in and no warm air goes out. Here in South Africa we do not worry about closed systems.

South Africa and Buenos Aires are in almost the same Latitude S33º so I guess the temperature ranges are similar there too. Weather.com just confirmed it for me: Cape Town and Buenos Aires

How do you heat your shop in winter?

Thanks!

We work faster - no heating.

I dont think you guys really have winter. If there is no minus in front of the temperature numbers then its just Fall. :p:)

El tamaño máximo que puede medir un vehículo en europa son 4 metros de alto por 2.60 de ancho, a no ser que sea un vehículo especial. creo que la altura de tu planta baja será de 4 metros?

Es muy común hacer un sótano cuando falta espacio. Estaría bien para poner los equipos de ruido, al final del garaje, sobre todo cuando quieres tener un garaje limpio y aseado, muchas veces sobran cosas que se pueden guardar en este sótano.

Aquí en España, se puede aprovechar la segunda planta para hacer un ático, que no ocupe mas del 45% del total de la superficie de la planta.

Sotano! Que buena idea como no se me ocurrio (Basement, what a great idea how I didn't think of it)

Mañana 9AM tengo entrevista con un Arquitecto que construye muchas casas por mi barrio para saber si es viable la costruccion que yo pretendo en el lote que tengo visto (Tomorrow 9AM I have a meeting with an Arquitect that builds houses in my neighbourhood to see if the construction that I want is possible in the lot I saw)

Le voy a comentar del sotano a ver que opina (I will tell about the basement to see what he thinks about it)

No se cuanto puede encarecer la obra, mas que nada porque la losa de cemento se hace con vigas prearmadas y es muy rapida, en cambio un sotano hay que traer maquinaria pesada para hacerlo. (I don't know how much more the construction would be, mostly because the ceiling is made with pre-made concrete pieces and its fast to build, OTOH for a basement you need heavy machinery to do it)

Mañana al mediodia lo sabre mejor. Gracias :) (Tomorrow midday I will know better. Thanks)

[edit] Mi idea es hacer el techo a 3.5m de altura (My idea is to make the ceiling height 3.5m )

Pablo

Pablo,


The problem with sucking air out of the workshop is that the air that is sucked out must be replaced. So the replacement air is going to come in around door seals, window seals, or how ever it can get in. If the Dust Collector is vented to the outside, it will create a "vacuum" in the workshop when it is running.

My workshop is heated and air conditioned, so I don't want to suck in cool air during the heating season or hot air during the cooling season.

As for ventilation to the outside, with the approach I took, there is no need to vent to the outside. In fact, ventilation to the outside of the workshop is undesirable.

Here's a picture of the Dust Collector room. The vent back into the workshop is above the door, but not shown in this picture. I'm sorry that I can't show you a picture with the vent. I'm out-of-town right now, and this is the only picture I have with me.
Attachment 3590

Regards,
John

Pablo & Gerald,

I'm sorry, I read Pablo's question in Post #59 and answered it before reading Gerald's Post #60.:o

Regards,
John

ARGH :(

Just came back from the meeting. Zone restrictions mandate that I can only use 16.66m of the 25m of the lot, thats due to the fact the entire block is not the usual 100x100m but 100x50 and the lot I like runs in the 50m side, so you need to leave 1/3 of the block, in the middle of it as air...

Back to searching, I hate searching properties, Im not a realtor for a reason :) :)


Pablo

D@mn Swine flu... due to the outbreak here in Argentina, the biggest wood industry expo that goes every two years was postponed till next year... I've been waiting for today since early january... d@mn... (www.fitecma.com.ar)

Im still looking for a location, not easy, land prices are too high, even with the current recessive economy. For example a 8.66x30m lot runs around 130K to 200K US dollars...

Do you guys think the saying: location-location-location its a must for a mechmate related business?

I read almost daily, the time will come when I will be able to start building my MM :)

cheers!

The "location" issue has been very important in my son's business. A customer analysis showed that 90% of the income came from less than 5km away. When he needed larger premises, he could have moved 15km to cut the premises cost by 30%, but that was considered too risky.

We know of a couple of other CNC wood routing companies all over Cape Town, and they all seem to make a living off customers within 5km from them. (Cape Town has about 2 million people, in a circle of about 50km diam.)

Tomorrow I will give a realtor a bid for a small lot (8.66x18.5m) not as big as I want but the location is great, its located on an well known avenue and about 10 mins from my home.
Im offering 18% less of asking price, wish me luck :)


Pablo

Good luck, and I hope he accept your offer.

Good Luck

Buena suerte con ese terreno.

The other lot was trouble, today I placed an offer for a new lot, this time 8.66x29m and my offer is less agressive, only 10% less of asking price, time will tell :)

Pablo,

keep trying to find that lot,
at some point you will be lucky!

Ries

La tercera es la vencida!! (difficult to translate: the third is the one!)

I received a call from the realtor, he negotiated an 8% discount from asking price, wednesday I will deposit a guarantee and if everything goes OK, I have my new office/workshop (after buldozing it and building of course)

Fingerscrossed.

In english: "The third time's a charm" :)

Congratulation on you new acquisition. Wish you a prosperous journey.

Hello Pablo,

Congrats for your new aquisition.
Make it big enough so we can have the annual MM`ers meeting there.:D

Claus