Geeez, was hoping to apply another coat of primer while electricians do their thing. But, it's snowing again.

Saturday "should" be in the 60's and 70's deg F. I may try and get by with only one coat of primer and apply top coat Saturday. I have two coats of primer on all the "small" parts so they are good. The base table has two coats of primer on the bottom surfaces. The top and side surfaces do have good coverage with one coat.

I hope this isn't a mistake. I really want to start assembling / leveling / squaring / etc. Sunday.

Upgrade to 90 amp service at shop is completed. "Other" non-MM projects also completed.

Saturday's weather is looking good for top coat painting. Sunday is for final setup / leveling / squaring / etc. of my new MechMate. :D

I think your going to like "the beast's" new home. A dedicated area, purpose build for a new MM, new drywall, fresh paint, good lighting, a new dust control system. What more could a man want. :D

. . . . . . a stack of scrap in the corner, and the customer's payment cleared by the bank! :D:D

Attachment 1054 Shhhhhh ...

I don't want my "day job" to get wind of this. :) Oh how fun that day will be, going to the bank, that is. I'll miss the friends I've made.

Painted all parts today, but, thought I'd show this one. I'll touch up where the wheels are attached in the shop when the table is level.

Had a great day. :D

Attachment 1057

Well done Greg. Your weather is soooo much better than mine. Approaching a meter of snow and still going.

Love the light, and the Ford tractor blue out in the fields . . . . :)

Greg,

Very sharp looking table and great view in the back ground.

Marcs comment about the snow in Ohio. I am from Ohio and when I hear the weather report that talks about 10" already on the ground and it is going to snow all day and night, it makes me rejoice that I live in the SUN SHINE state.

Just drive carefully.!..

Looking great Greg. Even with the wheels, I bet that table is a bear to push on gravel with 4 swiveling casters.

Thanks Guys.

Those pneumatic tires worked out great. It moves quite easy. All four swivel, and it spins on a dime (10c Rand).

Oops, better give update. Today is setup day. I'll place the base table in its permanent location and take the wheels off. I will level and attach the X rails. Mount the V-roller on the gantry and adjust to X-rails.

Almost forgot. I had better mount the 1 inch MDF support board to the cross members. Anyways, I have all pieces of the puzzle. No waiting on parts and it's only up to me.

Greg if you are going to seal the support board bottom and edge pre assembly is the best time.

J.R.,

Seal the MDF support board? You lost me on that one. Is it necessary?

New Mexico is desert, low humidity, so may not be issue here.

Greg,

It is not to protect it. It is to enable a future vacuum system. If you don't seal the bottom and sides, you will lose vacuum. I will write more about the vacuum system that JR designed. It is a take off on something that Mike Richards pointed him to. It works really well!

I did the CAD file and can post the DXF soon. Simple yet highly effective in initial tests.

Thanks Marc,

OK, now it makes sense. I've got plenty of sealer/paint. Simple enough at this stage.

I won't be mounting the X-rails today. Have some touch up painting to do. I'll seal the bottom and sides of the support board today also.

Again, Thanks. The support from this forum is great!!

Is that timing because of sharing a river/canal with neighbours? Our farmers (in certain areas only) are allocated times when they are allowed to pump or draw water. I am always fascinated by these complexities of farming.

I also irrigate my garden late at night (11 pm). But that is because I recycle the "grey" water and pump that out of a tank. Could be smelly and the pump is slightly noisy - had to find a time where neighbours wouldn't object to smell or noise. :)

Greg, it may be cold in Canada, but we don't have to ration water.:) We have oodles of fresh water. Although most of it is a little hard right now:D. I don't know which is better: warmth or plenty of water. I guess we all have good things and not so good things to deal with where we live.

Paul

The timing is weather related. No more freezing at night. :D

We flood irrigate thru concrete canals. Mr. Hagerman started our canal system over 100 years ago. Plenty of water from wells, as long as you pay for the water rights and pumping costs.

Since we flood irrigate, water is flowing 24 hours per day until done. Everyone is going to those large pivot irrigations systems. Very efficient on water usage and no labor costs. For our little operation (35 Acres of irrigated. Not that I have time for any more) the payout on one of those system is too long (10 years). So we stick with the manual way of moving siphon tubes. The same way the ancient Egyptians irrigated. If it's not broke, don't fix it. Beside, we could use the exercise :)

Let me get a pot of coffee in me, and I'll head to the shop for some MM work. :)

Greg,

What are you growing?

Nils,

Thread was starting to drift on the Y gantry thread, so I'll reply here. (moved the "drifts" to here as well)

I'm rotating out an old alfalfa field with an oat hay crop. This fall, I'll plant another alfalfa crop and that will last about 5 years. We got 7 years on the one we're rotating. It is a money making crop.

Wife cornered me into doing tax stuff all morning. :mad: Now I'm headed to shop.

Under the weather
 

Hope this is right. This is Greg's wife. We just got home from the hospital, he had to have his appendix removed last night around midnight. All went well, we are just both pooped. He wanted me to let the mechmate group know. Take care, Karen for Greg J.

Greg

Hope all is well and you recover quick. Take care


[email protected]

Greg,
Hope you are feeling better soon. :)

Heath.

Here's to a speedy recovery. Get well there will be time to finish your machine later take the time to heal right and everything else will fall into place.

greg. Hope all is well. Don't lift anything heavier than a coffee mug for at least a week. Your abs will thank you. Get well. Sean

Hey Greg, hope you heal up fast and are able to get back to your MechMate. Best wishes
John

Hi Karen & Greg
Sorry to hear of the Easter emergency. Hope that everything heals well and that you can back to farming soon. The alfalfa won't be as patient as the MechMate :)

Karen,

You did good.......

Greg,

Happy to hear you are patched up and will be feeling better soon.

I'm glad that all is well.

Greg,

I hope you recover quickly.

Good job Karen.

Greg / Karen

Although this group likes pictures... You can spare us these. :eek::D

Greg, rest up good luck! Give it time and let us know how you are doing!

Marc

Hey Greg,

I am happy to hear your okay and the operation went well. I'm praying for a speedy recovery for you!:)

Thanks Guys.

Abdomen is pretty tight. No heavy lifting for a couple of weeks.

Nows a good time to catch up on some reading. Currently reading "CNC Programming Handbook" by Peter Smid. It's quite riveting. :)

...also a good time to watch all the Mach 3 Online tutorials. Very helpful!
Sean

Hi Greg

Hope that everything is healing well and that Karen has stopped nursing you? :)

Just got home from another week in the hospital and another surgery.

Had major complications and abscess. Worst week of my life. Didn't eat anything for a week. :eek: Had first food this past Saturday. I'll spare the details.

So glad to be home and recovering for real. :D Extremely weak and will take awhile to gain strength back. You can't believe how nice it is to check in. :)

Getting tired. I'll get back to the beast soon.

Oh yea, while in the hospital, my buddy said that if my spirit didn't start getting better, he was going to hang a picture of the MM in the hospital room. :)

Sending down to you & Karen from are great white north, all my best positive vibesss.
Wishing you a better long term recovery and Karen some rest !

Glad to hear you're back home and feeling somewhat better. We've missed getting to read your input.

Greg,

Hang in there. Sorry to hear you had more health problems. It is hard to do but be patient and give yourself time to recover.

You better teach your wife how to use the MM.

Its good to hear some positive news, we sometimes take it for granted how fragile life really is. The best of wishes to yourself and your family.

Hey Greg,

Sorry to hear about the complications, all the best to you and yours down there.

Get well soon! :)

John