When going through some old paperwork I found the sales brochure for a pallet system I designed and made for a line of small benchtop CNC mills sold by this company. I knew the owner and he brokered several jobs with me. He had a booth at the big tool show in Chicago with one of these mills making small giveaway parts using my pallet system. We were hoping to interest one of the big companies in selling them. I did sell a few but it never did much. The base was 6x6x1″ steel, the pallet base was 5x5x1/2″ steel, the pallets were aluminum, and the working parts were tool steel and hardened. All steel parts were nickel plated. They were rather over engineered and very strong, but I could make them in some quantity and the parts could be contracted if it took off. I was rather proud of these. I think I have mentioned these but I could not find these pictures before.
Sunday greetin’s from Home Sweet CasaK, Wheelizens!
Mac --
Thanks for posting those images. I’m gonna have a look at them from my desktop later since my eyeballs cain’t see ’em too good on my 13″ laptop. Sorry that pallet system didn’t put a lot more $$$ into your wallet. 🙁
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Got back to ATL at 10:25 last night; I’m extra-glad to be home, as this particular JimCo project was the toughest one evar by a long measure. (I’m not counting the one where we were set-up for insurance fraud, as we didn’t complete that much actual work.)
This project isn’t quite done, but I reckon it will be by Wednesday. (We had to delay the start at the last minute -- after I was already in L.A. -- due to stupid HOA Board politics.)
The roof itself ought to be watertight sometime tomorrow and then there are a couple of days of cosmetic details for a few guys. After which I hope we never have to return to that hellsite for the rest of our lives.
It was non-stop stress from literally the first hour of work on the first day. A combination of very poor site logistics (from a re-roofing standpoint), dumb parking practices permitted by the Association, lousy original 1965 construction of the roof deck, a high percentage of homeowners who are unreasonable assholes (mostly old Russian Jooos and a few Israelis) and utter shit previous roofing work by others.
Plus the fact that -- due to CA’s asinine “pandemic” policies -- most residents were working or attending school from home…or simply there all day because they’re retired.
Oy.
That said, the Board President and Vice President were pretty nice to deal with and the property manager knows it’s a “difficult” property. There was also a “kid” named Jamie (~30 y.o. with a young family) who’s an aspiring screenwriter and their informal handyman. He’s also a serious math and physics geek and fix-it guy with enormous “institutional knowledge” of this place.
Jamie’s also a very decent, kindly human being and was an enormous help in reducing this project from “nearly impossible” to “exceedingly difficult”. Jim and I don’t know how we could have gotten through this one without his cheerful and understanding assistance on a daily basis. (At the conclusion of this project, he’ll be getting an Amazon gift card in an amount that Jim and I hope will be a very pleasant surprise.)
========================
Aside from unpacking, it is my intention to do fark-all today.
I didn’t get to see any friends or family while I was out there. Didn’t have the capacity to do anything on the weekends aside from -- unsuccessfully -- try to relax teensy bit. OTOH, thanks to the JimCo Stress Diet, I probably lost another ten pounds this trip like I did on the previous one. Winning!!1!
I am used to talking to machinists about this and took for granted everyone would know what a pallet system is. When a machine is running and machining parts it is making money for you. When it finishes it retracts out of the way and stops. You open the doors, blow off the parts, then remove them from the work holding fixture. You then clean the fixtures, load new parts, and clamp them down before starting the machine. This can take some time and during it the machine is idol. A pallet system is a base that can hold a table or pallet precisely. It can be removed and replaced accurately. By having multiple pallets, when the machine stops you just change the pallet and restart it. You can then unload and reload the first pallet while the second is running so it is ready to change again when the machine stops. It reduces down time and increases production. Some also mount one base in the machine and one in the computerized inspection machine. A part can be machined, the pallet taken into inspection and checked, and the part replaced in the machine accurately for more machining. There are many systems for Bridgeport sized machines and bigger, the smaller being about 8″x10″, but not smaller ones. This was to fill that role. There were not many small machines then. There are more now and I wonder if someone will come up with a small system for them.
A blessed Sabbath, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Mac, and Fatwa!
Fatwa -- it’s good to “see” you again! Glad you made it home safely and that you are (mostly) done with that project. I’m always amazed that people can be such arseholes, but that’s my own weakness.
Mac -- thanks for the brochure and the explanation. When I read the brochure a light went off and I knew what you were talking about. Two ten-thousandths repeatability? That’s impressive! I can imagine seeing your system at NEPCON West when I attended in the late 80’s -- early 90’s.
When going through some old paperwork I found the sales brochure for a pallet system I designed and made for a line of small benchtop CNC mills sold by this company. I knew the owner and he brokered several jobs with me. He had a booth at the big tool show in Chicago with one of these mills making small giveaway parts using my pallet system. We were hoping to interest one of the big companies in selling them. I did sell a few but it never did much. The base was 6x6x1″ steel, the pallet base was 5x5x1/2″ steel, the pallets were aluminum, and the working parts were tool steel and hardened. All steel parts were nickel plated. They were rather over engineered and very strong, but I could make them in some quantity and the parts could be contracted if it took off. I was rather proud of these. I think I have mentioned these but I could not find these pictures before.
It would have been nice, I would not have needed to sell many to support my shop.
Sunday greetin’s from Home Sweet CasaK, Wheelizens!
Mac --
Thanks for posting those images. I’m gonna have a look at them from my desktop later since my eyeballs cain’t see ’em too good on my 13″ laptop. Sorry that pallet system didn’t put a lot more $$$ into your wallet. 🙁
==================
Got back to ATL at 10:25 last night; I’m extra-glad to be home, as this particular JimCo project was the toughest one evar by a long measure. (I’m not counting the one where we were set-up for insurance fraud, as we didn’t complete that much actual work.)
This project isn’t quite done, but I reckon it will be by Wednesday. (We had to delay the start at the last minute -- after I was already in L.A. -- due to stupid HOA Board politics.)
The roof itself ought to be watertight sometime tomorrow and then there are a couple of days of cosmetic details for a few guys. After which I hope we never have to return to that hellsite for the rest of our lives.
It was non-stop stress from literally the first hour of work on the first day. A combination of very poor site logistics (from a re-roofing standpoint), dumb parking practices permitted by the Association, lousy original 1965 construction of the roof deck, a high percentage of homeowners who are unreasonable assholes (mostly old Russian Jooos and a few Israelis) and utter shit previous roofing work by others.
Plus the fact that -- due to CA’s asinine “pandemic” policies -- most residents were working or attending school from home…or simply there all day because they’re retired.
Oy.
That said, the Board President and Vice President were pretty nice to deal with and the property manager knows it’s a “difficult” property. There was also a “kid” named Jamie (~30 y.o. with a young family) who’s an aspiring screenwriter and their informal handyman. He’s also a serious math and physics geek and fix-it guy with enormous “institutional knowledge” of this place.
Jamie’s also a very decent, kindly human being and was an enormous help in reducing this project from “nearly impossible” to “exceedingly difficult”. Jim and I don’t know how we could have gotten through this one without his cheerful and understanding assistance on a daily basis. (At the conclusion of this project, he’ll be getting an Amazon gift card in an amount that Jim and I hope will be a very pleasant surprise.)
========================
Aside from unpacking, it is my intention to do fark-all today.
I didn’t get to see any friends or family while I was out there. Didn’t have the capacity to do anything on the weekends aside from -- unsuccessfully -- try to relax teensy bit. OTOH, thanks to the JimCo Stress Diet, I probably lost another ten pounds this trip like I did on the previous one. Winning!!1!
Glad you are back home safe. What an ordeal. I hope you have seen the last of them.
I am used to talking to machinists about this and took for granted everyone would know what a pallet system is. When a machine is running and machining parts it is making money for you. When it finishes it retracts out of the way and stops. You open the doors, blow off the parts, then remove them from the work holding fixture. You then clean the fixtures, load new parts, and clamp them down before starting the machine. This can take some time and during it the machine is idol. A pallet system is a base that can hold a table or pallet precisely. It can be removed and replaced accurately. By having multiple pallets, when the machine stops you just change the pallet and restart it. You can then unload and reload the first pallet while the second is running so it is ready to change again when the machine stops. It reduces down time and increases production. Some also mount one base in the machine and one in the computerized inspection machine. A part can be machined, the pallet taken into inspection and checked, and the part replaced in the machine accurately for more machining. There are many systems for Bridgeport sized machines and bigger, the smaller being about 8″x10″, but not smaller ones. This was to fill that role. There were not many small machines then. There are more now and I wonder if someone will come up with a small system for them.
A blessed Sabbath, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Mac, and Fatwa!
Fatwa -- it’s good to “see” you again! Glad you made it home safely and that you are (mostly) done with that project. I’m always amazed that people can be such arseholes, but that’s my own weakness.
Mac -- thanks for the brochure and the explanation. When I read the brochure a light went off and I knew what you were talking about. Two ten-thousandths repeatability? That’s impressive! I can imagine seeing your system at NEPCON West when I attended in the late 80’s -- early 90’s.