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Old 08-11-2009, 06:28 PM
Kerry Pinkerton's Avatar
Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Default You're not alone

I see a fairly recurrent theme in a lot of folks posts. It goes something like this.

"...I thought I knew what I was doing but I messed it up anyway..."

Well, just so you don't feel like you're the only person in the world to do that keep reading.

Sales have been really miserable for the past couple years. In fact, I've been selling out of inventory for the past year and a half but had run out of Crowns and 16S models. So when one of my distributors ordered a Crown and a 16S for a customer in Saudi Arabia, I had to build them both. No problem, I had the material already cut, just have to weld it up, build the legs, build the tool arm, do the Linex bit and ship. Now keep in mind I've build over 300 ewheels in the past 7 years

So last weekend I finished the tool arm on the Crown and dropped it by the Linex place Monday. While I was waiting, I finished the tool arm for the 16S and painted it (no Linex on that model). So yesterday afternoon I picked up the Crown from Linex and today started assembly of both machines prior to crating.

I'm still not sure of what caused the brain fart but...you guessed it...BOTH tool arms are screwed up. ARGGGGGGGG

The 16S was a pretty easy fix but will still require repainting. The Crown is way too tall for the rollers on the machine and I had to peel off the Linex and tomorrow I'll build it right and take it back to Linex....DUH. Did I mention I've built 300 of these things????
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Old 08-11-2009, 06:47 PM
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Kerry, that has never happen to me. What I have done on many occasion is to pre-make parts for a yet to be designed machine.
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Old 08-11-2009, 07:20 PM
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Kerry: Trust me on this. IT WILL GET WORSE. I use my cad/cam program so infrequently that I have to relearn how to do it almost every time. I really need to make something every couple of weeks just to stay current.
I finally got my CNC Bridgeport conversion up and running last week so that I could get good accurate copes on the sliders for my e-wheel base. I put the axis drive motors on the machine many years ago and just got bogged down on getting the right drives and power supplies for big stepper motors. Anyway, I am probably going to write up a checklist so that I don't run into a problem remembering setup and shutdown procedure. I carry a pda that serves as my memory now. I would be in serious trouble if that dissapeared on me.
The gcode that I used to cut the copes final renditition was named tubecope4inchusethisone.tap so that I could remember which one to use.

Last edited by mr.c; 08-11-2009 at 07:23 PM.
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Old 08-11-2009, 07:21 PM
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If you never mess up,all that means is your not doing nothing.
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Old 08-11-2009, 07:40 PM
Overkill Overkill is offline
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Default Whew!

I'm just glad to hear that you are human too.

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Old 08-11-2009, 09:57 PM
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SumTingWong SumTingWong is offline
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Heh. That's pretty funny, in a smack your forehead kinda way.

I am a big fan of Kerry's work. The E-wheels are just works of industrial art, precise and indestructable. I spent some time just admiring the craftsmanship.

I have been creating utter wreckage in my garage as of late- Just rampant destruction, caused mostly by A) lack of experience B) lack of patience, and C) crappy tools.

I got disgusted and sold the Mig welder, in order to remove all temptation. I am wanting to make progress, so, I gambled and tried welding things that had no business being welded with what I had to work with- and then tried filling in the holes, which created more holes.
The result? Crappy messes that had to be cut out.

Now I have a few small patch panels to weld in when my skill level and equipment are up tp the task, and that's just catch-up work, undoing the destruction. (Hell, I'd take pictures, but shame prevents me from doing so..) I went deeper into debt than I'd like and bought a HenRob and low pressure regulators, knowing that any more cheap tools would result in more of the same.

I had to stop before my car became a monument to stupidity.

The good news is: I just focused on making my patch pieces as perfect as I could get them- Tight, clean edges, smooth transitions, and attention to detail.
The phrase "I don't care how long it takes as long as it's perfect" has been something I've tried to adopt, with varying degrees of success. Some things aren't going to be glassy smooth without a brake, a bead roller and a Beverly shear, but you'd be amazed with what you can do with a slapper and a dull chisel, applied to a piece of angle iron.
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Old 08-12-2009, 02:45 PM
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Chris Bspoke Chris Bspoke is offline
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It's not the screw up but can you keep your head and sort it , we all make mistakes , that's human nature , we read thing's wrong forget what we are doing etc etc . As Johnny said if you don't get things wrong sometimes you aint doin anything . Being able to sort out our messes sort's out the men from the boy's hopefully as we get older and wiser we make less but then again , what was this disscusion about i think i forgot
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