Shop Holmes

[JohnRobHolmes]

I'm actually working on an interface to put industrial speed controllers on a radio control robot. Jonathan got the programming and hardware finished earlier this week, I just don't have time to test it yet. I had him make the electronics so I could use ebike equipment on a radio controlled power wheels :lol:

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Finally got a chance to work on updating the Puller housings to make assembly and user maintenance easier. I've had the design for about a year but never had a chance to cut some till today. 7075-t6, I love cutting this stuff. It's not as forgiving as some of the other aircraft grades though, gotta make sure the bar is held tight and close or else things chatter at .125 doc :shock:

Now we can go jigless on assembly and use short screws to attach the endbell. I think drivers will appriciate the more standard style. The next revision will get rid of all extra steel and use a longer faceplate and top hat, if we see a weight reduction going that route.

 

[BigSki]

It is truly awesome to see you take off in the direction that you wanted to go by adding the turning center to your shop. "thumbsup"

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

I feel fortunate to just have the opportunity! I go to work excited most days, it seams each day allows an opportunity to learn.


The catalyst for today's spurt of productivity was a lull while waiting for other materials, while knowing I need faceplates soon with material plenty. The tophat and faceplate are not tooled identical though, the 3/8" endmill I use to relief the teeth is facing main spindle side on the tophat. That eliminates all subspindle time. On the faceplate, there are not enough live tool positions to flip the part without needing hand threading. So it has the 3/8 mill facing subspindle for a more finished part.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

It's amazing what a proper coolant spray and a bit lower rpm will do for tolerance and finish! We went from chasing bearing seats to practically unmanned operations just by getting a better spray on the finish tool. Of course this is summer operations where coolant temp doesn't vary much. Winter time I'm sure will be a different story. But for today, just a few 0.0002" back and forth around the origional offset has kept us going strong. I think it helps that the finish is finer, we were able to increase actual bearing seat diameter 0.0003" without a change in fitment.

Plus look at that shine! Totally worth the work.


Also refined the slotting into four patterns per side instead of two, which gave us better fit with VP and strc shafts without making axial shafts too loose. It was a bit of compromise to the tightness of axial shafts, but overall worth the ability for folks to have VP installed without needing a hammer or sanding.

 

[danielk]

You happen to know of a good motor solution for a 700-ish size motor to replace my stock Bruiser motor?

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

I don't, and would be more inclined to find a 540 motor plate so something easy to find can be used.

Edit, looks like rc4wd is blowing out a conversion kit. http://store.rc4wd.com/540-Motor-Conversion-Kit-for-Tamiya-Bruiser_p_240.html

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Some fun shop time this weekend. The rc power wheels is apart for paint since I broke it, so why not just redo the guts with go kart parts? Going to use an ebike hubmotor geared 1:1 for about 13mph top speed with the new 14" tires. Live axle, silent operation, more runtime, more payload!

Don't know if I should make a subframe, or just weld everything together. Welding is faster than thinking about it too long. I hate getting into analysis paralysis.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Added some additional overhead to the shop. A 9lb Rig, I think I'll have to gear down some to avoid burning out. Or just keep burning the candle from both ends and see how long it lasts. I've got at least a decade before the real work begins.

 

[snapon boy]

You will be OK until the 2nd one shows up them low gear huge battery! Lol. Just got our second one 7 months ago.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

I'm in trouble, because it is my second one! She has an older brother that is an almost three year old germ factory. Anybody have setup and troubleshooting guides for giving eye drops? I think we got the wrong instructions, or maybe a defective toddler. Too bad the return policy is expired.

 

[snapon boy]

We had a few issues with that. Dr prescribed a cream much easier. We had pink eye episode.

 

[winnerone23]

The Holmes warranty should still be good on that one!
Shoot customer service a email, they are Extremely helpful..
Maybe, try calibrating it first.

Once hooked up to a Crawlmaster and given a little throttle, everything should be smooth and fast paced!

Congrats John!

 

[Robbob]

I'm in trouble, because it is my second one! She has an older brother that is an almost three year old germ factory. Anybody have setup and troubleshooting guides for giving eye drops? I think we got the wrong instructions, or maybe a defective toddler. Too bad the return policy is expired.

Duct Tape and Lollipops :ror:


Wait till school starts, then its like a superstore of fun virus's :lmao:

 

[snapon boy]

Rob is speaking the truth! My 4 year old comes home sick or brings us something about every other month. I teach Sunday school to 3rd grade. I give them lollipops or hard candy to keep the coughing down. Read up on vitamin d3.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

It's pink eye. Kinda hard to keep the kids from wiping shit in their eye when once they get potty trained. He is also in preschool. Figured out we could drip some medicine in the corner of his eye and it seeps in once his eyes open. This morning's treatment wasn't so tough on him, and I didn't need 5 arms to hold him down.




On another note, I'm not broke yet from the 5 year loan on a machine that is worth more than my house. I've got a long rant about getting into this so deep and how it's both enabling and severely restricting to my life, but it's all hindsight of what I thought is difficult vs what IS. No going back to school for power engineering right now, it's still hard enough just learning how to continuously be a great machinist and designer (aka be able to consistently manufacture consistent parts). First world problems, wahhhhh... Pretty frigging stressful some days though.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Yesterdays stress leads to todays tools, and more possibility of tomorrow. Finally got another dual tool holder. I've gotten crafty enough that I don't need it, but now the possibilities open!


I'll be making some hubmotors for ebikes as a Beta run machinist, hired by another company to make the axles. They made one motor using a manual machine, and the axle is the remaining part to assemble the first small production run. So they need cnc work with experience in motor design and assembly. Ebike knowledge a plus, lol! The design is absolutely rad, the first few assembled motors are for me :mrgreen: Requires just one more tool, hahaha. I'm doubling down and getting the tool as an insert drill, 20x100mm sandvik 880.

 

[wings_of_fire]

On another note, I'm not broke yet from the 5 year loan on a machine that is worth more than my house. I've got a long rant about getting into this so deep and how it's both enabling and severely restricting to my life, but it's all hindsight of what I thought is difficult vs what IS. No going back to school for power engineering right now, it's still hard enough just learning how to continuously be a great machinist and designer (aka be able to consistently manufacture consistent parts). First world problems, wahhhhh... Pretty frigging stressful some days though.

lol.. welcome to the world of manufacturing. Its a universal problem.

As an individual entrepreneur the toughest part is, one has to face all responsibilities and it does get stressful. Better days come when business settles and there is a huge cash buffer available

 

[BigSki]

A buddy of mine had some of your wares for retail sale at a local event last Sunday. I gotta say, your parts look great! "thumbsup" What method of plating did you use on the spools? The black finish looked amazing.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

it's tougher when I make a mistake or have a tool break and watch the dollars fall apart. But it's part of the game. Even with a worker on it I'm hovering around to make sure it stays humming. Had two inserts nick and an endmill break today. Inserts were coolant related, endmill was life over 500 minutes and a lot more use per part with this batch. Small humps in the days production though, we made a good days work of lockers.

Work for a few weeks from now, that ebike hubmotor I mentioned. Making the part that holds everything together so it transforms from pile of parts into usable motor.

After or before that, a local buddy has some wheel designs. It is fortuitous that wheels and the Ebike motor carrier are basically tooled and made the same way. Both from aluminum.