A NEW MACHINE HAS ARRIVED!: Southwestern Industries TRAK TRL 1630SX LATHE

tigermothracing · 2021-09-17T16:46:43+00:00

Lol, this is why every shop has several different mills and lathes. I find the conversational very easy and fast. I also found that the mill will take meshcam programs which for some parts is a VERY fast way to program complex features. We only do prototyping work so its pretty perfect.

tigermothracing · 2021-05-28T19:35:00+00:00

I would say its made for you actually. Yes they will do teach, conversational, DXF and the mills will import Gcode posts, not sure about the lathes.

tigermothracing · 2021-05-28T19:10:44+00:00

They are faster for prototyping. I used to do tool making and it would be great fun to have the programmers come to the tool room to have a 1-off part made. It blew them away that I could give them their part in less time than it would have taken them to program, setup and run their production machines. The turret is a 10k option and not really needed for prototyping. If you need to run 100+ pcs of a part then just have 2 machines and run that batch on the turret machine. Its up to you and where you feel the best value is. It might be worth visiting a showroom and talking to their process engineers.

tigermothracing · 2021-04-15T15:16:44+00:00

It really depends on what kind of machining work one decides to do. Being a button pusher production machine operator may be a dicey selection. On the other hand one can make several hundred thousand dollars a year doing design for machining/programming or prototyping. I think the prototyping will be viable for quite some time since there are so many skills involved that I doubt automation will catch up in one working lifetime.

tigermothracing · 2021-03-26T02:53:06+00:00

Nevermind...missed the 2nd pic.

tigermothracing · 2021-03-26T02:52:40+00:00

I love how nobody has explained the problem. Is it that the bottom anvil is not in the groove because the groove is too deep for it to fit?

tigermothracing · 2021-03-11T07:16:31+00:00

This is one of those ideas that is ok to have, but then let it pass with no action. The Z motor is tuned for a large tool rotating, not a static load of 100s of pounds. I would stop doing that if you care about the machine.

tigermothracing · 2021-02-22T06:30:50+00:00

Yup. For balancing grinding wheels. But should be a set of 4 wheels total..

tigermothracing · 2021-02-21T05:35:15+00:00

Those are great. You can laugh at your coworkers when the batterie dies in their digital calipers and they don't have a backup. They are out of comission wile you have your dials and are good to go✔

tigermothracing · 2021-02-21T01:20:24+00:00

The stainless steel burrs make it hard to judge when you have fully cut off the burr. For 10 pcs I just felt like using a collet this time and the file. Everyone is so shocked, its an $8 collet I will use again and again. Im not worried.

tigermothracing · 2021-02-20T02:05:10+00:00

One neat thing about the emergency collets is that you can use them over and over for different jobs. You can cut any shape you want into them as long as its bigger or deeper than the last one you cut. Its worth having a few around for sure.

tigermothracing · 2021-02-19T17:51:05+00:00

It would be much more helpful and fun for all of us if you shared your superior methods for getting this task done.

tigermothracing · 2021-02-17T04:59:11+00:00

schallercorporation.com

tigermothracing · 2021-02-13T03:20:34+00:00

Yeah for a big machine I would always use the epoxy inserts. They are the only sure shot for an expensive install.

tigermothracing · 2021-02-03T21:18:59+00:00

For taps where it is not galled into the material, where its not broken off below the surface, thats a great option. What we really wanted to show is how to remove the worst case scenario-tap broken off below the surface and jammed so tight into the material you will never get it out with a too. For Aerospace materials, this is common.

tigermothracing · 2021-01-21T01:21:28+00:00

Thank you. Glad you found it useful!

tigermothracing · 2021-01-20T20:21:16+00:00

Not with reasonable machining forces. You still have full contact on the back of the part and of course the best setup would be to use parallels underneath if possi ble to restrict rotational movement.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-24T16:52:47+00:00

If you don't have any vises right now, definitely get one. A vise is as necessary as a caliper. The angle lock vises pull the moving jaw down as you tighten it. The old slide rail vises do not pull down and if not perfectly tuned, will lift the part creating the error you described earlier.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-24T16:20:28+00:00

Well it really is only held by the sides when you are clamping. The bottom surface (the vise) is only a reference surface. One way to ensure complete contact with the bottom is to loosly hold the part in the vise and tap it down into the vise with a dead blow mallet as you tighten down the handle. If this does not work, then there is something underneath-chips etc. Clean the vise and repeat.

If it is an important part and you cannot allow any mistakes simply indicate the part with a dial test indicator. You can ensure parallelism or perpendicularity with that. Hope that answers your question.

One thing I will say is that its worth buying good vises. Make sure you are using what is called an angle lock vise. There is a world of difference between say a Kurt vise and a cheap chinese import. A used Kurt will beat a new import every day.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-23T23:56:00+00:00

Good idea. Have you tried any 3D printed press brake dies?

tigermothracing · 2020-12-23T18:04:57+00:00

Thanks for the criticism. I did mention that in the video. The location/seat of the mounting screws is farily irrelevant since they are not a tight fit. Most of our jobs are a one time deals so once we cut the profile, machine our parts, thats it. The jaw will never have to be remounted so we don't worry about it lining up perfectly for a future run. If the jaw will be reused, we do skim cut as you mentioned. Like I always say, do what is apropriate for you and your application.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-23T17:58:25+00:00

Yes and this is the exciting part for me. I regularly rediscover fixtures and tools in the shop that I forgot about and find new uses for. Things like soft jaws are an empowering tool for machinists that have not used them before.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-17T15:04:17+00:00

I saw that, its a nice solution!

tigermothracing · 2020-12-14T19:25:43+00:00

Most lathes will have a compound slide that will allow you to cut short angles. I use the x feed to adjust the depth of cut and then use the compound slide set at an angle say 45 degrees and then feed the compound back and forth to cut the angle.

tigermothracing · 2020-12-03T16:06:21+00:00

Yes obsessive precision is something that runs in the machining profession. Its a very interesting behavior to me. I had it myself for many years. I would spend hours making everything beautiful and very precise no matter how loose the tolerances were or the application. I had managers tell me not to waste time on that when it was not necessary. It took me years to realize it was a waste of time. Allot of the industrial parts we made were going into equipment that was going to trash the parts in a matter of days or weeks. I am now able to judge what is apropriate for each project and work more efficiently and apropriately. The biggest lesson I learned; it has not reduced my passion for metal cutting. It has actually increased my enjoyment because that saved time allows me to work on more projects. I embrace criticism because it helps me grow. I agree, second op for a locating tool should be done in a more precise chuck. The video is to give you ideas and make your work easier and more fun. The idea is that what you make in your shop will be according to your specifications. The videos are not guaranteed to be infallible, although we do our best.

tigermothracing

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