Engineering Decisions, Events 
2 Comments I would like to introduce you to EngCom, an engineering news aggregation website.
Engcom.net not only has all the latest engineering news from around the world, they offer engineering trivia questions and other cool stuff for engineers. Click here to check them out.
Engineering Decisions, Tips & Techniques 2 Comments I have developed technical training courses for the past 20 years. Too many to count.
What I have learned is training development with technical content for technical people is an art. Most get it wrong.
Technical people, especially those with too many education credentials, tend to be too technical.
The result is needlessly complicated and comprehensive training classes. They try to make the trainee competent after two, three, or five days of training.
The focus should be on giving the trainee confidence. Keep it simple.
Focus on the necessary fundamentals and reinforce the basic principles.
Confidence, not competence, is the recipe for a winning training program.
Events 5 Comments A friend of mine has machine tool equipment for sale as the result of the unfortunate liquidation of a build-to-order business. Here is what is up for grabs:
Monarch 16″ x 54 Gear-Headed Engine Lathe – 1942 -3 Jaw Chuck, 13-550 RPM Spindle Speed Range: 1.5″ Dia. Spindle Bore
Bridgeport Model Series 1 – 2HP Variable Speed Verticle Milling Machine 9″ x 42″ table: Anilam 2 Axis Digital Readout
Bridgeport 1-1/2 HP Variable Speed Vertical Milling Machine, 1968, 9″ x 42″ Power Table: Mitutoyo 2 Axis Digital Readout
Wolverine 6″ x 18″ Hand Feed Surface Grinder, 6″ x 12″ Magnetic Chuck
Toshiba Shibaura Model VMC-85 3 Axis CNC Verticcal Machining Center, 1988, Tosnuc CNC Control: 31.5 x 94.5″ T slotted table,78.7 X – Axis Travel: 33.5″ Y-axis travel: 27.6″ Z axis travel: 9.8″ – 37.4 Distance table to spindle Nose; 8,820 LB table capacity: 4,500 RPM Max. Spindle Speed: 30 HP Spindle Motor, #50 Spindle taper: Coolant: 40 tool ATC: Chip conveyor
Okuma & Howa Model Millac 80V – 3 axis CNC Vertical Machining center, 1995, Fanuc Series 16-M CNC Control: 31.5 x 87″ Table: 80″ -X axis travel: 33″ Y axis travel: 23.6 – Z axis travel: #50 Spinle Taper, 4,000 RPM maximum spindle speed: 30 Tool ATC: Coolant: Chip auger.
HeathModel MCD/86 3 Axis CNC Propane torch, Burny 5 CNC Control: 2- 10′ x 10′Water tables, 2- 25′ long rails, 6 torch heads
Miller Model Dimension 452 - 450 Amp Constant current/Constant voltage DC Arc Welder 1998 – Miller 60 series 24V wire feed, cart, gun, leads
Ingersoll Rand – 10 HP Horizontal tank air compressor
Cat#50 Taper Boring bars, tool holders, drills, collets
Office furniture, desks, chairs, filing cabinets, etc.
Please leave a comment or use the Contact form on this site to inquire about this equipment.
About No Comments My son Ryan is in Mrs. C’s first grade class at AC Elementary.
He had to write an essay for class titled “Family”. Here is what he wrote:
I love my Dad. He is funny and he helps me with my homework sometimes and he is a good cook too! He has gray hair and he has blue eyes. He is the best dad ever!
What a great kid!
Engineering Decisions, Equations 2 Comments Forces in a cutting die are equal and opposite. So what happens when cutting occurs on one side of a cutting component? Unbalanced thrust.
The issue with unbalanced thrust is should the cutting component be heeled or keyed to counteract the lateral force.
The first step to this decision is to quantify the magnitude of unbalanced thrust. The equation for unbalanced thrust in a cutting die is:
where:
For example, a die with 0.12 mm die clearance per side, 108 kN cutting force on 1.5 mm thick material has lateral force or unbalanced thrust of:
This means that 8.64 kN of lateral force is acting on the cutting component. Lateral force, or unbalanced thrust is perpendicular to the cutting vector and not necessarily horizontal.
Rants, Tips & Techniques No Comments Forming simulation software needs a zero thickness sheet for meshing purposes.
Oftentimes, the designer will have an IGES or STEP file of the product data at full material thickness.
We have to perform a step known as “skinning” to get just the inside of metal surface in order to setup and run a simulation.
For you AutoForm users, [Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with AutoForm but have used their products] here is a step-by-step simple way to skin your parts.
After importing the product data, with the Geometry Generator open on the Pre tab and look to the “Define objects” area:
You now have a skinned part!
Automated Transactions, Engineering Decisions 3 Comments There has been much discussion on the web lately about quoting and costing software for stamping dies.
Costing is not quoting.
The calculated or estimated cost has no practical relation to the quoted price for two reasons.
First, the price that will win the work relies exclusively on what the customer is willing to pay. End of story.
The customer does not care that it will cost the die shop $500,000 USD to build if they are willing to pay only $400,000 USD for the job.
Even if your costing software is accurate to +/-0.005%, a cost of anything over $400,000 USD is a loser.
Second, most die shops have no real clue as to what their geniune costs are. At the quoting level, it is guesswork.
At the historical level, the data is usually poorly tracked, collected, and reconciled. The historical data should be the baseline for future work. Without this important data, all decisions moving forward are simply guesses.
Again, even if the historical data was valid and the costing method – software or otherwise – was accurate, the only thing that matters is quoting the maximum that the customer is willing to pay and work like the devil to reduce costs once the quote becomes an order.
Engineering Decisions, Events No Comments I received a phone call around midnight on a cold Monday night in January 1993.
It was my good friend Walt Senska from Macomb College in Warren Michigan. Walt can be high strung sometimes. But on this particular evening, he was frantic.
“Timmy, I am in serious trouble,” he begins the conversation.
I immediately think “bail bonds”.
Turns out, his die teacher decided to retire the day before classes were to begin.
“I need you to teach my die classes starting tomorrow,” he continues.
“But Walt, I am not a teacher, especially at college level,” I tell him.
“Look, I need you to help me. It is just until I find someone else.”
Well, that seemed reasonable to me.
“Do you have a book,” I ask. “Yes.”
“How about teaching materials and a syllabus,” I inquire. “We have everything you need. Just be here tomorrow at three o’clock. Class starts at four,” he tells me.
Deal.
Well, I show up and he hands me a class roster and a 30 year old book that is out of print and seriously out of date.
By 4:01 PM, I discovered two things. First, I was by far the youngest person in the class. Second, I enjoyed the view.
I taught at Macomb College year-round until I left Michigan for the Wild West seven years later.
Teaching was gratifying. To this day, I still get former students contacting me to say thank you.
Roughly 2,000 students came through my classes. They seemed to thrive on my Socratic method of instruction. Guided conversation to teach them to think critically about stamping dies.
It was like law school without all the yelling and intimidation.
Chrysler, General Motors, and Tier One shops like Atlas and Hercules eventually required the college to have me teach their die maker apprentices. That was rewarding.
Teaching at Macomb was the best job I ever had. There is no substitute for the gratifying feeling one gets from watching the students grow intellectually during the course of the semester.
The college also gave me free reign. Zero interference on what or how I did what I did.
It was never for the money. I donated all the money I got paid.
I did it for the love of the game.