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  1. rcoope

    1/2-20 thread used where?

    I read through this thread and then went outside my office to the tickle trunk* and sure enough, the 2" Clippard pneumatic cylinders we have left over from a long ago lab automation project have 1/2"-20 threads on the rod ends. We also have a strain gauge which uses 1/2-20" mounts, for which...
  2. rcoope

    very magnetic Stainless?

    We had good success with 0.025" 430 stainless sheet making a part to be picked up remotely in a biosafety cabinet with a carbon fiber stick with magnets mounted on the end. (The stick was carbon mostly to show off.). It's interesting that it only comes in sheet and wire, which I didn't know...
  3. rcoope

    Mastercam 5 axis post processor information request

    You also want to have the simulator behave the same way as your post, so depending on the machine they may need to customize the simulator by connecting it to the post. You actually end up with two copies of the post in the machine files and need a serial number for the simulator etc.
  4. rcoope

    Japanese table vice

    In the spirit of procrastination I spent 20 minutes looking for Japanese or other patents without success. Google patents has other documents from different countries but the only Japanese document doesn't look like a vise patent and I'm not sure if it's actually a patent.
  5. rcoope

    Novice needs advice on basic drawing and cutlist software.

    More seriously we've been able to do some decently clever bespoke things with Solidworks weldments, where we can, for example, use the weldment functionality to design 80/20 extrusion frames with captures panels and the rubber gasket for the panels, and get all the dimensions out in the BOM more...
  6. rcoope

    Novice needs advice on basic drawing and cutlist software.

    The main cult around here is not liking MasterCAM but being unable to articulate a clear alternative that isn't more expensive and a bigger organizational disruption. Now if you'll excuse me I'm waiting for a comet to give me a sign to upgrade Soldiworks to 2024 since we're two versions behind.
  7. rcoope

    threading a block too heavy for the table

    You need one of those giant vintage tap handles of the sort that Adam Booth has managed to find. Then get two people and walk around the part. However in the spirit of procrastination, I just worked out that at 566kg, and being a clean steel block on a clean steel surface with a coefficient of...
  8. rcoope

    Are you worried about 3d printing?

    Another challenge with metal 3d printing is there aren't actually a lot of use cases where the advantages of printing, eg making closed channels or large thin surfaces with complex shapes, is required. The industry keeps coming back to rocket motors and heat exchangers, and maybe some injector...
  9. rcoope

    Need help finding a punch press that will press out this type of notch in aluminum rail. See Pics.

    I would seriously investigate laser tube cutting. Even doing a few parts it might be quite competitive. We just did a project with five each of six different tube parts, each part coming from a different aluminum square tube size, and it was way less to laser cut them than machine them as we did...
  10. rcoope

    Who makes Haas inserts?

    The other interesting question is whether they'll be consistent. If they come from different sources you might get batch effects. Which is probably mostly not important or at least manageable unless you're running a controlled process, in which case you want everything to be as stable as possible.
  11. rcoope

    Fabrication Options for 0.004" 300-series component

    Very curious to see where you end up with this. As people have noted, there are several ways to do this but the kerf in the C shape is the problem. Perhaps the thinnest kerf could be had by forming them with a die if you could shear and bend them at the same time, assuming they are bent flaps...
  12. rcoope

    Hey Guys! - A little help with a Flow waterjet proplem?

    Donkey Hotey is exactly right. We've got in the habit, when we use a jug to pour sand from our 5-bag storage hopper to the feed on our Omax 2652, to pour it through a sieve to catch any paper bits that might have got into the storage hopper. If you don't, you get into this nightmare where the...
  13. rcoope

    .008" Slitting Saw-Student needs help!

    Am I right that you're leaving .002" ridges. 030" high? What about cutting every other slot and then come back and do the rest. That way the cutting pressure on the remaining material is a lot more even. Otherwise, as @Donkey Hotey says, EDM would be a good option. Speaking as a thirty year...
  14. rcoope

    OT: aging and decluttering

    Being able to let go, and indeed, actively dispose of your stuff, is, beyond the cold, hard cash in your estate, late life's great gift to succeeding generations. The cost of sentimentality and inaction must otherwise entirely be borne by one's loved ones, which is, of course, really annoying...
  15. rcoope

    Stratasys Dimension uPrint plus - any way to adjust head tempatures

    Keep us posted if you can @fargojoe. We have a uPrint that's still operating and it would be good to keep it running after we run out of the official material.
  16. rcoope

    Tapping Acetal/Delrin

    Coarser threads have long been considered better for plastics, eg 10-24 vs 10-32. I wonder though if this is somewhat historical and applies more to nylon for example, which doesn't tap particularly well. Acetal is good enough that I'd say it's fine with either, but +1 for using a thread insert...
  17. rcoope

    Is there a CAM for lathe that doesn't suck?

    We ought not to get into a disagreement over semantics as that is the preserve of obstreperous humanities students, and as such, seems unbecoming on this forum. What @Seesecurity obviously means is if you have a non-trivial curve in your turned profile, it's very easy to do in CAM, and not easy...
  18. rcoope

    Is there a CAM for lathe that doesn't suck?

    I've been happy with our single tool post, manual tool change TL-1 MaserCAM setup with a well tuned post, but I'm mindful of the fact that as soon as you have a rotating turret, the real problem is simulation and avoiding collisions with the other tools. It's good to hear you have the simulation...
  19. rcoope

    0t--Russian riggers

    It's an interesting and instructive video in that it's not entirely obvious that, until it happens, that the wooden support is going to get kicked backwards leaving the bridge hanging. Here, the high school model of friction (force of friction = coefficient of friction X normal force) holds...
  20. rcoope

    VERY basic question on printing with a Stratasys uPrint Plus

    We have a uPrint SE+ that's more or less retired, though it still runs and we're slowly using up the material. These machines are expensive to run but for a long time they were more reliable and the support material worked way better than your typical consumer printer. So you can print entire...
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