Showing posts with label Mill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mill. Show all posts
Friday, May 10, 2013
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Who Is Going To Build Our Infrastructure?
Using the new tools of the internet enjoys us to no end, but in the process as a nation of builders, are we losing our sense of how to do things by hand? The do it yourself mantra is one that we hope this nation never loses. As jobs and career paths move in different directions using new technology, losing hard fought skill sets and basic mechanical knowledge could be our ultimate downfall. A nation that cannot build and sustain its infrastructure is losing all footing for its base to grow.
Mark Cuban recently expressed his thoughts about the next big debacle of financial crisis in defaulting student loans, check it out here. What really got us thinking on this more than anything is not about how many folks go to college but what are they learning and how it relates to a solid career path.
When plying in a trade, you are taught all the facets of that particular job and in the actual job setting. Every day is continual growth as you learn more about the job at hand and your pay is directly tethered to your experience and drive to succeed. College on the other hand is teaching you how to learn about learning. There is inherently nothing wrong with that equation as knowledge is power. But, on the other hand, many more individuals are seeking out college instead of a pliable trade in which a solid future could be more within their grasp.
Have a look at these graphics below, from some years back talking on the decline and rise of jobs. Even though the information is a bit older the trend is easy to see. We are losing much of our skilled workforce to high technology, which shifts as often and regular as the tide. Does this mean that instantaneously all perspective students will graduate into a white collar work force, not at all. What bothers us the most, from looking at the thirty thousand foot view, is the overall loss of skilled craftsmen on a large scale.
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| Chart is from The Atlantic article on job growth and decline - http://tinyurl.com/7f358qm |
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| Chart is from The Atlantic article on job growth and decline - http://tinyurl.com/7f358qm |
With all that in mind, take a read on the article and videos below about Ford Motor Company and the innovative TechShop in Detroit. Employees are allowed to access the facilities whenever they want and to work on their own projects. Perks are even given out to potential windfall projects that could be used on new vehicles. Needless to say, that is an amazing idea on how to help innovate for the future while keeping hands on skills at the ready, bravo to Ford!
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CNC router carving the Ford logo at TechShop. © Ford Motor Company
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Ford employees who invent something that the company ends up patenting receive a free three-month membership to TechShop, where they can flex their creative muscles. Project sponsor Bill Coughlin, CEO of Ford Global Technologies, has high hopes for the partnership. He expects it to supply Ford with innovative new features for its fleet of automobiles and also to act as a catalyst for Detroit’s economic recovery, generating new businesses and jobs.
It’s easy to see why the program is appealing to Ford’s designers and engineers. The Detroit TechShop is an amazing 17,000 square feet, stocked with $750,000 worth of laser cutters, 3-D printers, CNC machine tools, and staffed with “Dream Consultants” whose job it is to help you fabricate pretty much anything.
Ford employees are free to use the space day or night, for projects related to their work or personal projects. So far, employees have used the tools to prototype new features for car doors and for more fanciful pursuits like one employee’s “Whirlygig,” a plastic sculpture made with a laser cutter that spins in the wind and reflects light in interesting ways.
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| Ribbon-cutting ceremonies are a little different at TechShop © Ford Motor Company |
Since launching the program, patent disclosures are up an impressive 30 percent, but Coughlin thinks there are more long-term organizational benefits. Disruptive ideas, for example, are more likely to be taken seriously.
“An idea on paper is easy to kill, but when you create a prototype of it and a supervisor can see it and experience it, it’s harder to say no,” Coughlin says. “Once someone starts thinking creatively it’s hard to turn that off. People stop seeing problems and start seeing opportunities.”
The partnership also promises to forge deeper relationships between Ford, its suppliers, and the maker community. How? The automaker recently asked a manufacturer of an environmentally friendly material to bring samples to TechShop to see what members could make with it.
Coughlin is a lawyer by training, But decided to temporarily trade in legal briefs for a bandsaw. He posed a simple question to himself: “Could I do better than Ikea?” After taking a couple of classes, he successfully designed a flat-pack end table and worked on another prototype using a ShopBot (an industrial-strength CNC cutter). He won’t comment on whether it is IKEA-worthy, but does say that it is at least “dimensionally stable.”
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Water Jet Cutters - The world's most dangerous squirt gun © Ford Motor Company
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Still, the program raises some thorny legal issues for inventors. If an engineer designs something in his free time and funds it on Kickstarter, say, would Ford own the patent?
Coughlin says there is a process for employees to clear after-hours projects, and in all but one case, they’ve been free to pursue their ideas without fear that Ford might claim ownership. And employees who create patentable projects related to the auto industry receive a portion of revenues generated from the patent.
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| Soon to be quaint. A Milling machine operated by a human. © Ford Motor Company |
At every level, Ford seems to realize that the days where customers could “choose any color as long as it’s black” are long over. The future of innovation lies in the hands of customers and employees who identify automotive design problems. Giving those employees passes to a hackerspace is a giant step toward finding solutions."
All photos courtesy of Ford Motor Co.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Brown Dog Welding Interview
Not quite sure how we exactly found out about Brown Dog Welding, but maybe it found us. Seems to be the way thee ol' inner web starts to find similarities. Maybe our google query was "cool metal fabrication" or it could have been "way too talented metal workers" but we happened to find Josh over at Brown Dog Welding and have been hooked on his cool projects ever since.
After a few emails back and forth, we asked Josh if we would be into a quick interview showcasing his work and ideas. He happily obliged, so here ya go folks, an interview with an amazing fabricator, artisan and all around good dude.
To take a page out of QBall's vernacular, "Long may you fabricate!" Thanks again Josh, we dig your fast response, interesting approach to applied metal craft and all around creativity in what might be scrap metal to the masses.
To take a page out of QBall's vernacular, "Long may you fabricate!" Thanks again Josh, we dig your fast response, interesting approach to applied metal craft and all around creativity in what might be scrap metal to the masses.
Where are ya from?
I'm originally from just south of Grand Rapids, Michigan....a little
town called Middleville. I'vebeen in Detroit for the last 10
years, and in between was a year and a half stint in SoCal.
What makes you stop and think "I could do that and do it better"
I remember having one of the welding instructors at Chrysler's tech center tell me that it was way too difficult to make money in art.....the time, the traveling to shows....it just wasn't worth it. That was never the route I wanted to take though. With the internet I can reach an audience larger than the "craft" circuit will ever touch. I looked at the sites that existed for metal art, and most were pretty poorly done. Blurry pictures, generic web templates, boring descriptions, and a handful of items that were basically from a blueprint made over and over and over again. So I spent a little more money and time up front to create a better presentation. From the site to the pictures to the packaging, I wanted it to be slick. And really the same goes for the art. There are a lot of guys out there that do scrap metal "sculpting." There aren't a lot of guys that take the time to make it look right, proportional...a polished finished product. Kinda like there are rat rod guys who build cool rides with character AND craftsmanship versus guys who use it as an excuse to be lazy and do shit work.
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| The Devil is in the details, holy shit talk about technique |
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| Only TIG Welding can look this good |
On the other side, you've got a bunch of "fine" artists who come up with a metal concept, think they can grab a mig gun and make it happen. I was at the DIA(Detroit Institute of Arts) two summers ago and there were several pieces that fit into this category. I can't paint, and even if I've got a brilliant idea for a painting I'm not gonna pick up a brush, it would be a mockery to the genre. But for some reason these guys think piss poor metal work isn't gonna detract from their "metal art". Welding has always been first for me. The art has always been an extension of that.
And with the welding....I showed an aptitude for it right off the bat, and just kept challenging myself to get better, more consistent, proficient in different techniques. I was surrounded by experienced guys I could learn from, and they pushed and encouraged me. I'm not a "with hard work you can do anything" kind of person. Drives me nuts, because it's such a common cliche we hear every day. But you gotta have talent, passion, AND a work ethic. 1 or 2 out of 3, and you'll be alright. Just the work ethic, and you'll reach your potential. Put all three together, and the sky is the limit. I'd like to think that's where I am, and I keep pushing myslf.
How did ya get into welding or thinking that glowing hot metal is better than splinters and saw dust?
Dumb luck. Long story short, despite growing up with a dad and grandfather who were both gifted craftsmen, I had no desire to get my hands dirty. I didn't take so much as a shop class growing up. After breezing through high school, I went to college and quickly realized that wasn't for me. What I did get out of college were some great friends and my future wife, Darla. Her dad was a millwright at Chrysler, and he helped me apply there. Once I got my foot in the door I took the skilled trades test. Shortly after that was a layoff from Mopar, then a move to SoCal, the wedding, and a move back to Michigan. I got the call to begin my millwright apprenticeship at Chrysler in the fall of 2002. At some point during the first few weeks of training at the Chrysler/UAW tech center, one of the instructors snuck us out back and fired up a generator. He handed me a stinger with a 6010 electrode in it, and once the arc was struck I was hooked. I set myself on fire, too. Was the first time, definitely not the last.
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| 5 Window Coupe Engine Details |
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| 5 Window Coupe |
If not working in metal, what other area do you think you could
excel?
I'd pry start a cult and prey on the naivety of youth. Or maybe I'd be a concert pianist.
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| TIG Strings are just purdy |
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| Cult conviction is required for all the details on these builds |
How often on a job site do you get to be creative or weld your way out of a corner?
Working in prototype, every day.
Does production work fuel your creative work?
Nope. I don't do production work, and never have. I've got a very limited attention span, I'd never make it! My current full time gig is at General Dynamics working in their prototype shop, and I love it. Always something different.
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| Matchless G50 Race Bike |
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| Alien Robot and Dog |
If you didn't have any size limits or worry on shipping what kind
of sculptures would you build?
I've thought about doing some large scale stuff, but that would require taking my time and planning! I'm not much for either. Maybe one of these days...
Get tech with the readers, what is your current shop setup for
welding, cutting and machining?
In my personal shop I've got a Miller DVI 2 mig machine, a Miller Dynasty 200DX for tig/stick and a Hypertherm Powermax 30 plasma cutter. I've also got a oxy/acy setup, drill press, band saw, ect. Basic stuff as far as that goes, I don't do any machining. The Dynasty is definitely the shop workhorse.
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| Recycled Die Grinder Sculpture |
Do ya think good machines are overkill with too many features or
should everyone learn to gas weld at first to understand puddle
flow?
As an apprentice taking the intro to welding course at Macomb CC, we did gas welding... and I really haven't done much of it since. It's cool because it's traditional, and there can be some benefits using it on chromoly and even aluminum, but tig welding really just blows it away as far as versatility, precision, and ease of operation. Learning to weld with tig as opposed to gas isn't much of a negative in my eyes.
And the new inverter machines are super sick. I've got the 200dx at home, and at work we've got a shop full of Dynasty 350s and a 700. Maybe you don't need all the features, and personally I'm not much of a "geek" when it comes to studying the waveforms and whatnot, but a few of them are handy doing fab work you'd do in your garage. The ability to crank up the pulses per second on stainless steel really helps control warping and increases corrosion resistance. The frequency and balance adjustment in A/C can help you dial in a bead for welding aluminum, and on the 350/700 machines you can adjust it even farther for cleaning or penetration with separate wave controls.
The flip side of that is that folks (usually, but not always, beginners) often get too caught up in the settings and features. I get asked all the time "what settings are you using? What tungsten? What cup? how many amps?" ...like if you set it all up the same, it's just gonna work like magic. In reality, it's nice to have the ability to fine tune a machine for a particular joint, position, or material, but you've still gotta have the skills to pay the bills. Half the time I sit down at a machine in the shop I don't even look at how it's set up, I just turn it on and go. And if you've got an older transformer machine, there's nothing wrong with that either. I learned on a monster Miller Syncrowave, and I've seen some beautiful work done with ancient Linde Heliarc machines too.
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| Nuts, Bolts and Bulldogs |
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| Metal Head Elephants |
Material prep and cleanliness, however, can't be overstated. Cleanliness is godliness when it comes to welding.
If you're learning, do yourself a favor and take a community college class. Preferably one that does, at the very least, some type of destructive testing. I've pissed off a lot of self taught DIY guys in the past by saying this, but you don't know what you don't know. So much goes into make a weld strong.
What music do ya dig listenin' to in the shop?
Chopin, Rachmaninoff, or even some old school Ennio Morricone scores. They make you feel ten foot tall and bullet proof. If I listen to Tool, RATM, or Nirvana I end up losing my patience, cursing and throwing junk everywhere. Daft Punk, Justice, or Deadmau5 you can weld to...but no rap or hip hop. Totally throws my rhythm off.
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| Commission work of Fat Tire Bicycle |
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| F16 Fighter Plane |
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| 1941 Flathead Indian Bobber |
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| Scrap Metal Bike Build |
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| Beauty is in the eye of the beholder |
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
World War 2 Photos in Color
Found an amazing batch of photos during the period of World War 2 as America was in full war effort to help our folks going to battle in the Pacific and Europe. These are held in the Library of Congress and luckily the Atlantic posted them as part eight of a twenty part retrospective on the war to end all wars. If yall happen to ever roll through New Orleans, do yourself a favor and go down to the World War 2 museum, very enlightening and they still have a few ww2 vets who come in to volunteer.
"In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color. OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies in the early war years depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. Gathered here are some of these color images from Palmer and Hollem, complete with original captions from 1942. Also, be sure to see archival movies in our new Video Channel. All of the FSA/OWI photos are available from the Library of Congress."
