what are people doing?

[cncmachineguy]

I spend all day running a machine shop and also being an operator. Now I love my job, but it can get REALLY boring at times. So most of the time I spend thinking about how to make something work. Currently I am considering replacing the controls on some of my older machines to use EMC2 instead of the dedicated controllers they came with. Electronics is what I started out intending to do for a career but things changed. Now it is my hobby along with R/C flying.

BTW, big plug for this forum and its people - I have been an active member for just about a year now, about 6 months longer then any other forum. And still enjoy popping in all day.

THANKS EVERYBODY!!!
and THANKS LESTER!!!!!


@Hank - Too funny, at least you got 33 seconds from him. When I'm lucky, I can get my wife to turn her head and glance.

[pyrogeek]

I spend all day running a machine shop and also being an operator. Now I love my job, but it can get REALLY boring at times. So most of the time I spend thinking about how to make something work. Currently I am considering replacing the controls on some of my older machines to use EMC2 instead of the dedicated controllers they came with. Electronics is what I started out intending to do for a career but things changed. Now it is my hobby along with R/C flying.

BTW, big plug for this forum and its people - I have been an active member for just about a year now, about 6 months longer then any other forum. And still enjoy popping in all day.

THANKS EVERYBODY!!!
and THANKS LESTER!!!!!


@Hank - Too funny, at least you got 33 seconds from him. When I'm lucky, I can get my wife to turn her head and glance.

what kind of machines do you have, i purchased a Torchmate 2X4 about a year ago, and have a couple of seats of BobCAD CAM V24.

[cncmachineguy]

I don't have any CAM software, I did at 1 time but never used it much. For the most part my work is not too complex and usually easier to just code by hand. As for the machines, I have 4 VMC's in use and 1 lathe. I have a few more old non-working machines that I just can't bring myself to get rid of. I have always wanted a CNC torch/plasma/Laser, but don't have any need for 1 and doubt I would be able to justify the expense.

I buy all my machines used, I once heard a business model where a guy had 5 or 6 of the same machines. All were outdated but ran just fine. He could run any of his jobs on any of them since they were identical. They were clearly not the fastest things out there, but for what he spent on them, he could have multiple machines to run jobs on and get done just as fast with WAY less overhead. I thought this was a great idea and have been working towards that goal.

[pyrogeek]

i got the mill package, i wish i had the plasma too. i use my to make PCB mounts for my designs. i have prototyped some PCB's with it too.

[cncmachineguy]

Just went and looked at that, wow! That's is really nice, I had no idea.

[pyrogeek]

Just went and looked at that, wow! That's is really nice, I had no idea.

thanks i was thinking of putting some pics in my album area, i'll throw some of my setup in there too.

[sayzer]

Would anyone like to share some interesting, but very really interesting, projects here?

Here is mine:

A "rich" guy found me to have an invitation card with LCD screen and RTC Chip.
Circuit had two lithium ion batteries, 4x16 LCD, DS1302, 16F628A, and a reed switch.
The name & surname of the invited guest is sent by PC software and written to EEPROM.
A message also sent by PC and written to EEPROM.
The date of the wedding is also sent by PC.
Current date & time also sent by PC and DS1302 is set.

When the flap of the invitation letter is opened, the reed switch releases, and PIC wakes up, powers LCD, screens the name, middle name, last name...
then screens the message private to the specific guest.
then counts down the time to the wedding date and time.
(The code for counting down routine between two dates up to the seconds was a pain).

if the flap is open for more then 10minutes, PIC sleeps.

If the date passes, and flap is opened again and there is still enough battery power, it screens the elapsed date & time and a second message.

What is yours?