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#403 Make decisions and dealing with the consequences.
0 Playsin 7 hours
TOPICS:
- Make decisions on your own, as long as you're willing to deal with the consequences.
- CHATTER machine monitoring
- Robots!
- Mastering youtube
- Dial test indicator stand
- Surface grinding and lapping
- Tormach 1500mx
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Focus
00:00:00
johngrimsmo
Good morning and welcome to the Business of Machining, episode 403. My name is John Grimsmow,
00:00:08
John S
My name is Saunders John.
00:00:09
johngrimsmo
and this is a podcast where two manufacturing entrepreneurs get together. Sometimes we put our heads together and try to solve challenges that are facing our businesses. Sometimes we just chit-chat about the latest, greatest, cool thing that we're playing with, or um ah Sometimes it's as simple as machines or people.
00:00:26
johngrimsmo
It's kind hard to talk about staff people on a podcast.
00:00:28
John S
Yes, yes, yes.
00:00:30
johngrimsmo
but So we mostly talk about machines.
00:00:33
John S
Yes. And the, uh,
Empowerment and Decision-Making
00:00:35
John S
what is it? The very, ah very helpful, even if it's a little cheeky, funny, like when you're struggling and you're talking to a friend or a spouse, it's like, do you want support or do you want solutions?
00:00:44
johngrimsmo
yeah Yeah, exactly. do you Do you just want to hear what I'm saying or do you want me to give you advice?
00:00:48
John S
Right.
00:00:50
John S
Right.
00:00:50
johngrimsmo
And that is a very powerful question, especially to use at home.
00:00:54
John S
um I'll s segue off of that. I had the chance to spend yesterday with the couple of the Toolpath guys. We had a board meeting and I believe it was Justin said something and I'm sure he's borrowing it.
00:01:00
johngrimsmo
Cool.
00:01:06
John S
I don't remember from whom, but was talking about you know building a team and and a company and a shop and you and I have these similar levels of growing pains in our you know communication. It's easy enough with 10 people or so or under, it's easy enough to kind of communicate about everything, but that's not always good and But trying to not talk theoretically, but talk practically about this.
00:01:28
John S
And the point here was trying to trying to enable the folks on the team to make decisions on their own, as long as they're willing to live with the consequences, which makes it sound ominous. I don't mean it that way, but I mean like um if somebody
00:01:38
johngrimsmo
Mm-hmm.
Reducing Friction in Manufacturing
00:01:42
John S
um need something and we've always said yes to it before, i need to make sure they understand the consequence. I think the consequence would be that they could potentially think that I am mad that they ordered it.
00:01:54
John S
And I don't want that to be, that's like never, what has never happened. There could be some like, oh, we already had that and you didn't know it or we had a different version. but like, I got a, you know, does that make sense?
00:02:04
johngrimsmo
Yeah. You want to reduce the friction, especially for repeat stuff.
00:02:05
John S
Like,
00:02:08
johngrimsmo
Like you said, like here's the bin where we keep all the things and there's one left and we need more things and we order these every month and I need to order more things. And should I bug John about this?
00:02:17
John S
Yeah.
00:02:21
John S
And it's not just by stuff. It's like
Business Growth Challenges
00:02:22
John S
any decision that relates to, may relate to like, hey, how we have the Fusion folder architecture. It's like, hey, um or or whatever. But um making people, I think I want to be super candid and frank i here.
00:02:29
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:02:35
John S
i I do think I've probably done too much getting involved over the years or or muddling in it or second, like whatever you want to say it.
00:02:43
John S
And it's like, Nope, you need to make sure, um, you know, encourage people to do that and recognize if it it's not what you wanted, you got to be real careful about how we say, okay, let's think about that. Um, and the consequences are normally no big deal versus like, okay, the consequence of like, Hey, you need, you should have had a second opinion because the consequence was a four or five figure problem.
00:02:43
johngrimsmo
Yep, yep.
00:03:03
John S
Um, you crash your machine or buy the wrong material.
00:03:04
johngrimsmo
Yep, yep.
00:03:07
John S
That's no good.
00:03:08
John S
Um, But it's something that's also like, you that will go on. Like of all my shortcomings, I think maybe I may have as leader.
00:03:08
johngrimsmo
Mm-hmm.
00:03:12
johngrimsmo
Mm-hmm.
00:03:15
John S
I don't, I think most people our shop would tell you, i usually, you know, don't get too mad when we've had some crappy things happen, you know, just, yeah.
00:03:23
johngrimsmo
ye
00:03:25
John S
It's almost easier to deal with those than it is the little mistakes that I've
00:03:31
johngrimsmo
Especially when there's so much nuance involved. um I can see how you did that and came to that conclusion or ah thought that was the right call, but I'm saying it wasn't the right call.
00:03:40
John S
Yeah.
00:03:42
johngrimsmo
Yeah, business is hard.
00:03:46
johngrimsmo
But that's why we're here, we get to do what we love. It's the price to pay kind of thing. And it's to grow a team is an important part of growing us as business leaders.
00:03:51
John S
Yeah.
00:03:56
johngrimsmo
um Because there was a time when it was just me in the garage and just you in the apartment and your basement. um It's just us and just me in a machine. It's just like, life is bliss, but we're making $1,000 year. And life different.
00:04:07
John S
Right, right.
00:04:11
johngrimsmo
and now ah life is life
00:04:12
John S
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Insights from Toolpath Board Meeting
00:04:13
johngrimsmo
is different
00:04:13
John S
Those are right. Right. Well, it's also kind of funny because inadvertently, um, you know, I've, I've talked about this paving company analogy so much.
00:04:23
John S
Um, and inadvertently I've actually sort of seen, i sort of live that now because, um, I don't want to talk a ton of about the tool path board thing. Cause I'm probably not interesting to most people, but, um,
00:04:36
John S
you know, Watmo is leading that company. Yes, he's he's got deep backgrounds in CAM and and building teams and software and and machine, all that. But like, it's much more like he bought the paving company because he's got teams of people in-house and outsource people that are doing scrums and teams and goals and deliverables and marketing and go to market and customer stories and coding.
00:04:53
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah like like he's not in the kitchen kind of thing.
00:04:59
John S
And he's not like he's has like, there There is no scenario where he's going to be in the weeds because like it's not even possible, right? It's yeah correct.
00:05:13
John S
He doesn't even know where the kitchen is. or like i'm like it's it's it's It's something that could never happen for you and me because there's no sense.
00:05:13
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:05:15
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:19
John S
I guarantee you, Grim, even if you and I didn't talk for 10 years, if I called you up in 10 years and was like in walked into your shop, there's no way you wouldn't be involved in some of the machines, right?
00:05:28
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:29
John S
It's just who you are.
00:05:30
johngrimsmo
Yep, exactly.
00:05:33
John S
So it's been in a good perspective.
00:05:34
johngrimsmo
I
00:05:38
johngrimsmo
like it. Any other takeaways from your day with the toolpath, guys?
Toolpath Software and Automation
00:05:44
johngrimsmo
or
00:05:45
John S
um it's what yeah ah It's really great to see um the progress they're making. It's early software. I so wholeheartedly believe in both the team and the what it could be.
00:05:59
John S
um They've got work to do. um the It's working great right now if you're a job shop and you want to use Toolpath for most parts to just get quick quote estimates.
00:06:12
John S
That's a win, but that's not my opinion, not the team's opinion, just my opinion. That's not what the software was, well, it's not what the software was built for. The software was built to help automate CAM and and revolutionize the way parts manufactured.
00:06:26
John S
and they it's It's public. I think most folks probably saw some of the chatter about it because they did a pretty good job last week of creating chatter about ToolPass acquisition of chatter.
00:06:33
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:06:36
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:06:36
John S
um And that's got, you know, there's some hiccups there. and That's okay. ah they'll They'll work that stuff out. The idea of...
Chatter Software and Machine Tracking
00:06:44
John S
Well, chatter is frankly is great because it gives you this dashboard where you can see Phanex, Heidenhain, Siemens, Haas machines, and you know what's going on with them full stop. Like to see, and I actually have you have started using it.
00:07:00
John S
yeah I was running valve covers. because we're a little bit we're in we're in a mediocre situation with our vf2 it's got too much workload on it and so i was running them over the nights and weekends and to look at my phone and see when it's done and whether or not it made sense for me to stop by the shop again it's great like just super low hanging fruit nice the next level of chatter's ability to potentially start handling long-term to a life management and
00:07:17
johngrimsmo
Yeah. Interesting.
00:07:28
John S
as control agnostic solution that lives above all other machines is wonderful.
00:07:34
johngrimsmo
interesting
00:07:34
John S
and when And when you start thinking about what Chatter could do to close the loop of like, right now it is a very, There have been things that have made progress, but it's still a very disjointed CAD to CAM to to machine SIM to posting to sneaker net or loading the code.
00:07:51
John S
right And that's all a one-way street for all intents and purposes. Chatter has that ability to now really upend what that looks like.
00:08:00
johngrimsmo
Yeah, make it a two-way street.
00:08:02
John S
Yeah, two-way street, job scheduling, feedback. I don't know how much I'm supposed to say about this, but...
00:08:05
johngrimsmo
Interesting.
00:08:06
John S
but That's not what it is. i mean, even last yesterday, i tried to use it to program a part. The cam automation is phenomenal. It's so cool. It's great if you're willing to to roll your sleeves up right now.
00:08:17
John S
um But more will come. And it's, ah I mean, it's a startup. it's it's It's, you know, risky, but it's it's really cool.
00:08:17
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:08:23
johngrimsmo
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, we've had like an alpha version of chatter installed on several of our machines.
00:08:25
John S
Yep.
00:08:29
johngrimsmo
And the past couple days I've been looking into it. Scott Moist reached out and he was just like, hey, I saw you're on the alpha team.
00:08:33
John S
Yep.
00:08:36
johngrimsmo
You know, got any questions? And i was like, yeah, I can't get the Kern to work. Like I've never gotten the Kern connected. but Pete and I tried like a year ago and
00:08:40
John S
Yeah.
00:08:44
johngrimsmo
but just He got busy and I gave up. and
00:08:45
John S
Yeah.
00:08:46
johngrimsmo
And that got me thinking about it i'm like, that's our most used machine. And now the Speedio, too. like It'd be really nice if those two were like actually feeding back. And then I really love, we talked about this before, the ah spindle utilization feedback, the reports at the end of the week.
00:09:01
John S
Yeah.
00:09:02
johngrimsmo
I think that's just phenomenal.
00:09:04
John S
My thought or... what Once something like chatter works well and as exists, you would look back and be like, what what this is crazy. like we're in the We are in the stone age right now. you don't We have these iPhones that can FaceTime somebody in
Two-Way Communication in Manufacturing?
00:09:19
John S
Nepal, but I don't know if my VF2 is on feed rate override. like That's ridiculous. like This stuff is so easy and should be able to be tackled.
00:09:29
johngrimsmo
yeah I logged in this morning and then i was sitting with Leif and i was like, look, our Tornos has been working for a little bit. And then, you know, Jeff came in and he's made these this many parts and he's running program 2106.
00:09:39
John S
Yeah.
00:09:41
johngrimsmo
twenty one oh six I have no idea what program that is, but yeah, I'm like, sweet.
00:09:43
John S
Yeah.
00:09:46
johngrimsmo
I can tell that's the only machine that's running right now of the ones connected to chatter.
00:09:46
John S
Well,
00:09:51
John S
I was like, I was laughing. was like, I want it for a grinder, which doesn't have a proper C and T control on it. It's, it's got a screen. can control stuff, but it's not a G.
00:09:59
johngrimsmo
Apparently it is FANUC back end. That's what I heard somewhere.
00:10:02
John S
Spencer Webbs has the next tier up, like absolutely can load G-coding and it is.
00:10:04
johngrimsmo
Yeah. That is FANUC, yeah.
00:10:06
John S
That's interesting. I guess I didn't look at the, I should look at the drives to see if they're fanic.
00:10:09
johngrimsmo
Yeah, just like open the panel in the back. um Yeah, somebody told me that the the the back end, that it's FANUC base.
00:10:11
John S
Yeah, right.
00:10:16
John S
Okay.
00:10:16
johngrimsmo
It'd be funny if there's an Ethernet port on it and it just works.
00:10:20
John S
Well, this is off topic, but like it would be, even if it's not through chatter, like just hook up something where when the cycle stops, I get a text, which I actually did like OG New York days on my tour mock.
00:10:30
johngrimsmo
Yeah, definitely.
00:10:31
John S
I got a Twilio text when the spindle light went off.
00:10:33
johngrimsmo
Yes, I tried that too on the tournament. All right.
00:10:34
John S
Yeah. Cause we don't care about the grinder. I don't care if it
Remote Monitoring with Cameras
00:10:39
John S
sits for 30 minutes. I just want to know, Oh, if it's done, I'll walk over there sometime when I'm ready.
00:10:40
johngrimsmo
right But you know, we, it's, it's in the corner of our shop, so I almost never see it, but I know the guys run it just about every day for several hours a day.
00:10:50
johngrimsmo
I would find it very interesting to know how many spindle hours a day that machine actually uses, because that could tell me if it needs a more dedicated operator. Cause right now we've got guys jumping around.
00:11:00
John S
of
00:11:01
johngrimsmo
We got basically three guys trained on it that are jumping around. One guy does set up, one guy runs it, another guy can run it. Um, And maybe there's ah a distant future where like, no, we got a grinder guy that's grinder plus extra, not other stuff plus grinder, you know?
00:11:17
John S
Yeah, sure, sure. Yeah.
00:11:19
johngrimsmo
And, you know, if we're running it, say, four or five spindle hours a day of an eight hour shift, like, that's a lot of grinding.
00:11:29
John S
Yeah.
00:11:29
johngrimsmo
Especially such kind of a manual setup.
00:11:32
John S
yeah The other thing I want, and like I can't figure it out, if anybody has suggestions, I'd love to hear, um is like a closed circuit. TV feed, we so we do this on the horizontal and it works great.
00:11:41
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:42
John S
We have a HDMI security camera, so it has 12 volt power and an HDMI out and that goes straight to a little HDMI monitor. So there's no account, there's no logging in, there's none of that.
00:11:53
John S
It's just a direct feed.
00:11:55
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:11:57
John S
I'd like to do it for the grinder, except that's 160 feet away. So I don't really want to run HDMI.
00:12:03
johngrimsmo
Where do you want the screen?
00:12:04
John S
Well, ah at some point, my office, oh, sorry, in the past, it would have said my office, but I don't, now that it's been handed off, it would be at the person's desk who runs the grinder.
00:12:13
John S
So, but it's still too far away to where the thing that would make, I guess what I want is like a ethernet camera that can, but I don't want, like, I know we can do a ring or wise, but then it's like, oh, you're always logging in and software updates.
00:12:13
johngrimsmo
Yeah. Yep.
00:12:20
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:12:25
John S
like no, I just want something dumb.
00:12:27
John S
want something that's just as a fee, doesn't need to be high res.
00:12:27
johngrimsmo
yep
00:12:30
johngrimsmo
Yeah, we've used a couple um Raspberry Pis, even a Pi Zero works with this software called MyEye.
00:12:30
John S
Um,
00:12:37
John S
Ooh, thank you.
00:12:37
johngrimsmo
And it's like it's like an image that you put onto the Raspberry Pi.
00:12:41
johngrimsmo
There's no boot screen, there's no home, there's no nothing.
00:12:42
John S
Yeah.
00:12:43
johngrimsmo
It's just it gives you an IP address, a local network IP address that is the camera.
00:12:47
John S
Yes.
00:12:50
johngrimsmo
And so, yeah, so my, like M-E-Y-I-Y-E, MyEye.
00:12:50
John S
John, love you. Yes.
00:12:55
John S
Yeah, I'll find it.
00:12:56
johngrimsmo
um
00:12:56
John S
So the RPI is where the camera is, which is where you want to back at the grinder.
00:13:01
John S
And then you just on a web browser, log into that IP.
00:13:01
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:13:03
johngrimsmo
Yeah, it's it's Wi-Fi to your network. So you configure your user pass.
00:13:06
John S
Bingo.
00:13:07
johngrimsmo
It's all a local system. So we use it every day for a, um since we have two buildings, we have a transfer station where all machine finished parts go on this table.
00:13:09
John S
Yes.
00:13:15
johngrimsmo
And there's a little just cheap old webcam, Logitech, whatever, like underneath the shelf pointed straight down. And then the guys have a big 35 inch TV or whatever.
00:13:22
John S
I'm doing this.
00:13:26
johngrimsmo
That's got actually the laptop has the MyEye
OpenCV and Image Recognition
00:13:30
johngrimsmo
webcam on it. And then the screen, the monitor has a spreadsheet that tracks our parts inventory.
00:13:37
John S
Okay.
00:13:38
johngrimsmo
So the finishing guys in the front are like, oh, there's parts. I need parts. I'm going to go get those parts. And there has to be no communication, no nothing. It's just like, yes, parts are ready. I'll go get them. Otherwise, no parts, no use. to Make the trip. you know It's great.
00:13:50
John S
Thank you.
00:13:50
John S
This is also fortuitous because I've started to play, well, I've started to watch tutorials on OpenCV, which is the, it's it's not just Python, I'm calling it Python, but um it's other languages as well, but it's Python compatible, open-sourcy, visual, can't think of the right word.
00:13:50
johngrimsmo
You're welcome.
00:13:56
johngrimsmo
What is OpenCV? Oh.
00:14:09
John S
But I want to use OpenCV to start determining the state of images. So like the example, which is what I'm also basically trying to do is Tormach uses OpenCV on their robot to you just dump a bunch of material on a table and then OpenCV is like, OK, there's a block that's angled 37 degrees.
00:14:22
johngrimsmo
oh
00:14:26
John S
I now understand how to orient it enough to pick it up.
00:14:29
John S
I can pick it up. I can drop it in a repick station so it's far more accurate. um So it does that image tracking and you could do OpenCV could very simply detect the presence of the cart in the image or not.
00:14:29
johngrimsmo
Sick.
00:14:42
John S
And then it could Python ping you, email you, alert you, change the status of the light, whatever.
00:14:46
johngrimsmo
Sick. I think you were talking about something like this maybe a year ago.
00:14:48
John S
Yeah.
00:14:51
johngrimsmo
um Yeah, I forget.
00:14:52
John S
Sounds right. Didn't do anything
00:14:54
johngrimsmo
It was not for robot loading, but it was for something else. like Chip management, wasn't it? Chip's coming off your thing, right?
00:14:59
John S
with it. that is correct. Yeah, that was that was too fickle for sure.
00:15:04
johngrimsmo
Sure, but but it got you down the rabbit hole of learning image recognition kind of things.
00:15:08
John S
Yes. Actually funny enough, I brought this up with Justin, tu about justin because he is a PhD in computer science.
00:15:15
John S
So he's like, it's like very fun to be like, Hey, this is like the right path. Right. And great example, they had some college or post-college, uh, thing where they were trying to hack a side or not Cybex.
00:15:15
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:15:29
John S
What's the rowing machine, cyber systems, rowing machines, Cyberdyne.
00:15:32
johngrimsmo
don't know.
00:15:33
John S
No, it's not Cyberdyne. Um, anybody who knows what Cyberdyne is, raise your hand. Um, Concept two rowing machines, to workout machine that has a small mono monochromatic LED screen.
00:15:40
johngrimsmo
Okay. Yeah.
00:15:45
John S
So this is exactly where OpenCV is awesome. If I want to digitize what's happening on that screen, that for all practical purposes, I cannot hack into the board's signal pins.
00:15:57
John S
That's a lot of work. So OpenCV, put a webcam in front of it, and you're now using OpenCV to like OCR, I would call it, to be like, okay, it's displaying
00:16:04
johngrimsmo
Interesting. Yeah.
00:16:07
John S
this this character, this time, this state, and then it can digitize that and it gives you the, you dump it to a CSV file or whatever.
00:16:14
johngrimsmo
Dude, that is cool.
00:16:15
John S
Freaking cool, right? And now it's like open source, there's chat GPT and better alternatives as well. So it's like, this is, you know, the world is your oyster.
00:16:21
johngrimsmo
Yeah. Nice. So how's the robot?
00:16:28
John S
um I mean, I would say 10 out of 10 because love it. Grant on the UR is killing it. He got our... um We make plug jacks have a bunch of threads and and small slots, so they're perfect. It's like the perfect part if you wanted to trap oil on the part in the Willemans oil machine.
00:16:47
John S
And now the robot is picking the part of out of the vise. Sorry, to to back up. This part, we previously did drop down the Willemans tube just fine, so it didn't need to be a robot part.
00:16:58
John S
But...
Robots in Manufacturing
00:16:59
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:16:59
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:17:00
John S
Now the robot comes in, picks the part up, and then it um dunks it in a cleaner. Shout out to Moria MFG, who recommended a stuff we just bought, which I'll look up real quick, um as a solution to help kind of dissolve away the oil.
00:17:16
John S
um I think Grant had just been putting it in IPA as a proof concept here.
00:17:22
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:17:22
John S
We bought... um It's called Ozonic 203. It's an oil solvent cleaner. So try that out, let's see how it goes. So it dunks it IPA and then it moves it over to a solenoid triggered air blast over our whole mistaway downdraft table.
00:17:40
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:17:41
John S
And then it puts it in individual spots and trays and the parts are now clean and dry and oil-free.
00:17:46
johngrimsmo
And it actually like it does enough, you say.
00:17:49
John S
Yes, I haven't, Grant said it's working great.
00:17:51
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:17:51
John S
And he he's not the type to like over, I've heard a lot like hey he's like, yeah, this is saving me a ton of time and the parts are.
00:17:53
johngrimsmo
Sure.
00:17:57
johngrimsmo
That's fantastic.
00:17:59
John S
Torbok robot, also great.
00:18:02
John S
Super easy to program the simple stuff that I wanted to do, like go here, go here. I have a problem with the 24 volt logic that's gonna get fixed, which is stopping me from using the gripper. So that's kind of the pencils down. And now the next step is what I don't know is, it's probably simple, but when you don't know, you don't know.
00:18:02
johngrimsmo
Okay.
00:18:21
John S
um If I wanna stack, if I wanna stack 30 pieces up, Well, for you could pick them from the bottom. There's some gravity issues and weight issues, but you could pick it from the bottom, which would be the same pick point.
00:18:33
John S
Or do i want to pick them top down where every time it picks up the next part, it indexes down by ah the material thickness?
00:18:39
johngrimsmo
Yeah. yeah
00:18:41
John S
And then similarly, when I want to put things away in a grid, how do I program that grid in the sort of cumulative XY shift of that?
00:18:46
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:18:48
John S
I'm sure figure out, just I haven't done yet.
00:18:51
johngrimsmo
How's the interface? I have no idea how the Tormac interface works. I've only seen some videos of the UR.
00:18:58
John S
So I actually haven't done anything on the UR, which i would and i I would like to buy one, but I don't i don't need that right now. um Probably will end up getting a used one.
00:19:09
John S
So I can't compare it directly. Although knowing how well Grant's doing, I can't imagine it's difficult. The Tormach PathPilot is great. It's a conversational WYSIWYG block builder.
00:19:17
johngrimsmo
Path pilot.
00:19:18
John S
Yeah.
00:19:19
John S
and then you just say, do this, do this, do this, wait here, wait for the signal. Like it's super, eat i can John, I could teach you in eight minutes how to do a lot of the basics.
00:19:19
johngrimsmo
No way.
00:19:28
johngrimsmo
Nice.
00:19:29
John S
And then what's nice is the WYSIWYG editor, block editor just dumps it into the Python code, which you can also read and very much understand what it's doing, which is also nice because it's Python code.
00:19:39
johngrimsmo
okay
00:19:41
John S
So I also have like, OpenCV should be very simple to integrate.
00:19:45
johngrimsmo
So it's the G code that runs the Tormac robot is Python.
00:19:50
John S
Correct.
00:19:51
johngrimsmo
That's interesting.
00:19:53
John S
Yes. It's super awesome.
00:19:55
johngrimsmo
Whoa.
00:19:56
John S
There's stuff that I've learned that is not apples to apples with CNC machines. So you can have, you can have like a, your main sort of G53 work offset can be the base of the robot. And then you can use that system to maneuver around, but then you can switch your critical offset to the end effector gripper.
00:20:13
John S
And that point can actually be further out than even the joint of the end effector, because you might want to be orienting and orbiting Um, think about like drilling an angled hole on a B axis mill.
00:20:25
John S
Like you're not going to any single axis, you're multi-axis moving. So in some orientations that I want Z positive to actually be a compound angle in space at 36.87 degrees or whatever.
00:20:25
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:20:37
John S
So you can shift between how you jog like brute force jog versus jog relative to the current position of the tool head. So like a Z up move could actually be moving it closer to the ground, depending on how you're oriented.
00:20:37
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:20:49
John S
Right. That makes sense.
00:20:49
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:20:52
johngrimsmo
And that's just playing with it, figuring it out, wrapping her head around it.
00:20:55
John S
Yes. Yeah.
00:20:57
johngrimsmo
That's amazing.
00:20:58
John S
It's fun. I'm enjoying it for sure.
00:20:59
johngrimsmo
That's super cool.
00:21:02
John S
And Grant's playing with the click PLC on the UR, which from Automation Direct, which is working great for the air solenoid stuff with...
00:21:10
johngrimsmo
Okay.
00:21:10
John S
Yeah. Nice one.
00:21:13
johngrimsmo
Does the UR not have outputs? Or why do you need that thing?
00:21:17
John S
It does... I don't know that you do, but Marcus recommended it and it's not expensive. And the benefit is that that lets me buy an independent device that I can do everything I want with.
00:21:30
John S
And if it, if I don't like it or I break it, it's like one ethernet that I unplug and I'm not messing with the rest of the UR.
00:21:37
johngrimsmo
Sure.
00:21:37
John S
I'm not saying that's the right answer for everybody or for long-term, but I, you know, I think of it like I wouldn't want to mess with the current.
00:21:39
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:21:44
John S
I'd rather buy a $300 accessory that I can connect to the current and do i want with it. And then,
00:21:48
johngrimsmo
Fair.
00:21:49
John S
Whatever.
00:21:54
John S
How about you? What's been going on?
00:21:57
johngrimsmo
Lots of stuff. So the big story is the Fjälls are...
Marketing Strategies and Video Content
00:22:02
johngrimsmo
coming together fantastic. um I just came in last night, filmed a great top-down, hands-in-shot video of just going over all the knives, going over all the details, got to tell some stories, some explain a bunch of stuff, and it's kind of the first of the big marketing push to like get this new product out there.
00:22:19
John S
Mm-hmm.
00:22:23
johngrimsmo
um And that kind of led me down a little rabbit hole of I know I want our marketing to be more powerful and have more impact, more reach, stretch, whatever.
00:22:35
johngrimsmo
um I've always wanted our videos to be a bit more so specific in whatever style we choose to go, just to have a bit more format to them. Not just like, you know, the off-the-cuff shop videos are great too, but we're trying to sell a product here too. and We're trying to grow a manufacturing company that makes things and sells things. So um it kind of sent me down a really good rabbit hole of marketing There's a million YouTube videos, how to make better videos.
00:22:59
johngrimsmo
But learning more specifically what makes a good thumbnail, what makes a good title, what makes a good first five seconds, 20 seconds, things like that.
00:23:03
John S
Oh my gosh, i yeah, yeah.
00:23:08
johngrimsmo
And it kind of opened my eyes to a couple of things that I never thought of before. um Namely, you know usually we it's all an afterthought. You film a video and you're like, i grab a thumbnail from the video somewhere that looks cool.
00:23:20
johngrimsmo
And then you know title it whatever. um Whereas thinking about it a bit of a forethought is in a perfect world, you want your title and your thumbnail to kind of relate to each other.
00:23:33
johngrimsmo
And then you want the first five to 20 seconds of the video to also relate to that title so that people have that closure of like, I clicked on it because I think it's going to do this. And then boom, it gives it to you right away.
00:23:44
johngrimsmo
As opposed to this long drawn out, eventually they get to the point of why I clicked on the video sort of thing. And I filmed a video last night with all that in mind and I'm super duper happy.
00:23:54
John S
Oh, okay.
00:23:55
johngrimsmo
Yeah, it's really cool.
00:23:55
John S
Good.
00:23:57
johngrimsmo
um The other thing, do you know the YouTuber, the Hacksmith? You ever heard of um
00:24:02
John S
Yeah. was a Canadian, well, US s guys.
00:24:04
johngrimsmo
Yeah, no Canadian guys, yeah.
00:24:05
John S
Yeah. Well, I mean, for now.
00:24:07
johngrimsmo
What? it's Shut up. um Yeah, so they're about an hour away. Leif and I on New Year's Eve got to go to their shop and we got to take a private tour.
00:24:15
John S
No way.
00:24:17
johngrimsmo
ah just Just James walked us around and showed us the whole thing.
00:24:18
John S
Oh, that's awesome.
00:24:20
johngrimsmo
And they do fantastic videos. They're basically engineering nerds that can make anything but make Marvel movies come to life.
00:24:23
John S
Yes.
00:24:28
johngrimsmo
like
00:24:28
John S
Yes.
00:24:29
johngrimsmo
And a lot more. And so it was just wild getting this tour. We did film it. See if we can put it together and and throw it up. Really cool. But that really started the curiosity of like, they do multiple seven figures of revenue work.
00:24:36
John S
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:24:47
John S
ah yeah They're legit.
00:24:50
John S
Like they're, yes.
00:24:50
johngrimsmo
They're legit.
00:24:50
johngrimsmo
They have 15 million subscribers on YouTube. This is their job.
00:24:52
John S
Yeah.
00:24:54
johngrimsmo
They have 27 employees or something like that. um
00:24:57
John S
Wow.
00:24:58
johngrimsmo
Full-time video editors, full-time filmers, things like that.
00:24:59
John S
Yes.
00:25:00
johngrimsmo
like Follow me around with a camera. He built his office and he put these little, what are they called? PZT cameras that like can XYZ.
00:25:07
John S
Point tilt zoom.
00:25:09
johngrimsmo
ah He put like 12 of them in his office. So he's like, I have no excuse not to film right now. And he he built this audio um Jarvis kind of recording device that he can be like, Jarvis, start recording camera six.
00:25:23
John S
Oh.
00:25:23
johngrimsmo
And and it just like totally off the chain crazy.
00:25:27
johngrimsmo
Anyway, it got me to really get curious as to why their videos are amazing. Technically, and they've figured it out because they've come up with a ah
00:25:38
johngrimsmo
a recipe, you know, and they follow that recipe. And there's, you know, there's intro, there's content, there's outro, there's thumbnail, there's title, and don't want to go too deep onto it, but I can use and bits and pieces of it to improve what we're trying to do here.
00:25:51
johngrimsmo
And it's exciting. It's really fun. It's like a new nerd challenge to learn about.
00:25:57
John S
Can I offer like contrarian view of that?
00:26:00
johngrimsmo
Sure.
00:26:01
John S
you you already have, you are already in a phenomenal place. There are people that have YouTube only content channels that are driven off of the need to feed the algo, keep keep the content up, the pressure of videos, sometimes the substance missing and they need sponsorship and engagement.
00:26:14
johngrimsmo
Totally. Mm-hmm.
00:26:23
John S
And some of those people would look at a company like yours and think this guy, John, you've made it. You have this huge passion for this phenomenal product that you're selling all over the world to with a coveted fan base and exquisite products.
00:26:37
John S
And yes, you got to sell more, more of them. And like, you can use YouTube to do that, but, um, you, neither you nor I are ever going to become Hacksmith or like, yeah I don't want like it's, it's yes, it's very, it's a very personal and selfish thing, but like, I don't want to do, and even a guy like Titan, like you are, you know, constantly trying to sell yourself.
00:26:46
johngrimsmo
Full-time YouTubers. Yeah.
00:26:59
John S
You're just selling yourself out every single day. And, um, I commend you for running a real business and YouTube is just one of many tools that to help you better that.
00:27:06
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:27:09
johngrimsmo
Absolutely. Yeah, and I think we're in a position where obviously it can be both to a point.
00:27:16
John S
Yes.
00:27:16
johngrimsmo
um All I'm saying, I'd like to improve our videos. I'd like to, you know, continuous improvement.
00:27:20
John S
to Totally fair.
00:27:22
johngrimsmo
And I have the same thoughts. It's like, i don't want to be a full-time YouTuber. i don't want to have the stress of doing that. I don't want to make a video every day. Like, don't tell me to make a video. um I don't feel like it.
00:27:29
John S
Yeah.
00:27:30
johngrimsmo
um However, we can do better. And that kind of nagging desire of...
00:27:32
John S
Yeah.
00:27:37
johngrimsmo
finding little ways to improve it. And sometimes it's literally just structure and and not so free balling off the cuff, like do whatever you want kind of thing. Because i don't know. I don't have the time experience of results to see if this is even worth the effort, but I'm going play with it for the next few months.
00:27:52
John S
Yeah. That's awesome.
00:27:54
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:27:55
John S
Good. I would enjoy seeing more from you. Just um not doing a video for three months and then making a 40 minute video.
00:27:57
johngrimsmo
Yeah. go
00:28:03
John S
Sometimes it's tough to digest. why don't It works for some people than rock and roll. I'd rather just see like a six minute video of what you did.
00:28:09
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:28:09
John S
lot And then maybe that works. i mean, that's kind of probably why Instagram has done so well with shorter stuff.
00:28:12
johngrimsmo
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Instagram's easier.
00:28:14
John S
don't
00:28:15
johngrimsmo
um And then we have, I say this politely, we have nerds that we follow. The Renzetti's and the Silos Garage and the the people like that, if they put up a five minute video, we're watching it.
00:28:24
John S
Yeah.
00:28:28
John S
Yes.
00:28:28
johngrimsmo
um If they put up a 90 minute video, probably watching most of it. um
00:28:33
John S
Yeah.
00:28:34
johngrimsmo
And I don't expect anything from those guys other than juicy, nerdy information.
00:28:41
John S
Yeah.
00:28:41
johngrimsmo
You know, I don't need it to be perfect. I don't need a good thumbnail. I don't need, you know, and there's that.
00:28:44
John S
Right.
00:28:46
johngrimsmo
But those are, you know, friends of ours that I just want to hear what they have to say. And I also have things to say and cool projects to show and things like that.
00:28:51
John S
Yes.
00:28:55
johngrimsmo
And there's the sharing aspect of it. But then there's the marketing aspect where, like, I want to draw new people. Yeah. And I think that'll be key to our growth, you know, and I and don't want to ignore that because I do want to grow this company and I'm going to need more people, customers, eyeballs to do that.
00:29:02
John S
Yeah, that's true.
00:29:10
John S
Yeah.
00:29:11
johngrimsmo
So it's it's a legit part of our future growth plan, you know.
00:29:14
John S
Yes. Good.
00:29:18
johngrimsmo
So it's good. It's fun.
00:29:19
John S
Awesome.
00:29:22
johngrimsmo
But it was a lot easier to film, especially that first video last night. 9 to midnight with nobody here.
00:29:28
John S
Yeah, I know, right?
00:29:29
johngrimsmo
Or I can like literally get myself hyped and I was like, come on.
00:29:33
johngrimsmo
And then I filmed a little bit today with people around i'm like, this is so awkward. You get more used to it.
00:29:37
John S
Yeah.
00:29:40
John S
Yeah. um Do you trim ever use any tools to trim down the length of end mills?
00:29:48
johngrimsmo
I never have, no.
00:29:49
John S
Okay. We have a D-bit grinder that doesn't work great for this. And there's a tool that I think CJ has one, but it's called the Cut.
00:29:55
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:29:57
John S
It's called the Tradesman from a company called cut Cutter Masters. It's only 900 bucks, but... just like a random pet peeve where it's like, I don't want to spend almost a thousand dollars on a tool to modify end mills. Like we're not in the business of modifying end mills. Now the Willamand and there's some other reasons why we sometimes need some shorter than normal.
00:30:14
John S
um So I'm just trying to figure out, I have a, don't we must've had this thought two years ago and never went further with it. We have like a five or six inch diamond thin wheel that's almost like a giant Dremel cutoff wheel.
00:30:27
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:30:28
John S
um but Is it perfect for this? But it doesn't, it's not apparent how it would mount on a D-bit grinder. In the videos I did on D-bit grinder stuff, it's all in mill sharpening. I'm like, I don't wanna chop off the end of it, the shank side of it.
00:30:40
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:30:41
John S
So I figure that out.
00:30:43
johngrimsmo
Yeah, those RegoFix holders, like when you have the right size end mill with the right stopper in the back, it's glorious. You just put the end mill into the bottom.
00:30:48
John S
Yeah.
00:30:50
johngrimsmo
Don't even think about stick out ever again once it's set properly.
00:30:53
John S
Yes.
00:30:53
johngrimsmo
And then you get like the through coolant drill that's you know two inches longer than it needs to be. And we just pull out the set screw and measure the stick out make it work.
00:31:03
John S
What do you do?
00:31:04
John S
On
00:31:04
johngrimsmo
with
00:31:04
johngrimsmo
We pull out the back screw, the stopper screw.
00:31:07
John S
on the rego?
00:31:08
johngrimsmo
on On the Regal Fix collet, and then we just put the end miller drill bit all the way through so it sticks past the collet.
00:31:15
John S
Okay.
00:31:16
johngrimsmo
And then we put a little piece of Rodico or sticky glue or whatever to to keep it kind of close.
00:31:19
John S
Oh, okay.
00:31:21
johngrimsmo
And then we press it together in the Regal Fix, and then it's good go.
00:31:25
John S
I think the problem Grant was having was a eight millimeter drill that normally those come in 75 millimeter or approximately three inches OAL overall length. And we need them shorter for the will of engage length.
00:31:37
John S
Like just need them shorter period.
00:31:38
johngrimsmo
And you can choke up on it, on on shank, not on flute.
Modifying End Mills
00:31:43
John S
I believe i believe there is,
00:31:45
johngrimsmo
Yeah, you know you're not cutting the business end off, you're cutting the back end off.
00:31:47
John S
Absolutely, you're cutting the the shank end off shorter.
00:31:50
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:31:51
John S
And you're yeah, you would still never be gripping on the flute, no.
00:31:54
johngrimsmo
yeah Yeah, I know, ah think Dennis has one, or CJ, I don't know.
00:31:56
John S
Yeah, I agree with that.
00:32:01
johngrimsmo
Some people use them all the time, and I'm like, I've never really felt the need to spend $1,000 and cut carbide.
00:32:05
John S
I know, right?
00:32:06
johngrimsmo
and cut carbide
00:32:08
John S
Well, some people cut through it, like the Tradesmaster videos show cutting through it, but the so the other YouTube videos that show if you just, if you rotate the end you just score, but it like girding a tree, if you just score 50 thou around the periphery, you can just take a hammer and if it's if the other part of the droplet is being secured in a round cot, you can just snap it off.
00:32:23
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:32:28
John S
It just breaks right off.
00:32:31
johngrimsmo
yeah, can see that I've definitely tried to snap some carbide sometimes, but uh sometimes on purpose, sometimes not
00:32:32
John S
Okay.
00:32:40
John S
Yeah.
00:32:43
John S
Talking about Robin Ranzetti, he, of course, corrected me on my Shars test indicator overhaul, and I had bought a fine pitch, or excuse me, not fine pitch, wellre just like an M5 5.8 pitch set screw that had a ball tip from McMaster, like $4.
00:32:52
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:01
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:33:04
johngrimsmo
Fairly fine pitch.
00:33:06
John S
Well, that's the same as an M5 normal pitch. So...
00:33:08
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:33:10
John S
And I'd asked him the threads. The problem was that the threads um from the China threads, I'll call them that the M5 set screw threaded into that came from chars, the the China thread part were kind of dingy.
00:33:23
John S
And I was like, is there a way I can kind of lap these threads in or improve these threads?
00:33:27
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:29
John S
and don don't shoot me or make fun of me but like can can you spray a liquid or build something up re-tap it like lubricate them get them to a much finer thread fit and he was just like he basically my words on his you're being an idiot stop go buy these three items from thor labs they were like 14 total or 18 total and it was a quarter by 80 sleeve a quarter by 80 post and then a nice knurled knob for the top and
00:33:47
johngrimsmo
That cheap, yeah.
00:33:51
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:56
johngrimsmo
was that cheap? They actually have those in McMaster, but I don't think they're that cheap.
00:34:00
John S
So that's exactly what he said. He's like, you can buy them from McMaster, but Thor Labs is cheaper and they are phenomenal to deal with customer service, all that. And so I bought two issues because I thought, well, let me just figure out how I'm to use these.
00:34:12
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:34:13
John S
And then I literally just 3D printed a adapter sleeve.
00:34:17
John S
That way it was kind of Bingo.
00:34:17
johngrimsmo
You just kind of press it in.
00:34:19
johngrimsmo
Yep, yep.
00:34:19
John S
And then glued the adapter sleeve on to the shards thing because I thought, well, if I don't like it, I can probably snap it off and just was easier to do it and it worked great.
00:34:28
johngrimsmo
Yes.
00:34:29
John S
And so I would give myself like an eight out of 10 with the only problem left being that the whole steel pivot joint, it kind of looks like a L bracket.
00:34:39
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:34:40
John S
that thing has some, um can it can fall over left like perpendicular to the base of a little bit.
00:34:47
johngrimsmo
OK. I
00:34:47
John S
And so if I get some, probably just honestly powder coat tape and shim it up a little to improve or Teflon or a wave washer, it might even help.
00:34:52
johngrimsmo
think so.
00:34:57
John S
Because right now when you go to adjust it, if you push on it laterally, you'll get a different reading because you're tipping it over.
00:35:03
John S
But this is still, I'm super happy with it.
00:35:04
johngrimsmo
Gotcha.
00:35:07
johngrimsmo
Nice.
00:35:08
John S
I should do a little while like short video on it.
00:35:09
johngrimsmo
Yeah, you should. Your little DIY ultra-precision indicator stand.
00:35:12
John S
Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:15
johngrimsmo
I was thinking about that and and you and my gorilla gurilla stand one coming in.
00:35:18
John S
Oh, yeah.
00:35:20
johngrimsmo
Check tracking a couple times the past few days. Still three out of five sea voyage distance. I'm like, I don't know where this boat is, but...
00:35:26
John S
Oh, if it's on the... Okay. Just on the...
00:35:30
John S
Yeah. Whatever.
00:35:30
johngrimsmo
yeah
00:35:32
johngrimsmo
Keep checking. Yeah, I don't need it.
00:35:32
John S
Yeah.
00:35:33
johngrimsmo
I just want it.
00:35:34
John S
Right.
00:35:35
johngrimsmo
I know looking through his Instagram channel, he went through experimentation on carbon fiber tubes versus steel tubes versus whatever.
00:35:35
John S
Right.
00:35:42
John S
Mm-hmm.
00:35:44
johngrimsmo
And I forget what the answer is, but I think he settled on steel tubes.
00:35:48
John S
Okay. Yeah, I'll be to see what you... Do you have a specific use? like ah Do you use it somewhere?
00:35:56
johngrimsmo
We have it on our surface plate and the guys use it. Often, um prepping parts for the surface grinder, especially our blades, knowing which way they're warped or not warped.
00:36:05
John S
Got it.
00:36:05
johngrimsmo
um So they do measure things like that.
00:36:06
John S
Mm-hmm.
00:36:07
johngrimsmo
They actually measure the warp amount. Like they'll hit the top of the thing and then they'll push down on the warpy part and flatten it out and be like, oh, three-thout warp. So that when they put them on the machine, they obviously know cup side up or down.
00:36:19
John S
Yeah.
00:36:19
johngrimsmo
And then also matching warp across different blades.
00:36:22
John S
Yes.
00:36:24
johngrimsmo
They find that tends to help a lot.
00:36:27
John S
Alex built a really, really cool, actually this whole thing was a win.
Custom Jig for Pull Studs
00:36:32
John S
We needed a better way to gauge our pull studs. So you're basically gauging very much identical to using thread wires.
00:36:39
johngrimsmo
Your puck jack full chose, yep.
00:36:40
John S
Yes, full-size. So tapered surface, just like a thread is tapered. And so we have two known dimension dowel pins and you're squeezing those dowel pins together and then micing across the distance there.
00:36:51
johngrimsmo
Okay.
00:36:52
John S
And so he built this jig that holds precision dial pins in the right location. And then it's got ah small McMaster car linear rails, like proper linear rails and springs.
00:37:01
johngrimsmo
No way.
00:37:04
John S
A couple of magnets were in there at one point, which worked well. 3D printed isolation around it to help also handle it, move it. And then we put a one micron millimus on there and repeatability is full of like yes just a full yes and we three d printed it at first um to prove the concept and there were some we knew there were some weaknesses to having it as a 3d print but it still gave us the confidence and then the team machined it in like a day or two like that whole system worked well of like okay and yeah it's awesome felt really good
00:37:18
johngrimsmo
Yes.
00:37:33
johngrimsmo
That's awesome.
00:37:36
johngrimsmo
So you literally went from rapid iteration prototype to like, this is almost good enough by itself as the 3D print, but let's make it out of metal.
Ensuring Parallelism in Parts
00:37:44
John S
for sure yeah yeah
00:37:44
johngrimsmo
And then the team the team designed it, made it out of metal.
00:37:47
johngrimsmo
It's awesome to hear.
00:37:51
John S
yeah
00:37:52
johngrimsmo
we have um on our fjell handle because we machine the bearing pockets inside each wall of the handle. um So we have a little key seat cutter, custom made Harvey key seat that goes through the pivot hole, cuts around.
00:38:07
johngrimsmo
um And the problem is it's still a theory at this point, but I think Either the walls are moving or the cut is cutting crooked or something, but I have a theory that those two two bearing walls are not totally pair parallel to each other.
00:38:21
John S
Oh, sure.
00:38:23
johngrimsmo
Because we're seeing as the balls roll in, the bearing balls, as they roll into the titanium and create a little race, um they're rolling in more on one side than on the other side. And obviously the static gap makes a difference.
00:38:35
johngrimsmo
But I want to know not just the static gap, which we're measuring, but the actual angular face of each one in relation to something else. And i I can't, they don't make a probe tip that fits in there.
00:38:45
John S
How do you measure that? Yeah.
00:38:47
johngrimsmo
And we have a CMM, but they don't make a probe tip that actually does reaches where we need it to. So my what I'm going to do is going to make two washers that are exactly 1 1⁄16 of an inch um that mimics our bearings, but they're like 1 1⁄16 thick washer.
00:39:05
johngrimsmo
And they're going to be threaded on the inside so I can affix them to the handle. in place of the bearings so i'm basically spacing out the wall accurately and evenly on the inside so that a cmm probe can then scan that surface on both sides and i think that's going to be pretty sick um and i'm using this as a challenge i was talking with jeff and i was like i can make these on the williman or we can make it on the torinos you could even make it on the torinos but i was like what's the fastest easiest way okay i'm just going to make this on the williman
00:39:12
John S
Oh.
00:39:18
John S
Yes. Yes.
00:39:34
johngrimsmo
but it needs to be absolutely parallel. And I can't reliably, like, I don't want to make it soft jaws.
00:39:39
John S
Yeah.
00:39:40
johngrimsmo
I just want to, you know, make one end, part it off, be left with a nub, but then what? Can you surface grind this little tiny diameter washer?
00:39:47
John S
Yeah.
00:39:49
johngrimsmo
And he's like, yeah, I think I could do that. And I was can you hold like a 10th or less and get it nominal? He's like, I think I could do that. And we could even hand lap it into size if we need to.
00:40:01
johngrimsmo
So today I'm going to make Op1 basically and then I'm going to give him these perfect washers with a big k nub on the one side and say, all right, go nuts. And I think we'll be able to get them to 0625 and flat like parallel.
00:40:16
John S
The parallel would be far more important than the nominal though, right?
00:40:20
johngrimsmo
True.
00:40:20
John S
Okay.
00:40:21
johngrimsmo
Nominal gives us one answer. Parallel gives us the answer I'm looking for, really.
00:40:25
John S
Well, whatever the nominal ends being, just measure and then you know.
00:40:28
johngrimsmo
That's a good point. You could, but you need both to be the same and true.
00:40:31
John S
Grind them together, for sure.
00:40:35
johngrimsmo
That is a good point.
00:40:36
John S
but This is exactly how we made our transfer blocks. Like, I don't care what they end up at. I just want all four to be like within one micron, not really. but Like, you know, I want them to match.
00:40:44
johngrimsmo
Yeah, that is a good point.
00:40:49
johngrimsmo
I will keep that in mind. Have
Advanced Surface Grinding Techniques
00:40:51
johngrimsmo
you ever tried cross grinding or cross hatch or crisscross, whatever?
00:40:51
John S
sweet
00:40:56
johngrimsmo
Basically where you ro grind apart, rotate 90 degrees, grind it again without moving C or Y.
00:41:00
John S
There is a video from suburban dawn the crazy guy, whatever, where he shows when you turn the magnet down to like one out of a hundred in the part is like, yeah.
00:41:05
johngrimsmo
Yeah. I watched it yesterday. Yeah. Basically off.
00:41:11
John S
And then you can grind something flatter than anything else. John, you don't need to, you have a freaking state the art Okamoto.
00:41:15
johngrimsmo
No, I'm more just curious.
00:41:18
John S
Like it'll grind good.
00:41:18
johngrimsmo
Yeah, but more for surface finish, not just for flatness, um because of course, grind, fine grind, like we're definitely seeing the streaks from surface grinding, especially once we go from grinding to lapping.
00:41:19
John S
Yeah.
00:41:23
John S
No.
00:41:30
John S
Okay. Okay.
00:41:30
johngrimsmo
Like we see everything, you know, when you stone a surface ground part and you still kind of see the streaks or the whatever.
00:41:37
John S
Well, by, um, first off to break, to be fair, mean, we grind parts that turn out perfectly acceptable, but like I suck at grinding. Like I don't actually know what I'm doing at that level. And most the you see those wheel, this wheel hop wheel imbalance, bad grinding, bad, like, it's not, sorry.
00:41:50
johngrimsmo
Totally. but But then there is the streak of the dress that is transferring into the surface of the part.
00:41:57
John S
okay Yeah.
00:41:57
johngrimsmo
I absolutely see that. It doesn't matter. i don't know. Not really. But um the fact that we're trying to lap out that surface ground finish, I don't know what wheel we have on the machine. 46, maybe?
00:42:10
johngrimsmo
Um, but the dress speed, all that matters.
00:42:11
John S
Yes.
00:42:13
johngrimsmo
don't know. I don't touch the grinder.
00:42:13
John S
Yeah.
00:42:14
johngrimsmo
Um, anyway, we see all that stuff and I've seen, ah and Josh, NH Micro, and Lainey, and Adam the Machinist all talk about this kind crosshatch grinding where you see you're grinding a big block.
00:42:22
John S
yeah
00:42:30
johngrimsmo
granda once You you just rotate the part 90 degrees, and then you grind it again, and it gives this really cool, like you're basically cutting the peaks off the other direction.
00:42:40
John S
Yeah.
00:42:40
johngrimsmo
I just want to do it. i just want to see it done. Like, I don't know. It just sounds awesome.
00:42:46
John S
Well, if you can re, if you rotate and re-engage the magnet, then that doesn't scare me. Don on that video is like freewheeling it.
00:42:52
John S
Like that was sus.
00:42:52
johngrimsmo
Totally.
00:42:54
johngrimsmo
He's just rotating the part and it's like just sitting there.
00:42:54
John S
Like, yeah. yeah It's waiting to become a missile.
00:43:00
johngrimsmo
Yep. And he he literally said several times, he's like, guys, this is extremely dangerous. Like, like this is where the expert of tool, um tool and die guy like comes into handy.
00:43:06
John S
Yeah.
00:43:08
johngrimsmo
We all do it and it's super dangerous, but sometimes you just have to.
00:43:13
John S
Yeah. Everybody who owns a service ground' not i'm not everyone who but owns a service grinder should have to like watch a video of fart being thrown and then like and then just be handed a new pair of underwear because it is...
00:43:20
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:43:23
johngrimsmo
Yep, exactly.
00:43:24
John S
Yeah. Yes.
00:43:25
johngrimsmo
Scary stuff.
00:43:26
John S
Yes.
00:43:28
John S
Yes. Uh, think we're working on is setting up the 1500 MX, which is actually no joke. Pretty sweet machine.
00:43:36
johngrimsmo
Yeah. but
00:43:36
John S
Yeah. Um, We're waiting to, we, all the fixture plates that we have made for those are sold. And so it's awkward because have seven of them in the shop and they all are, they're all waiting to be shipped out. So I can't steal one.
00:43:50
John S
So I want to get a fixture plate for it. And then
00:43:53
johngrimsmo
You've been making plates for that machine for a while.
00:43:55
John S
we yes, we have, and we,
00:43:56
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:44:01
John S
Really, I think we will do this because I say this with some hesitation because this is the classic like, oh, best of intentions, but they don't follow through. But we've done this for the UMC 350. We've done it for the VF2, although the VF2 is such a production machine that we don't we don't use the tool library dynamically for R&D prototype stuff because it's so busy.
00:44:21
John S
But um setting up a proper Fusion library, actually want to try using Toolpath with it to automate the CAM stuff. But... um Set up the tools. PathPilot does make it very easy to have tools in the ATC, but then also an infinite or hundreds of offline tools that you could leave set up if you needed to.
00:44:36
John S
So that way, you know, like that gauge we made yesterday, we made it on a VF3, but no reason why that can't be like, okay, we have work holding, we have vices and different things already ready to go on the 1500 and the tools are already there.
00:44:50
John S
Cam is easy. So it's like, when you want to make something, like, so it's great. It's fun. You know, that's
00:44:56
johngrimsmo
Just make it. Yep. Reducing all, um not just hesitation, but roadblocks to like making something.
00:45:02
John S
Yeah, barriers.
00:45:04
johngrimsmo
Yep. Barriers.
00:45:05
John S
the The whole like, I would do that, but it means I've got to go set up seven tools. That's never going to happen.
00:45:10
johngrimsmo
Yep. Never fun.
00:45:12
John S
And it's not like tool libraries, easy.
00:45:13
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:45:14
John S
Like, you know, engravers, drills, basic drills, basic end mills, some bull noses, and you can do a lot. Yeah.
00:45:22
johngrimsmo
Yeah, now that you have the experience of being a machinist for 15, 20 years, whatever, it's not too hard to be like, oh, I only have 20 tools and I need to be able to do everything. Well, this is what you need.
00:45:32
John S
Easy.
00:45:33
johngrimsmo
That's pretty cool.
00:45:34
John S
Yeah. yeah And that'll be exciting for sure.
00:45:38
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:45:40
John S
It's weird.
Exploring Tormach Capabilities
00:45:41
John S
It's just weird seeing a Tormach move 1200 inches a minute.
00:45:44
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:45:45
John S
Like just, you know, yeah, screams as my son, as my 11 year old would say, bussin.
00:45:46
johngrimsmo
That's sick. Huh.
00:45:52
johngrimsmo
Oh, nice.
00:45:53
John S
Yeah. I don't know if you have that and in Canada land, but
00:45:55
johngrimsmo
I've heard it. Yeah, Claire and I have long conversations about Gen Z ah chatter and humor.
00:46:00
John S
skibbity riz like i got I got nothing apparently yes yeah no that's not a compliment I'm told it's funny the joys of the joys of i yeah were we like this I don't remember weird lingo but yeah but we probably were and just don't even know it yeah yeah
00:46:01
johngrimsmo
Yeah, exactly. Scooby-Rooz Ohio, apparently.
00:46:07
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:46:10
johngrimsmo
That's awesome.
00:46:15
johngrimsmo
Maybe. Yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah. At this age, I grew up in upstate New York and I remember ah like ain't became a very popular word in the mid nineties.
00:46:25
John S
yeah
00:46:26
johngrimsmo
And our parents were like, it's not a word. Don't say that. Like, and a lot of other things I don't remember.
00:46:32
John S
Southern Ohio ain't is still going pretty strong.
00:46:34
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:46:34
John S
Yeah. Yes. He'd say it. It's funny.
00:46:38
johngrimsmo
I think it made the dictionary and around that time in my life and it was a big deal. don't know. It's dumb.
00:46:44
John S
Yeah, that is funny. ah What's on tap
Current Production Tasks
00:46:48
John S
today this week?
00:46:48
John S
Goal. Ooh.
00:46:49
johngrimsmo
Today is make those parts on the Willamette.
00:46:51
johngrimsmo
actually have three um gauges and or covers that I need to make.
00:46:57
John S
so
00:46:59
johngrimsmo
Two on the Willamette, one on the Kern, all programmed, ready to run. So I just set it up, go. um
00:47:04
John S
Mm-hmm.
00:47:06
johngrimsmo
One of which is those little washers that I was talking about, programmed, ready to go.
00:47:08
John S
Uh-huh.
00:47:10
johngrimsmo
And then I'll just give it to Jeff and say, grind it flat. um And then the other two, when we send our knife handles out for DLC coding,
00:47:17
John S
Mm-hmm.
00:47:18
johngrimsmo
They come back black, they look sick. We have determined that we do not want the the ceramic detent ball coated at all.
00:47:25
John S
Ooh.
00:47:26
johngrimsmo
So I'm making a little cover that threads in because there's already a thread in place.
00:47:26
John S
OK.
00:47:30
johngrimsmo
So this tiny little fairly intricate part, we're just going to cover that thing.
00:47:30
John S
Ooh, yep.
00:47:33
johngrimsmo
We're going install the caps, tell the coating place narrow to touch them. And then that will solve that problem. Because currently currently we're sitting under the microscope with end mill by hand, picking off the DLC coating from a ceramic ball.
00:47:39
John S
Interesting.
00:47:48
John S
Oh, sure.
00:47:48
johngrimsmo
And that solves a problem.
00:47:50
johngrimsmo
um And then on the blade as well, we've decided we don't want the bearing track or the the track where the detent ball scrapes on the blade to be coded at all.
00:48:00
John S
OK.
00:48:02
johngrimsmo
Because maybe it's causing problems, slowness, weird grittiness that the DLC like takes too long to break in kind of thing. ah So if we just make little plugs that cover those areas very securely, and I decided to make them out of aluminum because just easy to machine, and I never cut aluminum.
00:48:19
johngrimsmo
It's so weird. but um So I'm going to make those.
00:48:20
John S
Oh yeah.
00:48:23
johngrimsmo
And yeah, those are the three things. I got a lot of other things. But today I'm going to do at least the washers. Get going with that.
00:48:32
John S
Awesome.
00:48:32
johngrimsmo
And we've got batches of parts ready for DLC, so the team is waiting for these covers too. So I gotta get it done soon.
New Product Launch and Marketing
00:48:40
John S
When it will tohan this it looked like mightus some feels are going to be going out the doors.
00:48:45
johngrimsmo
Oh, 100%, yeah. So now that I filmed that video yesterday, I feel really good, confident.
00:48:46
John S
so
00:48:50
johngrimsmo
It's like, while I have them in front of me, I want to film something before they disappear into the world and I never have these early ones in front of me. So I did that.
00:48:57
John S
Yeah.
00:48:58
johngrimsmo
It's gone. It's done.
00:49:01
johngrimsmo
This afternoon, the guys were cleaning everyone, photographing everyone, doing the process, getting them uploaded to the website.
00:49:05
John S
Nice.
00:49:07
johngrimsmo
So we will be selling, i don't know, maybe tomorrow. Like, yeah.
00:49:13
John S
But they're all spoken for. They're not, people shouldn't try going to the website.
00:49:15
johngrimsmo
all the ah All the APs are spoken for, but there's only eight of them. And then we're we've got maybe almost 10 of the first 100 already finished, ready to be photographed.
00:49:26
John S
Sweet.
00:49:26
johngrimsmo
And then, yeah, we're going to start picking names for that.
00:49:28
johngrimsmo
So that's going to super good.
00:49:29
John S
Cool.
00:49:31
John S
That's fun.
00:49:32
johngrimsmo
yeah Yeah, it's like all this work is finally coming into a but you know cash in the door kind of thing, um which will feel really, really good.
00:49:32
John S
Congratulations.
00:49:38
John S
Yeah.
00:49:42
John S
Awesome.
00:49:43
johngrimsmo
And you know how it is. You're like, your brain's already going, OK, what's next? Like, yay, I'm done. What's next? I don't celebrate the wins too much, but it'll be good.
00:49:50
John S
There was a
00:49:54
John S
There was a times article that I didn't click on, but it was, the headline was kind of like, you know, what happens when when you have like active work life goal burnout? Cause it's like you, if you're really, really, if you're perfect and you just keep setting achievable goals and every day, week, month, year, you keep hitting the goals.
00:50:12
John S
You almost, uh, making this up like you almost like burnout from success. Like that makes sense.
00:50:18
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:50:19
John S
Like it's almost like, don't know.
00:50:19
johngrimsmo
It's not exciting. Like, yeah.
00:50:21
John S
It's weird. Right.
00:50:22
John S
Um,
00:50:22
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:50:22
johngrimsmo
Yep.
00:50:23
John S
But but i mean, I continue to I feel like the best thing I've continued to do is recognize that breaking stuff down, you know, days off in the shop, little tasks to do. It's like got to hook up this thing. Like, don't worry about the whole project.
00:50:38
John S
but What's the one fitting that I got to do? Like, you so it's the cliche, like, you know, you're one foot at a time, one step forward.
00:50:46
johngrimsmo
Yep. Progress is Yeah.
00:50:49
John S
Yeah.
00:50:49
johngrimsmo
That's all you need. Just keep moving.
00:50:51
John S
Yeah.
00:50:52
johngrimsmo
What are you up to today?
00:50:54
John S
I'm tying up a bunch of loose ends on a lot of these 2025
Shop Improvements and Efficiency
00:51:00
John S
projects, plumbing, electrical stuff that most it was done by contractors, but um inevitably like little involvements.
00:51:00
johngrimsmo
Yeah, yeah.
00:51:06
John S
And then we're gonna some painting work. Really happy. I'll talk about it next week maybe, but really happy with how the the changes are coming along in the shop. And I should do a little video update for it. I'm gonna start working on the robot again when some of those parts come.
00:51:19
John S
um I'll talk about it again next week, but using SinkCutSend for a bunch of stuff, Johnny Five and Shop Improvements, because it's just like, wait, I want this bracket and I want it made this way with these holes and it bent this way.
00:51:23
johngrimsmo
Yeah.
00:51:29
John S
And it's for $37 shows up in two days. Like, this is a great.
00:51:33
johngrimsmo
Nice.
00:51:35
John S
Yeah. So that kind of stuff.
00:51:38
johngrimsmo
Sweet.
00:51:39
John S
Yeah.
00:51:40
johngrimsmo
All right, man.
00:51:40
John S
See you next week.
00:51:41
johngrimsmo
See you next week. Okay, bye.