Ideas on growing business

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beefy
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by beefy »

And here I was talking about a 50mm wide belt sander :lol:
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Fishstink
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by Fishstink »

Buy or make a tumbler.
Tumble with cutoffs from plate steel cutting.
It is a "lights out" solution....
Black Forest
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by Black Forest »

Or you could build something like I built for drilling and tapping on my welding table. In the video I just made the air motor is mounted on the swing arm. I also have a hydraulic head I can mount when I need to drill or tap over 16mm. I mounted a grinding disk in the drill chuck just to give you an idea about what you could do. The air motor is too loud for grinding and it doesn't turn fast enough. But you could mount whatever you wanted on the swing arm, that way you wouldn't have to support the weight of the grinder and it would be held flat to give you a better finish. It might not be anything you would want but I thought I would at least show another option.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYim-B ... e=youtu.be
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SegoMan DeSigns
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

Another way to figure a big ticket item like the Time Saver is how much it costs not having one.
plasmartist
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by plasmartist »

I think I have been in the same predicament as you but for different reasons. I started my company so I could leave my corporate career and be able to work from home and take care of my children. So I have had to develop finishing methods that are extremely fast and efficient. The method I use most often is still grinding by hand, but it removes most of the headache associated with grinding. I use large switchable magnetic chucks removed from surface grinders (You can typically pick them up between $200-$500), these extremely strong magnets hold every piece of the material tight, then I use a 8" knot wire wheel to rip all the slag off. If you haven't use one already, they not only cover more area but they will remove more stubborn pieces of slag than a 4.5" wheel. For items that are going to be painted and aren't in a same day time crunch, I throw them in a pool of acid for a couple days and most of the slag magically disappears, then I rinse with water and dry with dry compressed air to avoid flash rusting. Lastly, and the most important thing is running test cuts before you cut your material. Proper cut height will reduce slag significantly at any amperage. Furthermore, if you are using a water table back you water off a bit and it decrease slag or at least make it come off easier ( the hardest slag I have encountered is when the water is super close to the material). Also noticed that longer leadins help eliminate the stubborn slag at the beginning of a cut. Hope some of my tips can help you out.
beefy
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by beefy »

Plasmaartist,

once again, thanks very much. Two great tips from you as soon as I start reading.

I've been in an engineering job shop for 6 months and it has a surface grinder. The idea of buying a used / worn magnetic chuck never entered my mind.

Any advice on where you pick these up. I'm guessing machinery auctions.
2500 x 1500 water table
Powermax 1250 & Duramax torch (because of the new $$$$ync system, will buy Thermal Dynamics next)
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Sheetcam
Alibre Design 3D solid modelling
Coreldraw 2019
motoguy
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by motoguy »

beefy wrote:Plasmaartist,

once again, thanks very much. Two great tips from you as soon as I start reading.

I've been in an engineering job shop for 6 months and it has a surface grinder. The idea of buying a used / worn magnetic chuck never entered my mind.

Any advice on where you pick these up. I'm guessing machinery auctions.
Lots of them on eBay, but shipping is pretty steep.
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beefy
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by beefy »

Thanks Motoguy,

lots of industry within an hours drive so hopefully, there'd be a seller allowing pickup.
2500 x 1500 water table
Powermax 1250 & Duramax torch (because of the new $$$$ync system, will buy Thermal Dynamics next)
LinuxCNC
Sheetcam
Alibre Design 3D solid modelling
Coreldraw 2019
sjo426
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by sjo426 »

Does anyone have any experience with Midwest Automation's Mini 9? Would this be a good machine for the removal of dross? As mentioned above so much grinding is getting old.

Thanks
phase5
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by phase5 »

A TimeSaver is worth every penny to include the cost of grinding belts, today I cut over 500 parts and ran all of the through the Time Saver in less time than it took to cut them, as others have mentioned dial in your cutter to reduce the slag/dross, most parts only need to go through the sander once per side. I have found quality belts are a must, cheaper made belts will roll the edges of the parts and tend to let the materiel slip between the hold down rollers.
michmetalman
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by michmetalman »

conz35 wrote:Honestly, We were in the exact same boat as you a little over a year ago. We were killing ourselves hand grinding everything. I had read mixed reviews about getting a wide belt sander; everyone was saying that the metal would tear up belts or the belt sander would catch edges and bend pieces, or that it wouldn't do a good job of taking off dross. We bought a older timesaver model 125m. (25" wide belt) for right around $8000 with freight. After about the first hour grinding I realized I should've bought this thing years ago. Couple big points about it:
1. it saved us from having to hire someone to do our grinding.
2. it saved the wear and tear on our hands/ body from having to hand grind it.
3. It SAVES A TON OF TIME.....TIMESAVER!
We do a lot of big production runs; wether its stocking up our own booth/ inventory for fairs, online sales or making custom business signs; it is unreal how much this thing can grind in a day. Yesterday we fished over 10sheets worth of all sorts of metal art thru it. It took 4hrs total but it was over $10,000 worth of product we got grinded.
IMG_1083.jpeg
This is great!
Are those sand paper rolls? If so, how often are they changed?
slamwilson
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by slamwilson »

I switched to Laser 2 years ago, Zero Slag. A light sand with 80 grit and its good to go! :)
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conz35
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Re: Ideas on growing business

Post by conz35 »

michmetalman wrote:
conz35 wrote:Honestly, We were in the exact same boat as you a little over a year ago. We were killing ourselves hand grinding everything. I had read mixed reviews about getting a wide belt sander; everyone was saying that the metal would tear up belts or the belt sander would catch edges and bend pieces, or that it wouldn't do a good job of taking off dross. We bought a older timesaver model 125m. (25" wide belt) for right around $8000 with freight. After about the first hour grinding I realized I should've bought this thing years ago. Couple big points about it:
1. it saved us from having to hire someone to do our grinding.
2. it saved the wear and tear on our hands/ body from having to hand grind it.
3. It SAVES A TON OF TIME.....TIMESAVER!
We do a lot of big production runs; wether its stocking up our own booth/ inventory for fairs, online sales or making custom business signs; it is unreal how much this thing can grind in a day. Yesterday we fished over 10sheets worth of all sorts of metal art thru it. It took 4hrs total but it was over $10,000 worth of product we got grinded.
IMG_1083.jpeg
This is great!
Are those sand paper rolls? If so, how often are they changed?
We started out just using aluminum oxide belts, but were changing belts every 1-2weeks. Now we special order zirconium belts and they last us a month.
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad."
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