If you’d like to help with the metal shop expansion and have some free time, come on by tomorrow and lend a hand. I’ll be here most of the day.
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Had a pretty good time working on the metal shop space Friday and learned some useful stuff, like how to mix and test the coolant used on the Tormach. It’s pretty easy, let me know if you’d like to see the process or don’t know where the tools in the photo are in the space:
300ml of fusion cool concentrate per gallon of distilled water, dump both into the 5 gallon bucket labeled for mixing, stir for about 10 seconds. Use the refractometer in the blue plastic case to verify it’s around 5 brix by smearing the mixed fluid with a pipette between the cleaned glass and plastic lid, using the eyepiece to look at the reading, then use the white funnel with a rod stuck to the side to pour it into the containers. Gloves recommended.
There’s a decent amount of chill tasks to do, and maybe you’ll learn more about a tool you use like I did!
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Oh no! You gave away the secret formula!
Joking of course. Ken has joined my metal shop stewards, so I showed him how to do an important recurring task. The I let him complete it while I continued working in the expansion. Ken also started the installation of the exit signs and the clocks.
Lots of varied tasks to do today. I also have a few designs in SketchUp ready to be made in the wood shop if you’d prefer that.
End of one Era; Start of Another: the first sparks are sprayed on a welding bay’s walls as the old cage is dismantled.
This cage once housed gas bottles, then held the belt sander belts, and then was the metal shop storage. It didn’t really do any of those things particularly well. It was time for it to go. Thanks to @Julie for helping in the metal shop expansion today.
@atwatsoniii tackled what may have been the most difficult remaining task, pulling a long run of wire through conduit. Many thanks to him.
@LlamBit continued working on the upgrade of the fiber laser source, and @Kasper started my first woodshop building project, with assistance from @EAK58 and others.
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I will be here tonight as we make the final push to finish the infrastructure: electrical, compressed air, and plumbing. There are a variety of aesthetic tasks as well, along with a few woodworking projects to start.
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I will be back tonight after 6:30 pm. Lots still to do, with tasks for many skills and skill levels.
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I’ll be there tomorrow
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I’m here and will be all day. We’re making progress but there’s still a lot to do before we can start moving machinery.
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More progress in the metal shop thanks to help from volunteers:
Julie and Keith put on some of the vinyl baseboard, including the corner where the sink wil go, clearing the way to install it.
Ken did a bunch of small tasks, like assembling compressed air fixtures with teflon tape and putting sockets on electrical drops.
Savanna welded together the new sheet metal storage rack and gas bottle rack combination from the metal I got yesterday. (Metals4U has been giving us great prices on metal material, for both the expansion and classes.) It’s already been temporarily appropriated by the fiber laser workers to hold their stuff.
And here Al and Julie are running wire through conduit to power our mills.
Lots more still to do. There will be some painting tasks coming up as well as the facilities work. We’ll be back at it tomorrow!
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Exit sign was mounted, conduit run, and electricity connected. I got lucky on my second try with the bends…
We pulled two circuits today, one for the Tormach and one for the horizontal bandsaw. Lots more to run!
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More of the sink drain system was assembled, then we pulled all the wires for the conduit running on the south wall. Many thanks to Ken for helping me with this big task and more.
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Glad I came in, it was a good time. That new front lobby is a nice place to hang out after doing some work too, I’d recommend checking it out!
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I won’t be in today; I have a short Ballet gig then a meeting in the evening, plus I need some rest.
Looking forward, I teach Tuesday and Wednesday nights, though there’s definitely stuff people can work on without me. But I will be working on the expansion during the day all week.
I’ve generally been trying to give people who volunteer stand-alone tasks rather than just have someone assist me. I’m now realizing that that has been a mistake; I was about five times more efficient with such a helper yesterday. I personally get bored standing by and watching someone else do the main work, but if you don’t, I think assistance like that is exactly what I need most right now. I am very close to having the infrastructure (plumbing, air, electrical) completed, but there’s a lot of details remaining.
That said, I do have some stand-along tasks now and soon will have a number more, mainly woodwork and painting tasks.
I will be mostly unavailable March 23rd - 30th due to Ballet work. (For those who don’t know, I work as a carpenter/stagehand for Ballet Austin, the Austin Opera, and sometimes the Austin Symphony Orchestra.) Depending on when the new welding ventilation equipment we are expecting arrives, there may be work to do in the welding areas then. Otherwise, work can continue on the woodwork and painting.
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I can be an assistant for a while during the day tomorrow (Friday). Is there a time that would be most helpful?
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I’ll be there noonish Friday and Saturday starting around 10am.
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That would be great. I may actually take the morning off for personal matters, but I will definitely be there by 1 pm and will stay all afternoon and evening.
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Hey everyone! I am here now working in the expansion and will be the rest of the night. And I’ll be here tomorrow afternoon and evening as well. We could really use some help, and I have all sorts of things for people to do, including some woodcraft and painting items. We are hoping to start moving some machines this weekend, but there’s still a lot to finish first.
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Today’s stars were @Mfrank911, who started slimming down the overgrown grinder table, and @JohnWickham, who put down baseboard, helped me pull wire through conduit, and continued working on a selection of helpful tasks when I had to leave. We’ll be back at it tomorrow!
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I can be there around 1 tomorrow too then!
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