[murphy625]

During the commisioning of your machine, what was the biggest problem you encountered?

Craftsmanship needed building it?
Something electrical?
Something mechanical?
Money?
Physical Space?
Learning new software?
Computer glitches?
Something else I have not thought of?

Please dont include Time as a problem.

Murphy

[strat]

i guess my big probs were the craftsmanship and the mechanical (theory wise) had never done anything like this before had been into electronics all my life i had a nieghbor at the old house that was a GREAT machinist after my first attempt just wood and plastic he saw i was real about doing it he offered to help me but not do it for me and that was prob. the best thing he could have done it made me open my eyes look outside the box and he taught me some great things on a mill and lathe then a friend of his sold me a lathe between them and this board it has been a great success theres more info on this one site then i could find for a long time ........
my whole reason for getting involved with it was to be able to cut out parts to make guitar pickups but it has opened soooooo many doors of things i can do with it
Strat

[mxtras]

Time!

Oooops....sorry.

I know you asked us not to include time as a problem - I think for many this is one of the largest hurdles. Family, house, work....it never ends.

Scott

[murphy625]

Mostly because time is such a universal problem....

I was hesitant to include money...

[trubleshtr]

I find my-self, re-designing over and over, cause once i get it the way I like it, I always think of a better way to build it,or see a new feature that i want to incorporate from another machine.

I need to keep focused.

Now what were we talking about again?

[strat]

is it just me or is it the older you get the faster it goes??????? time that is in a reality time is not an issue for me its all i really have but after some things going down in the hospital time is a precise thing been to close to dead so i enjoy every day like it might be my last ya just never know... as far as stress its a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad thing ... yesterdays gone not a thing you can do about it now ... tomm. its not here yet may never be ........ so live for today it might be your last enjoy and learn and make it the best

[bkukowski]

so far, mine has been money, and parental consent (i'm 17 and my parents are technologically impaired) Hopefully my summer job will help!

[mxtras]

Actually - I would have to say choosing a direction is the biggest issue for me - the design. I suffer from the same syndrome as Trubleshtr.

There are always too many ways to do something - you start out simple and before you realize it you are 4 hours into a design that you were really finished with after 20 minutes. The covers are integrated into the adjuster, the bearing retainers double as standoffs, all of the corners have to be radiused, etc, etc. I tend to start out simple and functional then complicate the living crap out of it....then build the design I had on the napkin. It's a vicious, nasty cycle.

Scott

[JavaDog]

Fear of measuring wrong and screwing up all the materials I have bought to build my machine...

It is hard to get past that and just get doing it!

[Klox]

MONEY!!! MONEY!!! or would i say, the LACK of money!!!

[murphy625]

Fear of measuring wrong and screwing up all the materials I have bought to build my machine...

It is hard to get past that and just get doing it!

Been There...

Murphy

[WayneHill]

Fear of measuring wrong and screwing up all the materials I have bought to build my machine...

They make more material.

My old foreman use to say "It isn't scrap 'til you can't fix it."

[HayTay]

Not having the right tools and hardware to do the job properly is the thing that I find most disheartening. That goes right along with having the correct tools and parts but not being able to find them when you need them.

The table saw is a piece of crap and has to be continually adjusted using an adjustable wrench because of the cheap plastic hand cranks used to adjust the blade height and blade angle broke. The small drill press that you do have doesn't have the horsepower to make a 1 1/2" drill bit go through 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF without stalling, burning or both. The jig saw vibrates so much that even when using a guide you can't cut a straight line. It takes you a half hour to hack saw through a piece of 1" steel pipe that could have been cut in about 35 seconds on a band saw, etc., etc., etc.

And why is it we never seem to have the right drill bit, the clamps are always too short, the hack saw blades are never sharp, the glue, paint, and filler is dried up. We have every screw, nut, bolt, and nail except the one that's needed. And, of course, by moving them looking for the one we need, guarantees we won't be able to find the ones that we knew where they were tomorrow!

Whew! Sorry, I had to get that off of my chest. Please, excuse the rant!!!

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead...

And as NIKE says, "JUST DO IT!"

[murphy625]

I don't have any problems finding things like tools because I keep mine well organized and in good repair..

But, I do not like it, nor do I feel comfortable when I am attempting to fabricate something for which I do not have the proper tools or equipment.. Yes, I agree this is a big problem...

Murphy

[bkukowski]

The table saw is a piece of crap and has to be continually adjusted using an adjustable wrench because of the cheap plastic hand cranks used to adjust the blade height and blade angle broke. The small drill press that you do have doesn't have the horsepower to make a 1 1/2" drill bit go through 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF without stalling, burning or both. The jig saw vibrates so much that even when using a guide you can't cut a straight line. It takes you a half hour to hack saw through a piece of 1" steel pipe that could have been cut in about 35 seconds on a band saw, etc., etc., etc.

beats not having a table saw or drill press

[HayTay]

beats not having a table saw or drill press

I have to admit, bkukowski is right. I've been more than a little depressed lately (as you can probably tell from my previous post). :drowning:

I've had a passing interest in CNC/CAD/CAM for over 10 years but never actively pursued it. I stumbled across CNC Zone, one day, while researching a totally unrelated problem that I needed to resolve at work. "Holy jumpin' buckets of screamin' blue owl droppings", I thought. This is something I can do! A project to take my mind off of other things, to allow me to do something that I always wanted to do, and to give me a renewed sense of accomplishment. Like many others, I have no trouble starting projects. The problem is that I never seem to complete a vast majority of them.

I seem to have been born with a disorganized mind. When working on a project, I can lose tools, parts and instructions without ever moving from the spot I was in. This amuses (or annoys) my wife to no end, depending on her mood.

I had lost sight of the moral(s) of bkukowski's short and poignant post:
1) Be thankful for what you do have
2) Whatever you have, make the most of it

[bkukowski]

The same thing happens to me! I'll be in front of my workbench taking apart a laptop for example. I'll put a certain screw somewhere, put the cd drive somewhere take apart more stuff, fix it, then when it comes time to put it back together (not having moved from the area) a large part will have mysteriously dissapeared.

Both of my parents do not know what + and - mean, just how to match them when it comes time to put a aaa battery in the tv remote (they can't figure out how to change the batteries in the caller id because there is a screw on it that needs to be removed first!) All the tools in our house I have paid for out of my own pocket. This is mainly why I am starting with a cranky (john kleinbauer) design. I will probably spend a long time at my neighbors house for a drill press and table saw. I have all the basic stuff though, regular drill, screwdriver, hacksaw, vise, soldering iron, plus all my weird computer tools (torx, allen) I ordered a 40 piece tap and die set off ebay (it was $5.00 so it may be a total pos) in that case, i'll probably buy a nicer one off harbor freight.com

that's my rant for now

[Cyclone]

Well, it almost seems like you need a CNC machine to build a CNC machine!

Router clamp, motor bases, ball screw bearing holders....etc....

[bkukowski]

i know exactly what you mean cyclone. It would make it much easier! I always used to think, how did they build the first giant crane without another giant crane? (I know....it sounds dumb.)

[ViperTX]

...well the Stones were wrong....."time is on my side....yes it is..."