[ivans]

My Pulsar has arrived, sort of. It was delivered to my work address on Thursday. Now I have to work out the logistics of getting it home. I've got a couple of broken ribs right now so moving very slow with no real desire to do any heavy lifting.

I'll likely take the flatbed trailer to work and load it up with the forklift; that's the easy part. When I get it to the house I think it's going to be everything my Kubota's front end loader can do to lift it off the trailer and get it in the shop. Based on published lift ratings the loader is about 100 lbs short of what the package weighs. Will no doubt be doing some un-crating before taking it off the trailer. It's raining today so I'm not going to do this unless it clears up. It's an hours drive each way to go get it, maybe I'll wait until Monday when I'll be driving there any way.

Any way, looking forward to learning more about this in the new year.

Cheers,
Dan

[keithmcelhinney]

Good luck man! I have a Pro sitting in my garage and still trying to work out how to get it into my basement...

-Keith

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Not sure how you plan to move the machine with a front-end loader. Beware the Pulsar comes pre-mounted to its stand, which means the crate is somewhat top-heavy, making it "tippy". I found it necessary to strap the crate to the forklift to make it stable enough to move up the driveway to my shop. Once you open the crate, you pretty much lose this option, unless you have enough wood blocking to fill the space between the machine and the edge of the pallet.

Regards,
Ray L.

[ivans]

Not sure how you plan to move the machine with a front-end loader. Beware the Pulsar comes pre-mounted to its stand, which means the crate is somewhat top-heavy, making it "tippy". I found it necessary to strap the crate to the forklift to make it stable enough to move up the driveway to my shop. Once you open the crate, you pretty much lose this option, unless you have enough wood blocking to fill the space between the machine and the edge of the pallet.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray,
I'm not exactly sure how I'll do this yet either. I'm a bit concerned about this too. I will say I've gotten pretty creative in the past in rigging things with the front end loader. Lot's of straps and slings help as does slow and easy on the controls. The other thing that helps is the trailer bed is only about 14" off the ground, if I have too I'll build a long ramp and unload directly into the shop with a pallet jack. I have an overhead hoist in the shop too, I'm afraid the mill and trailer is too high to use that approach.

If I remember I will take pictures of the unloading, got to get the ribs feeling better and the 25 year old son here to help first. Will see if this thing helps:



Dan

[LeeWay]

Looking forward to see the pictures as well.
You may have to get creative. Take care of those ribs too. I cracked a few in my lifetime and they are not pleasant.

[keithmcelhinney]

I had a guy come over yesterday and get my mill into my basement using a skidsteer. Best $160 I ever spent! Craigslist is awesome...

Now all I have to do is get my electrical sorted out and get the thing assembled.

-Keith

[LeeWay]

The big fork lift I rented was left here a couple days longer than rented for. They had a lack of delivery drivers. I was able to use it for a few other unplanned chores.
We were moving into our new shop at the time and we loaded it up a couple times to save us some labor.
Glad to hear you have yours in the basement now, Keith. It is cool to have them sitting where they will live. Takes a load off.

[keithmcelhinney]

Yeah I was so worried that winter would come in and I wouldn't get it down there until spring. That would have sucked because I make motorcycle parts and have new product ideas that need to get done before the season starts...

[ivans]

I had a guy come over yesterday and get my mill into my basement using a skidsteer. Best $160 I ever spent! Craigslist is awesome...

Now all I have to do is get my electrical sorted out and get the thing assembled.

-Keith

Keith,
Good news. I'm sure that $160 did feel like money well spent. I hope it did not tear up the yard to bad - skid-steers are heavy!

[ivans]

It's actually in the shop in under power now. I spent most of the day moving it here from work and getting it in the shop. I will try to post some pictures of the unloading process tomorrow. I've just now realized that I have a lot to learn

[keithmcelhinney]

Congrats man! That is awesome!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I've just now realized that I have a lot to learn

You've just now figured that out?? Wait until you really, fully understand just how much you have to learn.... :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

[ivans]

You've just now figured that out?? Wait until you really, fully understand just how much you have to learn.... :-)

Regards,
Ray L.

Oh, I knew this would be a learning curve. But what's life without a challenge. I used to tell on of my old bosses that the quickest way to get a project done was to tell me that I wasn't capable of doing it. Funny part is, he finally figured that out and started to tell me that on every project

[LeeWay]

Well, you only have 18 posts. I'm pretty sure that you will not be able to handle that learning curve with that few posts.
It is an adventure for sure. I'm still in it. Sometimes I lay awake at night just dreaming up shi......stuff for the Torus to do.
Then I have to figure out how to do it. Usually accomplished with a cup of coffee or two under the belt.
Good luck and have fun with it. Remember, no pics, didn't happen.

[keithmcelhinney]

When I got my 135 I had never used even a manual mill. Took 1 semester of metal shop 25 years ago. Now I know just enough to be dangerous

I recommend just taking it slow. When I first started I would run all of my toolpaths in air first, wood second and metal last. Saved me a bunch of times.

-Keith

[kvom]

When I got my 135 I had never used even a manual mill. Took 1 semester of metal shop 25 years ago. Now I know just enough to be dangerous

I recommend just taking it slow. When I first started I would run all of my toolpaths in air first, wood second and metal last. Saved me a bunch of times.

-Keith

Agree fully with the above (except for milling wood ). When I started using G-wizard for feed/speed calculations my tool breakage dropped to almost 0. Now most of by booboos come from insufficient clearance height specified in CAM.

Now that I've started doing a few 3D parts I've found that running a simulator is a boon.

[keithmcelhinney]

I use wood before metal just to make sure my depth of cuts are correct. If you plunge cut in 3/4" with a 1/4" bit into metal you will break your nice new endmill. Many people use wax but I find it easier to just test in wood.

-Keith

[SCzEngrgGroup]

One of the best "investments" I've made is buying a copy of CutViewer-Mill, for about $200. It allows me to run the G-code in simulation, and see exactly what the finished part will look like, without putting any tools at risk. I almost never have a problem when I actually cut metal if I've simulated the code first. I was able to modify the CAM POST (SheetCAM) to directly output the little bit of extra information required for CutViewer to work. The UI is a little clunky, but it's worth every penny of the cost in terms of time, and tools, saved. I've just switched to AlibreCAM (VisualMill), and, surprisingly, CutViewer actually does a better job of simulation, so I will continue to use CutViewer to validate the code AlibreCAM produces.

Regards,
Ray L.

[ivans]

I played hooky today from work - too damn cold to go outside anyhow. I actually cut some metal after figuring out the basics in Mach. The only perplexing thing I have left is getting the units correct. I have to set the units to mm (g21) however it moves in inches - any enlightenment folks? I know it's something basic but it's been long enough in the shop today. I'll get back to it tomorrow.

[kvom]

I also have Cutviewer Mill, and I have used it mainly for the few 3D projects I've done. Good value for the money. My CAM program, CamBam, has a post-processor that adds the stock and tool definitions as comments that Cutviewer uses, so no CutViewer configuration is needed for each program.