Being slightly antisocial I of course didn’t want to jump right in and post an introduction first thing, so I’ve mostly just been reading since joining a few days ago.
My name is Henry, and I live in Lincoln Nebraska, thus my introduction “from the middle.” You can’t get too much more dead center in the US.
I have spent the last 14 years working in manufacturing, and more if you consider some light handmade guitar building and design manufacturing. I started by running and then supervising a CNC tube laser, and multiple manual and CNC tube and sheet fabrication machines (45-80mm CNC tube benders, 4 roll CNC plate roller, CNC tube roller, manual tube rollers, manual benders, saws, and the design of most all of the tooling, jigs, and fixtures for the machines).
In the middle of all that I have been building up my own garage shop, taken up a dozen new hobbies, bought a couple of rentals, gone to school for an associates degree in manufacturing engineering, and gone to an on call support roll at the shop where I’m currently “employed.” It’s a fantastic position to be in, because they pay me well to only show up when there is something interesting to do, and the rest of the time I wear one of my other half dozen hats from father to business owner.
The Crossfire Pro I ordered will be joining my Primeweld Cut60 to become the newest member of my machine inventory. The first “big” piece I got was an old Taiwanese made Enco 10x20 lathe. I’ve had it for years and it’s never been able to feed due to busted gears from its former life in a high school, so I’m in the process of making new ones now.
Next was an old Taiwanese made Enco round column mill. That machine has been a real trooper, I’m not sure I’ll ever part with it. After the manual mill I got my first 3d printer, which was supplanted a few years ago with a Lulzbot Taz 5.
About 7 years ago I bought an Industrial Hobbies CNC mill. That machine has been a challenge. I’ve currently got it up on wood blocks to solve a y axis backlash/ball nut issue that I have had since day 1 that has gotten worse over time.
On top of that stuff I have a fairly basic 175A Lincoln MIG welder, an HTP Invertig-221 with water cooler, some grinding/sanding equipment, 60 gallon air compressor, two large rolling tool chests, reloading bench, and an immense reserve of patience to make everything fit in a 2 stall garage.
I’m looking forward to this next adventure in home fabrication. It’s amazing how cheap the price of entry is now that 3D printers have driven down the cost of the components and the markets are getting big enough to use economy of scale.
If anyone has questions about bent tube or sheet metal parts, design improvements, or making knives these are my areas of actual expertise rather than just being an advanced amateur. Feel free to holler at me and I’ll try and be useful. One of my best qualities is I’ll tell you I have no idea if I really don’t, but I can usually point people in a direction even if I can’t solve a problem completely.
That’s it for now. Glad to be here, and looking forward to start cutting in September when machines start shipping.
