Clamps and Such

MechArtisan has been busy this fall and winter, but not with the projects we had been planning on consuming our time. 

An interesting opportunity presented itself this past fall to work with a large retailer in the state on a custom fixture for part of their in-house manufacturing processes. After a few site visits and the typical back and forth that starts off all decent sized development programs, design work started on a clamp mechanism which was going to be an upgrade from their existing design. 

  The design requirements included a minimum static pull force for a  couple types of material, and a maximum assembly weight. There ended up being a couple iterations before we landed on a final design which then led to a prototype being produced.

The prototypes were installed in the field to fully vet the idea in a production environment. The required criteria were all met with the first prototype run and all field testing proved successful. A few additional design tweaks came out of the prototype test process and the final design was produced in quantities which met the customer requirements. 

The assemblies were installed in the field and have been running multiple shifts per day without any issues. 

Timeline: 

Initial Design: 2 weeks

Prototype #1 Manufacturing and Field Install: 3 Weeks

Production Intent Design: 2 Weeks

Production Clamp Manufacturing and Field Install: 3 weeks

Total Time: 10 weeks

On Budget

On Schedule

Contact MechArtisan Today for your next custom fixturing project. 

Alive and Well

Yes Virginia, MechArtisan is alive and well. 

For the record, things have been very busy in the MechArtisan studio over the last...well...year and a half.  The vision for this venture has continually been refined and the path forward is clear and precise. Similar to the creation of GPE Machine way back when, the business model at MechArtisan has changed as the means of engaging clients and providing a service has matured. What started as a simple machine shop now provides a list of services from product development funding consultation to 3D CAD design, prototype fabrication, and volume manufacturing planning. We provide project management from the beginning of a development program straight thru to volume production., providing weekly progress meetings, GANTT charting of tasks and assignments, and participation in our client's management structure as required. The "one stop shopping" nature of the services that MechArtisan provides has proven an asset to our clients, as they can focus on the needs and requirements of their vision, while leaving the entirety of the details for us to manage. 

So that is all well and good, but what have we actually be doing the last 18 months?

Well, we finished up a prototype pedal drive thruster for a client and did a bunch of testing. The end result was a lot of learning but the eventual abandonment of the concept. Fear not, further developments on this program will likely come to light in 2016. 

And yes...that is a scabbed together water test tank in the studio. 

Toward the end of last year MechArtisan LLC performed a CNC retrofit for a very large CNC router for a client. This particular machine had a bed length of over 20 feet. The conversion went off without a hitch and the machine went from being troublesome with the old control, to exceeding all expectations with the new hardware.  The total downtime of the machine was 10 days and the cutting and rapid motion rates of the router doubled after the new control was implemented. Following the retrofit, a complete documentation package was assembled and provided as a future debugging resource. 

Throughout the last 18 months we have continued providing repair, modification and technical support services for our friends at Renegade Wheelchairs.  Over the next 12 months, MechArtisan LLC will be assisting in the redesign and prototype construction of their next generation of All Terrain chairs. Be looking for updates on this as the program kicks off this fall. 

We've been doing a neat project with University of Southern Maine which we'll provide updates for in the next couple months, and  there are a few other programs waiting in the wings but they aren't mature enough to be talking about quite yet. 

The CNC machines have been busy doing some precision one-off work for some clients, and we continue to fill bag upon bag with aluminum, steel and brass. 

Speaking of CNC machines, ours have been under the knife as well. The "Red Mill" as it has come to be called, really started to deteriorate toward the end of 2014 and some hard decisions needed to be made. The path that made the most sense was to tear down the equipment and refurbish. 

The head was pulled and sent out with the quill for a procedure called "GPG", or Grind Plate Grind. There was around 0.002" of slop in the quill to head interface and it was beginning to affect milling tolerance. The GPG process brought that clearance down to 0.0004" and completely eliminated chatter and other nasty side effects of a loose quill. While we had the machine apart, the head got all new bearings and seals, the motor was rebuilt and balanced, the X and Y axis ways were honed and the ball screws re-balled. The end result is a machine that is now operating at better than factory spec and holding 0.0005" without any problem. The total downtime for this rebuild was approximately 6 weeks. 

The gantry mill received its 2nd X axis ball screw during the fall of 2014 and was running very well until we lost one of the X axis servo motors. Sourcing new motors required a change to the power supply voltage and the machine has been waiting for a few moments of shop attention to get fully back up and running. The addition of the second X axis screw made all the difference with positioning accuracy, and the machine is admittedly much faster than we feel comfortable with, so we've turned the rapid feeds DOWN to 750ipm. There is still work to be done on this epic project and we look forward to the Fall and Winter of 2015 to finish this beast up once and for all.  

So that is about it. MechArtisan LLC continues to grow and improve. We are currently aligning ourselves with local and state sources of investment and grant capital funds which we can direct prospective clients toward as they look to bring a product idea to market. The second floor of the studio is undergoing renovations to provide better design and meeting spaces. It seems the tires which help to move MechArtisan in the right direction have got plenty of traction and we're headed toward good things. 

Thanks for checking in!

The MechArtisan team.