The hell where I work (for now) has really thrown me a curve this time. They had a very, very cheap 16 cavity mold built in China. Thanks to the knuckle-draggers who set it up here, they managed to damage all 16 cavities pretty badly. They had the damage welded up, and handed it off to me.
Here's the problem- there are no precision surfaces to work with. Everything was hand fitted with a hand grinder and stones, I assume. The damaged parts are side actions that telescope into the main cavity area. Surfaces that are supposed to be flat aren't. They're wavy and shut-off angles are all over the map. Each piece is going to have to be fitted to it's mating cavity. I honestly don't know where to start. I've never seen such a crudely machined mold in my 40+ years of experience. I don't have the skills to fit it by hand. I kinda have to admire the guy who fit it- it actually made a good-looking part until our guys got a hold of it. The only thing I can think of is to get as close as I dare, then EDM it fit, using the side action as an electrode, burning both parts until it fits.
It gets better- The mold has a mirror polish! Polishing welded and re-machined areas will look like crap; the weld will telegraph through.
Any advice? i seriously considered just flat refusing to work on it, but that would cost me my job.
Here's the problem- there are no precision surfaces to work with. Everything was hand fitted with a hand grinder and stones, I assume. The damaged parts are side actions that telescope into the main cavity area. Surfaces that are supposed to be flat aren't. They're wavy and shut-off angles are all over the map. Each piece is going to have to be fitted to it's mating cavity. I honestly don't know where to start. I've never seen such a crudely machined mold in my 40+ years of experience. I don't have the skills to fit it by hand. I kinda have to admire the guy who fit it- it actually made a good-looking part until our guys got a hold of it. The only thing I can think of is to get as close as I dare, then EDM it fit, using the side action as an electrode, burning both parts until it fits.
It gets better- The mold has a mirror polish! Polishing welded and re-machined areas will look like crap; the weld will telegraph through.
Any advice? i seriously considered just flat refusing to work on it, but that would cost me my job.