OT: Milacron hanging in the EDM room...

[Jay Cee]

Ya know..., Every since Milacron decided to fix and then actually run that junky old WEDM of his, he's been spending a little too much time in our little EDM chat room.
Makes me a little uneasy with the big guy always popping around the corner...
Granted, the EDM room is air conditioned and has the cleanest air in the whole Practical Machinist shop, but that never used to big draw for him...
He used to just pop his head in, ask about something broken on a machine he was going to fix and flip, and then head right back out.
I kind of liked it that way.
Kinda like the boss man popping his head in just to make sure you still work here...

Maybe Milacron is seriously thinking about becoming an "EDM Guy"???...
I'm just not sure Milacron is really EDM guy material...
What do you think guys???
Do we let him in the club?
Do we show him the secret hand-shake?

I mean, sure... he's smart enough...
He's probably good looking enough...
But is he really an EDM guy kind of dude or is he just like all the other chip-makers.
I picture him stirring the non-dairy creamer into the 6 hour old coffee with his 6" scale.
I'm picturing a guy who doesn't get the crude out from under the fingernails until the end of the day.
That's just not what us EDM guys are about Milacron.
We like to think of ourselves as the morph between engineers and shop rats.
The best parts of both...
Just a bit better than the shop rats cause we wear cologne and shave more than once a week...
Just a bit better than the engineers cause we can make stuff other than pictures on a computer or paper...
Are you ready for that kind of lifestyle Milacron???
Are you willing to dislike the smell of cutting oil??

Think long and hard my friend... Cause once you spend more than a day in the EDM room with the air conditioning blowing and the light rock playing on the CD player (dang radio won't come in...), the chip makers won't let you back into their little clan...
You'll be an EDM guy forever...

[Milacron]

Hmmm...so this is what happens when you drink dielectric fluid !

Actually, after some soul searching...the Agie Sprint is going to India and I may pull a "got chips" on you guys. Don't know if I'll be buying another WEDM anytime soon. I say this because it has gradually sunk in that subbing out WEDM parts may be more cost effective for my situation.

Maybe I'll just buy a seat of Esprit so I do my own design work at least.

[The real Leigh]

Originally Posted by Jay Cee

... he's smart enough...
He's probably good looking enough...

It's patently obvious that neither characteristic is required for posting in this section.

- Leigh

[roysol]

I was sort of thinking the same thing the other day when he was taking Boris to task for a non-descriptive title

I kind of like the feel of this forum and we seen to do just fine with light moderation, TMD is doing a great job!

I disagree about the 'edm guy' thing. I'm the specialist where I work now, but I've made lots of chips in the past, and sometimes I miss it. When I have a chance, I like get out in the shop and do some fixture work.

Bossman popped his head in my room the other day for the first time in a couple of months. He was with the sheetmetal guy, who needed some tooling quick. I always accomadate him, so no idea why the boss was there, other than like you say, to make sure I still work there

Cheers!

[Jay Cee]

Originally Posted by roysol

I disagree about the 'edm guy' thing. I'm the specialist where I work now, but I've made lots of chips in the past.

Yes, in the past...in the past...

Originally Posted by roysol

and sometimes I miss it.

It's okay to think about missing it or even to admit that you miss it here amoungst friends...
But never... I mean never... let them (the chip makers) know...
We have a responsibility to the natural order of things.
A task we should not take lightly...

Originally Posted by roysol

When I have a chance, I like get out in the shop and do some fixture work.

And if they ask, tell them it's because they can't be trusted to do it right!!!!



Sorry to hear that you're not able to hang in the EDM biz Milacron.
Of course I was joking with all of the jabs in the previous post.
There was no doubt in my mind that you would have soon been answering my WEDM applications questions with the same level of confidence that you answer so many other's in so many other areas.
When you get around this site a little bit, it's truly amazing to see how far your span of knowledge covers.

Enough with the butt kiss episode.
See you around the chip maker's posts and do me a favor will ya?
Make sure you don't buy that 330F before me.
It really isn't a machine for "beginners" such as yourself...

[TheMetalDoctor]

Seriously, I think dielectric is not good to drink, but I have been splashed and squirted a few times if that counts. Once fully converted to edm, there is no escape back to the 'chip' world. I like working in the a/c room with a carpeted floor even though I am not always busy as I'd like. I still like making something extraordinary that most shops would not dream of touching... and I make one of them and make as many $$ as cranking out a 100 widgets on a CNC and have the mess and deburring problems to boot. Unless the designers and engineers stop designing stuff that can't be made, I think I will always have work.

TMD

[KilrB]

I dunno ...

I was kinda likin' the idea of having the big guy "on our side".

... and I still like to make chips too!

Sometimes you've just got to show 'em how to do it right ...

[kazoo2]

I've always heard that you are NOT a real EDMer until you've a) opened the tank door of a sinker with a full worktank of oil, and/or b) accidentally touched an electrode that is energized. I've never spilled the oil, but I can tell you from first hand experience, you DO NOT want to get too close to that electrode. Although I knew a guy in the Marines that could wet his fingers then hold them in an energized light socket longer than any of us can hold our breath.

[Milacron]

Originally Posted by kazoo2

I've always heard that you are NOT a real EDMer until you've a) opened the tank door of a sinker with a full worktank of oil, .

LOL...I've always wondered if anyone has ever done that... gawd what a mess that must be....I presume once you open it it's nearly impossible to close it again until it gets nearly empty....hope I never find out !

[hesstool]

Originally Posted by kazoo2

and/or b) accidentally touched an electrode that is energized.

Damn I hate that. You feel that buzzing sensation the rest of the day...

On a side note, I once touched the ram on a sinker with my Mini-Maglite, got the shock of my life, and then dropped it into the tank. That thing was in there for 40 minutes with no adverse effects to it. That was 15 years ago and the flashlight is still plugging away. The Cincinnati EDM, on the other hand, has long been dead...

[Laurentian]

I've done both :

Being slightly obsessive compulsive I thought of wiping down the
machine on a long burn once when I was bored.
Then decided to wipe clean the toolholder below the insulation

Another time about 15 years ago was stressed out making a deadline
and was geting lots of packing in some minute details.
With my brother stressing me out even more standing beside me I whipped open the door to take a better look. A huge wave of EDM20 then came right at me, managed to close the door while my brother screamed at me

I've aged a bit and control my emotions better now...

[MitsTech]

Originally Posted by Milacron

Hmmm...so this is what happens when you drink dielectric fluid !

I was actually at a shop once that had a DI water tap in the wire room. They used it to top off their wire machines... and to make coffee.

[Ghost]

Originally Posted by MitsTech

I was actually at a shop once that had a DI water tap in the wire room. They used it to top off their wire machines... and to make coffee.

I kind of doubt that was actually DI water. The new guy at my work once drank a handful of DI water out of the water jet, had explosive diarrhea for a week and a half. Guess he should have listened when we told him not to drink that.

[jptech]

I've never opened the door, but I've had the tank overflow during lunch! I did have one guy that opened the bottom latches on the Charmilles 810, (BIG machine!), and drain half the tank before he could get it closed! Alot of oil dry!!------------------John

[ToolPost]

Originally Posted by jptech

I've never opened the door, but I've had the tank overflow during lunch! I did have one guy that opened the bottom latches on the Charmilles 810, (BIG machine!), and drain half the tank before he could get it closed! Alot of oil dry!!------------------John

Our Agie leaks so much I don't think it would matter if the cover was on or off.

I've done the access-door foul-up on an old Tos-Hostivar cylindrical grinder. Nearly the entire base was a tank, and there was an access door on the front of the machine; not for the electrics, as I found out.

I'm still debating what's worse: die-electric fluid or 1:2 kerosene/hyraulic oil...

[Finnegan]

A chipmaker's tale...

Many years ago someone thought I was WEDM material. Sent me to up to Agie for training for 2 weeks, got back and moved to a nice cozy midnight shift in the climate controlled room with a sweet raise...only one other guy in the whole 80,000+ sq ft production facility....man was that peaceful. So peaceful I forgot to affix the bottom latch on the tank all the way one time. Started the program, left the room, closed the door and went and did some G-jobs on the milling machines for a few hours...

Came back eventually to give it a looksee, saw a bit of water coming through the threshold, opened the door to the wire room and woosh...there goes about an inch of water past my feet out into the rest of the shop....

Had it mopped up and caught up on parts by the time first shift rolled back in, no one the wiser...

Eventually moved on due to shop politics and returned to chipmaking and wrenching ever since, but man that was a sweet gig looking back on it.

[MitsTech]

Originally Posted by Ghost

I kind of doubt that was actually DI water. The new guy at my work once drank a handful of DI water out of the water jet, had explosive diarrhea for a week and a half. Guess he should have listened when we told him not to drink that.

Nope, definitely DI water. A few rooms over they had a pile of fiberglass bottles linked up in series, then plumbed up to the beams, along the ceiling, and down to the wire room. Separate tap on the wall clearly labeled "DI Water".

I don't know that DI water would cause the squirts, but I'm fairly certain that resin, especially regen resin, is not refined to drinking water standards. Especially if the regen resin came from a shop that was cutting something nasty like beryllium

I never really got involved with the waterjets when I worked at Mits, is there any reason one would be using DI water in a waterjet? Seems an awful waste to me.

If someone got the hotpants from drinking machine water, I would be more willing to bet it was from some type of bacteria living in the water.

[Jay Cee]

"Hot pants"...
That's some funny stuff.
Never heard that one.
Wasn't "Hot Pants" the blonde on M.A.S.H.?

I've run a couple of different water-jets.
They give you this card that you have to give to the doctor after you slice your finger off via the jet.
Seem to remember it says something about some funky bacteria due to something or another.
Maybe it had something to do with air in the blood-stream???

[Brian Pfluger]

Here's a GREAT EDM laugh...this was an apprentice in the shop I used to work in. We convinced this poor soul that he needed to de-magnetized his steel toe shoes before coming into our EDM room so that he would not mess up all the sensitive electronic equipment. The picture is proof...he got his shoes on top of the de-magnetizer! To this day, a sign that reads "Steel Toe Shoes Must Be De-Magnetized Before Entering" remains on the door to the EDM Room...and many engineers have stopped to read this and not known what to do!!!

-Brian