OT... RE: Tom Nie/Sister inquiry and other stuff.

[Robatoy]

Thanks for the inquiry, Tom. Not much has changed, I'm sad to report. (Still no wrist/finger action and a complete C-6-type of quadriplegic.)

I have been away on a so-called vacation for the last couple+ weeks, during which time my mother was put in the hospital (unbeknownst to us as my father "didn't want to spoil our much deserved vacation"---> he can be such an ars.) Diagnosed, by exclusion, she had a sudden onset of Alzheimers, likely accellerated by the trauma of watching my sister being hauled of in an EMS and knowing she'll likely never see her again.)

Enough of that shit as there is nothing I can do to change it, other than to make sure they get all the care money can buy.

Back to my generic woodworker's advice:

Always use 220 volt, but 230 is better. (600 volt is awful hard on a router, but BOY you get a lot done in that 4 seconds it runs) Always ground your dustcollector tubes, especially the metal ones. A router table is not required, but a jointer is. PolyMegaGlop glue is the best there is. What kind of tenon is a floating one? (Hint: toss it in the bathtub) Counter-clockwise turning drill presses appear to be practically useless. To improvise a dado blade on your table saw, hit the blade, sideways, with a decent hammer.

Glad to be back.

r

[Joe AutoDrill]

LOL.... I can make you a single spindle, "multiple spindle head" ...er... or something that would be called something along those lines - with reversed gearing inside to make everything spin normal if you want. :)

Often times, the drilling pattern requires that some spindles spin one direction and the others the opposite. We avoid this most every time we possibly can, but I could make an exception for anyone stuck with a reverse spinning drill press and no knowledge of how to swap a few motor wires.

Seriously though, I am sorry to hear of your difficulties. I hope things turn around for you soon!

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills:

[Robatoy]

Joe AutoDrill wrote: [snip]>

You did detect the goofiness of my post, and I did have a 13 spindle 32 mm set-up at one time. There also used to be an attachment that clamped on to a drill press to do just that, I lost track of who made it. My business contacts are trying to suck me back into making cabinets again now that my Non-competition Agreement has expired..*EG*

32 mm would be the way to go...but I retired already...it's a desease, I tell ya!

The Neanderthal Method is starting to look better and better to me. Just a good brace-'n-bit, a couple of planes, scrapers, spokeshaves etc.... what a nice way to put some finishing touches on some CNC pre-cuts..*S*

r

[Joe AutoDrill]

Yes, my post - although legitimately possible - was a joke for the most part.

Besides the self-reversing tapping heads on the market for metalworkers? :)

[RonB]

Good luck with your family situation. It sounds like both your sister and you have clung to one small means of coping - humor. It does help. For most of 14 years my wife and I had at least one parent in extended care. During one period three at time. During the most intense periods we were usually able to force some kind of perverse humor into the situation. Sometimes we would get sideways glances when we referred to ourselves as 'nursing-home groupies'; or joke about our pact to push the other off of the curb when one of us started acting funny. Dark - yeah probably. But it takes the edge off. If you let it eat you alive, it will.

Keep the corners of your mouth turned up as much as you can. It helps.

RonB

[Lew Hodgett]

Late 50's, early 60's, there was a company in Cleveland that built a multiple drill head machine that used a rotary crank system to drive multiple drill bits.

They would custom build a head to match almost any hole pattern.

Worked for a company that used one to drill graphite tube sheets for heat exchangers.

Don't remember the name of the outfit or if they are still in business.

Lew

[Joe AutoDrill]

It is actually a very interesting business to be in. Sort of like solving a different jig-saw puzzle every day. People drilling everything from Styrofoam to spiral hams.

As for the custom patterns, we do that now - but with internal gearing. The limitation we have is how close we can get (.532" C-C) or how far apart the spindles can be (around 36") Above around 7", it is sometimes easier to simply buy two or more pneumatic drills and automate them, etc.

The company you might be thinking of is Zagar. As a reference, my units start at around 20-30% of their prices. :)

Check out the Multi-Drill link below if you want to see some application examples - mostly steel work though as there isn't nearly as much production work going on in wood unless you get into the window and door industry (hinge patterns, casements, etc.)

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills:

[Lew Hodgett]

That was it.

Thanks.

Lew

[Joe AutoDrill]

Zagar is sort of like the Rolls Royce of heads. They'll make it any way you want it. For instance, I think it is Zagar that has a 4000+ spindle head that does small holes in 24X48 ceiling tiles... The entire head does ONE ceiling tile in a single stroke. Look up. If your ceilign tile has lots of small, half-round holes drilled into it to absorb sound or create texture, Zagar might be to blame. :)

I could do it with our heads, but not in one shot... Probably split it up by rows and feed the tile between strokes.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: Spindle Drills:

[Lew Hodgett]

There was a time when there were a lot of high end machine tool companies in Cleveland.

A lot of them have bit the dust primarily because of changing economics.

Customers going out of business, foreign competition, etc.

Probably the biggest surprise was the demise of Warner & Swasey.

Lew

Lew