I've survived at A1 Tool for a month!

So my last post was about stress, but in hindsight it hadn't even gotten bad yet.  Pressure at work became ridiculous and almost laughable.  Some things that were said by my supervisor seriously made me think he was being super sarcastic or joking....yet he wasn't.  After what I would call "hell week" there was a sudden calm, much like when an epic storm front passes and leaves everything quiet and, and many a sailor dazed and confused (yet certainly relieved).

My guess is that some of the pressure was genuine, but some of it was also just amplified as some sort of rigor test. This past week has been nothing like the one that preceded it.  Perhaps Thanksgiving served to drip some oil on the seas, or maybe there was more behind-the-scenes stuff at work that pushed things into temporary chaos: I may never know.  What I can say is that the boss man has pulled off the pressure to a level where I now actually enjoy being at work again, and I dare say I actually enjoy having him stop by my machine (although there is an ever-present air of "work faster" that comes with his presence, but hey, we're in the manufacturing industry in the United States).

But let me tell you about the landscape left behind after the storm.

After my week of hell at work, I theorize that it was decided by my supervisor that I was no longer worth pressure-testing to see if I'd quit or freak out.  So instead of "kicking me to the curb" he must have resigned to not firing me, and instead moved me to a different CNC machine: the Makino v56.

Japanese-made Makino v56 3-axis CNC mill with 20,000RPM spindle, HSK-A63 tool holder, and a 25-tool horizontal automatic tool changer.  My 2nd machine at A1 Tool Corporation.

Until this week, I had never heard of such a machine, or knew what made it special.  Makino is a Japanese manufacturer that has been making CNC machines since the beginning (established in 1937, first NC machine produced in 1958), and from what I hear they are very nice machines.  The things about it that blow my mind are this: the entire frame, ballscrews & nuts, and spindle are all thermally stabilized with fluid lines ran throughout and the temperature closely regulated by a chiller/heater.  This means very repeatable movements, and with the 20,000RPM direct-drive spindle it has movement resolution to 0.00001, and repeatable accuracy to around 0.0002.  For those who don't like decimals, that is accuracy within two TEN-THOUSANDTHS of an inch.  For perspective, this machine could accurately machine 10 evenly spaced lines across a thick human hair (around 0.002"), assuming appropriate tooling, work-holding, and that hair is a decent material to machine.  But rest assured, I will not be working on human hair anytime soon.

Most of what I'm machining are small moving parts for the plastic injection molds we build at A1 Tool Corporation.  They have complex geometry that is based off of a digital 3D model that is then programmed with various "toolpaths" for the CNC machine to cut.  But don't think of "cut" like a turkey knife or a razor blade: this is more like scooping ice cream with a very fast wrist, between 4,000-80,000 per minute (but very small scoops, and instead of ice cream I'm scooping various grades of steel).

See, my entire perspective on how cutting works has changed, or matured, since I started machining metal at Cascade Designs in Seattle, Washington.  There were a number of very kind and skilled men (The Tom's, Nate, Tyler, Ed, Geoff, Brad, Garrett, Grant, Casey) who were very willing to share their knowledge, mistakes, and lessons learned with me.  This is NOT the case everywhere you go in life, and I was very fortunate to have landed there, even if it was only for a short time.

But I digress: my perspective on how material is removed is ever-evolving, and the science and innovation behind it is fascinating to me.  See, there are a vast array of tools and techniques for performing different tasks.....and A1 Tool has most of those tools under one roof.  About 24 machines in total, ranging from the huge twin Kuraki KBT-13DX roughers (K1 was my 1st machine), to the mid-size 3-axis Sigma triplets, to the fine detail Makino/FPT/Hermle machines, ending with the various EDM's and their tool-making graphite mills (with rotary part crib and robot).  So I have the potential to learn from the masters of all these machines, and that is what keeps me from falling asleep at night.  I have a notebook of questions that I keep with me, and almost every day I find something else I'm curious about and I earmark that subject for home research or for bending a colleague's ear at work.  I.e., why is graphite used in EDM machining?  What is an "electro" spindle?  How do you select multiple CNC program files at once with a Fanuc Pro5 controller that has a touch-screen?

Japanese-made Kuraki KBT-13DX Horizontal Boring Machine with a 4th-axis rotary table and 60-class taper tool holder.  My 1st machine at A1 Tool Corporation.  Computer desk and tool area just out of frame to the right.  The plate being held probably weighs in around 1000lbs, with some larger ones reaching upwards of 10,000lbs.


(this is the Lego Version of the Kuraki I built last weekend when I was sick and overly-caffeinated at home... : )

So when I'm not feeling demoralizing pressure at work, I'm a kid in a candy shop, making parts on a machine that costs between $250,000-$400,000 depending on age and equipped options.  (side note: two squirrels just chased each other across a snowy power line out my hobby-room window = smile.)

But how about the other things happening in life?  Well, there are none.  : )  We started working 12hr days last week, and we're also coming in for 5 hours on Saturday (or 5.5, if you're like me and forget what time it is because you're having so much fun learning how to run your machine), all in an effort to NOT work over Christmas (which is the current threat/risk, as there is a lot of tooling that needs to be finished up before the New Year).  But while I do cherish my free-time, I'm kind of getting an epic dose of awesome learning at work, and also getting paid for it.  Speak of pay, A1 Tool pays 100% of you medical/dental/life after 90 days of employment, and also pays overtime for hours that exceed 8 per day (as opposed to only paying for hours that exceed 40 in a given week).  This means a lot to me, because it says that they are putting their money where their mouth is in regards to honoring the ideal of a 40hr work-week (and don't worry, they're not compensating for the OT rate by paying us a lower-than-standard hourly rate: I'm getting paid well by a 40-hr week standard for this job and my skill level, compared to the other 20-something companies I interviewed with in the Chicago area).  So the benefits and pay alone make it a great place for employment, but the people, shop, learning opportunities and short commute are also glaringly wonderful elements that make the long hours worth it.

So yes, I get up at 3:50am every morning, work my ass off until 5pm, come home and shower, then crawl into bed at 7:30pm without much more than a couple hours for food prep, a dog walk, and a chance to say hello to Aimee.  But it's not forever, I'm only 30, and we're kicking ass.

So there's that. : )