08 Aug 2022 Monday

Machine Shop

Was in the machine shop all day, working with the lathe to make the cylindrical parts of the Lucy Engine
Met Alejandro for the first time, he is a very thorough teacher
Learned how to tap the outside of a cylindrical piece; had a lot of issues with one of the pieces that just would not work because the radius would always be too large, and then I would very carefully measure and calculate the radius again and then the radius would be too small. Had to start over at least two times, and then had to recut one of the steel pieces. Ended up cutting stainless steel instead of normal steel, so I had to start over again.

Finally finished the piece that was giving me so much trouble yesterday, switched to a newer lathe machine that was much easier to work with, and I also used a different tap drill.
Started a different piece using the lathe machine, and cut the piece too early, but apparently, I wasn't supposed to use the lathe to cut it yet because work needed to be done on it by the mill, so I had to start the whole piece over again
Machine shop taking a lot longer than expected

Finished all the pieces that require the lathe (finally!)
Alejandro started my training on how to use the mill, we took all afternoon for the training. Learned how to cut a .85" x .75" steel piece.

Went in to the SEC machine shop to continue mill training with Alejandro.
The SEC machines are very cool and very nice, the UI on the mill is definitely nicer to work with. Needed to relearn some basics on how to use the newer mill (with the drill chuck and machine parts), which took up some time
Worked on creating the base of the Lucy Engine, so I cut the edges into the right sizes. Learned how to use an edge finder and create programs to round off the corners of the piece. Also learned a neat trick to use a small clamp thing to mark the position of the block so that you can turn it over and make symmetrical cuts on the other side using the same program.
The SEC machine shop is still being organized, so it took a lot of questioning Alejandro where everything was