CNC Machining and Mold Making

Through my volunteer worker job with the City of Los Angeles I attended a class this week. It covered how to use a Haas CNC machine.

A computer numerical control (CNC) machine works by following user written code to machine a part. You put a block of metal into the machine and it will drill a pattern of holes, hollow out areas, engrave text or a design, and even smooth the piece's edges. Once you write the code and press start, the machine does everything and all you have to do is come back when it is finished. Then you can put another piece of material in, press start, and make another identical part. It is a great machine.

The class detailed the operation of a Haas brand CNC machine. It covered how the control interface worked, a few practical tips on some buttons, and how to program in G-code. The G-code tells the machine which tool to use, where to make cuts, and how fast to go. They had a control unit at my seat so I could practice inputting everything on the machine as I learned it.

I was able to attend this factory training for free because the city department where I volunteer bought a CNC machine. It is a big piece of equipment. It is the size of a small car and costs tens of thousands of dollars. A few months ago I tried to learn how the machine worked without the benefit of this training. I managed to crash the machine, which is very bad. A crash happens when the tool collides with something it is not supposed to like a vice that is holding a work piece in place. However, I am blessed to be working for understanding people who were not mad at me when I crashed the machine, broke a drill bit, and damaged the vice.

I enjoyed the class a lot. If I was not academically inclined, I would strongly consider making a career out of working with machines like that. If you want to know why I am doing electrical engineering instead, consider a more comfortable work environment, less physical exertion, safer working conditions, and a higher salary.

After my last CNC class on Thursday, I took and passed my third radio test. I now have an Extra class amateur radio license. Next week I will apply for a special vanity call sign to use when I talk on the radio.

Casting and Mold Making
While I am on the topic of training I got into because of my volunteer job, I have a few pictures from December. I took a class from Smooth-On (part of Reynolds Advanced Materials) on casting and mold making. It was a hands on class so I got to practice the process.

Here are a couple of terms from the process. Molding is the first step when a negative impression is taken of an original. Casting is the second step, when the material for the copy is poured into the mold.

First, an original item is placed in a container. Since the mold material is good at getting into things, the original has to be glued to the bottom of the container. Next, the mold material is prepared. Smooth-On makes user friendly products, so all you have to do is mix equal parts of what is in the blue container and the yellow container. The user then has around ten minutes to pour it into the container around the item before it hardens. For our training, they had small statues about three inches high for us to make molds for. They must have planned ahead for me; they had a statue of a pig for me to make a mold of.

After the mold had a few hours to sit, we removed the original and prepared the casting material. It had a similar two part mixture. I added some blue color and poured it into my mold. A couple of hours later, it was time to demold and I saw my pig.



The process even picked up the signature of the original artist on the pig. I was able to take home both the cast pig and the mold I made it from.



It was fun to learn how everything works. If I had any great ideas on how to make money with this knowledge I would give them a try.

Posts from the Past

I was looking through my draft posts and realized I have some great things that need to be shared. Today I have fragments of two posts I wrote in May and June of last year.

In the post from May, there was a recipe for a margarita. It is nothing revolutionary, but you can try it.

Margarita

1 1/2 oz tequila
1/2 oz triple sec
dash lime juice
3 oz sour mix

If you want to make a margarita presidente, just add a dash of brandy to the above.

One advantage of posting this recipe a year later is that I have since shared my recipe for sour mix.

Now a draft from 6/28/11:

Last week I went on a trip to Berkeley and the Bay Area. Over the trip I saw many of my regular and semi-regular readers. Every idea, comment, story, and future plan of mine I would blog about was heard by at least one person. In fact, I told some of the same stories multiple times.

While I was in San Francisco, I went bar hopping with Linda and my Associate. One of the places we ended up at was The Buena Vista. They are known for creating the first Irish Coffee in the United States. Making it is simple, pour coffee, stir in two sugar cubes, add a jigger (1.5 oz) of Irish whiskey, and top with whipping cream. It is something like this.

Irish Coffee

1.5 oz Irish Whiskey (rumor online is The Buena Vista uses Tullamore Dew)
4 oz Hot Coffee, or a little more or less depending on size of your glass
2 Sugar Cubes
Lightly Whipped Whipping Cream

Take a glass and preheat it. Do this by pouring hot water into the glass and letting it sit. After 20-30 seconds, dump out the water. Add the hot coffee and stir in two sugar cubes. After they are dissolved, add the Irish whiskey and top with the whipped cream. The idea is to layer the cream on top, so be gentle and consider pouring the cream onto the back of a spoon just over the coffee.

My favorite part of the Irish coffee story is how the creators were having a problem getting the cream to layer. They asked the mayor of San Francisco, who was a dairy farmer, for help. He suggested using cream that was aged for 48 hours and frothed up to the right consistency. This worked perfectly and the drink became a success. Those were the good old days, when elected officials knew useful things. Now too many people holding public office are career politicians.

The most striking feature of the day was the heat. When I was getting on BART at 11 that night it was still warm enough out I did not need a jacket. My conclusion is I bring the heat when I travel. When I visited Washington D.C. four months earlier it was over 70 degrees in February.

Since my last trip there, the Bear's Lair closed. However, I spent some time at Jupiter's, which is becoming my official post-graduation Berkeley hang out. While there I enjoyed beers such as a Red Spot, Quasar, Frances Drake, Prohibition, and another Francis Drake.

EDITOR'S NOTE: With my vantage point a year later, I am glad to say the Bear's Lair reopened. However, I also know Raleigh's burned down.

Reading all of the Bible

In January I started systematically reading through the Bible and Catechism of the Catholic Church. For this I have to thank Amanda. In January she made a blog post saying it would be great if she did this and then asking "Who's with me?!" I said, "I should do this as well." A couple of months later, we talked and discovered both of us were weeks behind schedule and had effectively stopped. So we decided to talk on a weekly basis to make sure both of us were staying on track.

The program we are following goes through the entire Bible (even those books our Protestant friends do not acknowledge) and Catechism in a year. However, since we are overachievers, we are on track to finish two months ahead of time.

There are a few parts of the Old Testament I do not recommend reading. The first eight chapters of First Chronicles are genealogy tables. A lot of Leviticus and Deuteronomy repeat the same procedures when relating laws.

The biggest thing that struck me about the Old Testament is that it could have used several good editors. Things are repeated, identical stories are told about different people, and the details of stories are contradicted in later retellings. There are also a few points where verses or chapters of one book would fit very nicely a few chapters earlier or later or even in a different book. The notes in my version even say sections are best read in a different order. However, there are some great names like Shamgar.

From my reading I am also disappointed. My parents paid good money to send me to 12 years of Catholic school and it never covered some good things in the Bible. Have you read the book of Tobit? It is a great story with a wonderful message. It has a demonic possession, an angel masquerading as a person, and some magical uses for a fish. Then at the end it rewards a person for his almsgiving and risking his life to selflessly help people. Joshua walking around Jericho with people blowing horns has nothing on the book of Tobit.

There is a second reason I am bringing this up. To talk to Amanda, I have been using Skype. If you have never used it, you should give it a try. You can video call people for free.

I would suggest any of you who would like to talk (especially my friend who hits the ignore button when I call) email me some times that you are available and we can plan a video call. I only sign in to Skype when I plan to talk to someone, so if I am signed in I am busy.

Fun activities and summer so far

Since I made going out, doing different things, and seeing people I want to see more one of my priorities for the summer, I should chronicle some of what I did. It feels like time is flying by, but there is so much I still want to do. This covers the last month and a half.

• Went to an end of year bonfire with the Long Beach Newman group. I was a little worried because I only knew some people vaguely from a retreat a couple of months earlier. However, it all worked out and was fun. At the end all of the extra items ended up in my cooler, including vegan hot dogs. I do not know what to do with them.
• Attended a graduation party. While I did not know Justin very well in Berkeley (my senior year was his freshman year), it was fun and everyone was glad to meet everyone. I also saw such exciting people as Juliette and Sidney. I ended up with some candy from a pinata and some avocados.
• Went to happy hour at the Lazy Dog with two of my friends from Long Beach. This was exciting because it was the first time I did something with friends I made at Long Beach. Well, it was the first time socializing with people from Long Beach did not turn out to be an unmitigated disaster.
• Saw Larry after he returned from graduate school in Arizona, only to find out he was leaving for Vietnam four days later. That night some of my friends tried to fly kites, which was amusing.
• Volunteered at a speaking even put on by the Orange County Cal Alumni. Executive vice chancellor and provost George Breslauer gave a great talk covering Russian politics and campus developments.
• Saw Terrance and played the zombie game Last Night on Earth. After I equipped one of my heroes with a chainsaw, I ripped through 8 zombies. Then I saw Prometheus with Eric and Peter. I expected something better than a remake of Alien.
• Donated platelets four times and went to an appreciation event that celebrated regular donors like me.
• Went to a BBQ at Brandon's house, which is still being built. Then we had a bonfire at the beach. It was the first full day of summer and one of Eric's processed pictures I stole from online is below.

• Watched Battleship with Eric and Peter. We waited until it was in the cheap theater, which was a good choice. A couple of the choices the main characters (who were supposed to be navy officers) made were incredibly stupid. How does a ship fire all of its ordnance on an enemy except for its most destructive weapons (cruise missiles)? Or, if firing missiles at an enemy will give away your location, why do you wait until you are being fired upon to change course instead of immediately changing after you fire missiles? Either the characters are stupid or I am a genius at naval warfare against aliens.
• Went to the Queen Mary with Aden and Ashley. The engine room and the propeller were fun to look at. We also went on the Ghosts and Legends tour that took us to the haunted parts of the ship such as the boiler room and main pool. The ship was nice to see once, but I do not envision myself going back there.
• Tried several different flavors of wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. My favorites were mango habanero and jalapeno. Afterwards I discovered people will just hop into my car when I am in the drive through at Sonic.
• Saw the fine motion picture Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.
• Went a few places around town with my aunt and uncle who were visiting from Indiana.
• Saw Frank who is back from England and ate at Lucille's BBQ. We then saw Ted, which was like a long episode of Family Guy.

While many of these points could be expanded to full posts, that would be too long, detailed, and boring. Instead I will drop in extra random points here, such as my friend's uncle who kept offering everyone shots of tequila, or how Peter was instructed to get margarita mix at the store only to return with sour mix. There was the time I parked on a street with this ominous sign.



Now for one of the oddest things. I walked into an office and I saw a video playing in the next room. The video had me in it and was something I did in high school. Then I realized the video was redone with Spanish voiceovers. I do not know what this says about my life, but a video I was in has been dubbed into another language.

I still need to figure out what is next. Tomorrow I am going to Terrance's Mom's house for a BBQ and after that my mom, dad, and brother are leaving for San Diego. I will be home alone for three days and need to think of some exciting things to do.

Some Public Service Announcements

Two weekends ago I took a test to upgrade my ametuer radio license. After a 35 question multiple choice test, I passed. I now hold a general class license which means I can transmit on certain radio frequencies.

This is half way to finishing one of my goals for the summer. Next month I will take a longer test to expand my license to the highest level for this type of radio license.

Before I could send transmissions into the radio airwaves, I had to pass a license test. I had to prove I knew how radios worked, what the rules for radio use were, and what the accepted operating procedures were. I bring this up because I have a problem; people mass forward emails to me that sometimes have incorrect, bad, or even deadly advice. I wrote about a supposed health email a while ago. It would be nice if people demonstrated a level of competence and intelligence before sending emails to dozens of people.

The latest email I got was from my uncle. It was about the triangle of life. The main idea is when earthquakes happen roofs collapse and crush people. To avoid being crushed by falling roofs, people should immediately seek shelter next to a tall and sturdy object when an earthquake starts. This way, the big object will prevent the roof from completely falling to the floor and a triangle of life will be created where a person is safe.

There is one major problem with this; it was based on studies done in other countries where building codes and materials differ from what is used in the United States. While the triangle of life might be useful in some situations in developing countries, it is not applicable and definitely does not supersede drop, cover, and hold in places like California. The American Red Cross response to the triangle of life has some good comments and interesting facts.

I also got an email about cough CPR. The short version is coughing when you have a heart attack is similar to doing CPR on yourself. The real version is medical experts say don't try it.

I would say more about these emails of misinformation, but I do not want to deprive you of the practice of checking the facts online. Researching these claims is not only informative, but also fun. The conspiracy angle the triangle of life guy has would be amusing if lives were not at stake. Great claims require great proof, or at least a few minutes perusing Google search results.

If you ever receive an email that gives incorrect life-saving advice, you should immediately email the sender with correct information. If you ever send an email that you later discover had some misinformation in it, it is your responsibility to email everyone again and correct the earlier mistakes.

If a car will not start
One other thing came up a couple of weeks ago. It is what to do if you cannot start a parked car. Sometimes, it is possible to put the key in the ignition and turn it a little but not far enough to start the car. Sometimes this occurs because the steering wheel was turned to one side and then the car was turned off. The pressure of the turned steering wheel does not allow the ignition to turn to start the car.

If this happens to you, all you have to do is turn and hold the wheel to the other side while you start the ignition. The torque you exert on the steering wheel is enough to allow the key to make its full turn.

Party for Bachelor Terrance

On Wednesday I saw Terrance. Since he will be getting married in the fall, we decided to throw him a party.

We started by going to an obstacle course. It was at UCI and geared toward team building. However, our group had already done a lot of team building. Some people in our group have known each other for 15 years, some of us have gone backpacking together, some of us have worked together playing games, and some of us have gotten lost in the woods in the dark before.

The most exciting part of the course was the ropes course. It was 50 feet in the air and 360 feet long. This is us climbing up to the start of the course.



There were four different aerial sections. The first two involved walking across four wires as a group. Since we are not tight rope walkers, we had to walk across and rely on each other for balance. The third section had a platform we had to ferry ourselves across on. It is pictured below.



I went across with Terrance and Eric in the first run. This is them at the other side.



The fourth section was the hardest. We had to walk across on one line with only two pieces of rope hanging vertically to support us. I fell off the wire two or three times in attempts to get across. Eventually we all made it across. The course ended when we zip lined back to the ground. It was a lot of fun. This is our group together at one of the towers.



After some lunch, we went go kart racing at K-1 Speed in Irvine. They have electric karts that can reach 40 MPH. Our race package started with 14 qualifying laps. I finished second to Andy by only 0.3 seconds for best lap time. The second part was a 16 lap race. Our starting positions were determined by our best lap times in the qualifying laps. I was not able to keep up my performance and finished 5th out of our group of 7. The good news is I did not spin out (like Brandon). However, as a group we did well.



I liked the racing. However, paying $50 for less than half an hour of racing is not something I will be doing regularly.

After that we had a BBQ in a park. We ate bacon, hamburgers, and sausages.

Summer is supposed to be easier

When I finished classes for the semester last month, I thought things would calm down. However, they have only gotten busier. This story starts last week.

On Friday I woke up at 4:45 to go into LA for my volunteer job. I ended up helping someone cut medallions out of plastic on the laser engraver. I started working on the project in the late morning. There were a lot of issues with the file format, programs not reading the files correctly, and experimenting so the plastic would be engraved and cut correctly. By the time I did all of the testing, modified all of the files, and finally cut the pieces out of quarter inch plastic, it was 6 the next morning.

While I spent a long time getting everything correct, I gained useful experience. The other day my supervisor told me one of the other volunteers was interviewing for a job. After he explained his work with the laser printer and the process used, they offered him a job on the spot. The company needed someone to run their machine and produce parts for a military contract.

On Saturday I helped set up tables at church for a ministry fair. On Sunday I worked almost four hours at the fair and tried to recruit a few people for our upcoming retreat. We got several people interested and are very pleased.

On Tuesday I lined a case for a sound board with foam for Peter. This way he can safely transport it to different concert venues. On Wednesday morning I went to a meeting where I helped Peter run the sound system for a band.

Then on Wednesday night I was at a speaking event put on by the OC Cal Alumni. It was a great talk by the executive vice chancellor and provost.

I would have gone into LA today, but at 2:30 this morning I woke up feeling very sick. However, I am all better now.

Every week I have retreat meetings at church. I am the Spiritual Director for the retreat, which is a big job. According to the other people, I am doing a great job. The deacon is telling everyone how great I am at it. In addition, I am doing most of someone else's job. This is effectively my retreat.

Tomorrow I will be celebrating the Belmont Stakes with appropriate cocktails. However, I am greatly disappointed I'll Have Another was scratched today.

I am working on projects for two Cal alumni groups. I made some big updates to one's website and planned some important next steps for the other one.

Every two weeks I am still donating platelets. A week from tomorrow I will be taking a radio license test.