The molding machine

This week was focused on getting the molding machine up and running. It sat outside for a week under a tarp after we got back and last week I was finally able to get it onto casters and into the shop. This was no easy task, since the blacktop is broken and full of potholes and is a few inches lower than the shop floor. But I succeeded. And with the machine inside, it was time to hook it up.

Three phase electric

The machine runs on three phase electric. Three phase power is common in industrial settings, but pretty rare for residential. Our place being no exception – no three phase power here. I actually inquired with the power company about running three phase to the shop, but the quote came back over $10,000. Not worth it for me. So option 2 is to use a device called a Rotary Phase Converter that changes typical residential electrical service into three phase.

Start the wiring

After moving various pieces of equipment out of the way, I unscrewed one of the pieces of plywood from the walls to gain access to the framing adjacent to the subpanel. This is where I’ll mount the control box for the phase converter. I ran conduit across and pulled some real heavy gauge wires through. With the wires pulled, I reinstalled the plywood and then mounted control box in place. With the control box located, I brought over the 350lb motor (the motor being the “rotary” part of rotary phase converter) using an engine lift.

Test firing the molder

I got it set in place and wired it up. I turned the breakers on and fired up the phase converter. Success. I checked voltage from each of the legs and everything was within spec. Next, I wheeled the molding machine to it’s new home. Once in place, I got it wired up into the phase converter control box. With the machine wired up, it was time to fire it up for the first time. I turned on the phase converter and then fired up each one of the motors. Everything ran as it should. That’s awesome.

New ductwork

Next up was the task of rebuilding the ductwork across the shop. Previously, I had upgraded my dust collector in the shop. I bought a larger unit than I needed at the time which would handle the huge dust collection needs of a molding machine should I purchase one. That was a good choice. However, the existing piping I had was too small for the molder. So I re-piped all the way back to the dust collector and then, after a bit of head scratching, installed the ductwork to the machine. I had to get a little creative to make it work, but it’s installed and I can confirm it works well.

First cuts

Once everything was connected, I test ran a few boards. It ran well. Not perfect, but OK. I spent the next day or two building on additional pieces to the machine to allow it to cut perfect. Previously I have made a lot of molding – tambour strips to be more specific – using a different machine. That machine produced OK results. Not great, but just good enough. After I got the new machine set up and dialed in, I ran a strip of the same tambour molding. What a difference! Even Oceana noticed. The finish is so smooth that she asked me if I had sanded the piece. Nope, that’s right off the machine. Amazing.

A little context

I’ve opted to share the work done on Suburban and also on the molding machine because both have taken time away from working on the house. We normally work on the house in the evenings and weekends, but these two projects have taken priority since returning back from our Thanksgiving trip. The molder (and subsequent shop reorganization) have taken priority because when I’m working on the shop and on machines, I’m not producing any income. So the faster I can get the shop back up and running, the sooner I can start making money again. Also, since I’ve not been working, I’ve now got a backlog of jobs needing completed. That’s a good problem to have. I expect one more week of long days/nights focused on shop stuff before we can resume work on the house as normal. I really can’t wait to get this living room done!

The Teak update

Teak is doing really well. He’s growing still. Both his fur and his weight. He’s up to 33lbs now. We’re kind of wondering how big he’ll end up getting. Both his parents were around 40 lbs but at his rate of growth, it almost seems like he’ll be bigger than that. He got to go to a sleepover this week with the dog trainer. The pictures she sent shows him having a good time while learning. There were a total of 5 dogs there during the training (he was the only one to stay the night other than the trainer’s dog). She had all 5 of them sitting on cots and then would call one down at a time to do tricks in front of the others. Pretty cool.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for following along!