Dear Friends,
Good afternoon and welcome back. This week my focus has been on putting the mill together. When I originally spoke to the guys at the showroom they said that a layman could probably put it all together in about 3 days and that their professional installer usually takes about 1 day. I now understand why. The installer knows what the ridiculously worded instructions are asking you to do.
I actually was responsible for helping to write assembly instructions when I worked for the furniture company. A big part of that process was to look for some classic errors when writing instructions, and then also to go follow those instructions and see if you could make the end product without issue. One common error which is all over this assembly manual is the use of position words (left, right, top, bottom, nearest, farthest, etc.) without first properly indicating how the reader should be positioned. For example, "While standing at the front of the machine, and facing it, install the panel farthest to your left."
While the explicit initial orientation of the reader in the above example might seem unnecessary, it becomes far more important if the prior instruction had you working at the back of the machine. What they really need to do is to hire some recent college graduate with no technical skill beyond running a screwdriver, put them in a room with the machine in the crate, and tell them to assemble it. Anytime the person went "What is that supposed to mean?" they need to circle it and rewrite it. Of course, that would mean rewriting a good 3/4ths of the manual however.
One additional issue I had was the lack of specific instructions on what equipment, and more importantly oils, I would need. There were two separate occasions the machine called for an oil that were first mentioned at the point where you needed them. If they would have had a good list at the beginning I would have been able to get them all at the same time rather than having to make multiple trips to the store.
And finally, the pictures... or lack thereof.
At one point in the instruction it said, with no transitional information or further explanation, to "disconnect the shop air supply from the FDL." At no point prior had I been told to connect said air supply to the FDL. I didn't even know what the FDL was. Was it something I was supposed to install prior and missed? Was it a part I needed to order in addition to the other add-on parts I ordered? And where was this supposed FDL on the machine in the first place?
No pictures, no further explanation of where to find it were provided, just more instructions on what to do with it. So I had to call their post-purchase technical support (and this would not be the last time). Now I will say that they were very helpful, albeit with a certain amount of unclarity that matched the assembly instructions. This is part of the issue with having experts provide technical support to novices. They don't know what they assume everyone knows. So they act, consciously or unconsciously, as though they don't understand what you are confused by.
Of course the FDL is the small protruding part on the back (the label that marked it as such was hidden under the component, rendering the labeling useless). And when it asks you to disconnect the air line, of course it means the intake air line, not the output air line three inches away from the intake. Neither of those lines are labeled by the way. And when it says "put oil in the reservoir" it means Air Tool Oil, not the Way Oil you put in the automatic oiler just two steps prior. As a note, no where in any of the instructions was Air Tool Oil mentioned as a needed component, nor did it come with the machine. You are just assumed to have it, and to know it goes into an FDL.
After that first call, I began to call them frequently with my questions like this, and I can only hope they took notes on the areas I asked about so they can make improvements. The main reason this issue is so problematic for machines like this (e.g. the kind you do the final assembly on yourself) is that if you start it up and it doesn't work, you aren't sure if its because you misunderstood some unclear installation instruction, or if its because a part arrived broken and you installed it correctly. When you buy a pre-assembled and pre-calibrated machine and it doesn't work its clear that its a problem with the machine. If the assembly instructions are crystal clear and easy to understand and accomplish, you can still feel that way with a home assembled machine. Here I am, just doing my best, and praying it works properly.
Despite this, it's practically finished.
It would have actually been finished if I had known I needed to bring my drill in today to finish the final part, but the first time its mentioned that I need the drill is at the point I need it of course, so I will have to do that tomorrow. The only part that is left is the large bar that holds the operator console to the machine (as well as the keyboard, mouse, and jogging tool). Functionally its just a stand, and I have been getting around not having it installed by using a rolling cart for the moment (as the instructions suggested since the computer needed to be used before it would have been possible to install this bar).
Once that bar is installed so that the console is in its proper place, and the coolant reservoir is filled up, the mill is ready to go for making bars. Of course that doesn't mean it can make bars, I still need to do a decent amount of work to make that happen unfortunately.
There are a lot of little things left (as has been the case with this project for the last month). Things like setting up the tools we will use in the automatic tool changer. We need to tell the tool change what tool is in which slot. Also it needs to know the "tool offset" which is the distance the tool extends out below a specific point on the tool holder. This is how the system knows where the tip of the tools are at all times, which is critical for things like drilling and tapping.
I need to set up our Electronic Tool Setter, which is a tool that works in the machine during the various processes to check and make sure that the tool didn't break in the prior step. It needs to be put in place with specific accuracy since it works by taking the tool and barely touching the sensor. If the sensor doesn't register the tip of the tool, that means it broke and needs to pause the process until that tool is replaced. To do this though requires extreme accuracy.
I need to calibrate the various directions the mill can move to ensure that its accuracy is acceptable for the work we are doing (and the exciting new secret project I am working on).
Last but certainly not least, I need to generate the machine code to tell it precisely how to move, in what direction, with which tool, for how long, so that it can actually make the bars. Also I need to make the holding fixture that will secure the raw material in place while we cut it. I've never done anything like this before, but i'm sure Youtube will be a big help.
This project, like almost everything I do, is much more complex than I originally had thought it would be. Frankly, I think that is a good thing. I don't know if I would have the guts to dive into these enormous projects if I truly understood how complex they were going to be at the beginning. It's better for me to underestimate its complexity, and then get far enough into it where it would be stupid to back out. I have the "how hard could it be" gene, which I think is critical to all business owners.
We have to be the ones to look at something cool, or think of a new idea, and say "I can figure that out" even without any practical skill or knowledge of the thing at the beginning. Just think though, everything around you that you can see and touch was once an idea in someone's head. Thankfully they had the good sense to get it out of their head into the real world.
Stay tuned for more letters on Thursdays in the coming weeks and be sure to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you like and watch the videos it helps us get promoted more by the algorithm to people who may never have heard of us.
Ever your servant,
Colin Murdy
CEO/Owner
Murdy Creative Co.
Cell: 414-434-9001
MurdyCreative.Co
