Metro Detroit Metalworking Club

May, 2006

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: OK, the newsletter is short on pictures this time, and it is my fault. The batteries in my camera gave out and all the spares were discharged. I promise to do better next time.

We are poised for a big change in the club. Two of our members are taking a class in machining at the college. They and their instructor somehow formulated a proposal to the club for a class that would let the students have access to the machine shop in an unstructured way to work on our own projects. I want to credit and thank these 3 men: members Dennis Tucker and Jim Hagel plus instructor Dick Morino for coming up with this concept. Dick has further offered us an alternative room to meet in that is part of the metal shop. That fine with me - I like the smell of way oil and cutting fluid – it seems right. More about the machining class latter in the newsletter. I quickly agreed to be the contact between the club and the college and I will be among the first hand over the money to attend the class. This is shaping up to be a mutually beneficial arrangement between the club and the college. Again, thanks to Dick Marino and our members for putting this together. Good work, guys.

Here is Mr. Dick Marino addressing the club. He asked what people wanted from a class in which the college’s machines would be available for our use. He also asked about times and dates to hold the class. He obtained a list of about 17 people interested in attending.

MINUTES: There were 21 members present, John O. and Emil C. presiding. John announced that Ken Hunt has taken the reins as treasurer and thanked Al Campbell for his fine service in that capacity. John also mentioned that the last newsletter went out as a Word file (as usual) and also a PDF file. A few people mentioned that the PDF file enabled them to see the complete newsletter for the first time. So its PDF from now on. One person wondered why he was not getting the newsletter. We checked and found he had not paid his dues for the year yet. Problem solved. We had a presentation by Dick Morino from the college, then a tour of the metal working shop, and then back to the room for Show and Tells.

Joe Pietsch showed us his catalogue of the Farm Collective Shows, which is selling for about $12. Someone mentioned a show on The History Channel titled “Machine Tools.” Rick Chownyk announced he would be demonstrating the Rick-O-Matic at the Michigan History Museum in Lansing the weekend before the next meeting. Don Foren showed a printed circuit board that was milled out by a high-speed end mill. The detail was superb. This is sometimes known as “mechanical etching.” It means you can make a PCB (printed circuit board) without chemicals.

Ron Schmidt showed a mill holder he made for a drill press. (This is where a picture would be good…) The adaptor is oil hardening drill rod. The collet is a standard Ericson shank machined to a straight diameter and fit to the adaptor.

This is a view of the metal shop with lathes and mills. There are also saws, surface grinders and other machines available. Many machines have DROs (digital read outs).

THE MACHINING CLASS

AT THE COLLEGE

This class won’t have lectures, assignments, homework, pop quizzes or grades of any kind. Just work on your projects in a climate controlled environment with the company of other club members. It’s the class we

always wanted.

Here are the details, not quite firmed up, but close. The thought is the class would meet every Wednesday and finish at 7:30 when the Metal Club meeting starts on every second Wednesday of the month. Having the class on Wednesdays saves you a trip on days the club meets. Class would start May 24^th and go 10 weeks to finish on July 26^th. There are two options for duration and pricing. If the sessions are 3 hours long, the tuition is $119 per person (approximately). Four-hour sessions would cost $139 per person (approximately). The college is doing us a favour with very good pricing just for us. When you do the math, its $3.96 per hour for the 30-hour class and only $3.48 per hour for the 40-hour class. For this you get to use professional quality machines that might be bigger and have more features than your equipment at home, and there might be machines you just don’t have at home. You also get the use of drills, cutters, wheels and other tooling. Then there is the value added by Dick who is a machinist with many years of experience to advise and assist.

Class size is limited to about 17 people due to the number of machines. This is not a one-shot deal. Dick has to take off the month of August, but another class can start in September and we can keep it going as long as there is interest.

The college is interested in publishing this class in their regular catalogue and this very well could result in more people joining the club.