Opening my Phoenix-area fabrication shop to GRMers

This is something I've done successfully before. The long and short of it is that I am fortunate enough to own a pretty decent shop and I enjoy making things and sharing this with others.

Need to make something? Ping me and we'll set up a time that works for both of us. My home shop is 24' x 40' and has a pretty wide array of metalworking tools. Notably I have quite a few welders (SMAW, GMAW, FCAW/G, GTAW (AC/DC), oxyfuel), a 4' x 8' CNC plasma table, a small CNC milling machine, a couple 3D printers, some bending/rolling/folding machines, a 3hp Bridgeport milling machine, and a 3hp Romi lathe. (And, of course, a bunch of other stuff besides; I even have a valve grinding machine for some reason.)

If you're in the Phoenix area and have an idea of something you'd like to build but lack the workspace/tools, let me know and we'll get it done. 

I also enjoy teaching shop skills. Time is limited (as it is for everyone!), but if there's something you'd like to learn and I feel reasonably competent at it perhaps we can figure something out.

Of course I do not charge, ask for, or accept any money for this: This is strictly for free.

Happy New Year! 

WOW!

Phoenix area GRM'ers are livin' large!

Rog

Wow that's awfully cool....   both the shop and the offer

The first thing I thought of was, "what hotel nearby do you recommend?"

Very cool

John Welsh said:

The first thing I thought of was, "what hotel nearby do you recommend?"

Very cool

Realtor dot com, phoenix AZ... :-)

I appreciate this offer, even though I'm a couple thousand miles away. 

Maybe worth for me to drive the 5 hours for some sliders for my Land Cruiser

Kudos to you for sharing your blessings.

In 1990 I talked to an older guy on a phone call who told me he'd look at the Datsun 1600 Roadster I bought and give advice on what I needed to do. 

He drove it, gave advice and ended up teaching me how to rebuild the SU carbs.  We kept in touch for 30 years.  Teach a man to fish, right?

The density, variety,  and organization of tools  in the available space is unreal. Sure you don't need a few more welding machines?

Pretty amazing offer, I am sure any GRM'er in the area will benefit from this. Great shop and great way to start 2024!

This is an awesome offer. Thanks for being a cool person.

Also, I'm totally ripping off this idea instead of fixing the power feed on my Smithy that requires half the machine to be disassembled to fix. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

You can buy chuck adapters to interface with a knee-style feed for really not much money. I think I bought that one for $30. Yes I could just add a power feed, but this was way easier. 

How do you like the Langmuir CNC mill?  That's on my shortlist of equipment for the next year.

Wow, what a wonderful gift!

That's awesome!  Incredibly generous.  

BTW, were you ever associated with the Phoenix Sportbike Club back in the day?

Okay, a couple replies here:

Kendall:

Have you ever dealt with any Langmuir gear before? They come in at the right price point but there is a significant amount of assembly and troubleshooting involved. I have 3 Langmuir products now -- two CNC plasma tables and the mill -- and the mill was far and away the most frustrating to set up. It works fine now (though there is a steep learning curve to 3D milling!) but assembly and truing all the components is not for the faint of heart. Though of course if you're on this forum, you're probably up to the task without too much heartache! 

Rodan:

Yes! I was on SWR (and other groups) for a bunch of years until Rob moved to Show Low and the forum died. I still wear my faded-ass Southwest Rides hat regularly. These days I don't have as many bikes as I used to do and I'm not moto-only, but I definitely get out on two wheels. My only sportbike now is a Ducati Streetfighter V4. What do you ride? 

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Man, I had a whole reply typed out and then something borked. Along the lines of your story:

Some years ago -- think several administrations ago -- I was working on an old motorcycle. 1979 Suzuki GS1000L if memory serves. The intake manifolds were leaky garbage and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately one of the bolts broke off during removal, leaving the stud frozen in the cylinder head. I tried an Easy-out, which of course not only did not work but also broke off inside the bolt. That rendered drilling the bolt out impossible, and I didn't know quite what to do.

An acquaintance volunteered to help. We trailered the bike to his shop (the first home shop I'd ever seen with a CNC mill!) and he TIG-welded a stud to the back of the bolt and unscrewed it as easy as you please. After that I was able to replace the intake manifolds and continue on with and subsequently finish the build. 

This taught me a couple things: One, don't underestimate the value of creativity. Two, there is a tremendous value in tools and the skills to use them (and how to repurpose and make new tools). It also reinforced that some kindness and generosity goes a long way. 

In any case, I very much enjoy being able to share my tools, space, and knowledge. It's great to not just have the means of repairing or modifying or making things myself, but to empower other people to do the same and enable them to take ownership of their property and the world around them. 

Plus, sometimes it's fun to just hang out in the shop and manipulate steel and smoke a cigar and watch a race or something.

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I've built a few sets of sliders and bumpers, some from kits and some from bare stock. It's not too hard. I also have a bunch of scrap 1.5" sch 40 in stock too. 

brandonsmash said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I've built a few sets of sliders and bumpers, some from kits and some from bare stock. It's not too hard. I also have a bunch of scrap 1.5" sch 40 in stock too. 

I will coordinate with you offline. 

Appreciate it buddy! 

My uncle runs the show low papermill and my sis is in paradise valley

brandonsmash said:

Okay, a couple replies here:

Kendall:

Have you ever dealt with any Langmuir gear before? They come in at the right price point but there is a significant amount of assembly and troubleshooting involved. I have 3 Langmuir products now -- two CNC plasma tables and the mill -- and the mill was far and away the most frustrating to set up. It works fine now (though there is a steep learning curve to 3D milling!) but assembly and truing all the components is not for the faint of heart. Though of course if you're on this forum, you're probably up to the task without too much heartache! 

I have previous experience using big Haas CNC mills when our local junior college used to have a decent machine shop class.  I read a bit about the concrete pouring, etc. with the mill, and it definitely sounds like quite a job.  I do believe I'm up for it, though, and I really really want my own CNC mill again.  I've been getting current with Fusion 360 with that in mind.

I should've mentioned in my initial post, this is a very cool offer you're making.  Hope that it results in some good friendships and projects that benefit both others and you.  

brandonsmash said:

Rodan:

Yes! I was on SWR (and other groups) for a bunch of years until Rob moved to Show Low and the forum died. I still wear my faded-ass Southwest Rides hat regularly. These days I don't have as many bikes as I used to do and I'm not moto-only, but I definitely get out on two wheels. My only sportbike now is a Ducati Streetfighter V4. What do you ride? 

I think we probably met at some point... Waay back, I drag raced with Walter who owned ECS Dyno, and later got into trackdays with a bunch of the PSC crowd.  When they came up north, I tried to join up for the street rides.   Also did a little riding with the Fasttour guys when that was a thing.  My last track bike was a GSXR1k, but it's been a while... got into cars for the track instead.  I still had street bikes up until 2 years ago, when the traffic and drivers in Prescott got so bad I decided to take a break.  Now that I'm retired and in Sierra Vista, I'm planning on picking up another bike this spring, though I've got enough car projects on my hands to keep me plenty busy.  

Kendall - If you're familiar with CNC and gcode and the concomitant frameworks, it shouldn't be too hard to get back into F360 with CAD/CAM. F360 is what I use. There's a HUGE knowledge base available! As far as actually assembling and truing the mill, the concrete pour is one of the easier tasks. If and when you buy one of these, let me know. I took detailed notes, photos, and videos during the assembly process of areas that could be improved upon. I of course sent these notes to Langmuir for them to append their documentation, but I'm not sure if they ever did so. When you do the concrete pour and have to remove voids, for instance, Langmuir calls for you to just tap the rim of the bed with a dead blow hammer about eleventy dozen thousand times. That's stupid. A trick I use for shallow or enclosed pours where a pencil vibrator isn't viable is to take a recip saw with no blade, press the shoe against the frame, and hold the trigger down. The vibrations from the reciprocating mechanism will cause any air bubbles in the mix to rise and thus compact the concrete much batter and a hundred times faster than just tapping randomly with a dead blow would ever do. 

Rodan - We probably met on one of the rides up through VMR through Peeple's Valley and the White Spars. That is still probably my favorite ride in the state! I've had a series of sportbikes from a turbocharged Hayabusa to a B-King to my SFV4. I haven't fit even close to well on a full-on RR bike in 20 years, though. I really, really need to get back to my project bike. You can see it under a sheet in the photos above: It's a 1979 KZ1300 punched out to 1340. I stalled out on the wiring and haven't been back to it in quite a while. I even have a ZN1300 as a donor bike that I haven't even bothered pulling apart. 

I have a project you could probably help with. The bike is a late 60s Wards Mojave the engine is from a CB550. Let me know if you would like to know more.

L5wolvesf said:

I have a project you could probably help with. The bike is a late 60s Wards Mojave the engine is from a CB550. Let me know if you would like to know more.

E36 M3, I would like to know more...

rdcyclist said:

E36 M3, I would like to know more...

OK. In the 60s Montgomery Wards department stores sold motorcycles. They were made by a long time Italian manufacturer Benelli (a.k.a. the Benelli brothers). Sears did something similar.

The range for the Wards bike went up to 360cc (single cylinder). One model was called the Mojave. It was styled after bikes made by Rickman/Metisse. Steve McQueen rode a Metisse. You can see more about that here:

https://www.webbikeworld.com/steve-mcqueens-top-5-motorcycles/

When I got my Mojaves I wanted to do something like Metisse had done. I eventually came across pictures of one where a CB750 had been bolted into the Mojave frame.

I have no need to go that big and came across some CB550 motors. Now I need to deal with how to specifically set the motor in the frame. I also have a plan to do a front disc brake swap.

That sounds fun! I can't do it for you (obviously) but if you want to swing by and puzzle it out, drop me a line!