Rules

I am 31 years old living in the mid west (Iowa). Currently working as a machine operator (Extruder) and have been for the past 2.5 years I first got started with corn starch making food grade product from industrial corn and now am working making plastic lids and buckets. I enjoy the computer side of things and like the critical thinking/solving environment. I have been considering going back to school for something but not sure what would be a close fit (would prefer a certificate rather than a 2-4 year college). I was told about cnc but my ADD goes a bit haywire while trying to teach myself the trigonometry aspect of it. I would like something that is going to stay in business as well with everything seemingly moving to Mexico around me. Does anyone have any pointers? I’m sure some of you guys were in the same boat as me.

I was an auto mechanic before this went to school for it as well just lost the passion for it as a job. Thanks guys

Hello! Trying to understand where to go with my small business.

I fill about 400 3.5 ounce stand-up style food pouches that have a ziplock and an area for heat sealing above that. I fill them with powder.

Quick breakdown of current process:

1. Apply label onto 6x9 stand-up food pouch.
2. Use hand to open the pouch and then use hand to expand the pouch.
3. Use a $200 pouch filling machine. ~4 pouches/minute.
4. Use a manual pulse heat sealer.

For #1, I can buy pre-printed bags. Not worried about this.

For #2, is there a device, I imagine a metal device that I mount to my work bench. I open the ziplock on the pouch, and push the opening of the pouch down the metal device. This quickly opens/expands the pouch for me. Does that exist? Or something that blows air upward when a sensor is blocked? Strong enough to expand the pouch open?

For #3, I can't seem to find something faster without having to spend $5,000-$20,000. Are there faster fillers than the Vevor? The machines I saw when searching can fill hundreds of pouches a minute. I just want to do maybe 10-20 a minute. And need something I can fit in my small studio.

For #4, there are automatic bag sealers. But, why buy one when I can only fill bills at 4/minute? It's going to be very idle most of the time.

If this is the wrong place for these questions, my apologies. Can you suggest another resource or sub? Thanks so much!!

Hey so I run wire braiding machines, and all but one machine has an automatic stopper for when wire breaks or when the bobbin runs out, the only machine that doesn't have one (or a working one) is the wardwell cb1 maypole braider. It's an amazing machine don't get me wrong I love it, but it would be nice if the stopper worked, like there is one and there is a function for it "stop motion fault" is in the operators manual, and it shows how to tell if it's on or off "stop motion on/off"

when we turn it on, the machine just doesn't run at all even if the wire is at full tension. The manual says that the function is ment for detection a loss of tension due to the wire running out, the company I work for has had a tech come out from up in New England but the guy basically said "huh it doesn't work, just turn it off"

So my question to anyone who might be able to help, is there anything I night be able to do to try to make it work as an operator? And if anyone has like schematics of the cb1 maypole braider that would be great too.

Good Afternoon from the humid mid-Atlantic region of the US.

I've been working in explosives manufacturing for going on two years at this point. We make propellant for the armed forces here to include all branches. I've worked in this field for a little while now and was just curious if any of you have made the jump to salary and possible pros and cons. We have a HEAVY union presence though it's one that has historically yielded to the company in most cases. I've worked a supervisory role within a union setting before but only leading 5-10 as opposed to 35-40 at any given time. A job has come up and I'd love to get it as the pay and upward trajectory are pretty aligned with where I want to go. I'm in the process of taking night classes to get a business degree at 32 years old. The only downside is that, should I accept the position, to return back to the hourly barganing unit would mean to lose every bit of seniority and begin as a day one employee; hence coming to Reddit.

Thank you all for any advice and help.

Hi,

While the rules say it's frowned upon here am still somewhat out of options, but ask here:

Does anyone know where to buy or better yet they produce 5/16'' - 32 TPI threaded rods in Continental Europe? Can't find a single vendor from the ones I know.

Similarly if anyone could produce a M8x0,75 knurled nut with a lip and notch to engage.

To clarify: I was doing a restoration project at home and when measuring the warped threaded rod measured it to be M8x0,75, it turns out that my nut is 5/16'' - 32 TPI which looks similar enough to be within measurement error (especially if you expect it to be metric and confirmation bias takes over).

So now I am still missing the correct threaded rod, and have a very good UK made M8x0,75 threaded rod that I payed a painful amount for import tax and processing for and 2 months of my time for it to clear. So a knurled nut would be helpful to repurpose this very dear rod for some other project.

Any ideas where I can begin to have a custom shrink tunnel quoted for items that are roughly 120"x40"x50"?

I've only been able to find Mr. Shrinkwrap and standard tunnels aren't going to be large enough. Google has not been kind, so I thought I'd try out reddit help!

We have one, but are determining whether replacing or choosing a different solution is the best pathway. I'm in the US, if that's of consequence.

Looking for honest feedback on Propel, PTC Windchill, and Arena PLM software. We're a mid-sized manufacturing company looking to streamline our product development process. Has anyone implemented these recently? What were your experiences with user adoption, integration capabilities, and overall ROI? Any gotchas or unexpected benefits we should be aware of? Thanks!

Embroidery

Got $tips available for helpful info as well!:

1. Edge finishing: See photo. Many aftermarket car mats use cheap materials and cheap looking edges with a single stitch. I just cannot figure how to recreate this sewing pattern (machine? style?)
2. Dying/Printing: See photo. I am not trying to recreate this logo, just learn how to dye the carpet material in a specific pattern (or how to print on without it flaking off/cracking etc).
3. Embroidery: See photo. I think I'll need some type of computerized embroidery machine in the end, but any info is helpful in the meantime.

Finish Edge

Dye-Reference 'BMW'

Hey all, I am working on a product that involves a narrow tube/channel that takes an ultrasonic mist from the source of the mist to multiple external vents. The mist is made up of water and organic oils and the mist will only be activated intermittently in relatively short bursts. I will likely have a fan unit running when the mist is activated. There will be electronics operating close by on the other side of the walls of tube/channel.

I am looking for a material that will not be permeated or degraded by the water/oil mist but also may be able to absorb some of the water that builds up on the tube/channel walls each time the mist is activated. That absorbed water would ideally be released slowly over time in amounts small enough to evaporate or at least not leak out of the vents.

I came across info on the water absorption properties of Nylon which is what made me think to ask here. I only know the basic concepts with Nylon and do not know about all the Nylon composites out there so if your answer to this involves a form of Nylon please still share it. Thanks for any and all feedback on this!

Trying to saving $400+ and also time trying to figure out the best material for a “premium” phone case. A transparent phone case with the best material for protection is? I’ve seen online with a supplier 3M as the name says it seems quite durable - I have no idea, just saying.

Also what’s the mostly blue material inside phone cases that absorbs shock?

Thanks in advance!

Hello all. I am a relatively new Operations Manager at a small machine shop (20 employees). We are growing rapidly and have a ton of backlog. As such I need to figure out how to get more work through machines. There are a lot of ways I am tackling this, tooling and work standardization, purchasing new machines, overtime, hiring. But, as you know, much if this takes time and hiring is very slow and difficult.

Our culture is one of efficiency and multitasking. Most people run multiple machines when those machines have all to mid volume production with cycle time (100-2000 pieces). So my machine are not 1 to 1 to employees. More like three machines for every two employees. We put out a lot of work.

My focus right now is seeing if I can schedule the employees in such a way that I can cover more hours in a week on a first shift (of sorts). It is impossible to hire for second shift in our area and I feel third would be very difficult to support with our small size. Right now I have people working 4AM-2PM M-Th; 8am-6pm M-Th; 4am-12pm m-fr; 8-4 m-fr; 6-2 m-fr...it's kind of a mess but it has worked until now.

I am trying to come up with alternate work schedules that better utilize capital. We won't work Sundays ever. I was thinking about 4-10 but each week the shift slips back a day. Then you offset two divisions. So a.shift over three weeks might look like

M, t, w, th T, w, th, Fr W, th, Fr, sat

Then it would start over. By offsetting I open up machines for button pusher production work for less skilled people. But I can't help but think this makes things confusing and cumbersome.

Not sure if much of the above makes sense. But, what alternate shift organization have you all seen? Again, trying to stay away from Sunday but also keeping it relatively first shift.

Ask any clarifying questions you need to. I'm currently stumped on what to bring to the team so we can discuss in earnest.

#1 not sure I’m in the right place so be gentle.

My wife came up with a very clever idea for a water bottle, material wise it could be aluminum no problem. I’m curious how to go about getting a prototype made and then, if it works out, how manufacturing works.

I’m a software engineer and an avid 3d printer hobbyist so I know my way around engineering processes and tools but not sure who to contact.

I’m building a machine/tool. My frame and the majority of my components are made in the USA but I do use some specific Chinese bolts. Can I not say Made In The USA after using those bolts? What’s the general rule on this?

Hello folks,

I'm currently studying composite materials and am curious about their application in gear manufacturing. I've read a bit about the advantages of composites in various industries, but I'm specifically interested in understanding if they are practical and beneficial for making gears.

Has anyone here had experience with composite gears? What are the pros and cons compared to traditional materials like steel? Are there specific types of composites that are better suited for gears? Any insights or resources would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

howdy yall im trying to find a manufacturing plant where i can bulk order collapsable umbrellas cheaply.

thank you and any other more relevant subs to ask would be incredibly appreciated

Across the street from me there's a guy with a large fiber laser, but he isn't super familiar with using it. We want to cut a sheet of steel with lots of little holes in it, but last time he tried, he was getting issues with the sheet warping due to the heat buildup and getting dragged around by the laser head.

Any tips for how to prevent this?

One idea I had was to create multiple files with the holes spread out the heat over time (ie, each file has every other hole).

But maybe there's some tips I can give him for how to run it as well.

I am developing time sequences for welding processes at my job. What would be the best way to classify the MIG welding process. I’m still relatively new to using MOST and I’m not sure how to do this.

I would like to make a cookplate with precise temperature control, so I can set a certain temperature and the cookplate would stay at that temperature. I have an electric cookplate like shown in the picture, and a thermocouple. I need a way to embed the thermocouple into the cookplate, such that:

* There is very good thermal contact between the cook plate and the thermocouple (simply putting it under the pot is not good enough thermal contact)

* the surface remains flat

* it does not stop the cookplate from delivering heat to the pan

Best thing I could think of is to make a slit and weld it to the cookplate, but I do not have any experience or equipment for welding, so would appreciate other solutions!

Hello, I had a recruiter screening with Apple and 1st round interview with the hiring manager which was mainly project I worked on, resuma question and sanario questions (what would you do in this situation) we're related to the job function. I passed the 1st interview and invited for 2nd interview with also I believe a engineering manager

What to expect ? I believe after this one is the panel one and presentation. Looking for tips and advices to do well

I am mang eng with 5+ yoe

Thanks

I work in our company’s bidding department am looking for a new quoting software solution as our current software is very out dated and rudimentary. It’s essentially a database storage and lookup tool and does not handle pricing very well. All pricing management is done either on paper or with a separate excel document that has to be imported to this program. We handle roughly 2000 bids a year for a team of 2 estimators and having to quote this way leaves everyone completely swamped all the time.

Can anyone recommend something that might be useful? One other consideration is that we work almost exclusively for government contractors so ITAR is a factor here.

I posted a few days ago regarding printing on a pool or snooker case material. I have now decided it would be better to buy the wood case elsewhere and simply staple the outer layer of material on the wooden case. This would eliminate the need for injection molding a big plastic case.

My question now is what material would you suggest and what printing method would be the most cost effective without sacrificing quality. The thin material would have to be hard wearing as it is a case to be taken outdoors while in transit it would also need to be up to 60 inches long but only about 6 inches wide. I also want to make the designs fully customisable so the printing method would have to allow for complex designs.

Thanks for any advice

I have looked at a few options, vinyl, pvc, nylon but I have no in depth knowledge of materials.

What would you suggest I use?

I'm looking to put into manufacturing some of my 3d printed designs.

I'm entering the personal wellness market and would like to start outsourcing the mass production of chastity cages in a small quantity of 100-300 pieces.

The material that I'm looking to work with is ABS plastic.

Injection molding seems out of the question due to the cost of the mold. I've been considering vaccuum casting due to that but having a difficult time finding body safe materials.

What other methods can I look into?

I am looking for a software or a tool that can track issues, root cause analysis, corrective actions, etc. This is required in a food manufacturing plant where most of the issues are related to machine breakdowns and quality of the pouches. This software should be able to store all the information in the database which will help for a faster issue resolution in the future.

Hi folks,

I work for a metal building manufacturer. The building is comprised of 100s-1000s of wall panels, each of which has a dedicated shop drawing. All of these panels need a QC checklist to confirm: squareness, dimensions, headers, welds, screw schedule, etc.

Today we manage this with a huge physical ink stamp on the drawings, but this process is a mess to organize and audit on the back end.

The shop drawings are PDF, I was thinking of using adobe acrobat and creating a custom stamp/checkbox. The QC person would use a tablet and check off drawings digitally.

Does anyone have a good approach to digital qc stamps? Is there a ready-made software tool for this someone can recommend? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Hi all,

With companies moving away from China for manufacturing, I have been thinking of starting my own manufacturing business.

I have a degree in EEE, work in software, and I wonder what should I learn next (other than business) to start my own manufacturing firm?

Hi, I'm a business owner myself for EMS solutions but just to let you know this is NOT SALES PITCH - I want to know your insights

Where do engineers/business owners for eletronic products find their manufacturing partners? I know marketing is one of the biggest challenges for manufacturers and I would like to know what works most effective and this community seems right on, with a lots of expert in the field.