Made some more progress on the Duif Workholding prototype and got the main piece finished! 
The design is loosely based on others I found online, with a blocky style and a clamp piece to grip the dovetail stock. I've got two pins holes for pins to keep the mini clamp aligned properly and a spot in the center for a small spring to make it easier when screwing and unscrewing your workpiece.

I initially went with a 30deg dovetail angle at the top to match a cheap dovetail cutter I found on Harveytool. But after doing some more research, I found another 1/8" 45deg dovetail endmill that will work much better for this purpose, allowing for a more standard cutting size if customers already have them.

Because this was a quick one-off prototype, I had to get creative with my workholding to prevent the use of soft jaws, which I was able to get the side pocket cleared out by using parallels and a block of plastic in the center of the dovetail to grip it enough to machine. I then probed each axis individually to find my work origin as there wasn't any specific place I could do a normal probing cycle.

I have two pieces left to make before I can start testing the design, and those are the small clamp piece and baseplate that the dovetail workholding vice sits upon. My goal with this whole system is to create a quick-change system for different vice work holding. Currently, I have the dovetail design already made, but I've got a self-centering vice in the works and some tombstone ideas for those who are doing production runs!

I decided to sandblast this piece, and I'm super pleased with the results! I plan to anodize the baseplates, either an orange or blue color, to make them stand out, but for the workholding vices, I will have the same satin finish to all of them. As it turns out, sandblasting may be the wrong way to go; it's super easy to scratch, and it shows up very clearly on the surface finish. I'm going to look into tumbling them or may leave the machine marks as is.

My time spent prototyping this piece and working on its design came out to 3:47:00, which brings my total hours up to 17:57:00. I'm getting very close to my 20-hour mark, and I don't think I can do the rest of it at that time. I'd say there is a minimum of 5 hours before releasing it to the general public. I'm still going to push for the 20 hours total, but there is no way I can do it that short of time.

An update is long overdue on this project. Since my last post, I have barely had a free moment to spare writing my experience and kept putting it off. 

I got my website up using WordPress and Thrive Architect to put it together with my brother's help. My goal with the site is to have everything super minimalistic, very clean, and orderly with only a few pages. The landing/home page would consist of blocks of product information and an image with a buy now or get updates button tied to it. My goal was only to promote the products, nothing else; if they wanted to see me about info, it would be in another area and would have to spend the time finding it making it more "sticky."

I used namecheap.com to pick up my domain name (duifworkholding), which only costs me $9.09 a year to maintain. I then went over to WordPress and got a membership to access their website tools to create it, which is only $14 a month to uphold. And finally, I used Thrive Architect to design the site (my parents already own a subscription, so I piggybacked off theirs for free).

There was a huge amount of information that went over my head while my brother was setting it up, but from what I understand, you buy your domain name from an independent site, then get the code they give you to give it access on a web builder. In this case, WordPress, some sites already have their own web builders built into the domain name creation, but they aren't always very advanced, so it's best to go externally for that. Buying the domain name only redirects that link to your site, which could be anywhere.

I only recently realized that all websites are code made to look pretty with functions, but behind it, all is HTML and plugins used for the appearance and ease of use to set them up. Technically, you could create just as good a website by hand from a blank page, but it would take an incredible amount of time, which is where the site builders have their market. Knowing basic HTML programming is super helpful for making small manual edits throughout your site for specific functions. My brother was able to quickly set up buttons that weren't in the web builder already. 

Thrive architect is another additional plugin that works with WordPress to make the website's formatting and general use easier. It's got dozens of templates and a relatively easy interface to put everything together.

Once I got the website up and some basic pages built, I moved over to the email side. One of the things I want to learn how to do during this product development is learning how to build an email list and market. Countless times I hear that having your own list can give you the ability to make almost any amount of money on the spot (not literally, but you get the picture). I decided to go with MailChimp to build my list and send out email campaigns. A campaign in email terms is an email or series of emails sent out to specific people or "lists" you can market directly to. 

An external service like MailChimp or Activecampaign is much like an additional plugin I mentioned with the websites, where you can technically do all the work yourself in your email dashboard. Still, it requires quite a bit more work and scheduling to get it looking professional. MailChimp has many features, including email lists, custom emails for specific people using their names & info, specific product offers for certain people, weekly scheduled newsletters, and many more!

I also made a "landing page" on my website to send people directly to get info about my product. It's a super basic design with little information except that of the product rendering and email signup with my corner logo. I made sure to keep it clutter-free to ensure the focus was on the email updates and not the rest of the site. I did add a function to my logo, so when you tap on it, it'll redirect you to my main website. 

Much like setting up the website, I get a code from MailChimp, which allows me to add functions in my WordPress admin dashboard to subscribe to my mailing list and hooks directly to my list.

I also set up my store side of the site where I can receive payments and shipping information. It was all quite easy to set up using Stripe, which hooks directly up with your bank account. I wanted to use Paypal as my primary means of purchasing, but that requires you to have a business account to be 18+ to sign up for. 

I ran into some issues with the mobile version of the website formatting differently, and for a lot of the pages, I had to recreate the page design so it would look decent on phones.

It's been an absolute whirlwind of new information and experiences, and I'm still trying to process it all. I'm so glad I challenged myself to develop and release this product with a time constraint; it's really pushing me toward only doing the needle moving activities and avoiding time wasters. 

The website is currently up and can be visited at www.duifworkholding.com/

All in all, my time spent on the website came to a total of 7:30:00, which brought my total hours up to 14:10:00

Today I worked on something I hope I never have to do for the rest of my life... I spent a couple of hours dialing in a Bridgeport manual mill.

It's been pretty quiet in the shop yesterday and today as we haven't gotten any new contracts, so I get to spend my time cleaning and re-organizing everything in the shop. And today, I got to dial in the manual mill in its forward swing and sideways tilt, and holy smokes, that are one mentally draining task. Because both were off, you can dial in one at a time, but the other will always make it off, so you are in a perpetual task of trying to get the axis to align properly. 

I used a gauge block and placed it on the table, then took a tenth indicator and revolved in a large circle around the center of the bed, checking the high points and leveling everything out. Some bolts keep the axis locked in place on the side of the mill, which you need to loosen to change, then another screw connected to the gears inside that adjust the rotational motion. Thankfully it was designed to make it difficult to turn the gears and so make tiny increments, which saved a ton of time. 

It didn't actually take me quite as long as I was initially expecting (maybe I got lucky), but after about an hour of work, I got it dialed within three tenths over eight inches. Dialing in vices is an annoying enough task, but frustration quickly multiplies when you add multiple angles into the mix.

I also set up a fixture plate for one of my boss's projects, a mini model rocket, to potential clients; they receive a mini kit where they cut out the pieces and assemble them as a desk toy with a little branding the company. 

Since there weren't any client parts to make, I spent most of the day cleaning and getting things organized for later work. I also started machining my new Duif Workholding clamp design today and got the first main portion finished!

The design is loosely based on others I found online, with a blocky style and a clamp piece to grip the dovetail stock. I've got two pins holes for pins to keep the mini clamp aligned properly and a spot in the center for a small spring to make it easier when screwing and unscrewing your workpiece. 

I initially went with a 30deg dovetail angle at the top to match a cheap dovetail cutter I found on Harveytool. But after doing some more research, I found another 1/8" 45deg dovetail endmill that will work much better for this purpose, allowing for a more standard cutting size if customers already have them. 

Because this was a quick one off prototype, I had to get creative with my workholding to prevent the use of soft jaws, which I was able to get the side pocket cleared out by using parallels and a block of plastic in the center of the dovetail to grip it enough to machine. I then probed each axis individually to find my work origin as there wasn't any specific place I could do a normal probing cycle. 

I have two pieces left to make before I can start testing the design, and those are the small clamp piece and baseplate that the dovetail workholding vice sits upon. My goal with this whole system is to create a quick-change system for different vice work holding. Currently, I have the dovetail design already made, but I've got a self-centering vice in the works and some tombstone ideas for those who are doing production runs!

I decided to sandblast this piece, and I'm super pleased with the results! I plan to anodize the baseplates, either an orange or blue color, to make them stand out, but for the workholding vices, I will have the same satin finish to all of them. 

For those who may be interested in purchasing the Duif Workholding vice, you can visit my website duifworkholding.com/ where I have all the product information and release dates. 

Finished up all the skateboard parts today and got to try out sandblasting for the first time!

These axle truck parts required quite a bit of cleanup to get them ready for shipping, mostly due to how I went about machining them and got impatient with the machine's speed. Taking them right off the machine, I had to deburr the edges quickly, then lap the axle with the truck using a grit compound to ensure they fit together perfectly. The downside to lapping the two parts together is that now they are made for one another and won't have that same fit on the other parts. One way of removing this issue is to randomly mix and match the parts and lap them on one another, thus creating a "general fit" that matches each other. 

I also made a mistake when drilling these parts, and that was I should have added an extra toolpath to add a radius to the corners, which would have saved me a ton of time later as I had to do that part by hand. 

Once all the parts fitted nicely together and cleaned them all up with light sandpaper and some scotch bright, I then moved over to sandblasting them. It wasn't necessary at all, but we had a machine in the shop, and I wanted to learn how to use it and see the outcome of doing so. Sandblasting basically blows very light sand using compressed air and gives your material finish a satin look to it.

I'm actually quite pleased with the results, and I wasn't quite expecting it to reveal as much as it did; you can pretty clearly see some of my mistakes in the project in some areas, and others it conceals bits. Overall though, it was super easy to finish off all the parts and get them looking real nice! 

It's been a long, drawn-out project lasting two and a half weeks, but I've learned so much at this time. I'm thrilled for the experience, and it's helped me overcome quite a few misconceptions I had about 5-axis programming and setup. 

Working on the skateboard axle/hanger pieces once again today and had quite a few small setbacks that really made things frustrating. 

Over the night, I realized that I had the stock positioned incorrectly in the soft jaws and was actually cutting the part too high. Thankfully it was an easy fix, and I could use the same piece by cutting the whole face down a bit to its final height. I also had some vibrations while roughing the part out with the 1/8" ball endmill. My feedrate is quite high for how much material I am removing and had to slow it down in the corners to prevent the tool from breaking. I also had some issues with the corners being too tight to fit with the trucks I made a couple of days ago. What would happen is I make a change to the physical model and then re-generate the toolpath; however it wouldn't update the new geometry, you have to manually go in the setup file, delete the model reference and reselect it. 

I'm a bit frustrated with how long this part is taking, and each time I run into an issue, I have to go back to the beginning and start over again. I thought the run time on this part would be about 15-20 minutes, but since I keep making changes or manually slowing things down, its well above that. 

The main issue I am running into is one of myself than the machine itself. I get an idea of how fast I think it should go, then try and push it to go that fast whether the machine can go that speed or not. This causes me to manually slow down the feedrate and other settings to compensate for what I programmed, or I mess up the part itself, causing me to start with a new piece. 

Thankfully my boss had some grit paste that he could use to shape the two parts together, creating a clean fit. And yes, I still need to clean the face of the part still.

Thursday evening Toastmasters!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my screen recording system working, so I had to film myself via my phone, which doesn't allow audio recording from other devices. Today's table topic was slightly different than before, where there were groups of three people giving a story style speech, building on the previous story told. I got to start and was given the context of "you find your aunt dead in a chair, and you're not sure why" the theme was picked due to Halloween coming up. It was definitely a challenge to come up with a quick beginning of a story on your feet, but I really enjoyed the speech I gave. Unfortunately, I couldn't record the rest of the story performed by other group members, so that you will be left at a bit of a cliff hanger.

I really struggled with putting the story together in a structured way and found myself stuttering while trying to come up with what I was going to say next. I also repeated details several times and wasn't as clear with some of the characters and their roles, or the major position of each person. I think I did pretty decent on emotion, though I could have gone into more backstory. It's a bit slow at first, but I feel intrigue starts building toward the end with the cliff hanger. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated for how I could do better and structure my story better!

Working on the Axle/hanger part again today and worked through the drilling and finishing of the sliding features on it!

Drilling the through-holes was a bit sketchy, and had to take things really slow to ensure I didn't break any drill bits. I had to do it in two stages, first drill one underside hole half-way through the stock, then flip it over and do the same, and finally come in with the final diameter hole size and take one single pass all the way down to the bottom. It worked out quite well, and I had all the parts finished in no time. Unfortunately, the inside bore almost looked like it had a circular interpolation and looked like the tool wobbled as it went down. Testing it with pin gauges confirmed my suspicion, and it wouldn't slide all the way through. My boss was able to fix this problem by turning the spindle on 500 rpm and feed the part by hand to clean up the side walls.  

My boss then took the parts over to the manual lathe and showed me the basics of how it works and turned down the outside face to its final diameter. From there, I was able to program up the final operation, which consisted of some grooves that would fit the skateboard truck pieces I made earlier this week. It has very basic features and just required some parallel toolpaths with a few holes drilled. I held the part in soft jaws by cutting a square groove down to grip the sides of the cylinder, and the bottom of the slot allowed me to set the height.

Because the part is cylindrical, I had to get creative with my work probe and do several cycles to get all the axis dialed. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't get all the parts finished up today due to limited time, but I've got the program proofed out and can load parts in and hit the start button. 

Continuing where I left off yesterday with the design aspect of the new workholding system for the Pocket NC. 

After quite a bit of thought and researching online, I found quite a few flaws with my original design. 

One major one was the price of dovetail cutters already on the market; unfortunately, I underestimated the cost for small 1/8-1/4" endmills and found them going upwards of $100 per. My two main goals with this product are efficiency and low cost, and if the cutters alone cost $100+, that really limits my market. I decided to do some looking around and tailor the cheapest cutter I could find to my design. As it happens, there was a 1/8" dovetail endmill from Harveytool (#995208) for only $66.80, which isn't all that bad. 

Another key thing I didn't really take into account was the size of the clamp itself. Since I 3D modeled it, it was hard to get a good idea on the actual scale in proportion to the machine, so I decided to 3D print a quick prototype, and just as I feared, it was quite large. I decided to scrap my original design and start from scratch. I researched online and found some of the more common designs for dovetail workholding and took inspiration for the new one. I also wanted to focus on making this part easy to manufacture with a simple and elegant design.

Here is the Duif Workholding v2.0 with an external clamp vs. the single-piece design of the v1.

I also commissioned a new logo for my small business project on Fiverr for $10 to make my product look more legit. I should get the first concept design in the next few days!

Spent 2:23:00 today on the project, bringing my total time up to 6:40:00 out of 20:00:00.

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Public Update Post - Instagram @duifworkholding

Working through the design a bit more for the Duif workholding and found a few flaws in my previous design. I 3D printed my initial clamp system to see how it would sit on the Pocket NC, and I didn't really like how large it was. I ended up completely overhauling my original design for the V0.2 you see above. With this new clamp system, I changed how you grip the material with an external clamp piece and dual screws to spread the stock's gripping force. I also modified the dovetail angle to match with a cheaper cutter sold by Harvey tool. 

I will be setting up an email newsletter very soon with design updates and features I will be adding to this product and get a timeline for product release!

I am working on the third and final assembly piece for the Skateboard project, the hanger/axle!

Before working on the new part, I spent a few hours re-calibrating and testing all the probing systems on the VF1 due to some repeatability issues my boss had a couple of weeks back. What would happen is each tool's height would differ by two thou each time you probe it. After running through all the Reinshaw probing calibration and testing it many times, the machine finally gave consistent results of +-0.0002." I was then able to make these new parts with the little remaining time I had.

The skateboard hanger/axle part consists of a rod of aluminum with a hole straight through it and a few grooves that fit with the trucks' top grooves. It's a straightforward part in design, but machining it is a whole other matter. Because it's got a hole straight through it, I'm going to have to set it up on end in the mill and drill it out very slowly from one end to the other with a very sketchy five-inch drill. Then I can toss it on the 4th-axis to cut the grooves and drill the holes at the different angles. 

My first step was to cut out soft jaws to hold the 1" raw stock aluminum rod in the Haas VF1 and drill out the center hole. I'm starting with the drilling before turning the outside of the part because the lathe at the shop doesn't have a large enough collet to hold the stock in and so will have to grip it from the inside of the hole once it's drilled out. 

My boss suggested I start with a ten thou undersize drill and go halfway through the part, then flip it over and do the same to the other side. This way, when I come in with the final drilling operation, I can take one single pass all the way down and have an exact hole. I was able to program and machine the soft jaws in a few minutes but was limited and couldn't start the drilling. 

I made a big mistake when cutting the soft jaws and accidentally put the parallel that spaces the two jaws apart too high up, and I accidentally cut a groove in them, making it essentially useless.