Ironworker Prototype II Proposal Brief

Abstract

The following is a proposal to build the Ironworker machine for OSE. It includes my design, calculations, a design rationale, an analysis of industry standards, OSE specifications assessment, requirements for building the machine, a project timeline with a recovery plan in case of project delays, and a budget.

The overall goal of the Ironworker project is to produce an Ironworker prototype capable of shearing 1”x6” steel flatbar, shearing 5”x5”x1/2” angle steel, punching 90 ton holes, and with the capability of attaching other accessory tools such as brakes, pipe notchers, and coper notchers.  Along with this prototype, we will be producing a PDF document which includes all necessary information to fabricate the machine.

Fabrication and documentation will begin 2/6/12, and will end by 3/17/12.

Modular design:

1. Almost all individual components are made of single pieces of metal. The only welded parts are flat shear mount, angle shear mount, various punch components, and parts of the support frame.
2. Individual components all bolt together.

Lifetime, high performance design:

1. Modifies a well respected and time proven design to fit OSE spec. However, this design will use slightly thicker members and stronger steel to insure robustness.
2. All pin and bolt connections have been analyzed to insure they will not warp, and that their holes or threads will not egg under maximum stresses of machine.
3. All permanent members have been analyzed to resist plastic deformation. This includes tension/compression analysis, bending moment analysis, and shear analysis.
4. All moving parts will have grease zerks to deliver lubrication to these surfaces.
5. Is compatible with Pirhana tooling, to enable easy access to accessory tools.
6. Although only punch, shear, and angle shear are required for this prototype, space will be included in upper and lower arms to allow for future addition of Coper-Notcher, and Round Bar shear. This does increase overall cost by ~500, but a future retrofit would cost over triple, as entire Upper and Lower arms would need to be replaced and re-fabricated.
7. Design includes optional punch/accessory storage tables on frame.

Design for simplicity:

1. All parts of  machine are necessary; there are no bells and whistles in this design.
2. All parts possible are designed to be disassembleable, so that if anything breaks, it can be easily and cheaply replaced.
3. Machine is fabricable using only stock steel, standard fasteners, and hydraulic components which can be purchased from major suppliers like Surplus Center and McMaster-Carr. Blades and punches are industry standard and can be purchased with tooling manufacturers.

Design for fabrication:

1. Only the following heavy equipment is needed to fabricate: mill, welder, torch (with really big head!), surface grinder (possibly an attachment to mill), and some sort of lift (for transporting big components). Other Common hand tools will be necessary as well.
2. Design uses increments of ¼” wherever possible to make measuring easier.
3. Machine requires minimal welding, thus insuring little care to keep from warping.
4. By using milled parts and freeze-fit bushings, no in-place alignment is necessary to place bushings, only accurate measurements.

Resources

List the general resources and infrastructure required for project completion. Discuss both what you can bring to the table and what you would like us to provide. Discuss whether you'd like to spend your development time at Factor e Farm or remotely.

The Ironworker is to be built at Enniss Inc.’s shop in Lakeside, CA and requires the following resources. We can provide all of the following.

Fabrication Equipment:

1. Mill with various cutters
2. Surface Grinder
3. Welder
4. Torch with heads capable of cutting 3” steel
5. Gantry or other lift capable of moving around the 700lb arms
6. Variety of common hand tools

Labor:

1. We estimate it will take between 60 and 100 hours of work to build the prototype. Documentation will likely take an additional 20 hours of work.
2. Brianna will be doing the majority of the fabrication and documentation.
3. Enniss fabricators will be hired occasionally throughout the build to help maneuver the components.
4. Reid Enniss and Jimmy Dickerson will be consulted on best fabrication practices.

Timeline

In as much detail as possible, discuss the milestones you hope to reach on a weekly basis. Typically, a prototype or design takes one month of full time development.

Week of 2/6/12:

1. Order all materials by 2/8/12
2. Begin fabrication of parts which do not rely on blades. Goal is to finish a minimum of  the following by the end of the week:

1. Main Linkage
2. Vertical Linkages
3. Main Linkage Holders
4. Main Pin Supports

3. Take instructional videos of the processes required for making the above items.

Week of 2/13/12:

1. Fabricate the following parts:

1. Pins
2. Punch Table
3. Punch elements (except welding alignment tube, as this has to be done in place, when the upper and lower arms are completed.)
4. Cylinder Mount
5. Torch and begin machining upper and lower arms (we will wait to mill holes until we receive the blades)
6. Support frame components

Week of 2/20/12

1. Fabricate the following parts:

7. Angle Clamp

1. Flat Clamp
2. Back Stop
3. Prepare lower blade mounts. We must wait to machine or weld them until we have received the blades.

2. If we receive the blades this week, we will machine upper and lower arms, and blade mounts. If not, we will spend more time documenting.

Week of 2/27/12

1. Hopefully receive blades
2. Finish remainder of components fabrication
3. Begin assembling parts.

Week of 3/5/12

1. Finish parts assembly
2. Test machine. We will need to find a hydraulic motor unit to do so.
3. Go to the California presidential debates!
4. Address any issues which need to be fixed.
5. Continue documentation.

Week of 3/12/12

1. Finish documentation.
2. Prepare for shipping.
3. Ship to Factor E Farm

Project Plan

Discuss how you will approach the delivery of the milestones that you outlined in your Timeline.

To complete the machine build, I will work in the Enniss Fab shop a minimum of 5 hours each weekday, depending on the availability of the necessary machines. Unfortunately, paid work will take precedence over OSE work on our equipment. When necessary, I will hire the fabricators to help me move the large components.

After the machine has been tested and confirmed finished, I will ship it to Factor E Farm.

To complete documentation, I will video important procedures and photograph them as I build the machine. When machine is completed and tested, I will write build instructions based on what I learned, and put together a PDF similar to the ones I produced for the CEB and Soil Pulverizer.

Budget-

Note: budget is changing as I receive final taxes, shipping etc.

Discuss both material costs and your labor/consulting fees. Produce a detailed Bill of Materials for your project, with sourcing information for each part.

1. Labor: $2250

1. Brianna: $1500 to be paid upon project completion. Covers Ironworker design ($400), fabrication ($800), testing, and documentation ($300).
2. Enniss: Up to $750. For up to 10 hours of labor at $75 per hour. Covers any labor help Brianna will need. To be paid on project completion.

2. Materials: $6303.66 (See Bill of Materials for sourcing info)

1. Hydraulics:$626.92
2. Tooling: $1430.61 (Includes blades, punch nuts, and blade accessories, tax and shipping)
3. Fasteners: $250 (rounded up from $243.59, in case extras found necessary)
4. Steel:$ 3783.39

1. Note: Steel to be quoted from local San Diego suppliers. However, some of the steel may be purchased from Enniss’ back stock at cost by pound. I am still receiving quotes, so this number will decrease.

5.  Materials Over-run: $250

1. Covers material tax, shipping, anything I forgot about, and any design changes found necessary after additional analysis and testing.

3. Shipping:

Assessment

List the metrics by which you will judge the success of your project, and how these measurements will be made. This is important for clarity on project success/breakdown.

We will consider the project a success if I produce a working prototype which can , at minimum, punch 80T holes, shear 1”x6” flat and 5”x5”x1/2” angle. Below are testing procedures, and desired results for each component of the machine. At the latest, it will be finished  8 weeks after project start date. After this point, OSE has the choice whether to continue development, or scrap the project.

If the project is successful, it should be considered whether or not we want to retrofit  the coper notcher and bar shear to it. We should also consider making a sheet metal brake for the punch attachment.

Testing:

1. Punch and shear will be tested by first punching or shearing a piece which is vastly under capacity. Upon a successful test, we will increase the size of the cut. We will repeat this until the machine is at capacity.
2. After each test, we will closely examine all linkages and parts which could have been effected by the cut for deformation. We will call the tests successful if no parts were damaged in the test, and the piece was successfully cut.
3. A partial success would mean that the part was cut, but a minor part deformed. Minor parts would include punch stripper, and flat and angle clamps. These are easily replicable, so their failure is not drastic.
4. A failure means either the part doesn’t cut, or one of the linkages or arms deforms.
5. It is crucial for shears to pass all tests, as failure of the shear pieces (upper and lower arms, and linkages) are very costly to repair.

Present Goals:

1. Punch

1. Will have basic set-up for Edwards punches.
2. Machine is to be able to punch holes which require 90 Tons of force, without any deformation on any of the machine’s components. Minimum capacity is 80T.
3. We will test up to 85T, as 90T is a difficult tonnage to get (would require  odd increments of material thickness or punch diameter). We will do so by punching a 1 1/16” hole in 1” meal.
4. Most likely failure is the stripper, as this hasn’t been fully analyzed. However this is OK because it is an easy part to fix.
5. Can remove entire punch assembly within 5 minutes.

2. Flat Shear

1. Will be able to shear 1”x6” metal at a minimum. Desired capacity is 1”x8”.
2. Should not leave “excessive” burring, or deformation on pieces being cut.
3. Failure most likely at clamp.

3. Angle Shear

1. Will be able to hear 5x5x1/2” steel at minimum. Desired capacity is 6x6x1/2”
2. Should not leave excessive burring or deformation on pieces being cut.
3. Failure most likely at clamp.

Future goals:

1. Machine should be retro-fitable to include Coper Notcher and Bar Shear as well.

Failure Mode Analysis and Recovery Plan

Discuss the contingencies/dependencies that determine your project success or timeline. Discuss the things that may go wrong in your project, and how you will address these possible breakdowns (budget overruns, performance failures, supply chain issues, team breakdowns, lack of data, etc.). Please perform this analysis on a week-by-week basis for the duration of your proposal.

For any of the weeks, we could have machinery failure. For most of the machinery required, we have an alternate machine we could use.

Week of 2/6/12:

1. Supply Chain: I may not be able to get necessary metal from supplier. If I can’t, I’ll use whatever we have available at Enniss, and work on whichever parts we have materials for.
2. Machine Failure: this weeks goals require the mill and a surface grinder.

1. Surface Grinder: could have trouble finding it; it supposedly attaches to one of our mills. If I cannot get one, I will discuss with my grandfather whether we should buy one for company or use a mill to do surface grinding parts.

3. Fabrication difficulties:

1. Freeze-fit bushings could be too hard to insert. Solution is to bore off a bit more material.
2. Threading: I need to learn how to thread parts for the  grease joints among other things. Worst case scenario, I weld a nut over holes to be greased.

Week of 2/13/12:

1. Majority of parts should have come in. The most likely to be late is the 3” slab for  the arms. If we don't have these, we will work on other parts.

1. Could be difficult to maneuver arms. I will likely need help from the guys.

Week of 2/20/12:

1. All parts should be in, with the possible exception of the blades.
2. If angle blades don’t come in, I will continue all parts fabrication which doesn’t require the  half-moons.

Week of 2/27/12:

1. At this point, the half moons become crucial for machining the upper arm and angle  shear. If these haven’t come in yet, I’ll begin assembling the lower half of the machine, including the lower arm, blade mounts, linkages, and frame.
2. Could be difficult to maneuver the upper and lower arms into place. We will most likely need to use a forklift with chains and a come-along to adjust the angle on the part. If I have too much trouble, I will hire the workers to help me get it into place.

Week of 3/5/12:

1. Half Moons should definitely be in by now, so we can finish upper arm for sure.

Final Machine Assembly:

1. The blade gap is too big: Use shims to lessen gap.
2. Blade gap is too small: grind off more of the lower blade mount.
3. Arms are not parallel: shim one side
4. Pins won’t go through bushings: Bore out bushings a few thousandths or grind down pins.