The art of creation: A day in an Engineers Workshop

^{The finished machine part: image taken by me @adetola}

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“Desperate times calls for desperate measures” this is one quote I would never forget as it was the favorite of one of my feared principals in high school.

But this was the case this morning, as a man walked into my workshop this morning requesting to see my boss (the manager) of the workshop where I worked.

From where I sat, I could see him panic while he was showing a piece of what looked like a machine part to my boss. That could only mean a thing and what it means is that there is a work needed to be done and completed as fast as I can.

Not long after the man left my boss called me up to his office. There I got a drawing which indicates the machine part I must reproduce.

The drawing although was not put to scale but it clearly shows the dimensions and the shape of the machine part to be reproduced.

Let me tell you what this machine part is used for

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The machine part in view

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If you have wondered how big companies manage to fill up their bottles either for wine or soft drink production. Then you must have concluded that PepsiCo and Coca-Cola do not employ people to hand fill these bottles but rather have machines to do these for them.

These machines that do this refill are called bottling machine and this part drawn or about to be reproduced is the attachment or nozzle of the bottling machine, it is responsible for filling up these bottles.

This machine part is made of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) popularly called Teflon instead of metal to prevent corrosion and rust as it could be harmful to consumers to find rust in their drinks, therefore, this would be wonderful for the job.

The PTFE used was a white plastic which was machined to give the required outcome.

I would be sharing the step by step procedure and challenge I came across while reproducing these machine part.

^{The orthographic projection of the material: image taken by me @adetola}

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The required tools

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The tools used in carrying out this project include the

• raw material (i.e. The Teflon) 50mm in diameter
• A lathe machine
• Cutting tools
• measuring tool in Vernier caliper

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Operation taken to achieve the outcome

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The operation began by setting the Teflon in the three jaw chuck that has been set carefully inside the spindle. This requires the machinist to be very careful as a bent work might affect the final product which may result from machining.

This is done using a Guage.

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The facing operation

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The first operation carried out on the (50mm diameter) Teflon was the facing operation. And this requires relieving the material of its old surface and giving it a smooth and a new one which is well balanced and suitable for the given work.
The facing operation was carried out using the facing tool (high-speed steel) which is placed on the tool post with the tool post being set at a perpendicular angle (90-degree angle) and fed to the tool rotating at a medium speed.

As the tool meets with the surface of the tool it is being peeled of while it forms a chip (material removed from the job) which is continuous or does not break off easily.

After this is completed the material has a new face with part of its length reduced slightly.

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Turning operation

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This is the next operation carried out on the job to get it into shape.

Turning involves the removal of the diameter of the cylindrical surface. This had to be done gradually and in a way that would not stress out the tool. The 50mm diameter was then reduced to the 45 mm diameter for a length of 57mm across the Teflon after repeated to and fro movement of the tool post. The tool is fed in a perpendicular direction to the rotating surface of the tool. You may be thinking just like the facing tool?
Yes, it is just like the facing tool except for the fact that you are not cutting away the surface but reducing the diameter of the job, therefore, you do not allow the tool to go deep into the material.

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Step turning

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A step turning operation is an act of creation because it is like constructing a step on a cylindrical surface. Such that you move from a place of lower diameter to a higher diameter. Just like a real step which has a raiser, this one you are creating to will have a raiser and this raiser is formed by reducing a specific part of the diameter of the job to a certain diameter such that it now has low on one end and a higher diameter at the other.

This is done just like the facing operation just that one part is repeatedly machined to a certain diameter of 25mm diameter while the other remains at 45mm diameter for a length of 20mm across the total length of 57mm of the facing done earlier.

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Tapering operation

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If you look at the drawing of the job compared to what we have produced with the lathe machine we have a slant edge. This slant edge is as a result of taking the raiser down at an angle and what it means that the tool post has to be set to an angle that is parallel to the horizontal plane.

This is done with a little mathematics of which we both are going to do together. First, we have to make use of our vernier calipers to take measurements of both the big diameter (D) of the step and the small diameter (d) also we have to take the length (L) across which we want the slant edge to spread across. after taking them we are going to put them in this formula for taper turning.

The tool post is then set at an angle calculated to be 24 degrees. It is just like forming a cone on the step so there is no edge anymore for the step.

Note each measurement is done carefully to monitor and ensure that the material formed is precise else it wouldn't be useful for the actual job it is required.

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Drilling operation

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On the tiny edge of the cylinder which we have formed I mean the edge of the cylinder with diameter 25 mm. According to the drawing, there is a hole (16 mm diameter) which was drilled inside the material.

The 16 mm diameter drill was therefore fixed in the tailstock of the lathe and fed carefully to the material to a length of 30mm depth inside the job. It was ensured that the hole fell at the center of the Teflon to ensure neatness of the job.

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The chamfering operation

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This is almost the last step of the production you might not see it in the drawing but in engineering, we care about safety and this operation is more of a safe way for people to handle this material and make it sit perfectly where it is being used.

It involves removing all the sharp edges made during the production of the part. So, it's smooth and soothing to touch.

Don't forget all these measurements were possible due to the usage of the Vernier caliper which is more accurate than just any ruler.

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The cutting operation

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I put this together because they are the last operation of this machine part production.
If you remember our raw Teflon material which we are reshaping it is very much longer than the machine part we are trying to form out of it, therefore, we need to cut it.

Cutting on a lathe might be tricky I stated above that we used a length longer than the one in the drawing for this reason just in case your hands are not straight like mine.

But there is an easy way, you remember the step turning operation? You can always go back to it.

This way could be used to ensure that the cut you are about to make is straight. You fed the material the tool at a concentrated point where you intend to cut when the cut has been made deep then it could be traced and done with the hacksaw. This way your cut is always straight.

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Image gallery

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You would see some images and a video in my gallery about how these operations are carried out on these materials.

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watch this video I made to see several operations being carried out