From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Morris Dovey"  wrote in message   
   news:jg90l1$5q6$1@speranza.aioe.org...   
   > On 1/31/12 7:34 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:   
   > ...   
   > You wouldn't believe the amount of time I spent looking at the small   
   > RongFu and Enco small mills trying to figure out if I could manage to   
   > retrofit steppers for a CNC conversion - including that exact machine!   
   >   
   > That caught me by surprise. I hadn't realized that you'd been a part of   
   > the great Segway adventure. I hope it was as interesting for you as I'm   
   > imagining!  :-)   
   >   
   > --   
   > Morris Dovey   
      
   Segway hired me as a temp after their lab tech injured himself and needed an   
   operation. At my age no one wants me on their health insurance policy as a   
   permanent employee. Segway had its good and bad moments like most other   
   places I've worked. It was a playground more for the mechanical than the   
   electronic personnel, though I was invited in on a few tiger-team projects   
   as I am very good at building intricate toys.   
      
   Research and development at small companies doesn't give steady long-term   
   employment. The best I can ask for is to be given a project specification   
   and be left alone to design and build it. Most places have given me that   
   freedom.   
      
   When the book "The Soul of a New Machine" came out I was in the middle of a   
   similar project with a similarly highly skilled and motivated team led by a   
   Feynman-type Ph.D. I was maintaining the overall documentation, designing   
   and building board test fixtures and writing low-level hardware test code.   
   Like several other places I've worked a lawsuit during a recession killed   
   that company.   
      
   I've never seen the need for CNC to machine most one-off prototypes. You   
   still need to know how to operate the machine manually to understand speeds   
   and feeds and clamping rigidity. Mills make orthogonal plane surfaces and   
   lathes cut cylinders just fine without automation, and angles or conical   
   tapers require only simple accessories.   
      
   Here is a steering sector gear I made for my tractor using a home-made gear   
   cutting bit. I've since replaced that worn and ragged rotary indexer.   
   https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/HomeMadeMachines#5285710370886636434   
   https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/HomeMadeMachines#5285710360947850418   
      
   That mill doesn't even have a digital readout. I cut close to final size,   
   measure, and crank in the difference.   
      
   jsw   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)