Crazy Monkey Woodshop

May 27, 2010

So This is May, What Have We Done?

Filed under: CNC Router, Drop Spindles, General, Products, Tools, Yarn Winders — Tags: , , , — Ben @ 11:14 pm

It’s been over a month now since I first got the CNC router mostly functional (and since I posted an article), and I am sure you are all eager to know what’s going on with that. Actually, I’m pretty sure most of you are eager to know what the hell I’m talking about in the first place, and really why you should care at all.

What on earth is a CNC Router, you ask? Why should my loyal and future customers care that I have one? What does this mean to them? What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? I’ll answer the last question first, since it is the easiest. Nothing. There I said it. My CNC router will have no effect on the price of tea in China, as far as I know.

Now on to the harder questions: A CNC Router is a router, which is controlled by a computer. A router is a woodworking machine which spins a small bit around, very fast, to cut through wood. The computer control enables the machine to cut out virtually any kind of complex shape. This has some interesting ramifications for us here at Crazy Monkey Creations, and by extension for our customers.

First, the CNC Router does its work in a semi-unattended way, freeing all of the Crazy Monkey employees (i.e. Me and sometimes Christy) to work on other parts of the production while waiting for the CNC to finish its part. This should hopefully more than double our production capacity, so eventually it will mean shorter lead times for our customers.

Second, the CNC Router can cut a curvy complex shape every bit as easily and quickly as a simple square boxy shape. This capacity will be put to great use in the near future and we are working hard to redesign our product line to make full use of this new capability. Our new products, which we will start announcing in Late July or early August, should be much more attractive, fluid shapes, which hopefully you will find to be as pretty as they are functional. Of course we will continue to make unsurpassed usability our primary design concern.

Third, since the CNC Router can cut complex shapes easily we can use this functionality to implement new and better features for our products. Features that have in the past been too difficult or time consuming for us to include at a practical price will now be implemented nearly for free. This will greatly increase the value of our products to our customers. One such feature will be finer graduations for the winder arm markings, making it easier for operators to set a specific skein size.

Fourth, we will be able to make more efficient use of our materials, since we will be able to cut parts out in a nested fashion. This will of course help us keep costs down, and it also help save the environment by producing less waste. We are always as efficient with out materials as we can be of course, and now we can be even more so.

Fifth, the CNC Router will enable us to make products that were simply impossible for us to make in the past. We are working hard on expanding our product line. In addition to releasing the redesigned skein winders and swifts from our current collection, we will be introducing many new products over the next few months.

So, as we learn to use our CNC Router to its fullest capability, and as I continue to rebuild it to increase its rigidity, capacity and reliability, we will be making more and better products available to you, our loyal customers.

9 Winders and 2 Swifts

If you ordered a winder or swift recently, it’s on this table.

March 25, 2010

The Shop is Now Operational

Filed under: General, Tools, Yarn Winders — Ben @ 9:43 pm

I have managed to get my table saw rebuilt and calibrated, and I have built a new assembly table. Those are the two biggest tasks that needed to be done before I can actually use the shop for any production work. So now I will start finishing the winders that have already been ordered, and working on building up a back stock of parts again, while also working on putting together the rest of the shop. We are going to get some more of our tools out of storage (not at The Ranch) this weekend, so it won’t be long before it starts feeling like a real woodshop.

Among the many tools which will be retrieved from storage is our lathe. some of you my be able to guess at the ramifications this will bring, some of you will just have to wait and see the awesomeness as it is produced.

The heater seams to work well, and even on cold days the temp is well over 50º. The large thermal mass of the concrete and earth keep the room from getting too cold, so my glue will be safe there. A good thing, as I am tired of replacing frozen glue. This will sure beat working in the refrigerator/freezer that was the ranch shed this winter.

Construction of my new CNC router which I still haven’t told you about should begin sometime next week too, at which time I will actually tell you about it. This will eventually be the most exciting news on this blog.

In other news: We are switching to a new motor for our electric skein winders. This motor is more powerful, quieter, smoother, and American made. However it does cost more than the old motor did, and so the price of the electric winders will be going up by about $50. The motor mounts to the winder a little differently, so I  have yet to build a prototype of the new mount design. This should happen on Sunday or Monday, and once I have the prototype finished and tested, I will officially announce the new price and design. Any winders ordered now will receive the new motor, but we will continue charging the old price until we officially make the announcement on the Crazy Monkey News web page. This is effectively a $50 off sale! Hurry because the official announcement  and price increase will probably happen late next week.

March 18, 2010

A New Home

Filed under: General, Products, Tools, Yarn Winders — Ben @ 2:27 pm

It’s official, we now have a new home, and perhaps even a new hope.   I have just rented a 600 sqft woodshop just a couple miles north of our house in Denver.  This means that once we move the tools, we won’t have to drive down the The Ranch every time we want to build something.  This will have far reaching repercussions on our production time, our R&D and also on the kinds of products we will be able to offer in the near future.

Our New Shop

Look for the lead time on winder production to drop back down to a week here pretty soon, once we get the tools re-calibrated after the move.

March 17, 2010

A Much Better Week

Filed under: General, Products, Yarn Winders — Ben @ 4:31 pm

Our trip down to The Ranch this week was much better and we were able to produce parts for most of the next 12 winder and swift orders. We went in while it was snowing, and the ground was pretty well frozen. On the way out was a little more hairy, but we made it anyway. The new tires really showed their stuff and I am most pleased about that.

We didn’t have any time this week to make any of the parts for the new CNC Router (a project which I will be posting about soon), so I am a bit disappointed about that.

On a somewhat more positive note, we are looking into getting a workshop up in Denver so that it will be closer to home, not entrenched in mud and more roomy, hopefully with heat, so winder production will be able to get back under a proper schedule. I’ll keep you posted about that as we make more decisions soon.

March 10, 2010

Wasted Week

Filed under: General, Products, Yarn Winders — Ben @ 11:34 am

This is a bad week for winder production. When we finally reached the ranch trail last night we discovered that rather than having had dried out like it has in Denver, not even all of the snow had finished melting, but plenty of it had, and the trail was a swamp of standing water and deep penetrated mud. I drove in a couple hundred feet and decided to turn around. We really barely made it out even from just the short way in. I’m pretty sure we would have gotten seriously stuck if we had gone much further.

This failed trip to the ranch cost us about $120 and completely wasted 18 man hours that could have been spent doing other work, of which there is plenty to be done. :-(

So, I can’t make any new winder parts this week. Luckily most of the winders that are due this week had their parts made last week, so I can still ship mostly on time. But if I can’t get in again next week, quite a few winders will have to be late, a situation that grieves me greatly.

I am going to update the lead time on the web site to “4 weeks, weather permitting” because I don’t have much hope of the road being passable any time real soon. Either we need a blisteringly cold night when we go down so all the mud and water freezes, or we need a week of very warm and dry weather to boil off all the water and dry out the ground. Looking at the weather, I don’t see any of that happening. There is still plenty of snow on the ground, which will slowly melt over the following weeks and just make the situation worse.

I bet you next year, after I’ve built the real road, with proper drainage and a gravel surface, we will have an unseasonably dry and warm winter with no mud anyway. I really wish I had a tractor.

March 9, 2010

The Birth of a Skein Winder

Filed under: Products, Yarn Winders — Ben @ 2:45 pm

Mommy, where do skein winders come from?

The Trail to the Crazy Monkey Ranch

Car Stuck in the Mud, Left For Dead

Well dear, when a skein winder mommy and a skein winder daddy love their customers very much, they will tie lumber and plywood to the top of their car and drive 140 miles from their home near Denver Colorado to their property south of Pueblo Colorado. Once they leave the freeway, they will brave the 4 miles of gravel road and the 2 miles of wilderness trail to reach their property, where they have a  10′x12′ workshop and 14′ camper trailer.  When driving along the trail, they must always be careful not to run into a cow or pronghorn, or sometimes even elk. They also must be wary of running over spiky cacti. But most importantly, they must time their journey very carefully in order to avoid becoming seriously stuck in the sticky and slippery mud, or in the unpredictable snow drifts. Due to extreme diligence they have only ever become seriously stuck thrice this winter.

Our New Heater

Food Safe Temperatures

After they have successfully completed the journey to “The Ranch”, they will set to work in their spacious 10×12 workshop, which is powered by one small gasoline generator.  Hopefully there is gas left in the generator from last time though, otherwise they must venture forth, once again braving the wilderness trail, the mud and the snow and travel the 15 miles to the nearest gas station in Colorado City.  In the winter they will fire up their new propane heater, which is capable of keeping the workshop a balmy 40º Fahrenheit, which according to their thermometer is the correct temperature to keep food fresh. Once the generator is started, the lights turned on, heater fired up, and stock taken of the parts and material they have available, they will begin the more than 65 separate operations involved in making the parts for each skein winder.  Usually working through the night to accommodate their regular work schedules, they will retire in the morning to the camper trailer.

Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Router Table, Drill Press, Workbench

Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Workbench, Wood Storage

Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Finished Arm Storage, Drillpress

Our Little Camper Trailer, Solar Non-Functional

Once in the camper, they will prepare themselves a rudimentary meal, and light the heater, which does not seem to actually heat anything, just because it seams right that it should be on. After partaking of their sumptuous meal, which mainly consists of canned soup, or Mac & Cheese, they will retire to the 40 year old 3″ thick foam bed, and get a good day’s rest in preparation of their next night of work.

Depending on order volume, and on how much extra work they managed to finish during their previous visit, they will stay from 1 to 4 nights, usually working for 14 to 16 hours a night, and then resting, eating and sleeping the remaining 10 hours of the day.

The Element Safely in the Garage

When their work is complete, or time has run out, all the winder parts will be packed into the car for transport back to the little house in Denver. Then, God willing, they will make the half hour, two mile drive from The Ranch to the gravel road, and then the two and a half hour drive home.

Parts for 14 Winders & Swifts in Storage

After their long and arduous journey the winder mommy and daddy stack all of the dozens of winder parts into the temporary holding shed where they await final completion. Working on 3 to 4 skein winders or swifts a night, the skein winder daddy will take all the parts of the embryonic skein winders out onto the porch, often in sub freezing temperatures, then sand and finish them. Then, when all the night’s parts are finished, he leaves them there to dry and tries to get a good night’s sleep. I’ve told you time and again how important it is to get a good nights sleep, haven’t I?

The next morning, when he is all rested up, the winder daddy will take all the newly oiled winder and swift parts into the house, where he will wipe off the excess finish, drill all the remaining holes, screw on and adjust the feet so they sit level on his table, glue in all the yarn guides, solder together and install the counters, bundle up all the nuts, bolts and screws into little plastic baggies, print staple and fold all the instruction manuals, print out the adoption certificate (receipt) for the happy new winder parents, print out a FedEx shipping label, and then carefully place all the parts and pieces (up to 16 parts in total) and lots of padding and filling into the box, liberally applies tape to seal up the box, and then finally applies the FedEx shipping label. After all that, the skein winder is taken off by the FedEx man to meet it’s new loving parents.

The End.

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