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I want to show you some recent projects.
Enjoy! I have. Bill Swann.

There are some real pictures, and some images taken from Autodesk's Inventor program. It is a great 3-D CAD program for mechanical design and design presentation.

Here's my SUNDIAL.

This sundial, located in Galveston, TX, has features which show the time on a scale where lines representing 5 minute intervals are 0.39" apart. Time is read as standard time or daylight standard time. The dial features a "analemma" which corrects for the suns declination and the equation of time ie, a correction necessary because of the earth's tilt on it's axis and the eccentricity of the earth's orbit around the sun.
See The North American Sundial Society, and look in the Sundial Register on that web page for Texas, Galveston . Same picture, but a lot more dials to look at.

Here's my ROUTER TABLE.

This router table has 3 computer controlled motions. There are 3 step motors which control motion in X,Y,Z. The working area is 3' x 6' and 9" in Z movement. The machine is setup to carry a router for wood (shown)), or a slower turning cutter for non-ferrous metals. An oxy-acetylene torch could beadded for cutting steel. A plasma torch would enable one to cut stainless and aluminum. The software to control movement is purchased from Ability Systems. The software can control up to 7 axis of movement simultaneously.

This is a much smaller router table. Little brother to the above. The design emphasized low cost. It's working area is 5" x 8". Computer controlled in 3 axes. The motor can be a Dremel tool, if it has enough power. Plans, or an Inventor model are available. Please contact via e-mail below.

Here is a pick and place machine for which I did the mechanical design.

This pick and place machine is used for programming electronic chips. The machine picks up individual chips with a vacuum cup and places them in programming sockets. The process of placing the chip, as the chip may have leads spaced on 0.020" intervals, is delicate and precise. A camera looks at the chip and determines it's location in X and Y and Theta, as it may not be centered on the vacuum nozzle.
Great company. BP Microsystems. I waited 50 years for this job.

Here is a roll for bending flat bar to round sections. I am rolling a section of the sundial above.





Here is a powder dispenser for metering out powder at rates of 50 #/24 hours. The programming of the dispense rate is controlled by a micro-controller from www.bipom.com. A regenerative blower "fluidized" the powder ; a slowly rotating measuring cup metered the powder ; and bypass airflow from the blower transported the powder down a tube.



This is a Geneva mechanism that I drew on AutoCAD, and a friend, Joe, machined on a robust mill with the said of Gibbs. I really liked the fact that Gibbs allowed a final pass of 0.010". It made a very smooth surface.

Here is a Vertical axis lathe made for turning spheres. Haven't built this yet.

As you can see, I like to design and build machinery. Please

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E-mail me for a question