Today I started the day in Quality Control. I got to see and help check the measurements of each of the parts that came through. At StoneAge, they check 100% of the parts they make in house and then 20% of the parts that are outsourced. They use a variety of tools to determine whether the parts match the blueprints. The parts come straight from the machine shop, through a door and into quality control. I was very impressed by the amount of quality control that goes into each part. After Quality Control I had lunch and then helped Joe, one of the engineers, take apart and put together his tool that was going to be sent to Los Angeles for field testing. It was cool to see how that tool had went through the testing phase to the revisions to the semi-final product that was being sent for field testing. I actually got to help put it together, which was really cool. Joe had to check which type of nozzles they wanted on the tool, so I went to my desk to work on Solid Works for the rest of the day.
Today was another eventful day. I started the morning in Small Assembly putting seals and bearings on parts. I then went with Jed and helped him do the final assembly of the product. Jed's job is to install the right nozzles into the heads of the tool. Not only is Jed a skilled assemblyman, he is a philosopher at heart. During my time there, Jed imparted numerous pieces of advice, which I enjoyed listening to.
I then took lunch at my desk at around twelve noon. After lunch, I was recruited by Todd to help with a new machine he was working on. The purpose of the machine was to allow high pressure tubing to be fed into a take to clean things like boilers or heat dissipaters remotely instead of manually. The machine is designed in such a way that it feeds the tube into the tank as well as coils it and uncoils it on its own. I thought it was really cool to help with that project because, just a few months ago, that machine was just a design in a CAD program. He was able to have the parts built, and then assemble it himself to see if it worked and what he might need to change. The engineers have full access to their own shop where they can build and test their own stuff, which is pretty cool. I imagine that having that greatly speeds up the process of taking and idea to a finished product. After helping Todd, I went back to working in SolidWorks until it was time for me to go. Today I got to see how tools are made in the machine shop. I started with Patrick on the lathe, and he showed me how he taps pipes to put threads in them. I then went with Lee to the CNC machine. CNC stands for Computer Numerical Cut. I think. Anyway, Lee's fingers were a blur as he programmed the right path for the tool he was working on. Then he pressed the go button and the machine kicked into gear. The machine Lee was working on has twenty four tools it can use when making a cut. The operator can choose which tool he wants to use for each specific cut. All of the computers run of an xyz axis coordinate system. You can tell the machine to cut 10 units on the x axis and then 3 on the z axis, which I thought was pretty cool. In the afternoon, I continued working on SolidWorks. Rawlin gave me a couple of tools and a set of calipers to try and sketch up in the program. I completed the first one and got a good start on the second one.
I started the day today with Tom in the Small Assembly room. After making acquaintances with Tom, I was quickly put to work. My job was to put Loctite on a bushing and thread the bushing into a head. I had to do that job thirty times. While I was doing that, Tom was putting together smaller nozzles that had a rotating head. In the middle of my thirty nozzle heads, Joe, one of the engineers, came in with a new design he had been working on. He gathered all of the guys that worked in small assembly and showed them how it was put together. I thought that that was really cool because I was able to see an engineers designs on the computer get built and possible become part of next years catalog. He explained all of the improvements he had made, which included making most of the pieces accessible with just the use of a pipe wrench. He did this because the people that are going to be using the tool will most likely just have a pipe wrench with them. It was really cool to see how the engineer worked with the assemblymen to create a product that could be put together without too much trouble and will do the job it was made to do.
Once Joe was done, we got back to work with our respective tasks. When we had completed those, we went to test the nozzles Tom was putting together. We each got our ear and eye protection and went to the testing warehouse. To test the quality of the nozzles, StoneAge uses a diesel engine to pressurize water and blast it through the part. So we put the parts on the fitting the water comes out, and stood back. Tom then turned the engine on and took the pressure up to 5,000psi. Then he took it up to 10,000, and finally 15,000psi. Seeing the part perform satisfactorily, he killed the throttle and shut off the water. I unscrewed the nozzle and put the next one one. For this one, Tom let me "drive" the pump. The part was placed on the fitting and I got into the drivers seat. I started with turning the throttle up. Then the water flow was increased. This back and forth between the throttle was continued until the pressure reached 5,000psi. I then turned it up to 10,000 and then 15,000psi. Both parts passed and we returned to small assembly. Tom and I assembled some more parts and then it was time for me to take lunch. After lunch I met with Hugh to help rig up a pump system so that they can test their high pressure seals for longer life. After that, I worked in SolidWorks until it was time for me to go. Today was a good day and I am excited for what the folks at StoneAge have in store for me tomorrow. Today was the first day of my internship at StoneAge. I met lots of new people, learned lots of new things, and am ready for tomorrow. I started off the day with a brief tour of the building and the testing facility. I was then introduced to a program I had never worked with before, called SolidWorks. The engineers at StoneAge use this program to design all of their parts that eventually become a product that can be sold on a worldwide market. I then had the honor of having lunch with one of the founders of StoneAge and the engineering team. When we arrived back at StoneAge, I was given a detailed tour of the machine shop and large assembly area. I thought it was really cool how they had so many different instruments for making all of these high-precision instruments. After the tour, I went back to the SolidWorks tutorials. By the end of the day, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of the program. I was able to create an oven rack, with the help of the tutorials, of course. Overall, it was a good day and I am excited to spend some time in the small assembly room tomorrow.
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