I worked in a hardware store for 4+ years while I was in Junior High/High School. It was an old fashioned hardware store that moved through the transition from boxed and trayed fitting to blister packed and bagged fittings while I worked there in the early to mid 70's. We also threaded pipe, cut glass and sold bulk paint thinner, repaired and rebuilt chainsaw and lawn mowers etc.
The average worker at Lowes, or Home Depot are way, way behind the level of hands on skill that we had to have back then. Unless the machine was entirely menu driven and required almost no operator intervention, I suspect it would not last long in the current retail hardware market. It is a clever idea though, probably worth more thought. The machine would probably need to have two spindles or some mechanism to reverse the slug and rechuck it without operator intervention. A vending machine front end might be a more appropriate interface for the customer or the worker. You were right - you should have bought the flaring tool. I've done it both ways. Buying the double flaring tool ends up being both cheaper and easier. Also buying the right bender for brake line makes a big difference also. Dave On 12/31/2009 1:16 PM, Jim Coleman wrote: > if there was a simple interface where the operator selected from a > menu / dropdown box what threads need to be on each side, load a plug > into the machine and hit go... it might be pretty feasable. i think > the problem would be convincing stores to buy the machine as opposed > to ordering loads of fittings to make things work. > > reminds me of when i recently replaced brake lines on a family > member's minivan. I could either buy lots of lines and adaptors, or > some steel line, 4 fittings and a flaring tool. I passed the decision > to the family member, and they ended up spending more on fittings and > adapters than i would have on the flaring tool. It sure would have > been nice to have the option of specifying the threads i needed and > have the fittings offed right there on the spot instead of having to > use the adapters and everything. > > On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 12:47 PM, Kirk Wallace > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I was at the local hardware store buying brass fittings, of course I had >> to buy three fittings each to get a connector with the two ends that I >> needed. I got to shooting the breeze with the counter person and the >> conversation wandered a bit but an idea came to mind. >> >> I wonder if it would be commercially viable to have an small EMC2 CNC >> machine setup which would use hex and round stock to make standard >> fittings from a customer request, very much like a key machine. It may >> be possible to fit the machine in the same space that would be taken up >> by a decently stocked shelf. No matter what fitting was needed, as long >> as the machine had brass rod, the fitting would be in stock. The chips >> could be recycled and send back as new hex or rounds. I think the major >> issue would be to set up the software so that a typical sales person >> could handle the customer request and monitor the machine. With EMC2's >> tapered threading a steel pipe machine could be set up too. Again the >> software would need to properly prompt a sales person to load the >> machine and check the pipe for proper pipe placement and size. If you >> wanted to get fancy and had the space, the pipe machine could have an >> auto loader with 20 meter lengths of pipe which could be threaded and >> cut to a customer's cut list. >> >> Anyone have thoughts on using an application specific EMC2 in a retail >> setting? >> >> -- >> Kirk Wallace >> http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/ >> http://www.wallacecompany.com/E45/index.html >> California, USA >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community >> Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support >> A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy >> Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev >> _______________________________________________ >> Emc-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users >> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community > Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support > A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy > Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers > http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
