I could watch the milling process 24/7. You should live stream a whole block from start to finish. You would get thousands of people checking in ALL the time to see the progress.
Totally brilliant idea, STEVE Don’t worry if not much is happening at any point just stream it as it would be a whole lot better than most of the crap that gets streamed. It’s worth a shot. Loving this from Queensland Australia.
Being a disabled machinist /programmer, I enjoy watching you go through the process of working out the setup and programming for this block. CEE and your channel are about the only machining that holds my interest. You have got to step up and get a lathe. The programming is actually easier than mill programming. Spend the money on conversational control. Saves a lot of time doing small runs.
Yes to CEE! Late the the party there only been watching that one for a year but man what an amazing channel and crew. It really is cool how the wide the spectrum is amongst viewers makes it pretty special in the space for sure.
I like the contrast you get with Curtis and Karen’s videos (CEE) often showing the really big machining jobs on hydraulic cylinders and such for the mining industry! Interesting too is it’s just him and his wife, a 2 man show, so to say (man and woman I know).
I'm sure most will agree with me on this one, but your channel is one of the few channels I will watch till the outro screen. I don't care what it's about or whether or not I can afford it, the amount of knowledge you share with us is crazy. Not many people would tell you straight up what you have into a project and ESSENTIALLY not that they're loosing money on something. I am SOOOOO glad Garrett pushed you into making videos.
What a beautiful block. That's like a piece of art sitting on top of that raw billet block. If I ever have the money saved, I'll buy one of those for sure.
Thanks for taking us along on your journey. You are making great progress. Can't wait for Val to make a pass in her new car with one of these new engines.
Fabricator here. Thank you for sharing so much wisdom and knowledge. God blessed you, and you do him well sir. Building cars over 30 years, nothing beats a Machinest build. The craftsmanship and perfectionist from a Machinest is second to none, and not economical. :)
Wow! Since the 70’s machine work sure has advanced, exploded is more like it! Our local machine shop was the local gearhead hangout. Steve , you making a block from billet is 🤯 mind blowing!
I could watch this all day. Thank you Steve, for giving us an inside look at something most engine builders would NEVER release to the public. This is only one thing that makes you stand out. The other is that you are just an all around good person.
Caution may learn something. I always learn something on your videos. I'm watching Kevin build Vals car and can't wait for it to make a pass. Everyone loves my sugar mamma shirt
I find it absolutely fascinating!! I could sit and watch the entire process from block to engine. The process, tools, tech and materials involved plus the final product is simply bad ass!!
The technology in machining and metalworking is amazing! Excellent demonstration that you don't just press a button and an engine spits out the other end.
Awesome stuff. That is a beautiful hunk of metal. The precision of those machines and the programs just blows my mind. Looking forward to seeing what is next!
I have machined cast parts for 11 years and it definitely moves a lot quicker than machining a huge block of billet aluminum. Great and informative video Steve God Bless y'all 👍🙏
Great video. It was really cool to see the entire machine process from a raw black of aluminum into that beast of an engine block. Can’t wait to see it on the dyno
I work for a major automobile manufacturer making cast aluminum engine blocks. It's really neat to see how you do yours and the time it takes. We are die casting 4 cylinder blocks and crank 1 out every 120 seconds. Ours definitely aren't as pretty as yours. Keep up the great work!!
Steve that is absolutely the nicest piece of Art I have ever seen. I have a Haas Mill in my garage because I enjoy machining. You are living in a wonderland, enjoy.
This is a lost art. You may not think that it is, but it really is. In a production setting (one block per machine every 60 secs, but 35 machines that do it in individual steps, one drills and taps, one faces, one creates new location points, one bores, one hones, one deburs, one adds freeze plugs and loctite), I would often go in and loosen the bolts on a location pad and retorque just a little bit tighter and it would kick the position say 3 to 4 microns so it would go from out of spec to into spec. The tools used to measure these parts is more incredible than the parts themselves. Love your content Steve 😘
This is not a dying art man it's mostly new technology come on they didn't start making bullet blocks till the 90's dude that's so funny "it's a dying art"lol I can't stop laughing
I'll bet a lot of folks are wondering about Brock. If I was Steve I wouldn't say his name, that talent is very expensive lol Definitely not a lost art ,but not cheap
@@Jerry-jy7jm Its not really that expensive to get a CNC operator. Its the programmer that does most of the hard stuff which is mostly done by CAD/CAM software as well. I did this stuff in the 90s and it was awesome to see what computers are capable of. Set your location points and hit the start button. The machine does the rest after you proof out the first piece to make sure the program is correct. We had button pushers for changing parts between cycles. all they had to do was make sure the part was installed in the machine at the same location every time. I even used a CNC router to make patterns for sand castings We could blow out 3 patterns a day on one machine. Before we got the machine we have to wait 1 to 2 weeks for one patterns from a pattern shop to custom make them out of wood.
@@tabbott429 I think that's what he does design ,programming, and prove it out with a runoff ,that's what I do, and I think most businesses do. Idk that's what I thought he was doing
Technically, it is probably far longer then 310 hours.... Things like retempering between machining steps take time that would only be counted if done in house, and how long that takes is not always fixed.. This time also probably doesn't include changes made to the programming and prior parts as things get further refined. Waiting for other parts, can drastically increase times as well. Sleeves, bearings, studs, etc. CNC is great for mass production, but getting to where you produce anything in low numbers is incredibly expensive and not easy to do. The fact that you are doing as much as you are in house, is amazing from a business perspective side... That is a credit to Steve, and his entire team....
I think that he is honest with the time, but maybe a little of the CNC programming gets left out but thats just because they have already done this so many times before. Their first CNC block/head/oilpan/intake manifold would have taken so much longer.
Needs to figure out how to recycle all that aluminum. Steve is like Henry Ford trying to figure out how to do it faster, cheaper, better, etc. Totally amazing!
@@garthp9874one shop I worked at would recycle the chips and every quarter it was in your bonus. It wasn’t chump change and it sure made everyone clean up well 😂
No way he can spend 300 hours of CNC time + operator time on every SMX plus assembly cost and parts. That would make the SMX unaffordable for drag and drive racers. That would be a $200K engine to allow Steve any profit. As they optimize things I expect the machining time to get better, A near net casting with the general outside shape and the valley cast in within a inch would also save tons of time and waste. The very first one always takes a ton more time than production.
The nice thing about getting the prototype block proofed out is then you can slowly tweak the program and tooling choices to cut seconds/minutes off the cycle time. Every second saved in the cycle saves $ the more you make. Before i became the official programmer at the shop I worked at I ran the machines and would tweak the poorly written programs for speed and i could routinely knock 5 to 10 minutes off a 45 minute cycle just with editing toolpaths to be more efficient. We even had a tooling specialist come in and we replaced slower cutting tools with faster versions to reduce cycle times even more. We were running 50 -100 pc runs with each setup so it helped a lot to get the jobs done faster. The roughing tools is where you can really make up time with more robust bigger cutters that can take more material off faster.
Steve the very best showcase for the first block is in The Wagon in the Winner's Circle at your inaugural Drag and Drive. Congratulations on advancing machining technology.
The very first block is in Tom Bailey's sick 2.0 the engine that's in the wagon was the first engine cut by this machine but it was done by Tom Bailey's guy when Tom owned it but by far not the first smx
At 3:32 that's a spade bit drill and for it to sound better I recommend covering one side when it's done cause when it breaks thru the other side there isn't coolant hitting the bit causing it to sound rough and heat up
Crank thrust KSR just had a problem with a stock block LS using a 7 " clutch. The release bearing was flat and contacted the diaphragm fingers way too close to the pivot point. The put excessive pressure on the thrust bearing to the point the motor would slow down when the clutch was depressed, this lead to burning the thrust out. The fix was to use a cone type release bearing.
Steve, thanks for sharing all your hard work. I have a simple question. Starting with the raw block, why can't you band saw the rough outside shape? That would leave you with some nice chunks of material that could be used for other parts, maybe even the caps.
Steve, I think you are a genius at everything. You do what you have brought to the racing industry. Is unbelievable technology and engineering? Hats off to you and your entire crew keep up the great work.
Nice work Steve! I love machine work but could probably never do the math lol!! Big brain things you’re doing over there! I hope you get a good production line going and they fly off the shelf!
I miss running/programming the horizontal mill at my old job. Mazak HCN with 120 tools and 12 pallet system. I would look into some shunk hydraulic Holders if there in the budget, cuts down on the tools singing the song of their people.
Now you need to add in a gantry crane so you can lift those blocks out and set in the raw blocks without having to use the forklift. and take 4X as long.
Do you use compressed aluminum blocks like they used to make deep diving suits? It is impressive to see that milling operation, too. The compressing of the raw blocks is amazing.
It's awesome to see all of the different steps of the machine passes. I really dig it because I was a machinists 8yrs for a medical device company. Have you figured out what's the life cycle on the tooling yet? I'm just curious 😁 😉 😎😎
