Most of the interns' work I have been posting is the lower end eductional program, where I start off by building basic tool skills and familiarity, and assess the intern's abilities and natural skill sets, to determine where to go with them. Amanda is on the other end of the spectrum of our (currently developing) educational programs. She already has the skills, and my goal is to challenge her, by creating situations that initiate creative thinking and problem solving, then help her most effectively use her skills to reach her goals. The majority of what I have been doing with her, thus far, has been for my own assessment needs. She's pretty awesome...
Yesterday's project was to figure out her own way to turn the ends of the lower control arm ends to fit in the tubing. The four-jaw chuck is missing for the lathe, which set the stage for her to come up with her own solution. There is no right or wrong, and points are given for creative excellence. She used a rotary table on the mill, which let her use the digital readout to precisely hone in on the desired final dimension. Granted, the rotary table still has a three-jaw chuck, but you have to admit this was a much more creative, innovative, solution (that also allowed more precision in a "production line" like environment than simply turning on the lathe and checking frequently with a caliper or micrometer...)
The end result? Spot on. These will be pressed into the tubes, kinked to get them aimed at the frame mounts, and then notched to fit sections of tubing that will hold the bushings. I realized that the plan I was following was a oil-n-water mix of two different ideas, and wouldn't work as intended, with floppy rod ends. We're going to turn our own UHMW polyethylene bushings (quieter than Delrin, and self-lubing).
