September 2008 Edition

LEONARDO’S NOTEBOOK

Life and Machining: All are One

There are lessons in cutting grass that can be transferred to cutting stainless, grasshopper

It was a hotter than average summer day when I got back from my shop late Saturday morning. I’d been doing a little clean-up and a lot of paperwork, so I was ready for some rest and recreation but my lawn had other plans. It was out of control and screaming for the mow I had neglected for more than a week.

I got out my electric mower and started to make my usual long overlapping paths across the slope in front of my house – avoiding the tree, getting the chord tangled in the bushes, and struggling to make the turn when the cord snapped tight at the end of a loop.

When I was finished, two hours later, my knees were screaming in pain and I wonder why I didn’t hire a lawn service or at least get a rider mower. I’m a business owner for goodness sakes. I don’t need to be doing this.

During the next week, I gave a little thought to my knees. I analyzed the problems my lawn presented just like I would figure out how to attack tough jobs on my CNC equipment.

Do-It-Yourself

I wasn’t going to hire a lawn service or buy a rider mower. Those kinds of services or mowers are expensive and most of the extra cash I make is going back into equipment for the shop – and maybe a little vacation for the family.

But, I needed to replace my old mower, so I bought another one, the smallest, highest-rpm model I could find. The small mower costs less, is easier to push, and fits into tight spaces so I don’t have to do as much weed whacking – avoid secondary operations, both in machining and in life.

When the time came to mow the lawn on the following Saturday, I had a new plan of attack. Instead of trying to mow across the front of my bushes and flowers and around my big kite-eating tree, I used small looping routes with my smaller mower. This cut most of the grass around the tree and shrubbery and left broad areas of lawn completely exposed for unobstructed cutting.

The neighbors must have thought what I did next was pretty weird. Instead of taking long cuts with fifty percent engagement of the mower in my material – the grass – I made several fully engaged cuts to break the lawn up into small, and manageable sections.

Zigging and Zagging

Then I used a zig-zag mower path with little walking and no turning, using the mower like a vacuum. I had no cord entanglement, no struggle to make turn-backs, yet had near full engagement of the mower on the forward zig and more than 50 percent engagement on the backward zag. Much more efficient. Growth gave way to clean-cut lawn with unprecedented smoothness.

I followed this sectioning and vacuuming strategy from one side of the lawn in front of my house to the other, until it was completely trimmed. Then I looked at my watch. The new procedure had taken me two hours just like it had the week before. But, I wasn’t sweating, my back didn’t ache, and my knees weren’t screaming. I had plenty of energy left to take the family to the lake for a swim and a picnic.

Since I wasn’t straining, the rhythms of mowing were very zen. In this higher level of consciousness I had flashes of things I could do to improve my life and business, such as use smaller – less costly – tools; use smoother and faster cutting actions; take the strain off my CNC machine so that it will last longer and require less maintenance; let the high-speed cutting strategy help do the work; and take more precise cuts to eliminate scrap and secondary operations.

By learning to cut smarter, I am making all sorts of good things happen at home on Saturday morning, and in my job shop all week long.

Ben Mund is Marketing Manager for CNC Software, Tolland, CT. His content is dramatized by Joel Cassola, a freelance writer.

What do you think?
Will the information in this article increase efficiency or save time, money, or effort? Let us know by e-mail from our website at www.ModernApplicationsNews.com or e-mail the editor at pnofel@nelsonpub.com.