We specialize in machining custom guitar parts for the Brian May RS (Red Special) Guitar. The evolution of "The Cyber Shop" ...
1992 - Origins of "The Cyber Shop"
In 1992 I was working for a major company with the Teledyne Corporation in Bowling Green, Ky. This company had been in business at that time for 75 years. As the manufacturer of "hard-facing" welding rods, the process had been chan
ged little since the 1930's. I was approched to revamp the machining process of their "Fab Rolls" used in the forming of their "Hard-facing" welding rods. Up to this time all "Fab Rolls" were being machined manually at an average rate of 32 rolls/day/operator. There were 4 operators per shift with a 1st & 2nd shift. The average number of rolls per "Fab Machine" was 12 to 18 sets with each set having it's own station. A "set" would include a top roll and a bottom roll. These rolls were used in forming the welding rod by drawing down the diameter of the rod in a graduated manor thru each set of rolls until the final diameter was met. Due to the fact the rolls were being machined manually and not having a uniform match between the top and the bottom roll, the rolls would wear out quickly because of the very abrasive material that was being inserted into the strip as it would be fed through the machines. An average set of rolls at this time would wear out after only 2 or 3 days of production. Because of my past experience with CNC's I was asked to write a program so the "Fab Rolls" could be machined on a CNC Turning Center. Up until this time, blanks were being machined on a CNC and then given to the manual machinist to perform the final machining. As I came to find out, the Engineering Dept. had been trying to come up with a way of machining the rolls on a CNC for over 20 years with no luck. The Engineering Department Head emphatically stated that after years of trying, it could not be done. My work was to be done in complete secrecy because of the resistance from the Engineering Dept. I started out with the most commonly used size of "Fab Rolls" which was the 7/32 diameter consisting of 4 sets of "Form Rolls" and 16 sets of "Draw Rolls". Remember, the average life expectancy of a set of rolls was only 2 to 3 days of production. As I had no CAD/CAM software, my programming was done strictly by hand using Trig formulas for calculating radius' and tangent points along the profile of the roll. It took me 2 weeks to program the first complete set. We secretly machined the rolls, placed them in operation and they increased the life-span of the rolls 3 fold! Not only did the life of the rolls increase but the quality of the finished product was far superior to that of the rod previously produced. We decided to not reveal our findings to Engineering until I programmed another commonly used roll size of 3/32 dia. As I had already figured out what formulas needed to calculate the geometry of the rolls, this 2nd set of rolls only took 2 days. We saw the same results from these rolls as well! At this time we decided to make public or findings to the Engineering Dept. They were reluctant to admit that they were wrong in saying the "Fab Rolls" couldn't be machined using CNC's but agreed to let me continue programming all the other sizes of rolls. I created a spread sheet that would automatically spit out the calculations needed in the program to generate any size roll required. with just the input of a few numbers I was able to create a program in as little as 1 hour! All said and done...I was promoted to Engineering. The Engineering Department Head was fired. There was a savings of over $150,000.00/month in tooling, direct and indirect labor, the scrap rate was practically eliminated and the quality of the product was far superior to that of previously machined "Fab Rolls". Needless to say this totally revolutionized the process by which "Fab Rolls" were machined from that day forward.
1994 - Word Spreads...
Eventually, one of our top Engineers left the company and went to work for another company in Ohio. This company was having troubles with a few of their machining process'. I got a call from him asking if I would be interested in coming up and consulting with them on ways to increase production and quality as well as decrease their scrap. He told me that his company would pay for my travel and lodging as well as my out of pocket expenses. I accepted immediately! As no one can know everything about everything, I recruited a long time buddy of mine, who also had the same drive and values as I, to go with me. We were in Ohio for 3 days and in the course of our work there we experienced a turning point in our working lives. We found out that with our experience and love of the trade, we could make money doing this! Having had success in Ohio, we contacted several local Industries and the work started pouring in.
1997 - "The Cyber Shop" expands
The original concept was, we would provide consulting, design idea's, suggest more efficient tooling, improved work flow through the facility and provide programming that would optimize their machining processes. Having worked in the trade for many years and working with many people, we recruited others we knew that had other areas of expertise than ours. This would expand our capabilities and ensure the best in all fields of machining. We had no physical building. We communicated via the phone, eMail and fax machine, yet we had all the capabilities of any brick and mortar shop. We had no overhead, no payroll, and needed no benefits as we were all employed at various other companies. We all worked as contracted labor and split the money accordingly. As the word spread and our work grew we found that more and more our work required us actually doing the machining. We at first were reluctant to take on this responsibility, but with a $42,000.00 contract from a local furniture company to revamp their machining process, we commissioned a Machine Shop close to the Furniture Manufacturer to provide the needed machining. By this time we are no longer just a 2 man business. We had 2 contracted Design Engineers, 2 contracted Programmers, 2 contracted Consultants and now a contracted Machine Shop! We felt it was time to officially form "The Cyber Shop".
