Another step forward in humanoid robotics with the announcement today of the HRP-4 from the Japanese robotics firm Kawada Industries. This is an upgrade to their previous humanoid robotics offerings. Check out the video of it's capabilities below.

This video brings to mind some things I have been thinking about for a while now. Workers in Europe and America need to understand that in the next 50 years their employment is going to be constantly under fire caught in a pincer between automation and outsourcing to lower cost countries. It will not be long now at all before robots such as this will be doing menial work for us such as moving objects, cleaning, working at cash registers, etc... New jobs will be created in the robotics sector and perhaps in other soft skill sectors like business management and project management for corporate management of outsourced teams. However the big question is will the number of jobs created in these new industries be enough to offset the losses in the lower skilled jobs and will those workers in the lower skilled jobs be able to adapt to the new economic reality they find themselves in. My thinking is that there will be a new larger underclass that is more or less permanent and that the gap between rich and poor will grow larger than any time in recent memory. And if there is not planning for this situation now it will result in some form of societal upheaval. 

I am sure many economists would say have faith in this creative destruction process that is simply part of capitalism. And perhaps I should, perhaps I am just being unnecessarily fearful of this very likely future. But it really is hard to imagine how after the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the 70s 80s and 90s, the outsourcing of many knowledge worker jobs in the 00s, combined with the rapid improvements in automation technology that these events will not have serious long term consequences for the developed worlds workers.

My thinking is that there will need to be programs put in place to deal with this new permanent underclass. I think we are heading for a future in wich greater than 10% unemployment is the new norm and I think that it could go much higher. There will simply be much less demand for human workers than what we have seen in the past. In a meta sense this is a boon for humanity in the respect that much of that menial work should not have to be done by humans at this point anyway. The problem lies in the transition upheaval and the winners and losers category. The wealthy I.E. entrepreneurs, management, engineers, marketers etc.. will largely benefit from new levels of wealth and leisure time so for them it will be a great thing. However the lower skilled workers last bastion of employment (low end service jobs) will disappear forever and never come back. There has to be some programs in place to deal with this new permanent situation. I don't see how a democracy can survive long term with greater than 10 percent unemployment with little or no social safety net as we have here in the United States of America there will be consequences.

I have been toying with the idea for some time of getting a larger manual milling machine. I would go back and forth between thinking maybe I should get a Rong Fu RF-45 square column mill or one of it's many clones or maybe a small knee mill like the Grizzly G3102 6x26 or maybe a full size knee mill. So with that in mind I have been keeping an eye out on Craig's List for the proverbial naive widow selling a cherry Bridgeport J head for peanuts or even a good clone. In the time that I have been keeping my eye out I have seen a few knee mills on CL and they were either selling for new prices like 8k for a sharp 9x42 or they were clapped out clones like a Lagun 9x42 for 2.5k. I also have been watching Darrell Holland's machine shop course videos and watching him take .400" cuts in 7075 aluminum with his Bridgeport and the machine not even noticing I got a real desire to own an actual full size knee mill. I was not sure if I had room in the shop for a full size knee mill but figured I could cram it in somehow. My thinking also was with the full size knee mill if I bought one of sufficient quality I would likely have it for the rest of my life. So it's a once in a lifetime purchase.

Now my first choice would be a Bridgeport J head mill in good shape. I have no desire to re-scrape ways or buy a project. Unfortunately for me it seems those types of mills are rarer than hens teeth at least here in Denver. I suspect if I was in the rust belt I would have my pick but not around here. The machine tool dealers have some but they are pretty rough and they want good money for them. So based on previous experience I decided I wanted a made in Taiwan knee mill from a reputable company.

In my experience there is a pretty big difference in quality and fit and finish between a machine tool made in mainland China versus Taiwan. With the latter being much higher quality. I have a made in Taiwan 14x40 lathe and it's been great never given me a moments trouble and does it's job admirably. I also have a Jet 4x6 bandsaw made in Taiwan and it just works.  I also have some mainland China made machine tools and for the most part they are machine tool kits requiring lots of fettling just to get them right and even then the fit and finish is sub par. So I started looking around for a high quality made in Taiwan full size knee mill. One thing about that is that the vendors don't always tell you the country of origin. But you can pretty much tell by the price if it's a 9x42 knee mill for 4k it's almost certainly made on the mainland and of dubious quality... basically cheap crap is cheap crap.

In my travels I ran across a brand new G0667x in the crate on eBay for a pretty good deal and pulled the trigger on it. And it showed up yesterday below are the pics of it's arrival. This is a good quality made in Taiwan variable speed 9x48 knee mill. This is from Grizzly's extreme series and as such is the highest end of their range of tools. It's made by the same company that is making the new Southbend Mills for Grizzly.  

Here it is fresh off the truck after having taken apart the crate. The crate was pretty munged but the mill appeared undamaged. I had rented a forklift but for various reasons it had not shown up before the truck with the mill did. So the delivery truck driver and I lowered it via the lift gate on the truck which was dicey to say the least. And then we pushed it up my driveway and in to the garage on a pallet jack which I did not think was possible.

Here is some damage that the pallet took.

Here's a pic of the swank electronics it's a variable speed with 3HP 3 phase motor it runs on single phase 220V via the varaible frequency drive which is at the top.

Once the forklift showed up I could set about getting it off the pallet. First I moved the mill and the pallet outside then using the forklift and some chains I lifted the mill off the pallet.

Next I moved the mill over the garage floor.

 Then I lowered it on to blocks thinking that I could get under the mill and move it in position with the forklift.

Doh! Forklift won't fit and only by about a half inch too.

So instead I moved it in to position using a pallet jack. To get the jack out I set it on some blocks of wood.

Then began the task of walking it off the blocks using a floor jack and some aluminum stock as a lever. Levers are awesome probably one of the most under appreciated tools I love simple tools that let you wield tremendous power over your environment and the simple lever has to be right up there.

Voila mill on the ground and in position

Isn't she a beauty! She's all covered in packing grease and needs assembly and break in done so that's next.

In our continuing series comparing some of the top miniature milling machines in the market we set to work assembling the latest mini mill from Sieg the SX2. Watch on the edge of your seat as I assemble a milling machine!

Battle of the Mini Mills 2010 Sieg SX2 Assembly Part 1 of 4 from Lumensa on Vimeo.

Battle of the Mini Mills 2010 Sieg SX2 Assembly Part 2 of 4 from Lumensa on Vimeo.

Battle of the Mini Mills 2010 Sieg SX Assembly Part 3 of 4 from Lumensa on Vimeo.