# Tons of projects coming up,...



## TorontoBuilder (Oct 9, 2022)

Kicked off project season today with the equivalent of driving from Toronto Ontario to Knoxville Tennessee, well past there actually. But now have in my possession a 7.5 HP rotary phase converter, and a 15 KVA 240v to 600v transformer.

Very soon my brother and I will be connecting our 8x24 mikromat hydraulic surface grinder. We also have capacity to run other 3 phase 600v equipment, so no longer have to pass on killer deals if one comes along.

Yesterday my fedex delivery from Vevor arrived, so I have a power feed for the Bridgeport in hand, and I'm waiting on the delivery of new lead screws and bushings from H & W Machine repair in Fort Wayne, and waiting on two DROs and two sets of scales to arrive from Ditron. Usually I dont post a lot when I do these projects but I will for these upgrades.


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## Boswell (Oct 9, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> Usually I dont post a lot when I do these projects but I will for these upgrades.


Looking forward to seeing your projects.


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## pontiac428 (Oct 9, 2022)

I just saw some good 600v machinery go for chump change last week from a local auction house.  I saw how expensive a correct step-up transformer is while considering a 440v dedicated machine, and obviously it's worth driving a thousand miles for the right deal.  But once you have it, I bet you will be the eternal sole bidder and snatching up some fantastic buys.


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## WCraig (Oct 10, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> the equivalent of driving from Toronto Ontario to Knoxville Tennessee, well past there actually. But now have in my possession a 7.5 HP rotary phase converter, and a 15 KVA 240v to 600v transformer.


The equivalent?  Where did you actually go?  Was this within Canada or did you bring the parts back over the border?  If so, was that a hurdle?

Just curious,

Craig


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## benmychree (Oct 10, 2022)

I can't imagine that small 600V machinery is very common, 440/480, yes, very common.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 10, 2022)

WCraig said:


> The equivalent?  Where did you actually go?  Was this within Canada or did you bring the parts back over the border?  If so, was that a hurdle?
> 
> Just curious,
> 
> Craig


I went to Drummondville Quebec, and back again. But I figured US readers could not relate to that locale....


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 10, 2022)

benmychree said:


> I can't imagine that small 600V machinery is very common, 440/480, yes, very common.


Canada unlike the US does not use 440v as a standard, we use 600v. As a result, we have some screaming deals from time to time because US buyers dont want to deal with 600v to 440/480 step down issues.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 10, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> I just saw some good 600v machinery go for chump change last week from a local auction house.  I saw how expensive a correct step-up transformer is while considering a 440v dedicated machine, and obviously it's worth driving a thousand miles for the right deal.  But once you have it, I bet you will be the eternal sole bidder and snatching up some fantastic buys.


In hindsight, I could literally weep at all the equipment I let go to scrap over the high voltage issue. Rare equipment too... my brother kept saying "it's too expensive to buy phase converters and transformers"

Finally last spring I'd had enough BS and bought a great 550v surface grinder to force him to make the decision. It took 6 lazy months to find the right deal on this equipment. I was under the weather so did not look too hard until now because a while ago I'd have not been up to the trip


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 10, 2022)

lead screws arriving Wednesday afternoon according to UPS.

Taxes (HST) of 13% apply of course. Then UPS brokerage fee, which was not the $65 that their pdf states but over 90 bucks. No wonder UPS doesn't want to answer questions on what their fees are.

Ditron sent me a notice that the DROs shipped, but when I click the link to track the shipment it takes me to aliexpress site with zero information. I'm hoping these parts come within 10 days.  We shall see. 

Has anyone else ordered from Ditron who can provide feedback on shipping times?

Anyway, I'll perhaps the lead screws will get tackled next weekend.


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## pontiac428 (Oct 10, 2022)

Ditron shipped my stuff in less than two weeks from red China, but that was 2018.  The world's gone upside down since then when it comes to the supply side, but I thought Ditron's handling through Alibaba (not aliexpress) was outstanding.  I always go to Alibaba and chat with the alleged representatives about options and things.  It gets me a person and a line of contact.  Anyway, under pre-pandemic conditions, Ditron's shipping time was completely reasonable.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 10, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> Ditron shipped my stuff in less than two weeks from red China, but that was 2018.  The world's gone upside down since then when it comes to the supply side, but I thought Ditron's handling through Alibaba (not aliexpress) was outstanding.  I always go to Alibaba and chat with the alleged representatives about options and things.  It gets me a person and a line of contact.  Anyway, under pre-pandemic conditions, Ditron's shipping time was completely reasonable.


Thanks for the feedback. 

They ship it by air allegedly... BUT it was a national holiday in china last week so they failed to ship them immediately. I did go back and forth with a rep many times who was very friendly. In the end I got a couple of incentives including upgrading to one um scales for my lathe DRO. 

I dont like the aliexpress website would be my only complaint... aside from China having too many week long holidays


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## pontiac428 (Oct 11, 2022)

We can all use week long holidays, just without the 6-day work weeks it takes to get there.

My scales and head unit were shipped in two boxes that both arrived together and were in perfect condition.  From the talk on this board Ditron has really become popular since, seems like they are up on their game.  If the ever decide to DRO my lathe I'd use them again.  Sometimes ordering from China feels like throwing money into a black hole until it arrives, but I think it's okay to be patient this time.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 12, 2022)

After toying with me and claiming they attempted delivery yesterday (they did not, I remained home all day) UPS delivered my lead screws and nuts. 

They also charged brokerage fees well above what their documentation claims they charge and have such obscure invoicing that not even an accountant can figure out the break down of their charges.  

The lead screws were very well packaged by H & W for which I am thankful because UPS clearly did not give two shakes about causing damage to my parts. I haven't opened and inspected the package yet but there appears to be a slight warp in the longitudinal lead screw. I'm hoping this is due to the tension of the plastic wrapping and the slightly warped board the screws were affixed to rather than bent screw.

I like how they have the screws inside of cardboard tubes, and the ends of the tubes sealed tight. I opened one spot to take pics of how the screws were packaged. The rest of the shredding of the film and the dent were all due to UPS

The nuts and rebuild manual were in a separate box, well packages and cushioned by foam peanuts as you'd expect. 
The DROs from China made it from Chengdu to the Fedex facility in Shanghai and have now hit a snag called an "operational delay" whatever the heck that is.  I hope this does not hold up the show. I wanted to get this work all done before I have another autoimmune flare up and get too wrecked to do anything.


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## pontiac428 (Oct 12, 2022)

Why would UPS charge you a brokerage fee?  H-W is domestic commercial retail, so it should be a sign and drop, right?


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 12, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> Why would UPS charge you a brokerage fee?  H-W is domestic commercial retail, so it should be a sign and drop, right?


Canada.
Government charges duties and sales taxes on many imported goods. No duties on machine screws but there is tax. UPS handles the collection of fees and charges a arm and a leg for doing so.

IF they'd shipped USPS it's a lottery whether or not the shipment gets flagged for inspection and duties and taxes. UPS always does because UPS benefits fincnacially from assuring that the gov collects its taxes.

Even if parcel is flagged in the mail, there is only a trivial processing fee to collect taxes.. always ship regular mail to Canada if you can for benefit of the recipient


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 12, 2022)

Just some general information for people ordering from Aliexpress and Ditron in particular.

The aliexpress site sucks at providing sufficient tracking info. You really have to click thru the pages to find the actual tracking number for the courier service being used. When you click the external link for that though it does not take you to Fedex (in my case), but rather Cainiao.com a chinese courier tracking service that sucks too.

I say this because my parcel was being held in Shanghai for an "operational delay" and it took a lot to work out why. 

I knew items were being shipped Fedex IP (International Priority). It took a while to find the tracking number on aliexpress, perhaps because I'm tired and an idiot? But eventually I found the tracking number and went right to fedex myself since they dont link to fedex.  Only to read this on fedex:

_Operational delays_ occur for a variety of reasons; the following are some examples:

Incorrect recipient address 
Incorrect recipient postal code
Missing address information (including buzzer code or apartment number)
Other events that delay delivery of the package​
Now I gave them my complete address, so I figured WTF.  At this point I'm seriously ******. I read all their other notes on the tracking terms they use. I see weather delays, delivery held unable to collect payment etc. None of those were registered against the tracking number.

I still would not have a clue what the issue was if the vendor had not called my brother and left a message "You need to go online and pay money for the delivery to make it for the 17th. I'm like "pay who, pay where"??

Luckily I recalled the tracking notice types listed on Fedex. 

_Delivery is held, unable to collect payment_ means we attempted to contact you about a shipment that requires the payment of charges, including duties, taxes and other related fees, prior to delivery. To make a payment, go to fedex.ca/paynow.

Although the tracking details never had this remark I went to the link I found to pay fedex. I entered the fedex tracking number and voila. This page showed that I owed them money for Canadian duties and sales taxes.  Needless to say I paid.

SOOOO if you ever deal with ditron and see your shipment has an operational delay, dont count on ditron letting you know what to do. Just find your pay fedex link for your country and see if they are holding your shipment until you pay them


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## pontiac428 (Oct 12, 2022)

Ah, of course.  Canada.  I thought you were in East Detroit, I totally overlooked it.  I lived overseas for 11 years, I should have figured that out!

I hope your order works out.  I wouldn't put too much faith in tracking info until it's onshore.  China is a black box, but my orders to the US and Germany all came through safely, eventually.  Keep checking your tracking and hang in there.

I'm curious about your bowed leadscrew.  I am not completely sure it will make any difference in operation, since it's supported on both ends under a little bit of tension from the preload nut, and supported in the center by the trap nut.  Obviously a deep bow would be an issue, but I'd be interested to hear what an old hand at machine rebuilds would have to say about that.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 14, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> Ah, of course.  Canada.  I thought you were in East Detroit, I totally overlooked it.  I lived overseas for 11 years, I should have figured that out!
> 
> I hope your order works out.  I wouldn't put too much faith in tracking info until it's onshore.  China is a black box, but my orders to the US and Germany all came through safely, eventually.  Keep checking your tracking and hang in there.
> 
> I'm curious about your bowed leadscrew.  I am not completely sure it will make any difference in operation, since it's supported on both ends under a little bit of tension from the preload nut, and supported in the center by the trap nut.  Obviously a deep bow would be an issue, but I'd be interested to hear what an old hand at machine rebuilds would have to say about that.



So today I actually opened the packaging of the lead screws. There was no bow to the screw itself. The wood backer was slightly warped and just made is appear as if the lead screw may have been too.

I'm very happy with the packaging. It protected it from UPS that's for sure.  The tube ends have wood plugs and multiple layers of packing tape so that it would be very difficult for the screws to punch thru any packaging no matter what UPS does.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 14, 2022)

So time for an update.






I apologize for the lack of a ton of pics, I forgot my camera and tripod and the Mill had so much old black oil that I was afraid to touch my cell phone to take pics except after wiping my hands.




My brother and I got the longitudinal lead screw extracted, and compared it to the new screw. At first I thought that there was no wear on the old screw at all. But upon close inspection the top of the treads were worn and distinctly narrower than the new screw, mostly in the middle of the screw naturally.




I'm sure that we could have made do with the original screw, but we wanted to get as good as we could.

The backlash with the best adjustment when we started was 70 thou. When we finished 1-2 thou.

In case anyone plans doing this themselves I'll just mention the couple minor issues we had. I dropped the old washer head screw down the knee. Too much oil and crud, and the screw driver not fully engaged in the slot of the screw driver, so that when I bumped the screwdriver against the lead screw, when the magnetism sucked it in... kerplunk. Lost that screw.




Luckily the kit has part 1150 anticipating this bonehead move. The two woodruff keys that come with the screw needed to be filed down to fit the slots, and then the height had to be filed down. This took the longest time since knowing very little I squeezed one key into the slot without first stoning it to make it fit. I then had to figure out the best way to remove the key. That was a sharp edge cold chisel and tiny hammer to tap the end of the key, which levered the key out easily in the end.

It took some fiddling to get the screw back in place because the nuts kept wanting to spin so that the key slots did not line up.

Really this part was laughably easy for an amateur like myself because H & W's videos are so good. No need for me to worry about not having good footage when their videos exist.

So with everything back in place but not tightened down I thought it best to get the power feed installed at that point rather than tackling the cross feed screw.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 14, 2022)

Next up was the Vevor power feed. That did not go as smoothly.

Firstly, I know I am not the first to say this, but their instructions are grossly inadequate, and the instructions where is had information was wrong.

They say to install 2mm stack of washers between the bushing and the bronze gear. We needed more. We still had movement in the bronze gear when the table changed directions so I think more washers are needed outbound of the gear as well. The hub that extends out from the gear is too long so that the nut for the handle wont fully engage the threads. The keyway in the bronze was under sized, requiring more stoning of the woodruff key and a little filing of the keyway itself.

There was one spring that has no explanation.

It only took about 20 minutes of fiddling with spacers and such to get the power feed installed. Before turning it on we tested the engagement and kept adjusting the spacers until a sort of rubbing noise stopped. Then we plugged it in.

Turned on the master switch and the light comes on and almost immediately goes off. Quick check, it's the break that tripped. Rinse and repeat. Tripped breaker again.

Getting mad.

Okay, time to try another outlet. Again the breaker trips.

By this point the arthritis in the back and the spinal stenosis related pains have me feeling rather pissy. So looking at the panel we see that both the circuits we tried have arc fault circuit interrupter breakers*. I've had issues with come machine equipment with motors and hand tools with motors in receptacles that had arc fault breakers. 

*Edited to correct my initially stating GFI instead of AFCI 

Out comes the long extension cord, plugged into kitchen circuit with no GFI type breaker, voila. The power indicator stays lit. Shifted the feed into gear and away she goes. Tested that every way possible and we're done and happyish. Not thrilled that we need to replace one breaker to make the thing work.






At least we're happy with the outcome of about 3 hours of shop time.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 14, 2022)

Okay, I want to solicit opinions / advice on if I should "fix" the hen pecks and other blemishes in the mill table. 

They're not terrible, but they're not good either. I don't have a good pic of the table right now but I'll post one tomorrow. You can see a bit of what I mean at the 31 second mark in the video at the top of post 19.

If I should, what methods should I consider? I've been thinking of milling plastic to the exact width of the slots, then coating the plastic in mould release to block the slots during the repair process.

Then I'd clean the stank out of the table so it is pristine. Then I could mix epoxy with glass microspheres and graphite powder or maybe some steel powder and fill the holes and all the little dings and such. The plastic would insert into the slots to keep the epoxy out, and to allow the few holes that penetrated the edge of the slots to be filled.

Then I'd just need to mill the bed close and stone the repairs the final bit even with the bed.

Or weld fill and grind.. but wonder if that will put stresses into the table? 

I'm going to rule out cast iron plugs.


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## tq60 (Oct 15, 2022)

Easy...fill them.

They need to be spotless clean so acetone last .

Get GOOD epoxy, mix in some iron powder from your grinder, they too need acetone rinse.

Mix the iron with the epoxy and fill the holes, with putty knife try to get smooth with table but just a bit taller.

Let it cute for a few days then with a flat file work it down flush with the table.

Color will almost match

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk


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## Boswell (Oct 15, 2022)

My opinion is that unless they are so big you can't set your work or vise flat on the table, leave them.  Just stone the surface to make sure there are no high spots. 

This conversation comes up from time to time and you will find opinions on both sides of Fix/Leave decision.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 15, 2022)

tq60 said:


> Easy...fill them.
> 
> They need to be spotless clean so acetone last .
> 
> ...



I dont have sufficient powder from a grinder. I do have powder for experiments making composite cores for electric motors. It's clean already. 

I'm leaning in this direction, since I have seen elsewhere that people like Richard King recommended Devcon 10610 Aluminum Putty. My solution is not far off from that. I've used similar mixes in the past for filleting on parts. 

I really only concerned about a few large holes and one line near the center of the table, and the one slot I intend to use a a register for a few fixtures where the length is not that long and they damage may throw the fixture out of perpendicularity (is that a word?) when I mount it. My spin indexer is long enough to not be influenced but I have a electronic indexer I started that is short im worried about.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 15, 2022)

Last night I saw a fedex update that the DROs were in Mississauga Ontario. Just the other side of Toronto.

This morning they're in Don Mills Ontario. Much closer. About 15 minutes away. Sadly, it would be considered breaking and entering, theft or perhaps robbery for me to go liberate my parcels right now.


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## hman (Oct 15, 2022)

I've seen several posts/threads about deliveries that yo-yoed around the "final" destination before being delivered.  Just be happy that your delivery isn't now on the way to Vancouver, BC.


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## pontiac428 (Oct 15, 2022)

One of these days, I'm going to fill the holes and dimples the students put in my drill press table before it became mine.

But with a twist...

I'm planning to add color shift pearls, metallic flake, and dye to epoxy, and fill each blemish with a different color swirl.  When I'm done, it will look like planets and stars, radiating towards the factory original thru hole like a black hole in the center of a galaxy.  I'm serious, got the materials already, just need to make the time!


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## Boswell (Oct 15, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> But with a twist...


That sounds Awesome. Will wait for the pictures.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 15, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> One of these days, I'm going to fill the holes and dimples the students put in my drill press table before it became mine.
> 
> But with a twist...
> 
> I'm planning to add color shift pearls, metallic flake, and dye to epoxy, and fill each blemish with a different color swirl.  When I'm done, it will look like planets and stars, radiating towards the factory original thru hole like a black hole in the center of a galaxy.  I'm serious, got the materials already, just need to make the time!


That sounds really cool


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 15, 2022)

Today I replaced the cross feed screw on my own. My brother was out somewhere in places unknown.






The lead screw did have about a 6 inch section that was well worn.





Luckily the key was also in place in this section of the feed nut bracket as well. You can see it down at about 5 o'clock on the opening in the bracket.




I dropped both the feed nut retaining screw and the washer head screw down the knee this time, but unlike yesterdays I could seen both in the knee to be able to extract them with a magnet. You can see all the shavings down in that knee, perfect camouflage for a small screw.

Once again the new woodruff key needed working on, as did two areas of the new lead screw, the section where the bearing seats was way too tight, as well as a section just past the mid point of the woodruff key. It took more fiddling to adjust the nut tension to set the backlash... each time I thought it was too tight, but once everything was assembled again there was too much backlash and the screw turned very easily. In the end I tightened the nut up pretty tight and reassembled everything and voila, perfect. No backlash and easily turned lead screw. 

After the past two days I feel so confident I want to tackle the quill rebuilding... but I keep thinking dunning kruger effect might smack me in the face.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 15, 2022)

Pop Quiz.

Who can put a label on all these numbers? 




I took the time to digitize the user manual for our surface grinder since I like to read in the shop and this manual is basically printed on thin newsprint. East Germans were frugal back in the late 1960s.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 16, 2022)

Oh Fedex...

I knew there was more than one package to my shipment, but I only tracked the master tracking number. I figured that with a long one day delay in shanghai that they'd all manage to stay together. 

Nope. 

It's almost as if the vendor crammed all my parcels in a huge cannon barrel, pointed the barrel out over the pacific and fired. Only some of them are due to arrive tomorrow. I guess the one partying it up in Memphis wont be arriving tomorrow. That delays my plan to install the DROs tomorrow and Tuesday


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 17, 2022)

This morning I got an alert from the fedex saying some more parcels in my shipment were arriving today. Cool





Then I go online and check the last tracking number and find it too is now "out for delivery". Cooler! 

Around 1 pm fedex truck pulls up, I run out to wait for the driver to disembark, and out come three more packages. I prompt the driver, "that's it, just these three"? He say's "sorry that's all". 

To which I reply "That's cool, the final parcel should be coming sometime today on a later truck" and IMMEDIATELY another fedex truck rounds the corner 25 meters down the road! 

Being a small quiet residential area that blew both my mind and the minds of the first fedex driver. I didn't have my cell phone to capture a video to post to the youtube.... damn. 

SO, that means I have two DROs, 6 scales, 2 magnetic rpm sensors and two machines awaiting the addition of these instruments. Busy week ahead. 

I will start by modifying the current magnet rotor design in fusion 360 to hold 5 magnets instead of 1 and then re-printing the rotor. I selected this method of mounting the magnets intending to make this very upgrade. I'm upgrading to a DRO that is multi-magnet capable via a simple software input. A nice improvement to the single magnet version I have on the lathe now when reading very low rpm.




This ring mounts on a two part hub with matching tapers that when tightened to draw the tapers into each other causes clamping forces on both the inner and outer rims. 




The new sensor is the same diameter as the existing one, and the swap out with be fast and easy due to my bracket design. I may machine all these parts out of metal when I get a moment, for now they function well enough.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 19, 2022)

Today I picked up the radius and angle dresser I bought, and also got a great deal on a mitutoyo 2" -12"  internal micrometer set. Both basically new and unused. The dresser still had remnants of packing grease.

The owner is an awesome guy who shares many interests with me and unprompted offered to help me make anything I needed if it was beyond my capabilities. He has a beautifully restored Jones and Shipman cylindrical grinder I love to go back to use sometime.

I also grabbed a few diamond wheels and carbide blanks from another shop where the owners have retired and are getting rid of everything. Nice fellow too. I hope he enjoys his retirement. 

So I did not really move forward on the Mill, the Lathe or the surface grinder per se, but I got some necessities I needed. Tomorrow I'll be welding up the stand to hold the rotary phase converter and transformer, so inching closer to getting the surface grinder running.

I'll likely start milling some brackets for the DRO installation too.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 20, 2022)

so apparently the home depots has stopped carrying #6 wire in Canada, except T90. 

curse you home depot.

now I have to up my expense and run conduit between the panel and the rotary phase converter connection. All I want is a nice piece of 6/2 AC90


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 22, 2022)

I feel like crud today, but duty calls. 

Welding, wiring, and whingeing are on tap for today.


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## pontiac428 (Oct 24, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> I feel like crud today, but duty calls.
> 
> Welding, wiring, and whingeing are on tap for today.


Okay, one down, two to go!


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 27, 2022)

And another step towards getting the surface grinder operational...

Today with new flux core wire in hand, and the mig welder changed over to run 0.035 wire with negative anode I was able to knock out all the welding for a wheeled stand onto which to mount the 7.5 HP rotary phase converter, and the 3 phase transformer.

I welding on wheels because my brother has always wanted to weld on wheels. I hope enough zinc was sanded off so I wont die from zinc fumes... I only had n99 mask

Much better than the pallet they were mounted too before wasting all kinds of space.


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## TorontoBuilder (Oct 30, 2022)

Busy day today, but no pics.

Spent a little while organizing and reviewing locations for all the major tooling. Located 1/2-13 tap sets for making new tee nuts and put them in a handy location to save time looking when I have limited time during the week when I will do that work.

I determined how the spindle comes apart on my tool and cutter grinder so I can make a new spindle that will accept 1.25" bore grinding wheels. Currently it accepts 32 mm bore wheels. All my diamond wheels are 1.25" and I dont wish to modify either existing parts.

I decided to complete that task to another day, since It would have necessitated disassembling more of the machine than I wanted to tackle today. But at least I know what needs to be done precisely

Then we planned out the DRO scale installation and sketched out plans for mounting brackets. Then we got the Bridgeport head trammed to an acceptable tolerance (well actually my brother did most of the actual tramming work) and got the vise installed and squared up. 

Then I welded up a bracket that attaches to the side of the mill column and bends twice to be outside the diameter of the ram pivot point. I'll mount both the VFD and the DRO screen to this single bracket with the VFD control fixed vertically on the bracket while the DRO head will be on a pivot arms mounted to the top of the bracket. 

I'll post pics tomorrow. You could hang a 90 pound child from this bracket... but I wont post pics of that. That would be cruel despite tomorrow being halloween.

I wanted to practice welding while the welder is still set up and handy. I can't wait to get some mig gas and practice actual mig welding soon.

Now drawing up plans for a simple universal bender for rods...


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 2, 2022)

Forgot to update yesterday.

Got the bracket for the VFD and DRO completed, well except for cleaning up and painting it. 

I used a 2x2 angle iron as an upright, notched and bent it to shape and welded the upright back together at the notched sections. Then I used a piece of angle iron welded perpendicular to the main upright to provide a surface to attach cable glands to for strain relief purposes. I added a piece of plywood to fasten the VFD to at all four corners. I was tempted to just fasten 3 corners to the metal portions but the plastic housing is cheap and weak.

I didn't want to cram the VFD into a box just to get strain relief and then end up with potential cooling issues and I thought a huge box like I added to the lathe would not be aesthetically pleasing


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 3, 2022)

I was at a jobsite most of the day waiting on a delivery, so no progress on the shop projects to report today.

BUT, there is some cool stuff to report. While at the jobsite I was following an auction that closed today and was able to bid on some choice items I'd been wanting for a while.

Got a Harig Grind-All No. 2 Fixture w/ Rotary Table Mechanism. One minus on the purchase is that the removeable v block is not with the fixture, so we'll have to buy a replacement for that. I want the motor for this as well, since I saw robin renzetti use the same horizontal table to rotary grind spindles on the surface grinder... so cool.





So I may have to sell a few items to get money to buy those parts.

Also picked up these old ratty looking grinding fixtures I don't know anything about. I was not able to make it to the preview for this auction. I do wonder if that v block on the smaller fixture will fit the harig No. 2?




We also snagged two punch formers, one a LineCo and one yet to be determined brand that was mounted on a plate for grinding between centers...

So I think I have temporarily sated my lust for grinding fixtures.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 3, 2022)

One reason I'm stoked is that I can now duplicate Robin Renzetti's rotary spin grinding set up from his precision spindle videos. yeehaw.


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## jwmelvin (Nov 3, 2022)

Those grinding fixtures are awesome; I’m super envious.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 3, 2022)

jwmelvin said:


> Those grinding fixtures are awesome; I’m super envious.


The you will hate to hear that we got a total of 7 grinding fixtures by the end of the auction.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 3, 2022)

I felt bad not getting anything done during the day so I ran over to my brother's place to do a bit more in the shop. 

We managed to lift the surface grinder and remove the shipping pallet it has been sitting on for the past few months, and get it up on it's leveling feet in its final position.





You can just make out the pea soup thick fog outside the open doorway.

I've also been trying on and off to sell this grinder, with new ones for sale on kijiji for $2900 I thought that people may spend 800 bucks on this but no.... now listed for $400 bucks. If it doesn't sell in the next few days I'm going to offer it for free to a fellow from the forum who has loads of space.... we have none. 

I dont know how I'll sharpen my planer blades but space constraints and brother's angry significant other can not be ignored.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 4, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> I felt bad not getting anything done during the day so I ran over to my brother's place to do a bit more in the shop.
> 
> We managed to lift the surface grinder and remove the shipping pallet it has been sitting on for the past few months, and get it up on it's leveling feet in its final position.
> 
> ...




Hey @Mingy would you be interested in this steeler tool grinder if I can't sell it within the next week? It will sharpen planer blades, ad carbide saw blades as well as end mills and HSS lathe tools etc


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## pontiac428 (Nov 4, 2022)

Too bad it won't fit in a mailing box...  I have T&C lust.  Digging through the classifieds doesn't help, it's a morass of worn out machines, random junk attachments with missing parts, and asking prices that came from outer space in a bottle of cheap liquor.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 4, 2022)

pontiac428 said:


> Too bad it won't fit in a mailing box...  I have T&C lust.  Digging through the classifieds doesn't help, it's a morass of worn out machines, random junk attachments with missing parts, and asking prices that came from outer space in a bottle of cheap liquor.


I know what you mean. 

There was a beat up deckel SO grinder at this auction, sold for $600 without a single collet, no remaining finish and rust on the main tool slider shaft and other parts. 

The one I have is decent, but huge. If Mingy takes it I can at least save up my grinding jobs and then visit him to sharpen everything.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 5, 2022)

So, I have been keeping a secret or two. I will have more projects coming up and one in particular I'll even create a lot of video content for and blog about extensively, since it will be a colchester chipmaster lathe refurbishment. 

I'm picking it up Monday. Very nervous about having to rely on the seller to load it onto a trailer when he says he is not a rigger and plans to use a fork lift. I'll rig the lathe to the forks and hope he has sufficient lift height to get it onto the trailer. I think I may need to take my pallet truck... but not sure it will fit into my car...

This is one of my dream lathes...


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 6, 2022)

Tonight my brother and I cleaned up and tested some of our newly acquired punch formers and grinding fixtures.

First up was this formerly crud covered and stuck 5C collet grinding fixture that is very similar to the Harig Uni-dex.

It had to be completely disassembled, cleaned and oiled to get it free and turning again. The bore and the spindle are so close that the reassembly is very very tight and the spindle cannot be even slightly off center or it binds when trying to install the spindle.

Once together it is soooo smooooth.

We got a steal on this..


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 6, 2022)

The Linco Punch former is as nice as I expected.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 6, 2022)

and another punch former... cosmetically it is rough... but it appears to be very smooth and precise. The pinion for adjusting the v block could likely use replacing but it works fine as is.

There is one tiny bit of pitting from rust on the surface I was indicating that was causing the indicator to jump a smidge at that one spot. How can people treat tooling this way???


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 6, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> So, I have been keeping a secret or two. I will have more projects coming up and one in particular I'll even create a lot of video content for and blog about extensively, since it will be a colchester chipmaster lathe refurbishment.
> 
> I'm picking it up Monday. Very nervous about having to rely on the seller to load it onto a trailer when he says he is not a rigger and plans to use a fork lift. I'll rig the lathe to the forks and hope he has sufficient lift height to get it onto the trailer. I think I may need to take my pallet truck... but not sure it will fit into my car...
> 
> This is one of my dream lathes...


i forgot to post these






































The current owner has been running this very seldomly and on 575v 3 phase power.  I'm going to use a 3 HP 240V 3 phase motor I already have and a cheap chinese VFD just to get it to run so I can assess the variator. 

IF the variator is good I will likely just keep it in place and then run as is. If the variator is toasted I'll pull it and see about installing a countershaft where the variator goes and a TECO VFD. The motor I have is a decent inverter model and has a good turn down ratio for CT output. 

Then I may decide to rebuild the variator as a learning experience.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 12, 2022)

Today we took a trip out of town to look at a 13x40 lathe, got back home and shifted the entire shop around in order to get the gantry crane centered over the lathe, rigged the hoist back up on the gantry (we had it out to lift a cold climate heat pump condensing unit up the the second floor so we could mount it to the exterior wall) and lifted the lathe to slip a pallet underneath.

It will be going out the door within the next few days to someone and at this point I no longer care. I'm now fully emotionally invested in my chipmaster instead.


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## TorontoBuilder (Nov 13, 2022)

TorontoBuilder said:


> Today we took a trip out of town to look at a 13x40 lathe, got back home and shifted the entire shop around in order to get the gantry crane centered over the lathe, rigged the hoist back up on the gantry (we had it out to lift a cold climate heat pump condensing unit up the the second floor so we could mount it to the exterior wall) and lifted the lathe to slip a pallet underneath.
> 
> It will be going out the door within the next few days to someone and at this point I no longer care. I'm now fully emotionally invested in my chipmaster instead.




Well that was fast. We had 5 people wanting to look at the lathe. 

Today we made the appointment with the first one and he bought it.  Last night I had picked the lathe up and slid a pallet under it in preparation for the potential move. Today we used the pump truck to wheel it out of the garage, and down the drive. Then disassembled the gantry crane in order to get out the garage door it is too tall to go thru assembled.


Reassembled the crane, went to lift the lathe on the electric hoist and bam, it stopped well short of the required height. Turns out the wire rope ran off the spool and jammed into space between spool and motor. No one noticed. Once that was sorted things proceeded smoothly, we picked the lathe off the pallet, lowered onto the trailer and the new owner strapped it down and hit the road.

Returned the items we had to remove from the garage to get the lathe out back inside, disassembled the crane and dragged the parts back inside. Done. Only slightly frozen... only took 2 hours to warm up again.

left the crane disassembled because new lathe arrives next weekend


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