2014 POTD Thread Archive

[schor]

Great idea, I am going to steal that for sure.

Got my new Phase II QCTP and needed some way of keeping the tool holders off the bench. Being a better woodworker than metalworker I made a quick prototype from a scrap of walnut. I think this will work until I get more tool holders and need a longer rack.

 

[racardon]

One of the big drivers for me to get into hobby machining was to be able to fix stuff. I get really frustrated that you cannot find parts or parts are so expensive that it is easier to throw away stuff than repair it. I know it really isn't cost effective, but it is fun and satisfying.

So we have an inverter that the plastic cap on the plug broke. Of course you cannot easily find a high amperage cigarette lighter plug.

I cleaned up what was left of the cap with a Dremel tool.

I had a piece of plastic rod about the right diameter, so I turned down a piece, bored it, and threaded it. The hardest part was figuring out the thread size. Pitch was easy, it fit a 16 tpi gage right on. The diameter was not near anything standard. So, I measured the male thread OD and added 5 thousands for clearance to determine the female thread OD. A little trig and some subtracting and I got the female thread ID. That's what I bored to.
Then is was just a matter of threading.

For this short of a thread length, I turned the chuck by hand to do the threading.
Here's the finished cap. Sorry for the picture quality, but I haven't figured out how to get a good picture of clear plastic.

And here is the cap installed on the plug.

Works like charm.

 

[Chucketn]

Nice save on the inverter plug!

Chuck

 

[uncle harry]

Got my new Phase II QCTP and needed some way of keeping the tool holders off the bench. Being a better woodworker than metalworker I made a quick prototype from a scrap of walnut. I think this will work until I get more tool holders and need a longer rack.



Boy, I wish I had procrastinated longer when I made my holders for my Aloris AXA. I used tapered dovetails made from cutting board polypro mounted vertically on a white formica sink cutout. Yours is so much more elegant!/QUOTE]

 

[MattM]

Cleaned up the shop and tried to arrange my end mills. I am amazed at how many end mills I have. Must have over 300 from one eigth to inch and a quarter. Most of them are in good condition, many of them NIB.

I ordered a tool cabinet from Grizzly to house them.

 

[wnec65]

I turned up an alignment tool that I will use to hold the Center Crankshaft Bearing Holder into the block of a Jerry Howell Designed V4 engine while I drill and tap into the block to mount it permanently. I used a piece of .50 dia. 12L14. Last picture shows the cap removed and the holes to be open up to 8-32 to mount the holder to the block.

 

[churchjw]

Shop time.

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]Ever have one of those shop days where you have stuff to do and end up doing something completely different. That was my day Saturday. Ended up sharping 168 drill bits. Most of them came from my grandfathers shop. Had a half a dozen of them that were large between .625" and 1.250" Dia. It was a good day just not what I planed.

[/FONT]Jeff

 

[schor]

Wow, that's a lot of bits to sharpen. You probably stepped up the quality of your grinds by quite a bit by the end.

Shop time.

Ever have one of those shop days where you have stuff to do and end up doing something completely different. That was my day Saturday. Ended up sharping 168 drill bits. Most of them came from my grandfathers shop. Had a half a dozen of them that were large between .625" and 1.250" Dia. It was a good day just not what I planed.

Jeff

 

[calstar]

Brazing a fork for a bike I'm building for a friend. Fluxed and in the fixture:
View attachment 80136

Prior to soaking off the flux:
View attachment 80137

I like brazing with bronze. Good stuff.

Three forks in the works (this one on the left):
View attachment 80139

-Ryan

How did you fixture the blades(or legs on uni?) to get your desired rake angle? I bought a smiliar or the same from a guy in Oregon on ebay awhile back, probably same as yours, never built a uni, thats why I got the kit.

thanks, Brian

 

[Smudgemo]

How did you fixture the blades(or legs on uni?) to get your desired rake angle? I bought a smiliar or the same from a guy in Oregon on ebay awhile back, probably same as yours, never built a uni, thats why I got the kit.

thanks, Brian

I didn't feel like tilting the head on the mill, so I had to use the milling attachment on the lathe using a shop-made tube block properly sized (sort of.) I angled the first one up 7* (since that's what cast crowns for straight forks are advertised as), then down 7* for the next (the DOs were already in place.) Rake is right about 45mm. I was planning to bend them, but I couldn't bend them with my weight, and I didn't feel like modifying my bending mandrel as needed so I just went straight. Just hobby stuff for a friend, so no paying customer to please. Those blades are tough. I had a heck of a time getting them aligned after everything cooled.