2015 POTD Thread Archive

Had to get my hands dirty today, enough of that sissy wood working stuff. Actually my ADD was kicking in.
Started a work stop for my non Kurt vice, but I think I stole they're design.Milled the arm out of a piece or 1 inch square mystery stainless.
Here's a good example of non stress relieved material.
After I slotted the end.
IMG_1622.jpg

The clamp bolt shouldn't rattle when its slacked off.

Greg
 
No pictures but I came home last night to find that the cold water supply line to the shop sink had frozen and burst. I don't know how long it had been running but I had about an inch of water on the shop floor. I spent the entire evening with the shop vac cleaning up the mess. I lost track after about 60 gallons with the shop vac, but after looking at it when I came home from work this afternoon all I can say is that my floor has never been this clean.

I never want to have to do this again.

On the old farmstead we had , on my out of the warmth water pipes I fitted a simple in line spring loaded piston devices inside insulated boxes that had a thermostatic controlled very low wattage trace heat cable wrapped round the first foot or so of the pipe where it came in the building at ground level . They closed off the water if there was a sudden pressure drop ..similar to an oil well blow out protector . Would such a thing have helped prevent the worst of your flood ?
 
DSCF1774.JPG DSCF1776.JPG DSCF1777.JPG DSCF1778.JPG DSCF1779.JPG DSCF1780.JPG DSCF1781.JPG DSCF1784.JPG DSCF1785.JPG DSCF1786.JPG DSCF1788.JPG DSCF1789.JPG DSCF1791.JPG DSCF1792.JPG DSCF1794.JPG Yesterday and today I made a serpentine belt pulley for the water pump on a Ford coupe.
the aluminum stock my friend purchased was just big enough and saw cut on both ends out of square. I had to get creative to hold it square and true one end.
I centered the block once squared up in the lathe and bored it out on the cnc mill. I made a jig to hold it on the lathe centered true off the center hub and turned the pulley grooves. once it was test fit on the water pump and belt alignment checked, I counter bored the bolt holes and tapered the face.
 
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I've been thinking about a lathe spindle-bore stop for a while, but had no "3AM epiphanies" waking me up. Then I saw a post on another forum of maybe using a Harbor Freight exhaust pipe expander. Seemed ideal. The small one would fit my spindle bore. http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/exhaust/small-tail-pipe-expander-69550-9156.html

The original threaded rod in the expander is 12x1.5mm with a 17mm nut. A 7/16-14 rod with a 11/16 nut is a perfect replacement. I decided a hollow threaded-rod with a smaller threaded rod through it would work for a stop. So, a 7/16-14 hollow threaded rod ??? Junk box to the rescue. A 1/8" black pipe has a slightly smaller O.D. than a 7/16-14 thread and has a slightly larger I.D. than a 1/4-20 rod. I decided that one expander would be a hassle to use, so I went with two, one on each end of the spindle bore. Ran a die down each end of the 1/8" pipe, far enough to have a nut and jam nut at the end of the expander. This acts as a fixed stop for the inboard end of that expanders. The 1/4-20 rod needed a way to be centered, adjusted, and locked. I made two threaded caps for the threaded pipe. Drilled one for clearance of the 1/4-20 rod. The other was drilled and tapped for 1/4-20. A nut on the rod on the left end of the spindle allowed for stop-depth adjustment and locking. Tightening the outboard nuts on the expanders, over the extended 1/4 -20 rod and caps was a problem. Too much for even deep sockets. Since not much torque is needed, I bored a 11/16 socket a much as possible and brazed it to the end of a piece of 3/4" electrical conduit...and now I have a "very" deep socket.

So you slide the assemble into the spindle, hold the left end of the pipe while using the deep socket to expand the chunk-end expander. Then use the socket to expand the one in the other end. Now you can loosen the 1/4" jam nut, screw the 1/4" rod in or out to set the stop depth, and tighten the nut. The concept was for short stock in the chuck. The length of the 1/8 pipe could be changed if you want the stop to be deeper in the spindle. Still trying to think of an easy way to use just one expander.
spindle bore stop

Ken

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Got to use my lathe spindle bore stop today for the first time, in a sort of production mode. I needed to make a bunch of matched-length 1/2"x6.000" +/- 0.001" standoffs. The bore stop and the DRO make the precision a piece of cake. There are ones for 5C collets, but none for longer rounds. I can't see why someone isn't making and selling these stops commercially.

Ken
 
On the old farmstead we had , on my out of the warmth water pipes I fitted a simple in line spring loaded piston devices inside insulated boxes that had a thermostatic controlled very low wattage trace heat cable wrapped round the first foot or so of the pipe where it came in the building at ground level . They closed off the water if there was a sudden pressure drop ..similar to an oil well blow out protector . Would such a thing have helped prevent the worst of your flood ?

That probably would have helped. The pipe ruptured on the stub between the wall and the stop for the sink. My propane supplier will not do a partial fill on my tank and I just couldn't justify buying 500 gallons to heat the shop so I have been just using a small portable heater on a BBQ tank when I am working out there. I guess I need to fill the big tank.
 
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