2016 POTD Thread Archive

[uncle harry]

That's great. When I was in high school I did an internship as a graphic designer at a local print/copy shop. They had an electric (hydraulic??) guillotine cutter. Press both safety buttons and the blade dropped and cleanly and quietly cut the whole stack. Pretty cool.

After high school I got a job in a large format screen printing shop. Their guillotine cutter was ancient, cast iron, and powered by a rattling motor with a squeaky belt leading to a massive flywheel. You had to get a feel for how to hold the clutch to spin up the flywheel, and how fast it had to be going for a given stack of material or else it would stall mid-cut and make your life miserable because the blade didn't just retract easily.

I recall that exact feeling of horror when I saw that the safety gate had been defeated long ago. Fortunately they only had to use that thing for a few jobs per year. Most of our work was on either adhesive-backed vinyl (like bus and subway ads) or vinyl banners.

This reminds me of a point-of-sale sign and display with printing company where I was the product/process engineer. We had an employee whose nick name was "thumbs" He ran an ancient paper shear there.

 

[MozamPete]

No real workshop time for me - just more purchases for that time in the future when I hope I can get some spare time (I think I need to win the Lotto and retire so I can stop this work thing interfering with my hobbies).

I've been looking for a bigger vice and as today I had to travel to the "big city" a couple of hours away from home I searched out a couple of potentials to go have a look at while there.
So I came home with a Record No.36, 6" Engineers Vice. Needs a bit of work to tidy it up and the quick release lever has been welded so it can't move - I assume it was jumping out so instead of fixing it a previous owner just disabled it. I'll have a go at getting it working again. Weighs in at 65lb according to the catalogue and with the 'STEEL' casting looks most like the model shown in the 1935 catalogue I have (the "STEEL" in not shown on the picture of this model in the 1950 and later catalogues) so that is the best I can do at present at aging it.



But then I came across a great condition Record No.144P, 8" Heavy Duty Vice at a price I wasn't going to haggle about so I came home with two. This one weighs in at 95lb and is a real big boy. In great condition so nothing to do but bolt it down to the bench and again looks like the picture in the 1935 catalogue not the 1950 one. Hard to beleive both these vices are over 70 years old - might have to do some more research.



Also visted the metal supplier an picked up a drop of 4" aluminium and 6" cast iron while in town. The cast iron is for a couple of chuck backplates I plan to have a go at turning up (although I must admit I have also ordered a pre-manufactured one just in case it doesn't turn out so good).

 

[royesses]

Since it’s Friday and usually pretty slow I thought I’d show the small projects I’ve finished. Not much compared to what some of you machinists do, but part of the learning curve for me.

On my 4x6 bandsaw I removed the ¼” downfeed valve and put in a 1/8” valve. I have much more control of the downfeed speed/pressure now. From too slow to be useful to too fast to be useful takes about 1 ½ turns. I also made a reservoir tank using 16 ga. sheet metal and mounted it. I don’t know if it makes any real difference with or without the reservoir but it just seems to be smoother. Holds about 2 ounces extra juice. Turned a knurled cap out of 304 SS and cut an o’ring groove to seal the cap.


I finally had the time to make a hand crank for the mini lathe. I got the 8” handwheel and handle from Grizzly. I bored it out to 1” and broached a ¼” keyway in it. I made the arbor out of 1.25” 4130. Milled the key seat and turned the arbor to fit the spindle and spindle extension I had made so chips would fall outside of the gear cover. The angle of 35° was cut on the 4x6 bandsaw. Research for the optimum angle came up with 24° to 34°. Threaded the end for 3/8” – 16 and bored the rest of the arbor for a loose fit of the draw bolt to allow for a mismatch of the two pieces. It really locks the arbor to the spindle. I like a handwheel better than a crank.

 

[kvt]

NIce looking projects.

 

[f350ca]

A quick update, this should have been finished by now but other projects keep popping up.
Still needs a base and a back.




Thanks for watching

Greg

 

[intjonmiller]

Inspiring work all around, guys. I spent the last two nights painting/staining (hard to tell the difference with these acrylic stains these days) my wife's grandfather's large shed. Tons of prep work, lots of painting, then more prep work to mask off and paint some more since he wanted a two tone finish. But after all he's done for us I absolutely owed it to him.

And then as we were leaving he slipped my wife an envelope "to cover our expenses". Got home and found $500 inside. Wow. Completely unexpected.

What to buy, what to buy...

I posted a while back about my mother's kitchen that we built. Tomorrow we rip apart the old one, and the pantry and wall that divided the galley kitchen from the living room, along with the flooring, and hopefully frame in the new closet. I have a nephew returning from Japan in two months so we have that as the goal to wrap up the entire project, so she can host a big homecoming party for him. Since I have at least four days of drywall work before trim and paint, and we can only work weekends, we have to hustle. Not sure when I'll be in my shop again...

 

[MozamPete]

Got a little time this evening and pulled the new 6" vice apart - it has obviously been a while since it has seen any grease.



A good going over with the wire brush and a light touch here and there with a flapper disk will clean it up nicely (obviously been used to hold welding work and there is a bit of splatter in places). Screw and half nut look perfect. Just need to repair the quick release mechanism but at least it looks like it is all there.

 

[Charles Spencer]

Well, it's a little off topic perhaps, but about 2 or 3 weeks ago my son-in-law asked if I by chance had an extra wood lathe. Now it so happens that I had five of them: 2 of the floppy Craftsman tube lathes, one smaller Craftsman with a regular bed, a Duro Powr Kraft, and a ToolKraft. The ToolKraft was made in Springfield about 30 miles from here. I started restoring it but it's been on the back burner for a couple of years. I wouldn't wish the Craftsman tube body lathes on anyone. I have a smaller Craftsman set up to use. So by default he gets the Powr Kraft. I checked my notes and found this from when I bought it:

"Ward Lathe Info

Purchased 25 May 2013 - $50.00 w/motor, accessories, & Craftsman chisels – Craigslist - North Windham, CT

Ward PowrKraft
Model No. 74FD2005
Factory Number: B54

Made by Duro Metal Products"

The actual lathe is in my shed and I don't have a picture, but it is very much like this




Now I used the motor for something else, kept the chisels, and used the stand and drawers it came on to build some storage in the shop. Oh, I got a bunch of outside calipers and other stuff with it too. So I guess I got my money's worth. Therefore when he asked what I wanted for it I said a six pack would be fine. So I figure I'm a six pack ahead. And he usually buys good beer.

I set aside the lathe, some chisels, calipers, safety glasses, and centers, as well as the manual that I got from the "Old Wood Working Machinery" web site. He was psyched. I did tell him he'd have to come up with a motor and buy a chuck. I found a suitable chuck for him at Grizzly for $32.50.

Then I felt bad about giving him a machine that wouldn't run. So I replaced the 1/3 HP motor on my SB 9A with a 1/2 HP. I set the old motor aside for the son-in-law.

Then today I was shopping at my favorite place lately - the dump. And I came across a rusty old wood lathe. With a chuck:



Well, in the immortal words of Louisiana Chef Justin Wilson, "You make it look all purty and den dey think they gettin' somethin' they ain't".

So I made it look pretty. I found a nut and bolt that fit the thread on the face plate and clamped it on the SB 9A.. Then I cleaned it up using a wire brush, sandpaper, and steel wool. I disassembled the jaws and put them in the rock tumbler with my mix of detergent motor oil and milling swarf for about 90 minutes.

So now he'll probably think he's gettin' somethin' he ain't:



By the way, this is the lathe it came off of, cleaned up a bit. Does anybody know what make and model it is? The tail stock looks a lot like the ones on the Craftsman tube lathes.




Edit: It's a Sears Craftsman 149.23860. It's missing the sheet metal cover for the head stock.

 

[intjonmiller]

Motor oil and swarf. I love it.

 

[zmotorsports]

Got the new OEM radiator installed after a long dog walk. I had prepped the rig prior by draining the fluids and breaking all hoses as well as cleaned the mess one always gets when doing a job like this. Tip! always coat the inside of your hoses with Dry-slyde or alike. This allows you to break the seal without too much effort. I had replaced all the hoses when I purchased the rig four years ago and used Napa's version. The hoses pulled right off. I also removed the tires to allow the rig to sit low on the lift when working topside. I'm getting too old to fight with jobs that can be simplified. This is also a good opportunity to inspect the brakes etc.
View attachment 130878
The new radiator went in without hassle and lined up, so I was happy. It took a good part of the day, but I was cleaning areas of the rig that normally could not be accessed with the rad in. I also replaced the two lower hoses while I was there as well as the oil cooler hose that comes off the "T" tube.
View attachment 130879
The shroud was heavily damaged along with the fan and radiator when I purchased the rig. It seemed to me, a motor mount must have failed at some point resulting in the fan "kissing" mentioned items. The photo above shows the portion of the shroud that was rebuilt (thin strap on edge) as well as a new fan I had to get from Japan. The radiator was the last thing on my list as I have been soldering and nursing along.
View attachment 130881
Where on earth can a guy buy a new brass radiator from Japan for $300 and $40 shipping? If any of you guys are in need of vintage OEM Toyota Land cruiser parts, PM me and I can provide you with the contact.
View attachment 130882 View attachment 130883
Old rad on top showed evidence of fan contact at 6'Oclock. After burping the "baby" she ran about 25º cooler (heat gun) than before at normal operating temp. I will now lean the carb a little to sneeze out 13 MPG or better compared to the 11.5-12 MPG.
Remember the Dry-slyde next time you guys fight with pulling a hose that has been in-place a while. I hope this tip helps.
Thanks for looking.
Turn and burn.
Paco

Nice work on the FJ-40 Paco. Nice to see that is still your daily driver even when owning a sweet 05 Duramax. My Jeep is nowhere near the vintage that your FJ is but it will be someday and I hope to still be using it as a daily driver as well as my weekend wheeler. We went on a Father's Day run on Saturday with our local Jeep club which was a blast and then yesterday morning I spent washing/detailing the Jeep to ready it to drive to work today. I hardly drive my 2006 Duramax but drive the hell out of the Jeep on a daily basis.

Mike.