2016 POTD Thread Archive

Well, we didn't make as much progress as I had hoped. We spent more time catching up with my brother's family when picking up the mill, then again at my sister's house when we dropped off a birthday gift. And as long as we're out we should just stop and get milk (my wife's reasoning), and...

Anyway, the mill is still laying in two parts in the back of her Sequoia. I'll get it unloaded tonight. But I got the lathe and surface grinder cleaned up, all the stuff that gets stashed between them moved out, and the whole area all but polished. Moved the bench in and... realized that I didn't accommodate for the base of the engine hoist to roll into place when putting the machines on top. :(

Tomorrow I'll check to see if I have screws long enough to jack the whole thing up high enough on the leveling screws for the hoist to roll under. I doubt it. Going to be interesting.

Still tons of work to build and mount the drawers, fill the drawers, etc. And that arched section is going to have a surprise function that will take a while to set up. I'm very excited. :)

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Oh, it turns out my brother had a box of accessories I didn't even know about! Including the clamping kit shown here for scale. But also several end mills, a good size brazed carbide face mill, and even a bunch of steel and aluminum stock, and a basic set of woodturning tools (the lathe was previously there).

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My brother is up top, my son directing from the ground. Don't worry, my wife kept him far away when the mill was in the air.

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The hoist fit perfectly around the base of the surface grinder.

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can you remove the wheels from the hoist? If so, and you aren't married to the appearance of the floor (or maybe put some cardboard under the lift), you remove the wheels and then push the hoist around on the floor. It takes more effort, but it can be done and it's safe.
 
That looks more like one of the tools I use to use when rebuilding transmissions back in the 70s, It always worked great. looks like yours will also.
 
can you remove the wheels from the hoist? If so, and you aren't married to the appearance of the floor (or maybe put some cardboard under the lift), you remove the wheels and then push the hoist around on the floor. It takes more effort, but it can be done and it's safe.
I like that idea! Unfortunately the hoist's previous owner welded the casters on. :(

Someone listed an electric-hydraulic scissor lift table on a classified ads machinery group thing on facebook last night, minutes after I posted that. I saw it and thought, "That's exactly what I need right now." Unfortunately it is $600, which isn't really an option. And whereas I don't know him I doubt he would be willing to loan or rent it to me. I'll check the rental places around town to see if there are any available.
 
Can you put your bench on stacked pieces of 2 x 6's to get the clearance for the hoist? Use a hydraulic jack to lift the bench to get the 2 x 6's out after your machines are put in place.
 
Finished the desk.

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Greg
Beautiful job , I was raised a son of a carpenter his specialty custom built and built in cabinets. So I learned from the best. He taught me tricks and showed me how to build to stay made to last. I've made plenty myself for churches and day care furniture. Even playground equipment including a tire swing with 360 rotation and swing. Took some custom machine work for that part. I went to school for machine tool and die . Worked at that till I ended up disabled. So I know a nice build when I see one . Yes I know this was awhile ago , thanks for sharing.

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Wife project. They wanted 2 bills for a clear plastic sewing machine table that extends the machine's working area. I used a template to cut some acrylic sheet laying around and turned some support posts and made some leveling feet. I would have preferred to use polycarbonate (lexan) sheet, as acrylic cracks easily and doesn't take well to drilling or stress, but the 1/4" thick sheet is OK. Used a scroll saw to cut the sheet, then hand finished the final fitment and edges. The supports/feet are turned aluminum with a stainless thread adjustment posts. I use some Teflon tape on the threads to provide some resistance to in/out threading adjustment for the table height. Wife is happy, cost 0 and my time is free (at least from the wife's point of view, indentured servant).

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For several weeks I’ve been playing with a method of drilling some .036 holes in a clutch my son offers to the Rubber Band drive model airplane fraternity. My mill wasn’t sensitive enough to drill the holes, I‘d break a drill for every three holes. I’d made a drill jig for one piece, but loading and unloading it seemed to take forever. I had made a fixture to hold a number of them in the mill, but holding them wasn’t enough, I had to be able to feel the drill contact the aluminum so I didn’t jam the drill into the aluminum. I finally realized that if I made a cap for my fixture, with holes for the drill I could do a bunch at one loading. I center drilled the holes on the mill, then drilled them in one of my drill presses.

Here’s a picture of the fixture with three of the clutches, one, before any drilling (made on my turret lathe, ¼ inch stock, turned 1/8 by 100 and drilled through, in this case 1/16), one with the drill op done, one drill hole to be tapped 5/40, and the two .036 holes, and the finished product, two wires in it and the set screw in place.

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Sorry 'bout the quality of the image, The cap screws are 5-40.
 
Quick question, not really worth its own thread:

I'm about to put the head back on the RF-30 round column mill. The column got all dusty while moving it, and the grease on it was at least 20 years old, so I cleaned it all off. What should I replace it with? In the "lubrication that sticks around" category I have clear/yellow wheel bearing grease, black (moly-graphite??) wheel bearing grease, Castrol industrial stick wax, and white lithium grease. I searched but didn't find any answers.

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