2017 POTD Thread Archive

Not that I do any barrel work, but I've heard that the ring of wire trick is also ideal when using an outboard spider. It provides more of a point-contact and allows the barrel to gimbal a bit more than regular jaw pads would.

-frank
 
Drilled and tapped some #6 x 32 holes in the hand knobs for the Harold Hall simple grinding rest, using my homemade tools: 1) the spring center, 2) the vise stop so I could just place each of the knobs in the vise without indicating them again and 3) the tap holders I made a few weeks ago.
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And I finally finished the rest after making several mistakes that involved remaking some of the parts.:frown: Good thing this is a hobby.
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Can't wait to give it a try.

Let's see if Santa brings me a new grinder for the new rest. Hope I was a good boy this year.
 
HBilly
You made a very nice project and I'm sure you will find the rewards of it in the accurate grinding.
Very nice!
Merry Christmas, hopefully Santa brings that grinder.
Nelson
 
I put a serpentine belt on my 1903 Seneca Falls 10" lathe after the leather belt failed. I turned a few parts afterwards and am happy to report that it went well with a lot less slippage. Removing the backgears was the hardest part and it wasn't especially difficult.
 
BGHansen said:
Quick POTD to hopefully fix an annoying problem in our house. I don't understand how and why it happens, but the shower knob in our upstairs bathroom gets continually broken during use. The ONLY person using it is our son. So, cheap plastic know or a gorilla in a man suit taking showers? The problem is the knob has a boss that slips onto the valve shaft which has two flats. I don't know if he's over-cranking the knob at the end of travel or not, but the boss blows out a side.

Idea was to sleeve the plastic boss with a piece of stainless. That way the outside of the boss is heavily reinforced and won't deflect/crack if it's over-turned on the valve stem. At least that's the theory . . . Measured the diameter of the new know at the top and bottom, measured the height and did the trig for the taper for draft on the boss.

Chucked up some 304 stainless and turned to diameter. Faced, center drilled, clearance hole drilled and bored the hole. Checked the diameter with the knob when I was getting close, then parted it off. Didn't show the operations, but filed a little chamfer on the knob end so it cleared the radius at the base of the boss.

Fingers crossed that the solution holds. Our son is away at college most of the time, so hopefully things hold up.

Bruce

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Bruce, been there and done that to the diverter valve. Except that I had a metal pipe of right dia. and cut to length. Epoxied it in. Worked for several years, but it was always hard to turn. Finally, it gave out, but it was not the knob. End up replacing the whole chingbang. Took apart the old one and found that a rubber seal was really the problem. Sorry, don't have pictures, it was a while ago. So it may not be your son's fault. And even if it was, that's okay. My son is a strong fellow just like yours.
 
silence dogood said:
Bruce, been there and done that to the diverter valve.... Took apart the old one and found that a rubber seal was really the problem.
Click to expand...

That suggests a little dab of silicone grease (available at plumbing shops) on the rubber would
help. It gives more life to windshield wipers, too. Replacing the rubber doesn't always work
for long, but that, too, might be helpful (it may have abraded somewhat).

Do NOT apply a generous amount of silicone. It's harmless as a grasshopper. Too much, is
harmless as a swarm of locusts.
 
whitmore said:
That suggests a little dab of silicone grease (available at plumbing shops) on the rubber would
help. It gives more life to windshield wipers, too. Replacing the rubber doesn't always work
for long, but that, too, might be helpful (it may have abraded somewhat).

Do NOT apply a generous amount of silicone. It's harmless as a grasshopper. Too much, is
harmless as a swarm of locusts.
Click to expand...
That is a good idea and I even have some silicon grease from my spa repair days. Unfortunately the part was not a regular O-ring but a odd shape thing that would have taken forever to get. It being a diverter valve is what fooled me since some can feel a different from a normal valve. But thanks anyway, it's still good advice.
 
I re-powered my drill press. I've decided to try to make some improvements to the Jet (Taiwan) 17" DP that I've owned for the last 25 years.
I already changed out the (garbage) chuck that came with it for a Jacobs precision chuck which yielded much better runout. I've also wanted
to slow it down for drilling larger diameter holes. After considering VFD's, DC motor conversions and a slower AC motor, I installed
an 1140 RPM AC motor which brought the bottom of the spindle RPM range down to 132 RPM. Top speed is still 2400 which is fast enough
for my purposes. The motor came from the same eBay seller that the motor for the Logan came from: an NOS Dayton motor for about 1/2
price.

In the future I'd like to reduce vibration which I suspect is related to the cast, unbalanced pulleys, and a change to better spindle bearings. All
this is probably an attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but much cheaper than an upgrade to a Powermatic or a Clausing. (Which
is really what I should be doing. :) )

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Edit: Gave it a test drive by drilling a good sized hole through a chunk of mild steel: powered through it a lot better than it would have
with the old motor. I guess it makes sense, since the same HP at significantly lower RPM suggests more torque. The motor certainly
is larger than the Jet motor. I also ordered a pair of cogged Continental v-belts to replace the stiff, lumpy belts that came with it.
The same belt on the Logan runs smoothly. Hopefully that will help with the vibes.
 
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Do you have the part number or plate information of that Dayton motor handy to post?

My imported drill press is the first cousin of yours and sometimes I wonder how long the stock motor will last. It's awfully noisy and runs rough, although it was pretty much like that from new. Since I already have a mill with a VFD, I wouldn't consider spending that kind of money on a light, imported drill press, but it's still useful enough that I would buy another single-phase motor for it. When buying another motor, the obvious choice for metal working is to use a slower 1140 rpm motor.

I used a link-belt to help lower the vibration on my drill press.

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This one "belt" was purchased from Harbor Freight which was enough for the two separate belts. These things stretch quite a bit at first so be prepared to remove a few links the first couple of weeks it's installed.

When I was installing the link belt I discovered that the idler pulley wouldn't move back and forth. It's attached to an arm that is meant to pivot in the headstock casting but mine was rusted fast! I guess they forgot the grease and it rusted-up on the boat ride from China. With some penetrating oil and a pry bar I was able to pop it loose and once cleaned, oiled and re-installed, it moved easily. With the idler free to pivot much of the vibration went away, so that's something to check if you own one of these drill presses.
 
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