2019 POTD Thread Archive

[BGHansen]

POTD was fixing a bracket to hold a Tormach tool holder plate to my mill. The previous owner 3-D printed a plastic bracket that set over the chip pan with the aluminum tool holding plate screwed in place. Went out to the shop and noticed 20 tool holders setting on the floor, 3-D printed bracket failed and dropped everything to the floor.


3-D printed "U" bracket failed under the load of 20 tool holders



Started with a block of Delrin and milled an angled face and rabbet to accept a 1/16” thick piece of bent stainless steel from my scrap bin. Drilled and tapped some ¼”-20’s and bolted it together with button-head cap screws. Works great though probably will need to make something different once I build a full enclosure for the mill.


Squaring up a block of Delrin and facing a surface with an angle where the tool holder plate will attach



Cutting a rabbet in the Delrin so the block nests over the mill's chip pan edge


Spotted and clearance hole drill a 1/16" stainless steel bracket



Transferred the bracket holes with a Sharpie and found center with a laser center finder


Spot, tap drill and tapped the bracket holes




Flipped the block and spotted, tap drilled and tapped the holes for attaching the tool holder plate




Bottom view of the plate. The Delrin block and stainless bracket slip over the edge of the chip pan


Good to go! I can stand on this one without fear of finding 20 tools on the cement shop floor.



Thanks for looking,

Bruce

 

[savarin]

Thats some sweet work on the hives Bruce.
Sorry, couldnt resist.

 

[silverhawk]

POTD was a “Honey-Do”, pun intended. My wife Tracy made a bee hive last year for honey and bees wax and stocked it with a swarm this spring. Guess the bees like where we are as in about a month’s time they filled the first of two boxes with comb, brood and honey. She happened to check the second box a month later and it was full also. Problem is, if the bees have no place to build their comb, they could swarm and leave to find a new home.

My wife can be quite meticulous on her projects. Her hive boxes have finger-joints that were cut on our table saw, then hand filled (die filer) and fitted with furniture-quality joinery. Quality can take time, she spent about a month in the evenings making the original boxes. There was a sense of urgency for a couple of additional boxes, so she solicited my help.

I’ve made many finger-joints on my table saw with an indexing jig on the miter gauge, but took the opportunity to do a little CNC programming on my new to me Tormach 1100 mill. I bought the mill close to 2 months ago but haven’t had the time to do anything on it. I have a Bridgeport with a circa 1983 Anilam Crusader 2 controller and am pretty adept at its conversational programming. But until now hadn’t done any G-code programming.

One nice thing about the PathPilot Tormach control is it shows your programmed path on the screen. So, no surprise wild moves because of a fat-fingered coordinate.

The box sides were too long to cut vertically, so that meant cutting with an end mill on the flat which would leave a radius in the corner of the joints. The routine spot drilled, drilled 1/8” corner holes, then milled/routed out the fingers with a ¼” 2-flute end mill. The 1/8” hole minimizes the radii in the corners of the joints.


Basic set up for all of the joints. Really like the fixture plate on my Tormach. It's within 0.0005" across 20" last time I checked. Nice to drop in a few 1/2" dowel pins and know you're square to the mill.

Nice thing about the CNC is naturally repeatability if/when I make multiples. The routines take an extra 0.002” on each side of the notches so there is a little clearance for a slip fit. Figured glue, wood expansion and bees filling any holes naturally would take care of a paper-thick clearance in the joints. Proved out the routines on a scrap piece of plywood, then on to the pine and cedar boards.

One box end has a window cut in it. Used a laser center finder to find the penciled layout lines and wrote a routine to cut out the window. Used a Rotozip bit for the cutter.

Wrote a routine to cut out the window with a rotozip bit
View attachment 300186

Assembled "super" box which has a screen under that the queen can't fit through, but the worker bees can. The queen lays eggs for brood in the honeycomb, blocking her from this top box means it'll only have honey in the comb. The bees build the comb from the bottom of sticks called "frames".
View attachment 300187

Peek from above of the filled 2nd box
View attachment 300189

Thanks for looking,


Bruce

I believe that to be one of the most educational posts on this thread that I've seen. I'm glad you didn't chicken out on those posts - they are sure worth combing through them.

 

[mmcmdl]

Spent the last 2 days on the vehicles . Brake job on Civic with screw in calipers , never knew they existed ! Then , took the cat off the Power Stroke and punched it out . The truck picked up a lot of power and runs cooler now . The trash truck got the platinum .

I also got a few items shipped finally , and have quite a few more to finish up .

 

[BGHansen]

I believe that to be one of the most educational posts on this thread that I've seen. I'm glad you didn't chicken out on those posts - they are sure worth combing through them.

Thanks! I worry a lot about being too wordy or too many photos. I remember thinking a mechanical edge finder was used by flushing the two halves, then slowly turning the hand wheel until I could feel the edge with my fingernail and it hit the material. Never dawned on my until I saw a video on Tom Griffin's site "Tom's Techniques" that you did it with the mill running. I figure there are many others out there with more experience who will suggest improvements as I still have plenty to learn! Also, guys with less experience might see something that wasn't so obvious like my edge finder story.

I mentioned to a machinist at work that I needed to cut around 300 1 1/2" stainless steel 8-32 screws down to 1 3/8". I did the job by chucking up a 1 3/8" length of CRS, drilled a clearance hole about 1 1/4" deep and the tap drill hole through the last 1/4". Tapped that and cut the screws down in the lathe buy running the screw into the 1/4" of thread and parted to length. It worked OK but took quite a bit of time running the screws in and out of the bushing, then chucking, etc.

He gave me a little fixture the next day for my mill. He took a 1/2" wide piece of CRS 1 3/8" wide, maybe 6" long and drilled a series of 8-32 clearance holes through the 1 3/8" dimension of the plate. Took a piece of 3/8" key stock around 6" long for a top/bottom. In use, I'd drop 20 screws into the block leaving an 1/8" sticking out of the other end. Set the second block on top and flip the whole thing so the 1/8" screw ends were sticking out of the top. Set that on my mill vise and clamped it down. Then went across the top with a 1/4" end mill and voila, 20 1 3/8" screws. I'd have never thought of that idea in 100 years. Almost looked forward to making another 300!

Bruce

 

[hman]

Sheer magic! "In use, I'd drop 20 screws into the block ... and voila, 25 1 3/8" screws." Too bad ya can't do the same with silver dollars

 

[GoceKU]

Today was the hottest day yet, way past the 40 degree mark but i had the day off work so i made the most of it. Started with cleaning the sedan windshield rubber seals then cutting two and making one bigger, than spent the next 2 hours wrestling with the new windsheel getting it installed. I finally managed to get in installed then i got the dashboard out i did not like the texture from the bed liner, so bought a new can of bed liner and mat black paint, i sprayed a new coat on it waited 15 min and sprayed the entire dash mat black, then i went back to assembling the little niva installed the wipers, had to remove and grease the leakage then i installed new blades and tested them. By this time an hour had passed and the dash in the enormous heat was dry so i install it. I also installed a "new" ignition lock, plastics surrounding it, both sun visors also fitted a different steering wheel from a newer niva. Today was a very long and hot day working on the little niva, but finally it has all its windows.

 

[BGHansen]

Sheer magic! "In use, I'd drop 20 screws into the block ... and voila, 25 1 3/8" screws." Too bad ya can't do the same with silver dollars

He was an amazing machinist! I recall him saying he'd mistakenly given his wife a glue stick instead of her lipstick once. She's still not talking to him . . . Fixed the typo from 25 to 20.

Bruce

 

[Boswell]

Thanks! I worry a lot about being too wordy or too many photos

Bruce, I always look forward to your posts. Not only how you do things but the projects that you choose to work on are also interesting. Please keep sharing.

 

[GoceKU]

I pull an allnighter working on the Little Niva. First thing i installed was the chrome trim on the roof rails then the chrome trim around the door windows, i had to remove both windows wich was a task in it self but got it done. Then i stood back and look at it and the oversprayed rockers and grill needed paint, so i put a plastic sheet over the entire car and just masked what i wanted to paint mat black. After half an hour the black paint was dry but i keep the plastic on the little niva so i can paint the bumpers, i had painted them together with the wheels but i had lot of runs and fish eyes so an hour each with a some sand papire i got them prepared cleaned off and painted with base coat and clean coat, by this time sun come out and i had to go to work.