2020 POTD Thread Archive

[Cadillac STS]

A couple of tank bushings for my motorcycle. Drilled the hole, turned the profile, parted, and countersunk the long one with a half-inch endmill.

This is exciting because it’s not just making parts to help make more parts, and because buying them new would have cost more than the raw materials I used to make them. Plus the store was closed for a couple days so I could get the bike back together and go ride.

View attachment 340540

Making those will be something to say when you get the question “So what do you DO with all those machines.” Good to have something to say beside making things for the machines.

 

[hman]

@GoceKU - That's a very distressing incident! I'm sure all of us are happy to hear about your skill (and luck!) in avoiding what could have been extremely severe. Stay well!

PS - That inspection pit looks like you have a LOT of digging ahead of you.

 

[Nogoingback]

Well if it's not one thing it's another one, today i had real plan, to get home early, so i can prepare my small garage for digging. I've been needing a inspection pit for a while, i don't like 2 post lifts because of the fear of getting crashed by my own car, here we do not have quality lifts. But bad driver put a spanner in my plans or should i say send a loaded tractor trailer directly at me. In short, BMW with bold back tires in the rain on a straight road spin out in the opposing lane, and sent a loaded tractor trailer jackknifing directly at me. I don't know how fast it was going but at that second looked like he was going million miles an hour, split second decision i went hard right and full throttle, the 605 managed to jump a very big crab, down i went the embankment, hitting couple of big stones on the way down and just as i straighten it i got jerked forward car stops quickly the tires dug in the soft ground and the front bumper acted like a plow. Got out couple of steps towards the road i was knee deep in mud and then i heard the crashes, seen one more car close to me go down the embankment and i quickly know i'm in a bad spot. Got up on the road, seen a car half way under the trailer that has stopped sideways and screaming from it. The driver was pin down, thinkfully the door opened, by this time there was one more person next to me and we maned go bent the door enough and i got in there to adjust his seat and the other person that turn out to be the truck driver quickly got a knife to puntion the tires on the car that made enough space to get the person out, he stood up and i quickly noticed his white shirt turning red, i reacted, he had couple of cuts, they won't too deep i placed his hand to keep them shut. Then i looked around didn't see any more serious crashes, not knowing how long the emergency services will take to come, i told the injured guy come with me and we started walking down the road pass other crashed cars, couple cars down people were turning around, seen a guy in a lada niva wave to him he stopped, told him what happens in a quick second ask him to take this guy to the hospital, the guy did not miss a bit, said jump in and they took off, waiting for the police, then leaving statement getting my car towed out of the mud all that in the rain was terrible. I'm pretty sure i made the right decision because i would been in that guy's place otherwise may be worse because he had more time to stop. On the way back i stopped by the hospital, the guy was fine he had and small operation in that time to repair some blood vessel, he was very thankful, by this time he realised what had happened. We say goodbye and i went home just as the clouds cleared. I marked the inspection pit with some white choack, got something to eat and washed the 605 from undernigh, my freshly repaired and painted bumper is ruined i probably have square wheels. Long day, long story, hope i wasn't too boring.

You're a lucky man. Thankfully you weren't injured.

 

[Gaffer]

Or go rwm's route and make yourself a little backhoe and then start digging!

 

[vocatexas]

Goce, really glad to hear you are okay. Too bad about the damage to your car, but the main thing is that YOU aren't damaged!

 

[matthewsx]

Well if it's not one thing it's another one, today i had real plan, to get home early, so i can prepare my small garage for digging. I've been needing a inspection pit for a while, i don't like 2 post lifts because of the fear of getting crashed by my own car, here we do not have quality lifts. But bad driver put a spanner in my plans or should i say send a loaded tractor trailer directly at me. In short, BMW with bold back tires in the rain on a straight road spin out in the opposing lane, and sent a loaded tractor trailer jackknifing directly at me. I don't know how fast it was going but at that second looked like he was going million miles an hour, split second decision i went hard right and full throttle, the 605 managed to jump a very big crab, down i went the embankment, hitting couple of big stones on the way down and just as i straighten it i got jerked forward car stops quickly the tires dug in the soft ground and the front bumper acted like a plow. Got out couple of steps towards the road i was knee deep in mud and then i heard the crashes, seen one more car close to me go down the embankment and i quickly know i'm in a bad spot. Got up on the road, seen a car half way under the trailer that has stopped sideways and screaming from it. The driver was pin down, thinkfully the door opened, by this time there was one more person next to me and we maned go bent the door enough and i got in there to adjust his seat and the other person that turn out to be the truck driver quickly got a knife to puntion the tires on the car that made enough space to get the person out, he stood up and i quickly noticed his white shirt turning red, i reacted, he had couple of cuts, they won't too deep i placed his hand to keep them shut. Then i looked around didn't see any more serious crashes, not knowing how long the emergency services will take to come, i told the injured guy come with me and we started walking down the road pass other crashed cars, couple cars down people were turning around, seen a guy in a lada niva wave to him he stopped, told him what happens in a quick second ask him to take this guy to the hospital, the guy did not miss a bit, said jump in and they took off, waiting for the police, then leaving statement getting my car towed out of the mud all that in the rain was terrible. I'm pretty sure i made the right decision because i would been in that guy's place otherwise may be worse because he had more time to stop. On the way back i stopped by the hospital, the guy was fine he had and small operation in that time to repair some blood vessel, he was very thankful, by this time he realised what had happened. We say goodbye and i went home just as the clouds cleared. I marked the inspection pit with some white choack, got something to eat and washed the 605 from undernigh, my freshly repaired and painted bumper is ruined i probably have square wheels. Long day, long story, hope i wasn't too boring.
View attachment 340560View attachment 340559View attachment 340561View attachment 340562

So glad you made it out unscathed!!!!

And a good Samaritan to boot


JOhn

 

[GoceKU]

Thank you guys, for your kind words. Perhaps i should not shared this, now when i read it, is a bit disturbing, which wasn't my intention. On a other note, i got word that the small digger is fixed and on its way to dig a massive hole in my garage, let's see how good caterpillar mini diggers are.

 

[rwm]

Pics of the digging!
Robert

 

[Tim9]

As I mentioned a few times in the last couple of weeks, my South Bend 9” has just been out of whack somewhere. I’ve tried a number of things to get it tighter and I’ve been striking out every time. I leveled the bed. Adjusted the shims on the headstock. Adjusted the tailstock. Tried a number of things but even though it seems spot on... almost every time I’m using it for an hour or two.... i start to notice that my parts are looking like crap with tapered parts or just real cruddy finishes.
So, I was left with the final assumption that something must be wrong with the headstock. Either a bent spindle or bad bearings. And even though it wasn’t using a lot of oil nor was the headstock heating up, I just couldn’t think of anything else. At a bare minimum I figured an inspection was due so I could eliminate those possibilities.
Well.... once disassembled... not good. The rear bearing was scored up . Luckily the spindle was still perfect. And I also didn’t find anything like a bent spindle. So that’s good.
I initially planned to swap spindles from my 444R thats at my other storage. So I just walked away for a couple of days because in my old more wiser age, I’m trying to be less impulsive. That was always a very bad habit of mine. Anyway after a couple of days.... I reached a PLAN B.
I designed a bushing out of Delrin which matched the specs of the rear cast iron headstock housing bearing. I then measured a sheet of “Lightly used“ 220 grit “wet-dry“ sandpaper. Didn't want new because that would just leave behind even more abrasives in the bearing than I wanted.
I figured most of the loose abrasive had already worn off and washed away from the used sandpaper.
After measuring the sandpaper I then turned my Delrin bushing down again to compensate for the sandpapers thickness. So my test fit of my sanding bushing was a little on the loose side. Not snug, but not flopping either. I was shooting for just a light polish and removing any high spots.
FWIW, I found out what I think was the CULPRIT WHICH SCORED THE BEARING. it looks like the hard steel shim was actually too big....and it was rubbing against the spindle. This was making the spindle feel tight plus as it rubbed I’m guessing bits of rubbed steel may have become dislodged and then scored the cast iron bearing surface.
Another FWIW..... this South Bend has cast iron bearings . Doesn’t have replaceable bronze bearings. I did find an article in an old Hobby Machinist Workshop Magazine in which the writer line-bored his housing and installed bronze sleeves. And I ordered the magazine back issue so I can always fall back to that last resort as my Plan C.
Here’s some pictures of the headstock and sanding set up. Used a regular drill with a bushing in the other headstock bearing To keep the shaft centered and had a flex-shaft coupler joining the 5/16 brass shaft to the 5/8” steel shaft which screwed into my Delrin bushing. After the Delrin bushing was joined to the 5/8” shaft.... that’s when I machined the Delrin to specs. So everything was somewhat true. And after sanding and cleaning it with air, WD-40, and a bronze scrub brush... I then used a HSS 1/2” x 3/4”x 6” honed blank to scrape the bearing surface a little bit. I didn’t overthink this nor did I go down any rabbit holes thinking or trying for perfect. It ain’t perfect nor is it a “proper” repair. It’s a hack which I’m willing to try because I think it’s going to be good enough. The bearing really was super torn up. The spindle was just very lightly marked.

 

[silverhawk]

As I mentioned a few times in the last couple of weeks, my South Bend 9” has just been out of whack somewhere. I’ve tried a number of things to get it tighter and I’ve been striking out every time. I leveled the bed. Adjusted the shims on the headstock. Adjusted the tailstock. Tried a number of things but even though it seems spot on... almost every time I’m using it for an hour or two.... i start to notice that my parts are looking like crap with tapered parts or just real cruddy finishes.
So, I was left with the final assumption that something must be wrong with the headstock. Either a bent spindle or bad bearings. And even though it wasn’t using a lot of oil nor was the headstock heating up, I just couldn’t think of anything else. At a bare minimum I figured an inspection was due so I could eliminate those possibilities.
Well.... once disassembled... not good. The rear bearing was scored up . Luckily the spindle was still perfect. And I also didn’t find anything like a bent spindle. So that’s good.
I initially planned to swap spindles from my 444R thats at my other storage. So I just walked away for a couple of days because in my old more wiser age, I’m trying to be less impulsive. That was always a very bad habit of mine. Anyway after a couple of days.... I reached a PLAN B.
I designed a bushing out of Delrin which matched the specs of the rear cast iron headstock housing bearing. I then measured a sheet of “Lightly used“ 220 grit “wet-dry“ sandpaper. Didn't want new because that would just leave behind even more abrasives in the bearing than I wanted.
I figured most of the loose abrasive had already worn off and washed away from the used sandpaper.
After measuring the sandpaper I then turned my Delrin bushing down again to compensate for the sandpapers thickness. So my test fit of my sanding bushing was a little on the loose side. Not snug, but not flopping either. I was shooting for just a light polish and removing any high spots.
FWIW, I found out what I think was the CULPRIT WHICH SCORED THE BEARING. it looks like the hard steel shim was actually too big....and it was rubbing against the spindle. This was making the spindle feel tight plus as it rubbed I’m guessing bits of rubbed steel may have become dislodged and then scored the cast iron bearing surface.
Another FWIW..... this South Bend has cast iron bearings . Doesn’t have replaceable bronze bearings. I did find an article in an old Hobby Machinist Workshop Magazine in which the writer line-bored his housing and installed bronze sleeves. And I ordered the magazine back issue so I can always fall back to that last resort as my Plan C.
Here’s some pictures of the headstock and sanding set up. Used a regular drill with a bushing in the other headstock bearing To keep the shaft centered and had a flex-shaft coupler joining the 5/16 brass shaft to the 5/8” steel shaft which screwed into my Delrin bushing. After the Delrin bushing was joined to the 5/8” shaft.... that’s when I machined the Delrin to specs. So everything was somewhat true. And after sanding and cleaning it with air, WD-40, and a bronze scrub brush... I then used a HSS 1/2” x 3/4”x 6” honed blank to scrape the bearing surface a little bit. I didn’t overthink this nor did I go down any rabbit holes thinking or trying for perfect. It ain’t perfect nor is it a “proper” repair. It’s a hack which I’m willing to try because I think it’s going to be good enough. The bearing really was super torn up. The spindle was just very lightly marked.

What issue was that for those of us that have old cast-iron-bearing headstocks that are wearing out?

BTW, good find. I hope it is a tight as can be when you are done.

joe