2020 POTD Thread Archive

[Cadillac]

Friend came to me with a job. He mangled the knurling on a endcap that goes on one of his gun parts. Was alittle intimidated by the size and features needed but I said I’d give it a try. OD of the part was a touch under 1.0 about .450 thick, recessed with a 28 pitch thread to the end.

I couldn’t figure out how to duplicate the knurl which is different than what I’m use too. There is a ridge line on top of the points of knurl. Anyways I knurled the part first and then started carving out all the other features. Threading was last I ended up using a left hand hss tool that I ground, cut a thread relief with the thread tool then cut the thread in rev.
Other than finding a way to align the thread tool because a fish was to large for such a small thread point. Which I’d love to hear how to align a tool that has such a small tip. Thread turned out nice no slop in threads

Friend was hystatic that I was able to do it and not gonna lie I was too for the fact it only took one try and the thread turned out perfect.
Now all he has to do is get it powder coated or whatever he wants my job is done. Oh and it was made out of scrap. Thanks for looking.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

Nice job! I know how picky gun people can be.

 

[silverhawk]

That end cap knurl is beautiful!

joe

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I bought my son a desk lamp a while back. He said it buzzed and distracted him while he was doing his homework. I bought him a new one and forgot about it. Fast forward a few months and I needed a lamp for my lathe so I thought I’d convert it to a machine lamp. I took it apart and realized the buzz was from a bad solder joint. I moved the ballast into a metal project box. I designed and machined a bracket. Finally I screwed a big magnet onto the box and I’ve got a new lathe light.

 

[jwmelvin]

I like that lathe light.

I 3D printed a stand for a piece of glass I had from an old shop light, to use as a chip shield. It’s got magnets in the bottom to hold it on my table/vise.

 

[Franko]

After all that work on the last keyboard workstation, I decided to upgrade the full-size keyboard music workstation and make it more furniture like. The original was just a little too hip for the living room.



The new station is more furniture-like and matches the color scheme of my entertainment center.
It incorporates a larger monitor (for my old eyes) and drawers.
It's made of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood, painted.
The previous small keyboard station and the old full-size one have both returned to the parts bin.



I added some nice display cabinet lights so I can see the faces of the rack mount equipment.
They are LED about a foot long and brightness and color temperature adjustable.



I milled brackets for them from 1" x 1/16" aluminum angle glued to the lights with hot melt, and mounted them to the stand with little ball and socket fixtures. The ball and socket fixtures attach to the cabinet with t-nuts.



I can play in the dark, now.

 

[pdentrem]

This is for my Explore Scientific 12” truss telescope that I had purchased used as is.
Did a bit more work on the telescope mirror cell today. Added the small piece on the inside of the triangle for the mirror support and started drilling holes for hardware. I may modify the original design a bit by moving the mirror closer to the center to allow a 4 post whiffle tree edge support.
The original mirror cell is made of aluminum 1x1/2” tubing, while I am using 1” sq steel tubing.

 

[JimDawson]

Drilled & tapped holes today 252 10-24 and 21 1/4-20 in 40 minutes 1/2 thick 6061, using thread forming taps. Fixture plate for the next job.



View attachment IMG_3902.MOV

 

[DavidR8]

Got a good start on a fancy handle for my new to me Kurt vise.
View attachment 315869

That looks great. Are you going to press the sockets in to the handle?

 

[Franko]

After I finished the new music workstation, I noticed that it made everything past it look cluttered.



So, I decided to make a matching drawer cabinet to rest on the right side of the drawing table.
It has 5 drawers and make that part of the room look a little more civilized, plus it gives me a nice work surface for sketches and reference material used when I draw plans.



The drawers are big enough to hold the 17 x 22 paper that I use to draw plans.
You may notice the Gerstner tool chest left of the drawing board. I modified it by removing the lid and building a multi drawer cabinet.
That cabinet was my very first project after I got my first table saw.
It holds pens, brushes, prismacolor pencils, ad markers, scales and guides that I used to use to make a living.

I also made the drawing board using hardware from a lesser board.
I also modified the arms of the drafting machine by shortening them so it would better serve my small drawing board.



Peaches, the cat, is unimpressed.
Thanks for looking.