2021 POTD Thread Archive

[Shootymacshootface]

Smelting in the rain...
I guess that I could have planned this better.

 

[Cadillac STS]

I did a fun project cutting glass today.

I did use my mill table slots and hold down kit to hold the glass cutter in place so it might be a use of mill project.

My wife had a condiment tray that had two silver cups. But if things are placed in the silver it is hard to clean. So I thought if I could make a glass insert for them they would be more useful. I brought the silver holder to the store to check fit of a small bottle I could cut off and use.

It was a maple syrup bottle that fit just right. I never have cut glass bottles but watched some YouTube’s and it was easy.

the glass cutter held secure at the right height I made a light score. Then a few minutes in boiling water then into ice water they cracked just at the score. Some wet sanding on the edges and it was done.

 

[Doug Gray]

Nice Job Cadillac

Reminds me of being at my fathers side when he "puttered" with a K-tel bottle cutter

 

[Janderso]

POTD was getting a new a me DoAll 16” band saw up and running. I have a Craftsman 12” wood cutting band saw and a Harbor Freight 7 x 12 horizontal/vertical band saw. I’ve gravitated from mainly a woodworker to more a metal worker over the years and wanted a vertical band saw for both wood and metal. I looked hard at a DoAll 20”, but it was a little large for my shop. I found a 1948 DoAll ML saw about 60 miles away for $1000 and was a new owner between Christmas and New Year’s.

Yeah, really rushed into the project to get it up and running! First step was getting it movable which was done with a Grizzly mobile base. I shored up a couple of areas with 3/8” thick bar stock as the saw’s foot print is not a rectangle.


Bought a 1300 lbs. rated mobile base from Grizzly. I had to throw some bar stock under the saw to support the back side as the mobile base just has support pads in the corners.
View attachment 362861
View attachment 362862


Next was the wiring. I went with a static phase converter as the saw runs on a 3/4 HP 3-phase motor. I have a Bridgeport that’s 3-phase also, bought it years ago with a static phase converter already in place. I’ve not had any issues with just 2/3-power on the BP, so went the same route on the saw.

My plan was to wire 220 single phase to a DPDT ON/OFF switch and run the hot side of the switch to the phase convertor. An aluminum bracket was made to attach a switch box to the side of the saw. The previous owner had screwed a bracket to the side of the saw to hang the wiring. My bracket picked up the same holes.


Used a piece of 1/2" aluminum for a switch bracket. Drilled the corners out.
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Milled away the center
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Drilled/tapped some mounting holes
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DPDT switch and switch cover screw to the aluminum plate which in turn screws to the electrical box
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Mounted the 1/2" plate to some 1/4" plate. The 1/4" plate would be screwed to the side of the saw
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The previous owner made a bracket for the saw's power cord. I used the same holes for the switch bracket.
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Start/Stop switch in place
View attachment 362871

The phase converter was mounted to the back side of the saw. I took a few “liberties” here as the saw was wired for 30A (#10 wire) because of the blade welder. The terminal block in the phase converter maxed at #12 wire, so I spliced #12 to the #10 instead of changing to a larger terminal block. The motor will only draw a couple of amps when running, so no issues there. The welder is a generic DoAll for 1/16” – 1” blades. My saw can only use up to a ½” blade, I’m thinking (hoping) that since I won’t be maxing out the welder, it should be fine. I welded up a bunch of short ½” pieces at the Medium setting and the wiring wasn’t even warm.


Screwed the phase converter to the back of the saw. Pretty simple wiring: 2 lines of 220 single phase in (plus ground), 3 lines of 220 three-phase out.
View attachment 362872
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I still have a little work to do on it, but it runs great as is. My speed indicator (speedometer) needle shaft is broken. I’ll either turn a new shaft, or stick in a Hall-effect tachometer like the ones you see on many lathes on this site.


See the speed indicator needle at the bottom of the speedo?
View attachment 362876

Ended up the needle shaft is broken
View attachment 362874

I'll either try turning another shaft or just go with a Hall-effect tach (if anything at all)
View attachment 362875


Also, the power feed mechanism is mostly missing. I’ll probably make the parts as it’s more or less a piece of angle iron with 4 pulleys. Also, a length of cable and some roller chain. I do see a use for it as it pulls material into the blade instead of me pushing.

One lesson learned for those like me who fail to read manuals. The blade welder works great. Snip off a length, grind the ends flat, grind in a slight bevel, clamp them in place. Adjust the weld current, and pull down on the weld lever which cams the right-side piece of blade into the left for some filler metal at the weld. After welding, it’s best to anneal the blade which is done with the push of the Anneal button. Here was my problem.

The welder is turned on/off switch with a toggle switch. Turn the switch on and the blade grinder cranks up and the welder is live. I hit the Anneal button after welding and nothing happened. I thought about a quick work-around of just dialing the welder current to the minimum setting and give it a hit. Problem is, the right clamp moves to the left to jam the blade ends together during welding. Simple fix, loosen the right-side clamp so when the welder is energized, the clamp moves but the blade slips in the jaw. The clamp should have enough contact to complete the circuit.

For whatever reason, I hit the Anneal button with the welder OFF with the RH clamp loose and saw sparks. Go figure, turn the welder ON to grind/bevel the ends and weld the blade. Turn the welder OFF to Anneal the blade. I don’t know if this is how the welder is supposed to work, but at least it works. Maybe something with the static phase converter though I don’t see how. Look for some "What did you buy today" posts from me with bulk blade stock. Yeah, been shopping on eBay again!



Toggle switch above the grinding wheel turns the welder on. Stick the blade ends in the clamp blocks, set the pot to blade width and pull down on the weld lever above the blade clamps. That energizes the welder and pulls the RH clamp toward the LH for some filler metal. The Red button is for Annealing the blade which works when the welder is turned off (?!?!)
View attachment 362877


As she sits!
View attachment 362878

The 16" DoAll is headed to the Craftsman 12" saw's home
View attachment 362879


Thanks for looking.

Bruce

Bruce,
I want all of it.
Your machines, your tools, your shop. You have made a very inviting place to create, repair, refinish, refresh or just be.
I love it. I am soooo jealous
Nice saw!

 

[rdean]

Had a busy day loading and hauling my latest acquisition. The combine head was pretty easy. Disconnected all the attachment points and pulled it off with the trailer winch. The rancher I bought it from showed up and offered to load it with his tractor, which really speed up the process. Hauled it home, and unloaded it temporarily onto the frame rails of the Isuzu and went back for the main part. Having thought about it earlier I had decided that I could reverse the wheels and reduce the width enough to get it on my trailer. Had to pull the trailer fenders so it could roll over the tires, and with the help of Justin (the rancher), and two of his hands we winched it up, and on. The rear wheels are set off center, and we lost one wheel off the side. Bit of a butt pucker, maybe too many cooks syndrome, but Sh*t happens. Rigged up some chains and got it back on with the loader cinched it down, and rolled on home, and called it a day. Snowing today so will let it sit until things dry up again in a few days. Cheers, Mike

I owned and used a Case 600 and a Case 800 combine when I was farming in Iowa. They each had a cab with automatic header controls so the header would follow the ground contour. The 600 had a 4 cyl Case engine but the 800 had a Chrysler slant 6 engine.
That was a few decades back.

Ray

 

[BGHansen]

Bruce,
I want all of it.
Your machines, your tools, your shop. You have made a very inviting place to create, repair, refinish, refresh or just be.
I love it. I am soooo jealous
Nice saw!

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the compliment. Now if I only knew how to use half of the stuff I have! Less than a year and I'll be experiencing 7-day weekends. In other words, more SHOP TIME!

Bruce

 

[Janderso]

the glass cutter held secure at the right height I made a light score. Then a few minutes in boiling water then into ice water they cracked just at the score. Some wet sanding on the edges and it was done.

I didn't know you could do that with glass.
That is really neat.

 

[jwmelvin]

I’m getting my Bridgeport clone set up, including a VFD. Today I made an arm to hold the VFD and eventually the control panel, which will go in the side of the enclosure, turning it to face the operator. While I’m getting things set up I can use the VFD front panel.

 

[francist]

Nice Job Cadillac

Reminds me of being at my fathers side when he "puttered" with a K-tel bottle cutter

View attachment 363560

Ugh, and we all made the cheesy candlestick telephone look-a-like out of the brown Labatts bottles glued back together...

 

[Cadillac STS]

Used my belt sander to turn down the heads of two screws today.

because I needed to counter sink two handle screws on a cabinet.

I noticed there were scratches on the cabinet where the non countersunk screws were.

Opened the cabinet and there was a big note printed saying to countersink or else the cabinet gets scratched. They even put that in capital letters! Prior owners work years ago

here are pictures of that and in one you can see where that paper sign was glued in.

I used a Forster bit by hand and wanted smallest hole there so needed to trim down the screw heads.