- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Messages
- 3,574
I enjoy making tables and cabinets. The drag part for me is the grinding and cleanup. Nice when everything comes together all cuts and welds , legs and wheels are flat and square. Looking good nice job.
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Lathe/Mill tooling cart
- Thread starter Firestopper
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
Picked up some aluminum sheet (4'x 8' .100 thick) and some aluminum channel. Still working out the angles for the "kneeling" drawer. I did get some lathe time in and turned the rear rollers for the drawer this morning after shift. I have a decent selection of bearings with a 3/8" bore and thought this would have ample support to carry the tooling the drawer will hold.
Turned down the 1.5" delrin and drilled/reamed to 3/8", then bored for a press fit.
The proximity carriage stop really is helpful when counterboring to a shoulder.
This is the channel track side of the roller. The bearing will set in further (step bored) to allow clearance for the bolt head once assembled.
Got to use the Kennametal parting tool for the first time. Always enjoy machining delrin, nice finish and a breeze to clean up.
I still use a 6" scale to center up tooling for the first time. I learned this back in 1978 H.S. machine shop class.
The bearing was pressed in on the lathe to keep the delrin roller solid for re-chucking after parting for second boring operation.
The second side (drawer side) did not require a flush bearing so only a single bore was needed.
Track side of roller was stepped board
Test fit to channel track. Here you can see the need for a sub-flush fit for the 3/8" bolt head.
The larger diameter will keep the drawer centered and snug when rolling in/out. Once I build the drawer, and mount the track, I will need to measure for spacers that will go between the roller and side of drawer. I will probably drill a large access hole at the rear of the track for a socket to assemble the competed unit. The aluminum track will be drilled and counter sinked for some machine screws. Working on designing the steel brackets that will be welded to the frame as well. (so much for not over thinking the kneeling drawer)
With the drawer in, the rollers ride on the lower flange of the track and as the drawer is pulled out the rollers will transition to ride along the top flange. I turned the rollers .040" smaller then the inside measuerment of the track to prevent the rollers from skidding when rolling. The larger diameter (right side) of the roller is .003" smaller than the inside of track, enough to keep the roller from contacting both top and bottom track edge. The diameter difference is .155 to keep things centered.
More to come later.
Thanks for looking.
I also wanted to mention that I really like the new upgrades on the site.
Nice job to the staff!
Turn and Burn!
Paco
Turned down the 1.5" delrin and drilled/reamed to 3/8", then bored for a press fit.
The proximity carriage stop really is helpful when counterboring to a shoulder.
This is the channel track side of the roller. The bearing will set in further (step bored) to allow clearance for the bolt head once assembled.
Got to use the Kennametal parting tool for the first time. Always enjoy machining delrin, nice finish and a breeze to clean up.
I still use a 6" scale to center up tooling for the first time. I learned this back in 1978 H.S. machine shop class.
The bearing was pressed in on the lathe to keep the delrin roller solid for re-chucking after parting for second boring operation.
The second side (drawer side) did not require a flush bearing so only a single bore was needed.
Track side of roller was stepped board
Test fit to channel track. Here you can see the need for a sub-flush fit for the 3/8" bolt head.
The larger diameter will keep the drawer centered and snug when rolling in/out. Once I build the drawer, and mount the track, I will need to measure for spacers that will go between the roller and side of drawer. I will probably drill a large access hole at the rear of the track for a socket to assemble the competed unit. The aluminum track will be drilled and counter sinked for some machine screws. Working on designing the steel brackets that will be welded to the frame as well. (so much for not over thinking the kneeling drawer)
With the drawer in, the rollers ride on the lower flange of the track and as the drawer is pulled out the rollers will transition to ride along the top flange. I turned the rollers .040" smaller then the inside measuerment of the track to prevent the rollers from skidding when rolling. The larger diameter (right side) of the roller is .003" smaller than the inside of track, enough to keep the roller from contacting both top and bottom track edge. The diameter difference is .155 to keep things centered.
More to come later.
Thanks for looking.
I also wanted to mention that I really like the new upgrades on the site.
Nice job to the staff!Turn and Burn!
Paco
Last edited by a moderator:
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
Got more lathe work in on the larger delrin rollers and custom hubs that will attach rollers to frame.
I also got the aluminum track mounted to main frame. Took some figuring to get the correct angle.
Cut four 1/4"x 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron and drilled/tapped 10-32.
Drilled aluminum track and countersinked and mounted.
I then came up with a hub design that will secure the larger Delrin rollers to the two front legs. I found a piece of 1.5" x 15" round bar wrapped in a sleeve. At the time I was under the impression it was CR bar....Until I took my first cut
. It produced a shiny finish and I realized it wasn't CR.
It was hard as hell and switched up cutters taking .040" passes until I got down to my target dimension of .700" x .375". Drilling went a bit slow but tapping the 12mm x 1.75 x 1.25 deep went extra slow and clearing chips made me nervous. The tap was four flute (all I have) and realized a two flute would have worked better. I have a complete metric tap/die set that goes to 24mm but thats it for metric. Standard tap/dies, I have all sorts from spiral, two, four flutes etc. The bearings used on the large rollers required a 12mm bolt.
After the second pass, I changed up the tooling for a round nose more robust cutter.
Finally after 19 -.040" passes and two .020" passes I was able to sneak up on .700".
I was too involved tapping to get a photo but here is the first piece ready for the band saw. Yea, no way in a million years was I going to part this material
.
Cut on band saw (took forever) and really was worried about the final operation on the hubs that included drilling/tapping 10-32. I have plenty of 10-32 taps in various configurations but still this mystery metal (at the time) had me concerned. Rinse and repeat for second hub with no mishaps.
Here is the two finished hubs (almost) and two larger delrin rollers that will support the bottom front and sides of the drawer.
This shows the hubs threaded on to the rollers. The hubs will actually be located on the inside of each leg and held in place by three 10-32 countersunk flat Allen machine screws. The holes will be as close to .700" to allow a nice fit exposing only a portion of the hub. If my calculations are right they will not require spacers.
Now to drill/tap three 10-32 (120º apart) without a rotary table or alike. I decided to use my collet blocks in the vertical position.
First to find center and zero out the DRO's.
I love this Blake, It makes short work of finding centers ID's or OD's.
Once centered I moved the table out and reset zero, set my depth to keep collet from harm and drilled my first hole using a #21 (slightly larger than 5/32") to prevent tap breakage. Swapped in aquality two flute 10-32 tap and power tapped enough to get started and moved table away enough for a small tap wrench. Went back to zero and rotated the collet block two spaces, rinse and repeat six times (two parts).
Worked out really well with no drama
.
Thats all for now, stay tuned and thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco
I also got the aluminum track mounted to main frame. Took some figuring to get the correct angle.
Cut four 1/4"x 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron and drilled/tapped 10-32.
Drilled aluminum track and countersinked and mounted.
I then came up with a hub design that will secure the larger Delrin rollers to the two front legs. I found a piece of 1.5" x 15" round bar wrapped in a sleeve. At the time I was under the impression it was CR bar....Until I took my first cut
. It produced a shiny finish and I realized it wasn't CR.It was hard as hell and switched up cutters taking .040" passes until I got down to my target dimension of .700" x .375". Drilling went a bit slow but tapping the 12mm x 1.75 x 1.25 deep went extra slow and clearing chips made me nervous. The tap was four flute (all I have) and realized a two flute would have worked better. I have a complete metric tap/die set that goes to 24mm but thats it for metric. Standard tap/dies, I have all sorts from spiral, two, four flutes etc. The bearings used on the large rollers required a 12mm bolt.
After the second pass, I changed up the tooling for a round nose more robust cutter.
Finally after 19 -.040" passes and two .020" passes I was able to sneak up on .700".
I was too involved tapping to get a photo but here is the first piece ready for the band saw. Yea, no way in a million years was I going to part this material
.Cut on band saw (took forever) and really was worried about the final operation on the hubs that included drilling/tapping 10-32. I have plenty of 10-32 taps in various configurations but still this mystery metal (at the time) had me concerned. Rinse and repeat for second hub with no mishaps.
Here is the two finished hubs (almost) and two larger delrin rollers that will support the bottom front and sides of the drawer.
This shows the hubs threaded on to the rollers. The hubs will actually be located on the inside of each leg and held in place by three 10-32 countersunk flat Allen machine screws. The holes will be as close to .700" to allow a nice fit exposing only a portion of the hub. If my calculations are right they will not require spacers.
Now to drill/tap three 10-32 (120º apart) without a rotary table or alike. I decided to use my collet blocks in the vertical position.
First to find center and zero out the DRO's.
I love this Blake, It makes short work of finding centers ID's or OD's.
Once centered I moved the table out and reset zero, set my depth to keep collet from harm and drilled my first hole using a #21 (slightly larger than 5/32") to prevent tap breakage. Swapped in aquality two flute 10-32 tap and power tapped enough to get started and moved table away enough for a small tap wrench. Went back to zero and rotated the collet block two spaces, rinse and repeat six times (two parts).
Worked out really well with no drama
.Thats all for now, stay tuned and thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco
Last edited by a moderator:
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
I found this inside the sleeve of the mystery 1.5" round bar that I used to machine the hubs.
INVAR 36, I have never had the opportunity to work with this material before and by chance I had this piece of 15" stock. Like I mentioned, I assumed it was 1.5"x15" CR when I was going thought the machining stock bin. A few years ago I purchased a Lagun 2 axis cnc mill from a local company that was doing work for the department of defense. The shop in Tucson closed doors and I purchased the mill, they threw in several hundred pounds of stock from aluminum round stock to large solid square stock and several other round bars as well as some plastics. They needed to clear out of the building and my timing was right. This particular piece was wrapped with only one end exposed that looked like CR round bar.
I reached out to the supplier out of curiosity (after machining the hubs) and was surprised to learn this rod cost $200 for 15". Thats $13.33/inch.
Honestly, I will not machine this material again unless I have the appropriate application and who knows if and when that might be. It was cool to be able to machine this material with the tools I have. The unique properties of INVAR 36 is its Coefficent of Thermal Expansion as seen in the right photo. What tooling would you guys make with this material? I have 12" remaining.
Applied Energetics was the company where I purchased the mill, the Tucson shop was working on directed-energy weapons (DEP) for detonating IED's. Some cool reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Energetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon
INVAR 36, I have never had the opportunity to work with this material before and by chance I had this piece of 15" stock. Like I mentioned, I assumed it was 1.5"x15" CR when I was going thought the machining stock bin. A few years ago I purchased a Lagun 2 axis cnc mill from a local company that was doing work for the department of defense. The shop in Tucson closed doors and I purchased the mill, they threw in several hundred pounds of stock from aluminum round stock to large solid square stock and several other round bars as well as some plastics. They needed to clear out of the building and my timing was right. This particular piece was wrapped with only one end exposed that looked like CR round bar.
I reached out to the supplier out of curiosity (after machining the hubs) and was surprised to learn this rod cost $200 for 15". Thats $13.33/inch.
Honestly, I will not machine this material again unless I have the appropriate application and who knows if and when that might be. It was cool to be able to machine this material with the tools I have. The unique properties of INVAR 36 is its Coefficent of Thermal Expansion as seen in the right photo. What tooling would you guys make with this material? I have 12" remaining.
Applied Energetics was the company where I purchased the mill, the Tucson shop was working on directed-energy weapons (DEP) for detonating IED's. Some cool reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Energetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
Haha, only by accident 
. I think I might have come up with a cool way to drill the holes in the main frame for the hub mounts. Stay tuned human. Working today but I’ll be back on it tomorrow.
. I think I might have come up with a cool way to drill the holes in the main frame for the hub mounts. Stay tuned human. Working today but I’ll be back on it tomorrow.
B
British Steel
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Register Today
Invar... I got a load (a hundred pounds or so) when one of our labs cleared a store cupboard, if it didn't have the supplier's certificate with it they couldn't use it, so... Intercepted it on the way to the skip
It's good for anything you need to be a constant size, length rods. DIY "gauge" blocks or wear blocks for 'em (I have a gauge tray on my lathe's carriage plus micrometer stop), tool height gauge to sit on the cross-slide or ways, plug gauges, V-blocks, angle blocks - the only disadvantage is that it doesn't expand and contract at the same rate as the work, so the work you're gauging needs to be a bit temperature-controlled! A hot part will have expanded and the Invar won't, and the e.g. measured bore will cool undersize (been there, done that, bought the undersize t-shirt)
Dave H. (the other one)
It's good for anything you need to be a constant size, length rods. DIY "gauge" blocks or wear blocks for 'em (I have a gauge tray on my lathe's carriage plus micrometer stop), tool height gauge to sit on the cross-slide or ways, plug gauges, V-blocks, angle blocks - the only disadvantage is that it doesn't expand and contract at the same rate as the work, so the work you're gauging needs to be a bit temperature-controlled! A hot part will have expanded and the Invar won't, and the e.g. measured bore will cool undersize (been there, done that, bought the undersize t-shirt)
Dave H. (the other one)
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
I must have got lucky as the final dimensions remained good x2. That 12mm tap worked hard or I should say I had to earn it lol.
I make sure I keep the suppliers certificate handy just in case I'm required to make something for NASA hahah. There was two certs in the sleeve that I pulled the rod from. Thanks for some ideas though.
I make sure I keep the suppliers certificate handy just in case I'm required to make something for NASA hahah. There was two certs in the sleeve that I pulled the rod from. Thanks for some ideas though.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
Got a little shop time today. I got the lower roller hubs installed.
Used the Mag drill to drill the hub holes. This produced a clean perpendicular hole ensuring the two rollers lined up and rolled with zero wobble.
I used a C clamp for added security. The minimum recommended base metal for the magnet to hold is 1/4". I flipped the frame on end to work flat.
I then set the hub in upside down to transfer punched the three 10-32 mounting holes.
countersunk the three holes and then needed to rid the burrs from the inside of the tubing for the hud to mount flat.
I came up with a solution. I took about 8 inches of emery cloth and stapled it to a piece of wood 3/4" x3/4"X 24" long.
I worked it from the opened end of the leg then ran a vacuum hose to clean out the debris.
The hub fit nicely and the hub spacing worked out great aligning the larger front rollers to the smaller track rollers.
Flip frame and repeat procedure. The rollers shoulder will keep the drawer centered and snug.
The smaller track rollers do the same but on the track section. I hope this works (it does in my head) with the amount of time invested.
I installed the castors and placed the top plate on and rolled it over to the area it will live and also checked the overall height with the the mill
table.
Looking like a cart now.
This location is where the cart will be stowed when not in use.
The cart will be rolled out parallel to the lathe when preforming lathe work. The distance between the cart and lathe is 31.5". I might move the cold saw forward 6" to feel less crowded but really has plenty of room.
A piece of plywood was used to "mock up" the angle of the drawer. The rollers where also installed to test the action.
The overall angle fully deployed came to 25º. Originally I was shooting for 20-30º fully kneeled. The nested drawer sits level.
The Mill table height also worked out well to transfer heavier tooling like vices,roteory tables and such. I have close to seventeen inches of transfer surface.
Now with the rollers installed, I'm able to layout the aluminum sheet for the start of the drawer fabrication.
I don't have any drawings, I build as I go and come up with new ideas other than whats in my minds eye. I'v always enjoyed this method when building my own projects because its challenging and therapeutic.
More to come on Wednesday, thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco
Used the Mag drill to drill the hub holes. This produced a clean perpendicular hole ensuring the two rollers lined up and rolled with zero wobble.
I used a C clamp for added security. The minimum recommended base metal for the magnet to hold is 1/4". I flipped the frame on end to work flat.
I then set the hub in upside down to transfer punched the three 10-32 mounting holes.
countersunk the three holes and then needed to rid the burrs from the inside of the tubing for the hud to mount flat.
I came up with a solution. I took about 8 inches of emery cloth and stapled it to a piece of wood 3/4" x3/4"X 24" long.
I worked it from the opened end of the leg then ran a vacuum hose to clean out the debris.
The hub fit nicely and the hub spacing worked out great aligning the larger front rollers to the smaller track rollers.
Flip frame and repeat procedure. The rollers shoulder will keep the drawer centered and snug.
The smaller track rollers do the same but on the track section. I hope this works (it does in my head) with the amount of time invested.
I installed the castors and placed the top plate on and rolled it over to the area it will live and also checked the overall height with the the mill
table.
Looking like a cart now.
This location is where the cart will be stowed when not in use.
The cart will be rolled out parallel to the lathe when preforming lathe work. The distance between the cart and lathe is 31.5". I might move the cold saw forward 6" to feel less crowded but really has plenty of room.
A piece of plywood was used to "mock up" the angle of the drawer. The rollers where also installed to test the action.
The overall angle fully deployed came to 25º. Originally I was shooting for 20-30º fully kneeled. The nested drawer sits level.
The Mill table height also worked out well to transfer heavier tooling like vices,roteory tables and such. I have close to seventeen inches of transfer surface.
Now with the rollers installed, I'm able to layout the aluminum sheet for the start of the drawer fabrication.
I don't have any drawings, I build as I go and come up with new ideas other than whats in my minds eye. I'v always enjoyed this method when building my own projects because its challenging and therapeutic.
More to come on Wednesday, thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2018
- Messages
- 186
The drawer fit pretty good and kneels well. I plan on welding up the corners and doubling the inside rear corners to prevent flexing when the drawer is pulled out all the way. The rear rollers support most of the weight when opened.
The drawer is 37-13/16" W x 26" deep. Sides are 4" and face 5.5" for a face plate to secure to. The 5052 aluminum sheet (.100") bends nice with a tight radius. The corners where notched then bent.
I also drilled access holes on the track for assembly. A 5/8" deep socket fit well.
The stowed drawer sits level.
Side view, the front is to the right.
Front view.
The front drawer will get a slightly larger face to conceal the side and top gaps and maybe the lower rollers. I will use 1/8" aluminum for this.
The rear rollers contact the rear frame legs when closed (drawer front/back flush to frame) and contact the front frame legs in the fully opened kneeling position (25º).
Drawer fully open.
Detail of the rollers in the opened position. Sorry for the blurred photo, Hard to see but the rear roller inside the track
is resting on the inside part of the front leg/s when fully opened.
I was not 100% happy with the rollers. The math worked out but they don't roll like I would like. I'm reworking them by adding internal spacers. This will allow me torque the hardware down without binding or side loading the bearings. A minor setback.
Overall the drawer operates pretty nicely. Next up will be designing a 5C collet rack for part of the drawer. I reached out to a coupe of forum members regarding the hole size and spacing. Thanks go out to bss1 and mksj.
Stay tuned and thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco
The drawer is 37-13/16" W x 26" deep. Sides are 4" and face 5.5" for a face plate to secure to. The 5052 aluminum sheet (.100") bends nice with a tight radius. The corners where notched then bent.
I also drilled access holes on the track for assembly. A 5/8" deep socket fit well.
The stowed drawer sits level.
Side view, the front is to the right.
Front view.
The front drawer will get a slightly larger face to conceal the side and top gaps and maybe the lower rollers. I will use 1/8" aluminum for this.
The rear rollers contact the rear frame legs when closed (drawer front/back flush to frame) and contact the front frame legs in the fully opened kneeling position (25º).
Drawer fully open.
Detail of the rollers in the opened position. Sorry for the blurred photo, Hard to see but the rear roller inside the track
is resting on the inside part of the front leg/s when fully opened.
I was not 100% happy with the rollers. The math worked out but they don't roll like I would like. I'm reworking them by adding internal spacers. This will allow me torque the hardware down without binding or side loading the bearings. A minor setback.
Overall the drawer operates pretty nicely. Next up will be designing a 5C collet rack for part of the drawer. I reached out to a coupe of forum members regarding the hole size and spacing. Thanks go out to bss1 and mksj.
Stay tuned and thanks for looking.
Turn and Burn!
Paco