2018 POTD Thread Archive

[T Bredehoft]

Verify that the point of contact with the base and the point of the TI are truly vertical, not offset sideways. Any offset will nullify your findings.

I like your base. nice three point support. Did you indicate the top? is is parallel the granite surface plate?

 

[dave_r_1]

Finished making the mounts for the bagger, as part of fabricating a larger power vacuum.

I've got a smaller, commercially produced one, similar to this(mine is older, and not self-propelled):
https://www.lawnmowerhosp.com/product/billy-goat-kv-series-vaccums-931
but I find that the bag it uses is a hassle to empty, particularly if you let it get too full (and it's easy to do that), and the hose attachment for vacuuming out harder to reach spots that you can't use the main vacuum on is fairly small (4" diameter) and clogs easily with small branches.

Last year, i made a powered bagger for a large walk-behind mower, and the blower I used came with a 6" diameter attachment (long hose with wand, same as that for the above unit, just bigger) and that worked really well last fall. The only problem was that the mower is pretty big and limited where I could go to use it. So, I'm reusing that same blower (I'll used it for both, and am making it fairly easy to swap between the two), and bagger (I have a second unit for holding the debris), and making a push vacuum that can get into smaller area's.

Here's the basic frame with the bagger (hood and bags for debris removed to make it easier to fab the stuff) mounted on it:



Tomorrow, I'll begin working on a new blower exit chute. The existing one I have is designed to angle the debris flow in a big arc upwards and back, to go into a large box on wheels, and I modified it a bit to work ok on my mower, but it winds up making this push unit too wide. So, I'll attempt to make a straight chute that goes from a roughly 8"x4" rectangular opening on the blower, to a 7" diameter circle to put a hose on to connect it to the bagger. I bought a ring roller for making the round end from a couple of strips of 1/8"x1" flat steel, weld up a rectangle for the other end, and then mangle lengths of 1/8"x1" flat steel to connect the two.

 

[Redmech]

Verify that the point of contact with the base and the point of the TI are truly vertical, not offset sideways. Any offset will nullify your findings.

I like your base. nice three point support. Did you indicate the top? is is parallel the granite surface plate?

The way I understand these to work, is get the indicator set to read against a vertical plant in the center area of the convex radius then rock the base back and forth against the cylinder square to find thre closest reading, working your way all around the cylinder square, finding total difference, then splitting the difference in two, to find the perpendicular plane.

The skate was parallel with in a few tenths before drilling holes for the ball bearings, i drilled the holes all to the same depth, but haven’t checked it since installing the bearings. Where this tool isn’t really designed to check squareness from top to bottom in one smooth sliding motion like the high end squaresness checking devices, I’m not sure perfect parallelism is necessary. I copied Stan’s video from BarZ on youtube,

I may go back to my mill and cut the front bumper convex radius down on the top side so the bumper portion is only maybe .200” thick instead of 3/4” like it is now.

Thanks for the interest and thoughts. It’s a simple device only as accurate as the person using it can make it perform.

 

[BFHammer]

Built a rack for my turning and other small stock. It’s nice to get it in one place instead of on the workbench, stacked in the corner, on the other workbench and on the shelf. Made completely out of the steel scrap I had lying around.

 

[tweinke]

Nice way to organize your materials! My bench and all available corners hold my stock at this time but that may have to change now that I see what you have done.

 

[Redmech]

You’ve got some good material there. I’m jealous.

 

[ch2co]

Entirely too organized!
I’m also quite jealous.
Well done.

 

[dave_r_1]

Continuing on with this project (https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...d-you-do-in-your-shop-today.14637/post-562589), yesterday I bought a cheap 1" ring roller from PrincessAuto (same one as the Harbor Freight one), 1" x 3/16" capacity.

Evidently I picked good ring roller, as even with using stock wider than it is designed for, the ring didn't twist very much (ie, the ends of the ring were only offset sideways about 1/2" in my 7" ring).

Clamped to my precision welding table, and then ran 2 strips of 1.5"x1/8" mild steel through it. Worked ok, I ran it through on both edges because it's wider than the rollers, would leave maybe 3/4" at each end unbent. After getting the right diameters, trimmed the ends to get the right length, welded the ends together, then ground the weld smooth. Then I ran each hoop through the ring roller again to get the welded part round as well.

then welded the two hoops together and ground the weld flat. The flexible tube will slide onto this part, and carry debris to the bagger.


Then, I fashioned the flange that mounts onto the blower. Not too bad to do, just my usual problem of being unable to drill holes where I want them to go.


Tomorrow, it's cutting/bending/welding strips of 1x1/8 and 1.5x1/8 steel to connect these two parts, so they are about 6" apart.

 

[jdedmon91]

A simple project I reworked my bottom GPS range finder holder so it fits into a cup holder on a golf cart tightly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pdentrem]

RWM’s post of his bedside lamp, inspired me to post a couple pictures of a lamp I rebuilt last month. These goose neck lamps are NOT cheap and it had been dropped and the plastic housing was shattered. It was tossed into the garbage at work. I grabbed it and thought about making a new housing for the transformer and switch. One of those SS insulated mugs was cut opened and with a little thinking I was able to make the lamp functional again! I used the plastic cover which was the bottom of the mug as the top cover. Reinforced the top after drilling a hole for the neck to prevent flex there and a plug in the now bottom to attach to the base and brass screws holding the can to the plug. Looks pretty good to me!