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POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?
- Thread starter wachuko
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2018
- Messages
- 816
Turned the stack of Hemlock I posted earlier into raised garden planters.
Filled the bottom half with cut up slabs to get them hidden, not out of the yard. Then toped them up with the soil I scraped from the original weed bed.
Now only 8 months till I can plant. lol Why do I live in this cold country?
Greg
Filled the bottom half with cut up slabs to get them hidden, not out of the yard. Then toped them up with the soil I scraped from the original weed bed.
Now only 8 months till I can plant. lol Why do I live in this cold country?
Greg
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- Sep 2, 2013
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- 5,417
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2018
- Messages
- 816
Free logs Mike. Some biguns. Sawed them into 48 1x15s and 10 1x10s from 4 logs and a bunch of 2x4s from the tops.
Used some left over rebar for the stays. That isn't nice stuff to machine, couldn't get a die to run down them so had to single point thread 40 3/8th threads. Welded a washer on the other end.
Greg
Used some left over rebar for the stays. That isn't nice stuff to machine, couldn't get a die to run down them so had to single point thread 40 3/8th threads. Welded a washer on the other end.
Greg
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2018
- Messages
- 816
Have the same vice Marten, came with a radial arm drill press I got on an online auction. Judged the size of the drill from the vice. Was surprised when I saw the size of the vice in person, and the drill. Mine has 8 inch jaws and weighs enough that it gets moved with the crane.
Greg
Greg
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- Mar 26, 2014
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Yep it’s heavy. I put it up on there with the fork truck.
That’s a handy vise for the radial dril! I never thought , I may steal your idea and use it on mine. Not often I need a vise on the boring mill so far.
Cheers
Martin
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2019
- Messages
- 1,394
I have to maneuver within fairly tight spaces to park my trailers. My trailer backing skills have much to be desired and it always takes two people. I decided to put a hitch on the front of my truck hoping it will make life easier and a 1-person job. I won't be able to test it for a week or two, but I think it will work. The install was straight forward and came out clean and it didn't interfere with my license plate.
Some of you may recall I bought a couple of used Lyon tool chests about a year ago. They were a little banged-up and had a little surface rust. Life got in the way and I only recently was able to work on them some more. The last couple of weekends, I was able to get them to bare metal (exterior only), clean all the bearings, and straighten the bent metal. The drawers fit and function like new ones. I have very little body filler to apply and then I'm ready for paint, but I'm torn. Rattle can is out, but automotive will likely be more than I care to spend. My SIL has a friend who manages a Sherman-Williams store in another state. She's going to call me next week with some options and I'll get wholesale pricing locally. I may call for a price to have them powder coated. Decisions, decisions.
Before:
Some of you may recall I bought a couple of used Lyon tool chests about a year ago. They were a little banged-up and had a little surface rust. Life got in the way and I only recently was able to work on them some more. The last couple of weekends, I was able to get them to bare metal (exterior only), clean all the bearings, and straighten the bent metal. The drawers fit and function like new ones. I have very little body filler to apply and then I'm ready for paint, but I'm torn. Rattle can is out, but automotive will likely be more than I care to spend. My SIL has a friend who manages a Sherman-Williams store in another state. She's going to call me next week with some options and I'll get wholesale pricing locally. I may call for a price to have them powder coated. Decisions, decisions.
Before:
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2018
- Messages
- 1,006
Another small project of mine to make my day job doable, not a not a daring and highly talented machining job but just good old fashioned get the job done type of thing.
I was doing a headgasket on a VW 5 cylinder gas engine that someone unprofessional had done before. On the intake manifold which is plastic there are through holes to allow you to tighten the manifold bolts down. The mechanic before me drove one of the screws into the through hole and when it stopped he thought it must be tight. It actually got jambed into the hole and seized into place. I had to take a long piece of round stock used as a punch to knock it back out.
I was able to put all the bolts into place in the manifold and hang it on the car but the problem came when I needed to tighten the two bolts through the holes provided in the manifold. There was just enough room to get at the one with a 6mm long ball tool, but the other one had no access from the top or bottom when installed on the engine. I needed a long 6mm allen head that I did not have, nor did any of the other mechanics I know. A call to Snap on and they didn't have one either. The mechanic before me probably didn't even realize that he had not gotten all the manifold bolts tight.
So I am wondering how in the world I was going to accomplish may task when I remembered that I own a mill that is just standing in the back room waiting for use. I ran up to the local tool store and bought a cheap 1/4' extension set for $16.99 that had two long 1/4' extensions in it and one long 3/8' too.
I chucked the shorter (12' long) 1/4' extension into my er32 collet block holder and squared up the square end as close as I could eyeball with a triangle off the bed. I figured it was as at least as accurate as the square end of the tool anyway. I found center with my edge finder on the round shaft and with a little arithmetic I was able to shave the end down to my final 6mm dimension. i rotated the collet holder carefully and shaved all sides to match. I purposefully left the dimension a little proud in hopes that it would grip the allen bolts tightly and not fall off. An added bonus I discovered is the little ball that is spring loaded in the extension remained and also helped in holding the bolt on tool.
The tool worked perfectly with about 3 inches stickout of the manifold to spare, and I was able to get the manifold tight. i also have 2 more potential allen tools left over from my purchase to use in the future if needed. All told once I remembered I had a mill and started to cut a tool to work I spent 20 minutes maybe to do the actual job. I know I am slow, and if I had thought it through I could have done a much more professional job and at least cut the same depth on each flat, I do have a DRO after all, but I needed to get the main job done on the headgasket first. Next one will be better I promise.
Again I wonder how people who don't have access to a mill or lathe or other such tools can get by.
I was doing a headgasket on a VW 5 cylinder gas engine that someone unprofessional had done before. On the intake manifold which is plastic there are through holes to allow you to tighten the manifold bolts down. The mechanic before me drove one of the screws into the through hole and when it stopped he thought it must be tight. It actually got jambed into the hole and seized into place. I had to take a long piece of round stock used as a punch to knock it back out.
I was able to put all the bolts into place in the manifold and hang it on the car but the problem came when I needed to tighten the two bolts through the holes provided in the manifold. There was just enough room to get at the one with a 6mm long ball tool, but the other one had no access from the top or bottom when installed on the engine. I needed a long 6mm allen head that I did not have, nor did any of the other mechanics I know. A call to Snap on and they didn't have one either. The mechanic before me probably didn't even realize that he had not gotten all the manifold bolts tight.
So I am wondering how in the world I was going to accomplish may task when I remembered that I own a mill that is just standing in the back room waiting for use. I ran up to the local tool store and bought a cheap 1/4' extension set for $16.99 that had two long 1/4' extensions in it and one long 3/8' too.
I chucked the shorter (12' long) 1/4' extension into my er32 collet block holder and squared up the square end as close as I could eyeball with a triangle off the bed. I figured it was as at least as accurate as the square end of the tool anyway. I found center with my edge finder on the round shaft and with a little arithmetic I was able to shave the end down to my final 6mm dimension. i rotated the collet holder carefully and shaved all sides to match. I purposefully left the dimension a little proud in hopes that it would grip the allen bolts tightly and not fall off. An added bonus I discovered is the little ball that is spring loaded in the extension remained and also helped in holding the bolt on tool.
The tool worked perfectly with about 3 inches stickout of the manifold to spare, and I was able to get the manifold tight. i also have 2 more potential allen tools left over from my purchase to use in the future if needed. All told once I remembered I had a mill and started to cut a tool to work I spent 20 minutes maybe to do the actual job. I know I am slow, and if I had thought it through I could have done a much more professional job and at least cut the same depth on each flat, I do have a DRO after all, but I needed to get the main job done on the headgasket first. Next one will be better I promise.
Again I wonder how people who don't have access to a mill or lathe or other such tools can get by.
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- Joined
- Sep 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,395
Fixed up a milling cutter arbor that had the back collar broken off. Made a new collar, mig welded it back on and turned it down to size. Also had to fix a home made lathe dog - interrupted cuts on weld + an 8-32 thread on the drive arm = snapped thread 
anyway, it all came out fine
Also drilled and bored out a piece of threaded steel rod from a nice piece of alu, thought this was a fun pic
anyway, it all came out fineAlso drilled and bored out a piece of threaded steel rod from a nice piece of alu, thought this was a fun pic
