-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?
- Thread starter wachuko
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2021
- Messages
- 1,048
We have a guy at work who was in the habit of leaving a wrench on the drawbar nut of an R-8 spindle on a chinese mill drill. Told him it was a bad idea to leave it there. He heeded the warning, as the wrench was head height for him.
I try to train myself to pick a key or wrench up, do the adjustment, and put it back. I won't say it happens all the time...
When it does, at least I know where all my tools are! lol.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2017
- Messages
- 2,455
Today after work i got stuck in the big garage, i turn my phone off and go straight to work. I need to state that i do like working on cars, especially this cinde, disassembly and assembly. I started in the back assembled the trunk all the looks, bumper, tail lights and moved to the sides, all the window seals got cleaned and lubed with silicone paste, also had to repair the rear door electrical harnesses ended up making new ones because the copper in the wires had started to fall apart. The door mirrors wore disassembled by the body shop, had to put them together and mount them i use blue loctite on the bolts. The inside of this car never was spectacularly clean but the body shop made it 10x worse so it will take a full cleaning, last freshly painted part that i wanted to install was the front grill it contains11 pieces that are only held together with plastic clips thankfully this car isn't that old so they are still solid. I did not install the old Skoda badges, i've order new ones, i also started to troubleshoot the right running of the engine and charged the battery.
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,634
POTD was wrapping up a surprise Christmas present for one of my niece's daughters. It was doing the "finishing touch" of adding an engraved plaque. Material was some 0.015" brass shim stock, work was done on my Tormach 1100. And on the plus side, I learned something!
You can't see it under the coolant, but there's a sheet of brass that's held to an aluminum plate with double-sided carpet tape. The cutting tool is a spring-loaded diamond engraver.
Tormach's PathPilot does a nice job of giving you a preview and "where it's at" while it's running a routine (preview is in blue, which turns to magenta as the routine progresses).
All done except for drilling some nail holes (a smarter person would have done that with the CNC. . . .), polishing and cutting to size.
And what did I learn? "Yoda" isn't necessarily right all of the time. Truth be told, I wrote the routine to use a carbide engraving tool. I ran a prototype in aluminum and snapped the tip off right away. Instead of changing tips and remeasuring the tool height, I changed over to a spring-loaded diamond engraver. It was quicker doing the prove-out changing tool numbers than fiddling with installing a new engraving bit. I usually do engraving with the carbide tool at 3000 RPM with DOC of 0.015", but had written the routine to 0.040" with no progressive step down. That oversight equaled a broken tip.
Next step was to go into the three routines to change the tool number and the RPMs from 3000 to 300. I was told and have read recommendations from "Yoda" to run a diamond engraver at a low spindle speed. Tormach's PP control software does engraving through conversational programming and only does one line at a time. It's no big deal as you can append files to do multiple lines. I went into each of the three routines, changed tools and RPM's. Then ran the routine in an aluminum plate. That's where I learned "Yoda" ain't right all of the time . . . .
I ran the top two lines of text at 300 RPM, but fat-fingered the bottom line to run at 3300 RPM. See the wobble in the top two lines? The "Made by" came out really nicely, so the first two line of engraving got their speed bumped up to 3300 RPM.
Not perfect, but MUCH better with the spring-loaded diamond engraver running at high-speed
I didn't show it, but the nail holes were drilled with the brass still taped to the aluminum plate. Trimmed to size and nailed in place.
And the finished product!
More of the boring backstory is my grandfather made three of these same hobby horses for my dad and his two brothers. There's a picture of me someplace sitting on ours when I was around 2; cowboy hat on and a Colt 6-shooter in hand. Years later a neighbor stopped by to visit with her 2-year old. He was rocking away on the horse and started bawling when it was time to leave. My mom told her to take the horse with her. Well, the neighbor moved a few years later and kept the horse. My dad was really bummed as he knew his dad had put a lot of time into the project.
Around 25 years ago I saw the plans (currently available from Woodcraft and Lowes) and bought a set. I showed them to my dad and suggested we could make horses for my sister's two kids and my two even though they had all outgrown the horse. He thought it was a great idea, but other stuff got in the way. Then he had a stroke and that was the end of that. He wasn't able to help as he passed away 3 years ago, but the leather in the reins, flower at the base of the handles and ears came from a deer he shot in 1974; so there's a piece of him in it!
Thanks for looking, Bruce
You can't see it under the coolant, but there's a sheet of brass that's held to an aluminum plate with double-sided carpet tape. The cutting tool is a spring-loaded diamond engraver.
Tormach's PathPilot does a nice job of giving you a preview and "where it's at" while it's running a routine (preview is in blue, which turns to magenta as the routine progresses).
All done except for drilling some nail holes (a smarter person would have done that with the CNC. . . .), polishing and cutting to size.
And what did I learn? "Yoda" isn't necessarily right all of the time. Truth be told, I wrote the routine to use a carbide engraving tool. I ran a prototype in aluminum and snapped the tip off right away. Instead of changing tips and remeasuring the tool height, I changed over to a spring-loaded diamond engraver. It was quicker doing the prove-out changing tool numbers than fiddling with installing a new engraving bit. I usually do engraving with the carbide tool at 3000 RPM with DOC of 0.015", but had written the routine to 0.040" with no progressive step down. That oversight equaled a broken tip.
Next step was to go into the three routines to change the tool number and the RPMs from 3000 to 300. I was told and have read recommendations from "Yoda" to run a diamond engraver at a low spindle speed. Tormach's PP control software does engraving through conversational programming and only does one line at a time. It's no big deal as you can append files to do multiple lines. I went into each of the three routines, changed tools and RPM's. Then ran the routine in an aluminum plate. That's where I learned "Yoda" ain't right all of the time . . . .
I ran the top two lines of text at 300 RPM, but fat-fingered the bottom line to run at 3300 RPM. See the wobble in the top two lines? The "Made by" came out really nicely, so the first two line of engraving got their speed bumped up to 3300 RPM.
Not perfect, but MUCH better with the spring-loaded diamond engraver running at high-speed
I didn't show it, but the nail holes were drilled with the brass still taped to the aluminum plate. Trimmed to size and nailed in place.
And the finished product!
More of the boring backstory is my grandfather made three of these same hobby horses for my dad and his two brothers. There's a picture of me someplace sitting on ours when I was around 2; cowboy hat on and a Colt 6-shooter in hand. Years later a neighbor stopped by to visit with her 2-year old. He was rocking away on the horse and started bawling when it was time to leave. My mom told her to take the horse with her. Well, the neighbor moved a few years later and kept the horse. My dad was really bummed as he knew his dad had put a lot of time into the project.
Around 25 years ago I saw the plans (currently available from Woodcraft and Lowes) and bought a set. I showed them to my dad and suggested we could make horses for my sister's two kids and my two even though they had all outgrown the horse. He thought it was a great idea, but other stuff got in the way. Then he had a stroke and that was the end of that. He wasn't able to help as he passed away 3 years ago, but the leather in the reins, flower at the base of the handles and ears came from a deer he shot in 1974; so there's a piece of him in it!
Thanks for looking, Bruce
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 8,664
I love that mill man!
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2021
- Messages
- 1,048
Whoo Hoo! Lathe is finally level. That took a week of thinking, tweaking, thinking, and tweaking some more. The worst thing that ever happened to me is a precision level, and known flat lathe bed!
After sorting out the fact that the chip pan was loading, and bowing the bed. It can finally be leveled. This silly Sheldon, has two cast cabinets that the bed bolts to. Each one has 4 four leveling bolts to the floor! Finally figured out how to use all that adjustment to get everything level down the whole length of the bed. Twist, bow, level in two planes.
When I first bought this lathe used, it came with eight 2"x2"x1/4" steel pads, and eight 2"x2"x3/4 red oak blocks for under the pads. The problem with red oak is I've seen it move 1/4" per foot with humidity over a season. Not ideal to have the lathe sitting on. So, I cut some 2"x2"x1/2" delrin blocks to put under the steel pads. (Load spreading, and just slightly compliant).
...Until it became apparent the jacking screws would 'wobble' on the drilled dimples in the steel pads. No problem! Pull the bolts one at a time and grind the end round. Now they rotate nice and smooth without pushing the blocks/pads around when tightened.
...Until I realize the delrin slides on the floor too easily. I could bump the lathe, and have it 'skate over an inch and everything would be out again. Well, easy to fix. I have some very thin hard rubber. Just put a small square between the delrin and the floor. Blocks don't slide!
...Until I realized the steel would slide on the delrin too easily. Bump the lathe again, and off it would go! (Insert Yosemite Sam level cussing!). No problem, put a sheet of rubber between the steel and delrin.
...Until it became apparent that the bed could be twisted. With the jacking screws adjusted the pads wouldn't slide on the floor if they needed to. (Invent a whole inventory of brand new four letter words!).
So eventually, what I settled on Bolt-Steel-Rubber-Delrin-Rubber-Floor under the headstock, and Bolt-Steel-Rubber-Delrin-Floor on the tailstock end. The headstock and cabinet being heavy glues the thing down. The tailstock end is supported, but the delrin slides a little to prevent twisting of the bed.
The final leveling was done with the four outermost bolts first, then slowly bring in the inner headstock bolts to work out bow and twist. After a few hours messing around it's level in every direction I can put a level on it. With the rubber under the headstock, it won't move. Pushing, pulling, twisting, lifting, it might a move few tenths per foot, but it always settles back out where it started. Just need need to turn some test pieces and do some final tweaking as necessary.
...Until it became apparent that something is going on with the ancient motor overload after the 12 hours of road trip. So, now the lathe won't run! (Crown Royal Take me Away!)
No problem, just order a VFD. It was a planned upgrade anyway...
After sorting out the fact that the chip pan was loading, and bowing the bed. It can finally be leveled. This silly Sheldon, has two cast cabinets that the bed bolts to. Each one has 4 four leveling bolts to the floor! Finally figured out how to use all that adjustment to get everything level down the whole length of the bed. Twist, bow, level in two planes.
When I first bought this lathe used, it came with eight 2"x2"x1/4" steel pads, and eight 2"x2"x3/4 red oak blocks for under the pads. The problem with red oak is I've seen it move 1/4" per foot with humidity over a season. Not ideal to have the lathe sitting on. So, I cut some 2"x2"x1/2" delrin blocks to put under the steel pads. (Load spreading, and just slightly compliant).
...Until it became apparent the jacking screws would 'wobble' on the drilled dimples in the steel pads. No problem! Pull the bolts one at a time and grind the end round. Now they rotate nice and smooth without pushing the blocks/pads around when tightened.
...Until I realize the delrin slides on the floor too easily. I could bump the lathe, and have it 'skate over an inch and everything would be out again. Well, easy to fix. I have some very thin hard rubber. Just put a small square between the delrin and the floor. Blocks don't slide!
...Until I realized the steel would slide on the delrin too easily. Bump the lathe again, and off it would go! (Insert Yosemite Sam level cussing!). No problem, put a sheet of rubber between the steel and delrin.
...Until it became apparent that the bed could be twisted. With the jacking screws adjusted the pads wouldn't slide on the floor if they needed to. (Invent a whole inventory of brand new four letter words!).
So eventually, what I settled on Bolt-Steel-Rubber-Delrin-Rubber-Floor under the headstock, and Bolt-Steel-Rubber-Delrin-Floor on the tailstock end. The headstock and cabinet being heavy glues the thing down. The tailstock end is supported, but the delrin slides a little to prevent twisting of the bed.
The final leveling was done with the four outermost bolts first, then slowly bring in the inner headstock bolts to work out bow and twist. After a few hours messing around it's level in every direction I can put a level on it. With the rubber under the headstock, it won't move. Pushing, pulling, twisting, lifting, it might a move few tenths per foot, but it always settles back out where it started. Just need need to turn some test pieces and do some final tweaking as necessary.
...Until it became apparent that something is going on with the ancient motor overload after the 12 hours of road trip. So, now the lathe won't run! (Crown Royal Take me Away!)
No problem, just order a VFD. It was a planned upgrade anyway...
We have a holder for the chuck key for the SB 14.5, it's next to power switch, habit is it stays in hand until it goes back.
Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk