POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

One of the projects on my list is making a grinding rest. I have been looking at all the available threads on this from folks that have done the Simple and Advanced grinding rest from Harold Hall and other options available...

A thread from the man himself introducing his books, He is not active in any forum, that I could find... He also stopped all correspondence back in 2019. He should be 89 years old by now:


And a few of the different builds I found:







I already purchased a Indexable Dovetail Cutter, 2 Flute, 3/4" Cutting Diameter for the dovetails needed in some parts for the Harold Hall grinding rest...

But the project requires going through the whole book and collecting the list of material and dimensions. I wished it was all a bit better organized, but that is just me being lazy... I love the book and have probably read it more than 10 times... Well, today was the 11th time reading it as the task was to collect the material and hardware list. For those starting in this journey, I can't recommend this book enough... easy reading for a newbie and several recommendations on how to accomplish tasks using different approaches...

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Attached is my first attempt at capturing all the material needed... I created a spreadsheet to capture all this. I went over this a few times and have corrected a few mistakes made... there are references to the pages where the information was taken from. This is so I am able to go back and reference the diagram and description just in case I wrote down the wrong dimension in the spreadsheet...

Pretty sure I might be missing something, but at least it is a start. Also, there is a few columns converting to inches from mm. In case I decide to make this using standard measurements instead of metric.

The other option is to order the kit from Eccentric Engineering - Acute Tool Sharpening System - Full Parts Kit. This comes with all material needed and well documented instructions. There is also a series of videos on building one.


And a thread from a build by a forum member:


So there... that was the project of the day... research....
 

Attachments

  • Grinding Rest - Material List-03-23-2022.xlsx
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Nothing particularly fancy, but I had a Royal live center that I bought of eBay some time ago that had grotty bearings. I picked up some bull nose centers at an auction a while back, so I figured I'd try to adapt them to the Royal.

First I had to get the old center out, that took drilling a 5/16 tap drill down the shank, so I could knock out out with a rod. Tapped the whole for a set screw.

Then I had to pull the bottom bearing out. Bought a blind hole bearing puller, which after some mods pulled the center of the bearing out. After that I bored almost all of the outer race away on my lathe (lots of glowing chips!), then ground a slot in what was left so I could pry it outIMG_20220324_121748.jpg

Pushed three new 6002 bearings in (15mm ID matches the new centers) and everything works perfectlyIMG_20220324_121945.jpgIMG_20220324_121958.jpgIMG_20220324_122003.jpgsuper pleased with how it turned out. The bearings are smooth and the centers push in with a slight resistance. The set screw should also allow me to adjust when it pops out of the tailstock :)
 
He is not active in any forum, that I could find...
Mr Hall was a member here until about 2017 or so under the user name HomeMetalMan. Not too many posts, here is his last one as he was heading into what he termed "retirement".

 
Finished making the remote control box for the VFD on the milling machine. Will be installing the VFD side this weekend.

Small switch is fixing an oversight on my part... I forgot to account for a switch for the RPM display... oh well. I was not about to buy another, longer, enclosure to fix that mistake... Got the switch from the pile of left over parts from other projects.

I did not crimp any terminals on the other end of the wires in case I need to adjust the length. I also have some abrasive and flame retardant sleeve that will go over the cables once I know they are to correct length.

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Had to test the display with a 12v battery... oh the child in me... :p

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EDIT: Oh well... decided to install the sleeve now... will trim it all during the install this weekend.

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@wachuko

Nice looking panel. Please add a link to where the box can be purchased.

I'm wondering why the RPM display needed a switch?
So it's not displaying zero even when you're not using the machine?
 
@wachuko

Nice looking panel. Please add a link to where the box can be purchased.

I'm wondering why the RPM display needed a switch?
So it's not displaying zero even when you're not using the machine?
I think that's to control his VFD, not a switch for the RPM display. But he made it give feedback.

oops, yes what you said... I didn't realize he put a switch in for the RPM alone... why not?
 
I think that's to control his VFD, not a switch for the RPM display. But he made it give feedback.

oops, yes what you said... I didn't realize he put a switch in for the RPM alone... why not?
@wachuko

Nice looking panel. Please add a link to where the box can be purchased.

I'm wondering why the RPM display needed a switch?
So it's not displaying zero even when you're not using the machine?

Small switch is for the RPM display so it does not show zero when not in use... correct. Keep in mind that it runs from a separate 12volt power supply... not from the VFD.

Link to the enclosure, comes in different configurations - Push Button Switch Control Station Box
 
On my little Chinese bench lathe I’m replacing the cross slide screw with the extra 5/8” 10 LH acme rod . I added an extension to the saddle so a new longer screw was needed anyway . To get the full travel and a larger brass nut i repositioned the mounting hole in the cross slide . Drilled and reamed .500 also milled a recess because of the larger screw . 0B356259-3980-475C-83DE-89FDE78FE106.jpeg
 
Same here. I have a love / hate relation with the indicol. Mostly love, but it can be a pain to get it just right. I also have multiple arms with mine, a short set, and a long set.

No love from me.

I replaced the linkage arms with a noga arm. I got the idea from Oxtools- Tom Lipton.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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