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

[WobblyHand]

My 2002 bugeye WRX wagon was a hoot to drive. Unfortunately, salt rotted it out. It was quite enjoyable while it lasted, the suspension had a nice long travel to it. Manual transmission. The 2002 was not a race car, but it still was buckets of fun.

 

[ChazzC]

well it's the closest thing to buying a race car off the shelf in the affordable range.
I had a coworker that owned one. He said it was a hoot.

I worked with a guy that had one 20 years ago: he loved it until it skidded on an icy patch and was totaled after hitting a concrete wall (and he knew how to drive high performance vehicles - things happen sometimes).

 

[m1kemex]

The WRX is an awesome car. My dream car, actually. AWD, lots of power, manual transmission. It even has the manual brake lever and spare wheel and it doesn't have nonsense stuff like start-stop (by virtue of being a Japanese design and nor European, where it's mandated by law).

I ain't no racer. Nor I aspire to be one. But I rather have buckets of extra power, than push the pedal and wait...

Very decently priced, for what it is (but still, too expensive for a daily car...).

 

[RandallsRaceShop]

Does anyone here get Machinist’s Workshop magazine? I got a new one a couple of days ago & opened it tonight for a quick skim (I just got home from work).
Has some nice mods for the cheap spin indexers (I actually have the one they show), the other thing that caught my eye was the knurling tool build! There was something else, but I just stepped out on myself & all of you…sorry, I’m tired.

 

[ChazzC]

Does anyone here get Machinist’s Workshop magazine? I got a new one a couple of days ago & opened it tonight for a quick skim (I just got home from work).
Has some nice mods for the cheap spin indexers (I actually have the one they show), the other thing that caught my eye was the knurling tool build! There was something else, but I just stepped out on myself & all of you…sorry, I’m tired.

Yes, some very good articles this issue (I’m still not sold on reversing the spindle on the Spindex, but maybe). The other build you may be thinking of is the Tool Post Grinder using a die grinder.

 

[RandallsRaceShop]

Yes, some very good articles this issue (I’m still not sold on reversing the spindle on the Spindex, but maybe). The other build you may be thinking of is the Tool Post Grinder using a die grinder.

Ha! I didn’t read it at all. I just took a quick skim through it to see what it had to offer me for later. I think I agree with you, I don’t really want to reverse the spindle on my spindexer either.
I do want to build that knurling tool though! Seems like a good little project for in 9 years (kidding) when I finish the other stuff I’ve got going on.

 

[ChazzC]

Ha! I didn’t read it at all. I just took a quick skim through it to see what it had to offer me for later. I think I agree with you, I don’t really want to reverse the spindle on my spindexer either.
I do want to build that knurling tool though! Seems like a good little project for in 9 years (kidding) when I finish the other stuff I’ve got going on.

I haven’t given it a detailed read, but while I understand what he did the article is lacking a lot of details that I would have included, particularly with regard to location of the clamping screws he added. I’m also not sure I would rely on flexing an iron casting to clamp a spindle: needs more study.

I am going to look into the thrust bearings; when I modified mine I used steel shim & Teflon washers.

 

[GrifterGuru]

Not much of a job, but the start of a prototype modification on something.

The fingers on the Myford ML7 large throat steady rest I have for my 7x are tapered brass and no matter what, marr the surface of the material being supported. This, previously, did not matter too much, but I have plans for some machining that require the part to be supported without marring the surface.

For the modification I am looking at using small bearings as rollers, so with the original brass end machined out of the steady rest finger, I could take diameter and depth measurements and work from there. The bore in the finger end is 12mm deep and 7mm diameter. That will be opened out just enought to take an 8mm or 5/16" thread. (8mm = 0.3150", 5/16"= 0.3125", current bore of finger = 0.2756" so room for either thread)

The subsequent steel carrier I have made needs futher operations such as one end needs threading, drilling the upper body for the cross-pin, drilling the low end of the bearing channel, then machining the channel for the bearing to sit in. Yes, that little pi on the end is intentional. Yes, I am going to try small bearing first and see how they last.

Will get on with completing the work in a day or two once I have a bit more spare time.

 

[savarin]

My 9x20 steadys had brass fingers and like you I found they marred the work.
I changed to small bearings and they broke after very little use.
I then changed to hard wood boat shaped slip on ends soaked in oil.
Magic even on aluminium where they polished the contact.
They dont look tidy but work very well

 

[GrifterGuru]

My 9x20 steadys had brass fingers and like you I found they marred the work.
I changed to small bearings and they broke after very little use.
I then changed to hard wood boat shaped slip on ends soaked in oil.
Magic even on aluminium where they polished the contact.
They dont look tidy but work very well

Not too worried, bearings are cheap enough and plentiful enough that I do not mind replacing them every so often, especially given (at the moment) how little I (currently) use it. If it comes to a point of regular use, I will look at a better option. I looked at roller wheels (think roller type cam guides for valve pushrods) but decided on trying bearings first.