2018 POTD Thread Archive

[MAKEITOUTOFWOOD]

Got the chuck mounted. The back plate shoulder bore and threads where to tight. Couldn’t get it on the lathe. Learned how to chase internal threads. Worked out great and I have a new trick to put in the bag.

 

[dave_r_1]

Awhile ago, I added a powered bagger system to my large walk behind mower, and then make a power vacuum re-using the same blower/motor between the two. Naturally, after doing this, the engine for the blower decided start exhaling buckets of blue smoke..

So, this weekend, I bought a new motor to swap in. It's a Honda GX270, which is significantly more than is needed (original engine was a Briggs & Stratton Intek 900). I would have gone for a smaller engine (like another Intek 900 or even a Honda GX200), but I needed something I could get right away, and all the smaller engines that are readily available have 3/4" shafts with 3/16" keyway, while the original motor had a 1" shaft with 1/4" keyway. It would be a week or more to either get an engine with the larger shaft or a 3/4 to 1" adapter (I could make the bushing, but I don't have a way to make a good adapter keyway (to go from 3/16 to 1/4).

First, I made a new mounting plate (this attached the blower housing to the engine). The orange part is the original one, the new one had to have slightly longer posts because the length of the crankshaft is slightly longer than the original one.


Here it is assembled:


After making this mounting plate, I test-fit the housing, and it turned out the chute for chipping branches didn't clear the fuel tank of the motor, so I removed it and make a plate to cover the hole. It's of limited use (it works best with small, bare branches, while branches with leaves/needles or have offshoot branches tend to plug the chute), but I'm considering making a chute that would clear the fuel tank.

Next up was the mounting plate for the engine itself, but I forgot to take pictures of it, but it was similar to above, as in, the same, but slightly larger because the engine base is slightly bigger. I had a short panic moment, as this mount has a section of 1.5"x1.5"x1/8" square tubing, which is supposed to slide over a 1.25"x1.25"x1/8" square tubing section on the mower, to hold the whole assembly in place. The old mount would slide on & off no problem, but I had to buy another piece of 1.5"x1.5"x1/8" square tubing, which evidently has a slightly thicker/larger seam/weld on the interior, so when I did a test with the piece I cut off, it wouldn't slide on at all (and it's about 12" long, so I can't readily fix up the inside of it to make it work). I did find some other pieces of that same tubing, which were set aside to use as extensions for a trailer to enable it to have higher walls for bulky loads, which did slide on/off easily, so I used that. Then, I welded on some angle iron pieces to that tubing for the engine to bolt onto (to the engine would be at the right height), and then this shrunk the tubing a bit. I was able to eventually get it to slide on/off a little better, but it's definitely more of a chore than the old setup (and the extra 15 lbs of the new motor doesn't help one bit).

I also spent some time fabricating a short exhaust manifold extension, because the way the engine is mounted on the lawnmower (and this was also a problem with the original engine), the exhaust would blow onto (or along) the plastic fuel tank for the mower. It was a little melted by the original engine (the dark spot):


The new engines exhaust would blow direction at the fuel tank. I could have make a little chute to direct the exhaust to one side, but that caused the above damage with the original engine (so either way would be significantly worse with this engine). Instead, I decided to raise the muffler up about 2.5" and rotate it 180 degrees, so it doesn't blow anywhere near that fuel tank.

Here's the result:



Got it done, added oil and gas, and fired it up this even, and it seems to work fine. It is more of a beast to shift between the mower and the vacuum, as the engine weights 65lbs (vs 50 for the original).

I will rebuild the original motor, to either reinstall on this blower or to use somewhere else (maybe make/buy another blower fan/housing so the vacuum has it's own motor instead of sharing it with the mower...

 

[mksj]

Revised the material stop system on my horizontal band saw. The stock cast iron one was not adjustable, didn't work for smaller or larger stock, and stock would often jam between the stop and the saw blade at the end of a cut. I used some aluminum 1" square stock to make a new stop with a swing away stop arm that is adjustable for very small or large stock. I used the old locking key which fits into a SS threaded insert on the bottom of the stop. The upper articulating bolt is also SS and pressed into the arm with some red loktite, I used a nylon friction washer and a thread locking nut to set the arm tension. Once the stop distance is set, the shorter arm swings out of the way so no more jamming of the cutoff material. Simple and more rigid, works nicely.

Cast iron factory stop, new stop with articulating stop arm.

 

[f350ca]

I need to make one of those.

Greg

 

[roadie33]

Great idea. Mine has the same problem.
Thanks mksj,
Another item on the to do list.

 

[Ray C]

Today, yet another toolbox arrived as part of the continuing efforts to make my shop more efficient (and fun to be in). Instead of unpacking it and moving tools into it, I wrote the first part of a tutorial on cutting miter gears. It can be viewed here: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/miter-gear-cutting.69779/

Ray

 

[Boswell]

Instead of unpacking it and moving tools into it,...

I probably would have skipped meals and been late to work before I would put off opening a new tool box, tool, machine etc. Great demonstration of self-control.

 

[cascao]

Tested! It's the funniest project I have done

 

[FOMOGO]

Nice. Those F1 drivers have to start somewhere. Cheers, Mike

 

[Ray C]

View attachment 267437

Today, yet another toolbox arrived as part of the continuing efforts to make my shop more efficient (and fun to be in). Instead of unpacking it and moving tools into it, I wrote the first part of a tutorial on cutting miter gears. It can be viewed here: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/miter-gear-cutting.69779/

Ray

Moved the old toolbox into the cabinet and put the new one on top. This is the box with mostly lathe tools and sits to the left side of the lathe. I've never been happy with that red "Task Force" toolbox setup. The initial plan was to replace it completely with another top & bottom set like the International brand but, like I said, when it showed up, my wife had my sons move it into her woman cave before I got home. So that put an end to that.



Ray