- Joined
- Jan 2, 2014
- Messages
- 9,266
If this doesn't get me beat up after school - nothing will.
Wait.
What route home do you use?
-brino
-
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What Did You Buy Today?
- Thread starter darkzero
- Start date
Wait.
What route home do you use?
-brino
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,594
Thinking about this, there's a problem.
About the only friends I have are here on this forum.
How's this going to work?
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2014
- Messages
- 444
My recent exploit replacing the shocks on the GMC motorhome was instructive: I was missing a critical tool. Oh, the horror of it all.
(Actually, I was missing two critical tools I didn't know I needed, but a torque multiplier will have to wait for more research. They all look alike.)
My selection of torque wrenches only went to 150 foot pounds and the lug nuts were specified at 250. I like the 'click style' as it is easiest to use without watching a dial or needle dance around.
Off to the online mall for some shopping.
Today the mailman arrived with my new toys. A used Wright Tools 30-250 Ft. lb. wrench (made in USA, last calibrated in 2018) for about $80 and a brand new GearWrench (made in Taiwan) 30-250 for a bit more. The GearWrench is designed for automotive wheel work and has rubber bumpers to prevent marring the paint. Thoughtful.
They are both 24" long (middle & top in the photo), the one at the bottom of the photo my is original 150# range one (also made in USA, I've had it 40+ years) at about 18" long.
The only challenge now is getting enough 'oomph' to put 125 pounds onto the new wrenches to get to the 250 ft. lb. for the GMC lug nuts as I currently weigh only 126 pounds. Maybe get SWMBO to help out? She'll like that (or maybe not
Hi, My name is Stu and I'm a toolaholic.
(Actually, I was missing two critical tools I didn't know I needed, but a torque multiplier will have to wait for more research. They all look alike.)
My selection of torque wrenches only went to 150 foot pounds and the lug nuts were specified at 250. I like the 'click style' as it is easiest to use without watching a dial or needle dance around.
Off to the online mall for some shopping.
Today the mailman arrived with my new toys. A used Wright Tools 30-250 Ft. lb. wrench (made in USA, last calibrated in 2018) for about $80 and a brand new GearWrench (made in Taiwan) 30-250 for a bit more. The GearWrench is designed for automotive wheel work and has rubber bumpers to prevent marring the paint. Thoughtful.
They are both 24" long (middle & top in the photo), the one at the bottom of the photo my is original 150# range one (also made in USA, I've had it 40+ years) at about 18" long.
The only challenge now is getting enough 'oomph' to put 125 pounds onto the new wrenches to get to the 250 ft. lb. for the GMC lug nuts as I currently weigh only 126 pounds. Maybe get SWMBO to help out? She'll like that (or maybe not
Hi, My name is Stu and I'm a toolaholic.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2019
- Messages
- 4,392
I bought the cheapest .0001” test dial indicator on eBay. It was $37.50 delivered. It has .008” travel. There was a used Swiss made Brown & Sharpe .00005” TDI for $109, but I can’t afford that. This TDI may not be up to the task, but I will use it to check the spindle runout of my new lathe.
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2014
- Messages
- 444
Continuing the saga of restoring the GMC motorhome I now needed to extend the valve shafts for the sewer and gray water tanks.
They're threaded 1/4-20 I've used the Ace die stock with the 'pseudo guides' many times, and often get the die stock mis-aligned with the round stock I'm threading, thereby cutting a progressively worse alignment as the thread progresses. If it was larger stock I'd single-point it on the lathe but small stuff just shrinks away from the threading tool and I don't have a steady for the lathe to keep it properly in its place. Die threading is faster if ya got the correct die size, too.
Honestly, I rarely thread small round stock (more tapping than threading, ya know?) so it wasn't a big deal until now.
So, back to the mall of the Internet for a suitable tool.
Found this 'Floating Lathe Tailstock Die Holder' set from an eBay seller in India. Yeah, I'd be a bit nervous about India too - but more later.
Kinda like the floating tap holders for the mill, but die holders for a lathe. Ordered one to fit my MT4 tailstock and got all the sizes of die holders in case I ever acquired other dies.
So, I popped it onto the lathe, chucked up (yeah, should use a collet for such small stuff - lazy day, you know?) and tried to make a thread.
First off, my lathe's slowest speed was a bit too fast for my taste in threading - so the next project will be wiring up a variable speed to the VFD - but not germane to today's discussion. So for today I used the clutch to keep the speed comfortable.
Worked like a charm, actually! Good alignment between the die and the workpiece, and after starting the die down the material it produced a very nice and well-aligned thread. Definitely worth the $70 cost of the tool. Workmanship seems very good ~ No complaints. I buggered the starting threads a bit but that was cockpit error on a first try.
The only modification I made was replacing the die holder setscrew with a cap screw so I could change dies without a tool.
If you decide to get one of these, shop around. I looked at the same seller's (micromechanics) 'other items' and the exact same tool set varied in price from about $70 to about $140. Very strange I really can't comment on the accuracy or concentricity of the Morse adapter since the business end 'floats' the die on the stock and alignment is meaningless unless it's out by a 1/16th" or so. Cheaper if you buy only the one die diameter you really need, but what's the fun in that? Shipping from India only took 10 days.
Useful tool if you don't already have one.
YMMV and all that, not affiliated with the seller, just a happy buyer.
Stu
They're threaded 1/4-20 I've used the Ace die stock with the 'pseudo guides' many times, and often get the die stock mis-aligned with the round stock I'm threading, thereby cutting a progressively worse alignment as the thread progresses. If it was larger stock I'd single-point it on the lathe but small stuff just shrinks away from the threading tool and I don't have a steady for the lathe to keep it properly in its place. Die threading is faster if ya got the correct die size, too.
Honestly, I rarely thread small round stock (more tapping than threading, ya know?) so it wasn't a big deal until now.
So, back to the mall of the Internet for a suitable tool.
Found this 'Floating Lathe Tailstock Die Holder' set from an eBay seller in India. Yeah, I'd be a bit nervous about India too - but more later.
Kinda like the floating tap holders for the mill, but die holders for a lathe. Ordered one to fit my MT4 tailstock and got all the sizes of die holders in case I ever acquired other dies.
So, I popped it onto the lathe, chucked up (yeah, should use a collet for such small stuff - lazy day, you know?) and tried to make a thread.
First off, my lathe's slowest speed was a bit too fast for my taste in threading - so the next project will be wiring up a variable speed to the VFD - but not germane to today's discussion. So for today I used the clutch to keep the speed comfortable.
Worked like a charm, actually! Good alignment between the die and the workpiece, and after starting the die down the material it produced a very nice and well-aligned thread. Definitely worth the $70 cost of the tool. Workmanship seems very good ~ No complaints. I buggered the starting threads a bit but that was cockpit error on a first try.
The only modification I made was replacing the die holder setscrew with a cap screw so I could change dies without a tool.
If you decide to get one of these, shop around. I looked at the same seller's (micromechanics) 'other items' and the exact same tool set varied in price from about $70 to about $140. Very strange I really can't comment on the accuracy or concentricity of the Morse adapter since the business end 'floats' the die on the stock and alignment is meaningless unless it's out by a 1/16th" or so. Cheaper if you buy only the one die diameter you really need, but what's the fun in that? Shipping from India only took 10 days.
Useful tool if you don't already have one.
YMMV and all that, not affiliated with the seller, just a happy buyer.
Stu
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,594
Seems to me to be a heck of a deal for $70. Cost more than that to fab one from scratch.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2019
- Messages
- 4,392
I bought that exact same MT4 floating tailstock die kit, but I have not tried it yet.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2019
- Messages
- 483
Bought myself some well-aged slabs of cast iron! They were apparently used in some factory back in the 50's for adjusting different parts that tended to go out of flat.
The thin slab at 400x800x110mm weighs around 170kg according to the seller, the entire car sagged down quite a bit when we loaded both in ...
Hoping to make a really sturdy table out of these two.
The thin slab at 400x800x110mm weighs around 170kg according to the seller, the entire car sagged down quite a bit when we loaded both in ...
Hoping to make a really sturdy table out of these two.
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2019
- Messages
- 4,392
Bought myself some well-aged slabs of cast iron! They were apparently used in some factory back in the 50's for adjusting different parts that tended to go out of flat.
The thin slab at 400x800x110mm weighs around 170kg according to the seller, the entire car sagged down quite a bit when we loaded both in ...
Hoping to make a really sturdy table out of these two.
View attachment 337708
How about making a surface plate?