What Did You Buy Today?

[snoopdog]

Well, I didn't exactly buy, just asked the lms if they had some flat alum to protect my rotary table. The slab was twice as long and I told him I really didn't need all that much, he waterjetted it in half and let me pick through the other, pretty happy! The guys around here are great!

 

[Eyerelief]

Blake Co-Ax indicator "Very good working condition" I hope so for 130.00....
View attachment 405720

Great Price! I would really appreciate hearing how you like the Blake (when you get back on your feet). I have a cheapo Phase 2 that I have been using. It is suspect at best. Been thieving for a Blake. I had seen this unit on the bay, glad I didn't bid on it.

 

[Winegrower]

Great Price! I would really appreciate hearing how you like the Blake (when you get back on your feet). I have a cheapo Phase 2 that I have been using. It is suspect at best. Been thieving for a Blake. I had seen this unit on the bay, glad I didn't bid on it.

I have a Blake, and a friend just bought an eBay $80 coaxial indicator, so I had a chance to compare. The $80 works, no problem, but it seemed harder to bring to an exact zero position…there was always a couple thousandths of wiggle. The Blake could be positioned with less than 0.001 TIR, let’s say a half thousandth.

Otherwise, the Blake just looks and feels slightly smoother and more classy…but they both work, and find the same center position.

 

[BGHansen]

I have a Shars coax which lead me to buy the Blake. My Shars works but the needle swings around 0.010 (and yes I know that it's not 0.010" of runout, it's a relative number) when the spindle is deadnuts centered. The Blake maybe swings 0.001 or 0.002.

Bruce

 

[JRaut]

I've got one of the genuine Blake coaxial indicators.

Boy, they sure do seem to get a lot of good press.

I suppose it works, but I never use it.

Too much effort for what it is, and it takes up a ton of Z height, so you're always stuck moving the knee up/down to swap between the coax and your endmill (or whatever).

For me, it's just always been much more convenient to use either a wiggler or a DTI in an Indicol clamped to the spindle.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

Found it on EBay being sold as "Parts Only" and decided to take a chance on it. I was able to find a manual and wiring diagram on line. It isn't pretty but after a little cleaning of the jaws, cleaning and minor modification to the clamps, lubrication and adjustments, it works great! Now I need to make a stand on casters and an enclosure for it. That way I can roll it out of the way when it is not needed. I did the same for my 9" South Bend shaper, I don't use it often so I can roll it into storage when not needed.

Richard

 

[mcostello]

I just bought one just like it, Mine has the light, Yours has the grinder. Manual at Vintage Machinery under Do-All butt welder. Anyone have the grinder to sell?

 

[Aukai]

My welder is not working, what did you have to do to the wiring, I see transformers in there, and closed it back up.

 

[Badabinski]

Clough42 got me... I bought one of these on Saturday, and it just showed up today. I have my first print running now. This thing really is massive!



It's a Qidi I Fast dual extruder printer. I'm primarily interested in printing ABS, Nylon, and Polycarbonate, so a heated build environment is kind of a requirement.

Edit: here's a silent video of it printing:

The printer isn't particularly loud, but my phone tries to "zoom" the audio when I zoom the video, which makes the video intolerably loud.

 

[BGHansen]

Found it on EBay being sold as "Parts Only" and decided to take a chance on it. I was able to find a manual and wiring diagram on line. It isn't pretty but after a little cleaning of the jaws, cleaning and minor modification to the clamps, lubrication and adjustments, it works great! Now I need to make a stand on casters and an enclosure for it. That way I can roll it out of the way when it is not needed. I did the same for my 9" South Bend shaper, I don't use it often so I can roll it into storage when not needed.

Richard

Looks like yours has camlocks for clamping the blade which would be a very nice feature. Mine is on a 1948 16" ML and uses screws to tighten the clamps. Not bad, but not as nice as yours. I don't know if there's a proper way of setting the blades into the welder, but I've found setting the teeth at the base of the clamps works fine. It's easier on my fingers to push the blade ends up against the stop by pushing on the back of the blade instead of on the teeth.

One "quaint" feature on the anneal switch is the ETCH feature. There was a "pen" available with a copper tip. Its lead was clamped to the LH jaw. You'd push down on the ANNEAL button and swing the lever below the switch to hold the momentary ANNEAL switch in. That made the tip of the pen hot. A blade or anything conductive could be set on the table (ground) and etched with the pen.

I attached a copy of the wiring diagram from my saw's welder. Yeah, looks like crap. Well, it is a 74-year old saw!

Bruce