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

No machining, but prep work for a new to me mill that’s coming next weekend - a 220v circuit for the garage. Decided to run two branches, one for the mill in the back corner and one for a future welder at the front.

Managed to fish the wire down to the breaker box via an existing hole in the joists
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Then up into the roof of the room over the garage
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Down the other side
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Then through the joist into the stud bay
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This is where I should have not been lazy and measured properly!
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Junction box for the two branches (line in comes into the back of the box) and
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a 110v offshoot for a light :)IMG_2959.jpeg
 
Crane project was interrupted by an 'emergency' repair. Youngest daughter is helping a friend's Mom, who has a locksmith business. Basically she's getting trained in as a locksmith. A pair of pin tweezers was given to the young student, assuming Dad could fix them. One of the ends was broken, rendering them useless. A bit of fiddling, and figured out how to mount them. The original hole is under 1/8", but was cut with the tweezers held open some. Some brass shims were squeezed between them, then eyeballed the center line. Luckily I had a carbide drill about the correct size, otherwise I don't think this hardened stainless would have drilled. FYI, a pair of scissors will cut .020" brass. Was feeling lazy, and thought it worth the try.
Tweeze.jpg ByEyeball.jpg Through.jpg Erz.jpg

After that grueling project, the crane was forgotten about for the evening. The next night, was crane night again. The last step was to mill the pockets for the bearing blocks, which sets the roller depth. Shooting for a couple thousandth clearance on the square tube that fits in here. So, armed with outside measurements of the larger drive tube, and roller heights, the pocket depth was calculated. Then carefully zero the mill, and cut the pockets. .0081", .0089", and .0097". With the pockets cut, it rolled beautifully on the square tube. Very little friction to move the drive around, which was the goal.
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After that, stared machine shop cleanup. There's needle sharp chips and tools everywhere. So, cleaning progresses as follows. The first thing looked at or touched was cleaned up an put a way. Eventually hit the mill drill vise, which was full of old oil, chips, grease, and probably 15 year old cosmoline. Tore that down for a good cleaning and stoning. Looks much better!
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Next up was the lathe. Going through the QC tool holders, two empty ones were spotted! An LH and RH diamond tool holder have been sitting on the bench for months. So found them a home and roughly dialed them in. They should be ready to go for the next job.
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Lastly, I've been watching the beautifully scraped ways on the cross slide get scratched. Been extremely careful to keep junk off of there, but apparently not good enough. I think the top way surface isn't dead sharp after the rebuild, so chips can just get under the leading edge. Finally made the time to put together a way wiper. Lots of fiddling to get the aluminum formed and trimmed and felt cut. Left a small oiling hole for the felt, so I can oil the felt directly. Tested it out, and it leaves a really nice film of oil behind. Hopefully that will prevent any more damage.
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A bit more cleaning on the Lathe, then the CNC mill. Maybe get to the point of mopping the floor again. The epoxy keeps it looking nice, and a quick mopping wipes up any excess oil that gets spilled. That epoxy was worth the time doing!
 
I figured the ZTR mower had sucked in a piece of the ever-present hay binder twine so I pulled ther mower off to work on. Turns out the axle for the tensioner arm, which was also the axle for one of the idler pulleys, had separated from the mower body, tearing out a chunk of the 1/8 deck. It had gone unnoticed long enough that the pulley had just about ground its way through the deck on one side. If you look close at the deck just below the pulley holding the tensioner you can see signs of burnt paint. You can also see a crack in the deck just below there.
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The pics below are 180 degrees from the above. A 1/4“ backer plate, some welding, a little grinding and paint and ready to go again. (re-drilled the hole to diameter after the last pic)
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All that said and done I’m looking at trading this one in for a commercial duty diesel ZT mower. I’ve had enough trouble with this one to think it isn’t up to the amount of mowing I do.
 
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I figured the ZTR mower had sucked in a piece of the ever-present hay binder twine so I pulled ther mower off to work on. Turns out the axle for the tensioner arm, which was also the axle for one of the idler pulleys, had separated from the mower body, tearing out a chunk of the 1/8 deck. It had gone unnoticed long enough that the pulley had just about ground its way through the deck on one side. If you look close at the deck just below the pulley holding the tensioner you can see signs of burnt paint. You can also see a crack in the deck just below there.
View attachment 488278
The pics below are 180 degrees from the above. A 1/4“ backer plate, some welding, a little grinding and paint and ready to go again. (re-drilled the hole to diameter after the last pic)
View attachment 488279 View attachment 488280 View attachment 488281
All that said and done I’m looking at trading this one in for a commercial duty diesel ZT mower. I’ve had enough trouble with this one to think it isn’t up to the amount of mowing I do.
I’ve always thought ZT mowers were a maintenance nightmare. I was responsible for a Yazoo-Kees (Exmark forerunner) at my church, and had to replace the spindles twice a year, among many other faults. On average, it needed repair every three weeks, mowing ten acres weekly. The deck anti-scalping rollers required significant re-engineering just to be able to get through one week.

My Kubota conventional tractors with hydrostatic transmissions are just as fast, tear up the turf less, and are vastly more reliable. (And more expensive). Although the BX2380 we bought had welds on the deck wheels with zero penetration that I had to re-weld.

Rick “always working on tractors” Denney
 
I’ve always thought ZT mowers were a maintenance nightmare. I was responsible for a Yazoo-Kees (Exmark forerunner) at my church, and had to replace the spindles twice a year, among many other faults. On average, it needed repair every three weeks, mowing ten acres weekly. The deck anti-scalping rollers required significant re-engineering just to be able to get through one week.

My Kubota conventional tractors with hydrostatic transmissions are just as fast, tear up the turf less, and are vastly more reliable. (And more expensive). Although the BX2380 we bought had welds on the deck wheels with zero penetration that I had to re-weld.

Rick “always working on tractors” Denney
Rick if they were that bad, then why are all the commercial guys using them? I never see the old large deck Skags with dollies anymore. I don't see the big Toro's (steering wheel rear turning wheel) much anymore.
 
ways on the cross slide get scratched. Been extremely careful to keep junk off of there, but apparently not good enough. I think the top way
View attachment 488260 View attachment 488261
For the way wipers is worth putting a layer of neoprene or rubber between the holder and the felt. That pushes the chips out of the way and stops them getting stuck in the felt. Then the belt dispenses clean oil behind the wiper. It’s not perfect, but should increase the cleaning intervals
 
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Rick if they were that bad, then why are all the commercial guys using them? I never see the old large deck Skags with dollies anymore. I don't see the big Toro's (steering wheel rear turning wheel) much anymore.
Beats me. But my experience isn’t theoretical. I also see lots of Exmarks, but also a lot of roll-behind no-seat mowers. I suspect it’s just because they are 10-11 grand versus 19 or 20.

But I don’t see scores of spindle kits for Kubota tractor mid-mower decks on Amazon and EBay. They are common for commercial zero-turns. I broke one in my own yard. The worst spindle problem I’ve ever seen in a Kubota is a loose pulley that wallowed out the holes before complaining loudly enough to notice.

Rick “still has a Kubota G1900 diesel lawn tractor with a 60” deck in maintainable service after 25 years” Denney
 
I’ve always thought ZT mowers were a maintenance nightmare. I was responsible for a Yazoo-Kees (Exmark forerunner) at my church, and had to replace the spindles twice a year, among many other faults. On average, it needed repair every three weeks, mowing ten acres weekly. The deck anti-scalping rollers required significant re-engineering just to be able to get through one week.

My Kubota conventional tractors with hydrostatic transmissions are just as fast, tear up the turf less, and are vastly more reliable. (And more expensive). Although the BX2380 we bought had welds on the deck wheels with zero penetration that I had to re-weld.

Rick “always working on tractors” Denney

That has not been my experience...

I haven't seen any difference in reliability between zero turn mowers and lawn tractors... none at all... and the zero turn mowers are much faster... I reduced my seat time by 65% going to a zero turn mower.

-Be "never going back to lawn tractors... ever" ar
 
That has not been my experience...

I haven't seen any difference in reliability between zero turn mowers and lawn tractors... none at all... and the zero turn mowers are much faster... I reduced my seat time by 65% going to a zero turn mower.

-Be "never going back to lawn tractors... ever" ar
I would agree if the tractor is the typical lawn tractor. The Kubota G1900 was much heavier, and has a hydrostatic transmission (toe forward, heel reverse with no levers required), a diesel engine, and a 10-mph top speed (same as the Exmark). I have a newer BX subcompact utility tractor with a belly finish deck, but I still prefer the G1900 in our yard—lower and easier to drive. No ROPS, which is an advantage under trees.

It also depends on the job. Big empty fields love zero-turns—zero turning except at the turnaround. But quick turnarounds and tree circles in a zero-turn will rip the turf right out of the ground. And I like having a hand available for lifting branches. Lots of trees and no straight lines isn’t their best use case.

And maintaining them when used by volunteers will reveal that zero-turn driving skills are not universal. :)

Rick “hundreds of hours in each type” Denney
 
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