2015 POTD Thread Archive

I also replaced the buggered feed gear on the cross-slide of my lathe. So, now my power feed again works.


buggered gear_0408.JPG
 
And finally, I made movable bases to attach my vises and de-burring grinder to my crude work bench. With C-clamps I can now remove, or move them as space is required on the bench, giving it much more flexibility now.

The C-clamps work better than I expected, holding them very firmly, or as firmly as the small bench will accommodate. If I'm really tugging on something, I can use two clamps. I sized and off-set the bases so I could hang the vises and grinder near the edge of the bench for working on long parts and still have two diagonal corners to clamp.

vise & grinder bases_0410.JPG
 
Franko ,
Did you anneal the aluminium before attempting to bend it ?

Having just seen the base plate mounts .....
For my four inch vice to fit in my fold up carpentry clamping work mate . I welded up the 1/4 steel plates in the form of a letter " T " . The under side of the " T " has two 1/2 " strips welded on the outer edges to lift the plate off the wooden jaws and to give clearance for the high tensile steel bolts that I've used to anchor the vice to the base plate .

Years ago I too used ply wood anchor plates. but I had a nasty surprise one evening when I got a bit too enthusiastic about the strength of the wood and it came apart at the moment I was putting 85 foot/pounds on a nut going through a bracket being held in the vice ... I knocked myself out as the torque wrench handle walloped me fairly & squarely between my eyes.
 
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I probably should have, David, but I didn't. I don't have an oven that would get hot enough or the experience to know how hot I'd be getting them with a torch. The outsides of the bends are slightly scaly looking but seem to still have plenty of strength for the application they will be used for. They polished out ok with steel wool.

If you know anything or suggestions on equipment and method of annealing aluminum, like how hot, how long and do you bend while it is hot or cooled, I'd welcome any advise.
 
Ouch.

David, for that small bench, if I pull that hard the bench would tip over. I have more substantial mounting for my larger vise on a larger heavier bench that I use for hard pulling and whacking. The vises and grinder are mounted to the plywood bases with T-nuts.

They've always been mounted with bolts on that bench, but because it is small, I've found that I sometimes need to move them around for different requirements.

I'd be interested to see the set-up you described. I'm not picturing it in my imagination.
 
The problem with aluminium is that it age hardens , the oxygen in the air is the main culprit. So when you buy it it is already well onthe way to becoming hard

Alloys like duralamin used in aircraft skins & struts etc has a better resistance to the age hardening

I used to anneal aluminium by rubbing a bar of " Fairy Green clothes scrubbing/washing " soap over the area to be heated and then gently waved a paraffin or butane blow lamp over the area till the soap residue turned black . As soon as the back appeared it was quenched in a bucket of cold water. I guess you might still be able to find a hard clothes scrubbing soap ( not Carbolic soap though ) on your side of the pond to give it a whirl .
You can also use the blackening soap trick to oxy/acet weld aluminum to find out if you have got enough preheat in the local area you want to weld .
 
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Franko said:
Ouch.

David, for that small bench, if I pull that hard the bench would tip over. I have more substantial mounting for my larger vise on a larger heavier bench that I use for hard pulling and whacking. The vises and grinder are mounted to the plywood bases with T-nuts.

They've always been mounted with bolts on that bench, but because it is small, I've found that I sometimes need to move them around for different requirements.

I'd be interested to see the set-up you described. I'm not picturing it in my imagination.
Click to expand...


I'll try to of it get a picture tomorrow morning before I take my lass & munchkin on a girlies day out of retail therapy .
 
Wow. I would never have guessed that you quench aluminum to anneal it. Doesn't that harden steel?

Now, all I have to do is figure out what scrubbing soap is. :)

Is this the stuff?

41ZIQi0CN4L._SY355_.jpg
 
A while back I got stupid and jammed up my power feed on my South Bend lathe. In my panic to unstick it, I broke the screw head off the apron screw. I know this is a left hand thread screw , so I thought if I drill a small whole in the center of it the piece would come out of the clutch shaft, but it didn't :(. My next idea was to use a tap as a left hand screw extractor, so I started a 4-48 tap into the hole and .... WOW.... the piece of screw backed out. ( happy dance here) :D. The apron clutch screw is a 1/2" long 10-32 LEFT HAND screw with a 1/2" diameter head. not gonna find at the hardware store so, I made it on the lathe. Took about 20 minutes.
apron screw.jpg This is the finished screw.
apron screw installed.jpg
And this is the screw installed. Perfect fit. I cut the threads to the depth specified on my chart and then took and extra cut .0005" deeper to insure it would fit because I couldn't take it out and try it. That is another little maintenance job done.
 
Franko,
When bending AL some times you have to bend it so far and then anneal it again do to work hardening/ stress that looks to be about 1/2 so I would thing it would need it. Hope this helps you. Oh and if any body ever needs to know the specs for tempering/ hardening of most metals speedy metals web site has this and machining rates and more on their web site. To find it choose say AL, then round, then you choose grade, on this page it has a link that says some think like click here material description, specs, ad typical uses. lot of good information there. There prices aren't to bad for a small order supplier. http://www.speedymetals.com/default.aspx
 
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