2016 POTD Thread Archive

extropic said:

Paco,
Quality and stylish work as usual.

I gotta add, I wouldn't recommend that handle style because it makes putting long work into the press more difficult, maybe impossible. Different strokes . . .

Click to expand...

I understand, thats why I "mouse holed" the base to match the press, it will accommodate a bit over 20"max. The owner will use this for smaller pressing operations and broaching (3 ton). If he needs to press longer pieces, he's welcome to use my H-press. Arbor presses still have a place in a shop none the less.
As always, I appreciate your feedback.

Turn and burn!

A while ago I bought a double handful of Grizzly's H7615 oil cans,
http://www.grizzly.com/products/High-Pressure-Oil-Can-5-Oz-With-Steel-Nozzle/H7615
intending to color code them for contents (black cutting oil, way oil, etc.) and keep a set at each of my machine tools. Turns out the seal between the lid and the body is kinda lousy - very thin, and it either kinks or gets displaced when you try to screw the lid on.

Decided I needed to make some substitutes ... but where to find something of the right size? Well, I came upon some sealing rings in the plumbing section of a local store that had the right ID, but much thicker than practical and some had too large an OD. I recalled a trick I'd used many years ago - mounting an Exacto blade in a holder large enough to grab in the lathe's QCTP. First photo shows my current effort. Note that blades can be mounted at either end, so by mounting the holder on either side of the QCTP base, and cut either a diameter or a length.

Second photo shows the blade splitting a 0.144" wide ring (mounted on a PVC pipe arbor) into three rings 0.048" wide. Obviously, with such a thin, flexible blade (Exacto #11), you have to be perpendicular and advance slowly and carefully. But it cuts beautifully! Rough measurement of the rings with a caliper verified their thickness came in within about 0.005". If you need something stiffer, you can extend the backing further along the blade, or else go to a #24 blade.

Third photo shows both a large OD ring cut down and the perviously large OD and small OD rings cut to thickness, as well as one of the rings in place in an oil can lid. WORKS!!!

PS - What's going on with the file (photo) upload process?????? They don't show up in the "composition" box, but do seem to make it to the post. Disconcerting, to say the least!

Another PS - Looks like Griz is closing these oil cans out - just $0.99 each right now!

that's using the ol' noodle, John.

Paco, I need one of those for my press. I think that handle serves two purposes, one very important.....safety. Anyone that has worked around presses much has seen stuff squirt out. Spacers, broken parts, lots of stuff. If I had a piece long enough to nearly hit the floor, I sure wouldn't want it to be kicked upward in my direction.

Nice work. You make it from a sketch, or wing it? I wouldn't mind having a sketch if you had one. I have been working on a design that brings in some of the olde tyme swoopy curves, but haven't gotten to that point on the list.

Turned up some leveling feet for the Myford lathe cabinet I'm tidying up to put under my lathe. I have some M12 dome nuts on order to replace the nut on top when they arrive.

Tony Wells said:

Paco, I need one of those for my press. I think that handle serves two purposes, one very important.....safety. Anyone that has worked around presses much has seen stuff squirt out. Spacers, broken parts, lots of stuff. If I had a piece long enough to nearly hit the floor, I sure wouldn't want it to be kicked upward in my direction.

Nice work. You make it from a sketch, or wing it? I wouldn't mind having a sketch if you had one. I have been working on a design that brings in some of the olde tyme swoopy curves, but haven't gotten to that point on the list.

Click to expand...

Hi Tony,

I very rarely use sketches for smaller project, this one is straight forward and was made from scrap/remnants. The base plate could be made with thicker material eliminating extra work that required stiffeners. I can measure up and give you a shop drawing if you like. Probably just post it up here for others to use too.

On the safety issues concerning pressing operations, many folks don't realize the hidden dangers when it comes to pressing. Not having the piece square, centered,and flat resulting in, as you said "squirting out". The second boo boo is when folks exceed the press rating. I always use heat and cold depending on application to assist in removal or installation. You are correct! The 5/8" U-shaped handle in front of the "mouse hole" would stop a longer piece from flying out.

I'll pull some measurements and draw up a sketch to post up for interested parties.

I would do it in CAD, but I'm computer retarded and would shave years of my life due to frustration, plus I only have three hairs left to pull hahaha!
Turn and burn!
Paco

I hesitate to post because I am pretty sure I do not know what I am doing....

My project requires gears. To cut the gears I need some way of holding them while I turn the to size and then when I cut the teeth.

So next on the list of things to do is to make an arbor.




Arbor is held between a 1/2" collet (the largest I have for my dividing head) and the tail stock.



I now have a bunch of gear blanks. Next step is to break out the dividing head...

Looks good to me! And a tip: when you stack the blanks and cut them. The first blank and the last blank to get cut, especially the last blank with have burrs. I like to have an extra sacrificial blank on each end. This method keeps all the saved cut gears in the middle with nice crisp teeth…Good Luck, Dave.

Paco, send me the dimensions and I'll model it on cad and post a full set of drawings. Easy peasy.

It does look good. You can use the same arbor you used to turn the blanks in your dividing head. I would use a tail stock though. I also cut gears by hand feed instead of using the power feed because I can feel in the handle what the machine is doing.