2016 POTD Thread Archive

[Firestopper]

Built mounting brackets for the new lathe task light. The smaller 1.5"x 8" is basically a large washer reducing flex. Overall, the two LED upgrades compliment one another in providing ample lighting.





Minor adjustments to all joint fasteners and the light moves smooth and stays where needed.

I guess in the long run, with the life expectancy and low heat of LED's, the lathe can serve as a "nite lite" when I get thrown out of the house. Haha!

The original snake light will be repurposed for the Dake vertical bandsaw. I will have a separate switch for the strip lighting as well.
Really looking forward to Mark's (mksj) new control system. He has been extremely generous with his time and knowledge. The modifications would not have been possible without his direction of parts etc. My job of adapting was simple by comparison.

 

[cathead]

Today I made a new dovetail slide for taper attachment on the old
Springfield lathe. Not knowing what the original looked like, I was kind
of on my own. I made a dovetail out of some 6061-T6 and a home made
cutter. Not wanting any more lost play than necessary, I tapped the
center of the dovetail with 3/4 x 10 threads and attached a 1 inch
cylinder to the top of the dovetail. Then I fashioned a piece of 1/4 inch
mild steel and bored a one inch hole in it. Then I welded on a cylindrical
piece to the 1/4 inch plate so it had lots of surface area and little clearance.
Then I bored and tapped the holes of the 1/4 inch cap screws and
tacked on the 1/2 inch bolt that attaches to the cross slide. It has very little
lost motion so will be quite effective. Of course the photo wasn't complete
without the home made angle adjustment wrench with the ball on it.

 

[chevydyl]

Just wanted to report that today I got my new canode spotting ink, so I got the flat of my angle SE into the 25ppi area, I checked the base of my cross slide and it didn't hit very good, I got out the B-S depth mic and checked against the factory datum, it's hollow on the chuck side by about 7 thou in the middle, and when miking dovetail width between pins the angle is hollow a few thou in the center as well, only I don't have a way as of yet to check which angle is worse. These were just preliminary results to see what I'm up against. Goes to show how much damage that short little cross slide bearing causes. I'm very pleased with the canode ink, waaaaaaay better than Prussian blue

 

[cascao]

Plastic jewelry box

 

[boostin53]

Made an aluminum guide rod to replace the plastic one in my Colt Mustange XSP pistol. Read not to use stainless for a few reasons and that aluminum was okay to use. ​

 

[Firestopper]

Mark (mksj) spent a long day with me yesterday installing the new control system on the lathe. I tackled the wall mount enclosure while he set out installing his electronics magic.
The wall mount houses the VFD, brake resistor, coolant pump breakers, 24VDC power supply, fuse block and disconnect for entire system. All mounting holes are drill and tapped and took a fair amount of time.


Mark worked on the machine itself wiring and installing the new control board, control switches, Hall sensor. Tedious work requiring drilling,tapping and pulling wire in less than comfortable positions.



Cables entering the machine from the wall mount enclosure (back of machine).


Today I will bore out the larger two speed motor switch in front of the machine. The machine originally had 16 speed settings (8 low and 8 high). Mark reconfigured a new two speed switch but its physically larger than the old switch requiring the hole to be enlarged from 2.250" to 2.750". To reconfigure the new switch, Mark had to take apart and re-time the cams involving small springs and such. The VFD will work with the two speed motor allowing greater speed range. Also need to fab up a tachometer mount that will live under the DRO display.
Overall a productive day as preplanning ahead of time pays off.

Mark's abilities in designing, researching/ordering parts for the right price, educating, craftsmanship and over all patience is inspiring. I have learned so much from this endeavor and look forward to learning so much more.

Thanks for viewing.

 

[sanddan]

Mark's the man on this electrical stuff. Look's like you are making great progress.

 

[FOMOGO]

Nice work on both your parts. Should be like whole new machine. Mike

 

[Firestopper]

Thanks fellas,

Got the larger two speed switch installed. I used a rotary file with a die grinder to enlarge a 2.250" to 2.750"and since I didn't have the correct hole saw, a bit of a mess outside of machine ensued , but a styrofoam cup kept the inside clean. Man I hate grinding cast, but it goes quick. I did cover the machines and actually used a N-95 mask to keep the inside pink.
Decided to use an adaptor plate from .125 aluminum scrap because the four switch mounting screws are too close to edge of switch hole. Used a 7/8" hole saw for the center and a 4" HS for the outside, drilled the switch mounting holes and four outer machine mount holes. Transferred holes to machine,drill/tap to finish this "speed bump".

 

[tomw]

This is an "Ikea hack", as they are apparently called.

My sister-in-law wanted to change the width of some 6" long Ikea drawer pulls she purchased. Five were to be 3" long between the center of the attaching bolts, the others 4". I don't know why.

So, my brother and I figured out how to take them apart and make the narrower. The ends of the pulls are die cast and nickel plated. The central section is a low-grade stainless steel. We took them apart, and then using a cut-off wheel and the lathe, we shortened the tubing to the correct length. Thus, we turned 23 6" long drawer pulls into a 28 narrower pulls. My in-law is happy, and thus is my brother.


A photo showing how the pulls are put together.



The pull on the right with the label is an example of the original style.

A nice afternoon with my brother. I couldn't really ask for more.

Cheers,

Tom