2017 POTD Thread Archive

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I made this one during my apprenticeship in '76. , the body is RC35, the jaw inserts are RC55, I turned the screw and single pointed the nut, lapped them together. When new they had no shake, can't swear to it now. I should have made a smaller diameter handle and put tommy bar holes in it. When new, the jaws would hold .001 shim in each corner, without torque. It is used almost daily currently. It opens to 1 1/8"
 
Have been using one of those small non-lubricated Dewalt compressors for 8 years, but it just cannot flow enough CFM for air tools and my air draw bar system. Not to mention I am probably losing my hearing because the thing was so noisy. Ended up with a 2 stage 5 Hp Champion from Pacific Air Compressor, finally hung my air reel and plumbed the garage with a 3/4" MaxLine air system (tubing is high density polyethylene sandwiched on either side of an aluminum tub). The MaxLine tubing comes as a coil, so yo need to unwind it, but difficult to get straight. They used barbed compression fittings. With 3/4" tubing it is possible to get about a 8" radius bend, and should have a bit less resistance than a hard 90 degree corner. I put in 3 drops, each can be set separately with regulators. Always takes longer than you think. My air drawbar is finally working the way it is suppose to, time to start using my air tools again.

Primary filter, coalescing filter, system regulator and air pressure gauge from my old system (used these on my previous 2 stage compressor, but the compressor was to heavy to drag between moves)
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MaxLine with 3 drops.
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Ahh, the captive nut... the ol' snakes in a nuts can, the ol' cigarette between the toes, the ol' flaming poop bag, the ol' bucket of water on top the door..... too far?

My wife's grandfathers Birthday is tomorrow. We're all gathering for dinner. Figured this would be an entertaining dinner table gag. Guarantee none of them will have seen one before, so it's not old and lame, but likely a good conversation piece.... or... since I have no locktite and don't want wrench marks on the clean metal, hopefully no one unscrews it before it makes its rounds. I cranked it on pretty good. And the nut covers the seam on the end of the threads, so you can't use the nut as torque on that one side.

It was fun to build. Only took about an hour. Most of that time was turning down the hack of a bar stock I had. Had ten different shapes and diameters on it and it was crooked. Turned it all down smooth.
 
ndnchf said:
Nice find! Please show us how you install it.

I did some welding last night and found I needed to raise the rear of my light bracket a little more to get it pointing where I wanted it. That was easy enough, just added two nuts and a flat washer between the rear of the bracket and helmet. Now its just right. I had no issues with arc or spatter on the light either. I'm going to pick up a couple more. They are cheap lights, if one breaks I'll have a spare to snap into place. If one feels the need for more light, I don't see what two lights couldn't be mounted side by side.
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Even though it was completely trivial to do, I finally got around to doing this. The lamp was originally a strap-on headlamp, but the rubber straps just slide out of the slots. Drilled a hole in the middle of the base, and in the helmet, making sure there was clearance between the end of the bolt and where my head would be when wearing it, done. This works nice, it adjusts up and down (and holds in position), and I used a lockwasher, so the bolt holds but doesn't have to be completely tight, so I can rotate it left and right as well. The light is fairly bright (using high) and focused in about a 3" circle at 2' away.

The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't have a plain on-off switch, but rather a button that goes low (4 led), then press again for medium (6 led), then press again for high (8 led), then press again for high, but flashing, then press again for off. I suppose it'll also be a problem welding in tight quarters, but then it's also trivial to remove in that circumstance.

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Project of a couple of days ago. First was a jig for sharpening a threading bit. Works great and no more wasting time trying to get the angles just right.
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and the second project was a tangential tool holder. I had to make a second hold down clamp because I made the first one with the bolt heads on the lathe chuck side and that interfered with the work piece. The second plate bolts on from the back side.
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I've only used it a few times so far but think this may be my go to tool for roughing and facing, with the shear tool for finishing. Time will tell.
 
I completed my follower rest update. The rest fingers did not touch exactly at the center point of my lathe and I wanted to add roller bearings to it anyway. I mounted the bearings on the back side of the fingers in the right spots. It came out good and works very well. Was happy that those fingers were cast iron - very easy tapping!
Rick

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