-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
2014 POTD Thread Archive
- Thread starter Smudgemo
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
Nice. I made one very similar to that on my previous lathe but let it go with it when I sold it. I seemed to use mine more as a soft stop with a dial indicator in it vs. the hard stop/carriage stop though.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
I had to replace the ignition switch in our coach a few months ago. While replacing it I found that someone had to shim the ignition switch to compensate for the thin dash. I have been very impressed with the overall quality of Monaco Motorcoaches in general but have been less than happy with some of the non-structural operations that I have found over the last 7 years of ownership.
With the thin dash the GM style of ignition switch would not tighten down enough to fasten securely into its' location. When replacing the ignition switch a small piece of foil fell out. I realized that someone had wrapped foil around a piece of duct tape to create a filler and tightened the ignition switch bezel down around it. I did not put this back in when installing the new switch but decided I would wait and repair it after getting the new lathe set up.
Well I finally got around to machining a spacer the other night before the wife and I headed to West Yellowstone for the week.
Here is the ignition switch without the spacer. If not careful the entire switch would rotate when starting so I just "babied" it for the few times I had to start it until the lathe was up and running.
I found a small piece of aluminum and machined it to an ID of 2.0" with an outside of 2.250". Then parted it off.
Little over .1" @ .113" thick. That should be adequate to take up the clearance.
Finished product. Almost seems senseless to spend the 20-minutes to do this because you can't see it unless you know what you are looking for. Even then most people wouldn't give it a second thought.
Me on the other hand, I smiled to myself each and every time I turned the ignition because I knew it was fixed properly and would be proud if anyone down the road had to replace the ignition switch and found this small machined spacer. Then again, maybe they wouldn't think anything of it or think it was something some over-achiever at Monaco did.:shush:
With the thin dash the GM style of ignition switch would not tighten down enough to fasten securely into its' location. When replacing the ignition switch a small piece of foil fell out. I realized that someone had wrapped foil around a piece of duct tape to create a filler and tightened the ignition switch bezel down around it. I did not put this back in when installing the new switch but decided I would wait and repair it after getting the new lathe set up.
Well I finally got around to machining a spacer the other night before the wife and I headed to West Yellowstone for the week.
Here is the ignition switch without the spacer. If not careful the entire switch would rotate when starting so I just "babied" it for the few times I had to start it until the lathe was up and running.
I found a small piece of aluminum and machined it to an ID of 2.0" with an outside of 2.250". Then parted it off.
Little over .1" @ .113" thick. That should be adequate to take up the clearance.
Finished product. Almost seems senseless to spend the 20-minutes to do this because you can't see it unless you know what you are looking for. Even then most people wouldn't give it a second thought.
Me on the other hand, I smiled to myself each and every time I turned the ignition because I knew it was fixed properly and would be proud if anyone down the road had to replace the ignition switch and found this small machined spacer. Then again, maybe they wouldn't think anything of it or think it was something some over-achiever at Monaco did.:shush:
I'm not laughing; just being mute with admiration for the telescoping handle idea. I'm a tall person who has to deal with cricks in my back from giving rides to my granddaughter in her little red wagon. Mr. mzayd3, many thanks for posting this idea!
)---ortho
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2013
- Messages
- 4,407
Very nice, elegant solution!
Rant:
I noticed something somewhere along my career as an engineer (prototype and assembly line tooling at HP). A mechanism or gadget that's well made disappears from everybody's awareness. It simply goes along and does its job, day after day and week after week. Problem mechanisms get lots of attention. Those that work well get taken for granted.
If you get right down to it, that's really the way it should be. Machines are meant to relieve us of burdens and let us get on to other things in life. Once I realized the above, it became a goal of mine to design something so well that it would disappear.
On the other hand, it's sometimes [performance evaluations, especially!] necessary to go back and deliberately look at and appreciate what's been done, both by yourself and by everybody else who's had a part in what you use every day. I started keeping a log of what I'd built, just to remind myself I'd not been goofing off over the past year.
)And amongst many other things, that's why I like this forum so much. Kudos again to Nels for creating it!:man:
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,476
I think you should have made it from titanium, knurled it, then anodized it.
Aside from that its "okay"
Cheers Phil
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2013
- Messages
- 790
Can't remember where I saw it, but someone had a video that showed threading on (I think) a Myford lathe with a hand crank on the spindle shaft. Using the crank to turn the shaft instead of the motor. The idea was to slow down and give more control and safety when threading to a shoulder, or picking up an existing thread and extending it. I figured it would be a simple project that might come in handy someday, so I made one for my Logan.
I went to Menards and bought 3 - one inch expanding rubber plugs. Grand total $6.57. I took them apart and put all three on one long bolt.
Then I turned them down to fit inside my spindle shaft, and ran the bolt through the crank handle for my Bridgeport vise.
It just slides in the end of the head shaft, and tightens to expand the rubber plugs inside.
I was surprised how easy it was to turn even when running the lead screw and without taking the drive belt off.
For safety, make sure you un-plug the lathe so you can't accidentally bump the switch and turn it on.
GG
I went to Menards and bought 3 - one inch expanding rubber plugs. Grand total $6.57. I took them apart and put all three on one long bolt.
Then I turned them down to fit inside my spindle shaft, and ran the bolt through the crank handle for my Bridgeport vise.
It just slides in the end of the head shaft, and tightens to expand the rubber plugs inside.
I was surprised how easy it was to turn even when running the lead screw and without taking the drive belt off.
For safety, make sure you un-plug the lathe so you can't accidentally bump the switch and turn it on.
GG
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,476
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2013
- Messages
- 790
I stacked up the three rubber bushings on a 5/16" x 4" bolt, and put a flat washer on each end. Without a nut, I put the open end of the bolt in the 3-jaw chuck, pushed it into the chuck tightly (by hand), and tightened the chuck. The rubber will expand slightly, but not much. With a normal HSS RH cutting tool, I shaved down the diameter of the the bushings until they would just slide into the head shaft without binding. It doesn't need to be very precision because it expands when you squeeze it, so you can take it out and test it, then re-chuck and keep going until it's just right. The HSS tool was sharp, and I took between .010 and .020 passes. The rubber against the flat washer even provided enough friction so that I could turn down the edge of the steel flat washer about .005 at a pass (very slowly) without it slipping. When I was done, the flat washer and rubber bushings were the same OD, and would all slide into the head shaft easily.
Hope this helps,
GG
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 311
Very nice, elegant solution!
Rant:
I noticed something somewhere along my career as an engineer (prototype and assembly line tooling at HP). A mechanism or gadget that's well made disappears from everybody's awareness. It simply goes along and does its job, day after day and week after week. Problem mechanisms get lots of attention. Those that work well get taken for granted.
If you get right down to it, that's really the way it should be. Machines are meant to relieve us of burdens and let us get on to other things in life. Once I realized the above, it became a goal of mine to design something so well that it would disappear.
On the other hand, it's sometimes [performance evaluations, especially!] necessary to go back and deliberately look at and appreciate what's been done, both by yourself and by everybody else who's had a part in what you use every day. I started keeping a log of what I'd built, just to remind myself I'd not been goofing off over the past year.
And amongst many other things, that's why I like this forum so much. Kudos again to Nels for creating it!:man:
I "think" this every time I make something
THANK YOU FOR EXPRESSING IT SO NICELY !!