2015 POTD Thread Archive

Thanks guys. All the holes and tapping were done on the mill. First all the holes were drilled, then all tapped at a slower speed. My mill is 575v 3 phase running on a phase converter. I can plug reverse anytime or speed. I have always power tapped on my 3 phase VFD controlled drill press or with my Makita cordless. Blind or through hole doesn't matter. Only time I'll hand tap is when the tap is too short and the drill chuck can't fit close enough. Arms are sore from cranking the table, and reaching up for the forward/reverse switch. New control panel situated under the DRO is now on my list!
 
gotcha, thanks a lot for turning me on to ox tools, vids are awesome, great job on the mini pallet, I will be making one soon, cept I will surface grind mine. whats with the round stock you added?

I use to tap with a cordless dewalt impact when I hung garage doors
 
nothing machining related (or today), but my eldest and I rejigged a DIY TV antenna we made a few weeks ago out of scrap. With a couple of minor mods it now picks up 4 more channels, including ones we want as well as ones we didn't have on cable. A $6 balun and a couple of hours with the kids is going to save us $50-70/mth. Not trivial!

IMG_3834.JPG IMG_3835.JPG
 
No machining today but I did actually get a good start on cleaning up the shop. It was pretty much a major disaster area, too many projects, not enough time. Then fixed the shut off switch on the horizontal band saw, diagnosed a bad bearing in my high quality Harbor Freight drill press motor, sorted a bunch of nuts and bolts.

Also spent the day helping Alloy with his Shizouka retrofit. He is doing all the work, I'm just standing back and answering questions as needed. The Shizouka project is coming along nicely, I think next week we can power it up for testing the I/O and motors. Alloy is learning a lot and I'm having fun helping him. I think he has terminated about 300 or so connections so far. I'll update that build thread in the next day or so.
 
Machined my compound rest and mounted my QCTP:

E3591797-E81F-48C2-A15A-BA1C70272240_zps4wzgn8wy.jpg

Ground some HSS tooling.

Then, maybe simple task for most but took a bit of work and thinking for me. Turned some end caps for my motorcycle grips (my bike is not a Harley or a V-Twin):

984EAED6-7A6A-474C-A037-B3A60250F30F_zpsyshyeifg.jpg

B8BC6C4B-EC68-4458-9297-EFA3A4C44077_zpsrtpylge2.jpg

44EFE55D-F1DE-4B80-B29A-976E4E7AC04A_zpsnizccysy.jpg

01537E51-5B48-466F-A1F0-457A2DDD27E4_zpsdbl2gndi.jpg

Also machined my compound rest and mounted my QCTP:

E3591797-E81F-48C2-A15A-BA1C70272240_zps4wzgn8wy.jpg

First project off my "new to me" QCTP.

:)

E3591797-E81F-48C2-A15A-BA1C70272240_zps4wzgn8wy.jpg
 
gotcha, thanks a lot for turning me on to ox tools, vids are awesome, great job on the mini pallet, I will be making one soon, cept I will surface grind mine. whats with the round stock you added?

A picture (or three ) is worth a thousand words. What I didn't show was a sine bar between the pallet and vise top for repeatability. There was no specific angle set. I just used some scraps till the angle looked good.

20150607_094222.jpg 20150607_100406.jpg 20150607_104941.jpg
 
Hey, Those look nice. Are you going to do anything to them to help protect them. Bluing, Anodiz, or something.
 
Hey, Those look nice. Are you going to do anything to them to help protect them. Bluing, Anodiz, or something.

I hadn't planned on it. They are somewhat disposable. Just made from cold rolled steel. I dismantled my hot salts bluing station to make room in the garage for the new mill. I guess I could heat them and oil dip quench to give them some colour.
 
Today, no air conditioning. Yeah. Not pleasant at all. Tracking down a new controller board, if I can't get one by Tuesday morning @ the latest, i'm buying a window unit to get us through until the new board can be obtained. No way in hell am I shelling out several grand to replace an ageing but still healthy chiller/heat pump and air handler "just because it's R-22."
 
Back
Top