POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[Just for fun]

I made this little adapter/ hose connection thing. It is designed to screw into a water meter base on the large end and connect a garden hose to the other.

The reason is I'm on a community water system and the state is requiring us to install water meters, the first one we put in is at the end of the line at the very top of the hill. The property is vacant, and we never thought to install a frost free or spigot of some sort to bleed the line. Hense my little tool, I will be able to remove the meter install my tool, run a garden hose out away from the meter box and bleed/flush the system.

The threads are .75-11.5NHR (Hose Thread) on the small side and 1-11.5NPSH (Water Meter Thread) on the other. What I found out and I'm not sure why is I had to cut the threads like cutting metric threads, with the half nut engaged. The label next to the half nut on the lathe says to engage at 4,8. Even though there are no provisions/options to cut 11.5 threads on this lathe PM1236T. With the help of Dave @B2 and his spread sheet he recommended a gear combination that is very close and close enough for this application.

After ruining the first thread by engaging at 4 and then at 8, I tried just engaging at 8 but no luck, it still didn't engage at the right spot. I then just engaged at 8 and left it engaged until I was done.

 

[B2]

Hi @Just for fun

Nice part. Looks good.

With the help of Dave @B2 and his spread sheet he recommended a gear combination that is very close and close enough for this application.

Re: Improved Version: TPI, Feeds, X-Feeds: Generalized Lathe TPI Excel file: "TPI_ManyLathesRev1 N502_1630"

I am glad this worked out for you. By the way, just leaving the saddle engaged while cutting thread is one of the reasons that Mark advocates the electronic proximity stop. I built one into my VFD conversion it is nice. It is not hard to do and can also be installed even without the VFD conversion. I am actually a little surprised you do not have one... or maybe you do? Anyway, it is just an inductive pickup that senses when the saddle reaches a point you want to stop, and this sensor then sends a signal and breaks the current to the lathe control safety latching system. If there is no VFD conversion like I have, then there is still a latching relay in the controls as it is the common safety system used by the E-stop. I posted a detailed description of how my PM1440GT was originally wired up, which discusses the safely latch relay, and a lot of folks have downloaded the description. I posted this when I posted how I built my Solid State VFD conversion. You will find it in this "original" electronics description. I think you will find that the electronics in your PM1236T are essentially the same. You can pick the document up at the following link ... if you want to see it. Part 1, the first pdf document shown as an attached file. If you have any questions I would be happy to help out with suggestions.

VFD conversion using solid state electronic components.

Dave L.

 

[francist]

I hadn’t spent much time on the “metal side” of my shop in the last while but this little job got me down for some lathe time again.

It’s a clutch knob for an antique sewing machine — not mine but belonging to a fellow member on another forum I frequent. He bought the machine but it was minus the knob and he didn’t have a really good way to make one so I offered to help out.

It’s an unusual beast. Most common clutch knobs just bear against a washer or something similar to tighten the hand wheel against the main arm shaft. On this machine there’s a slot running crossways through the shaft a little ways in from the end and in that slot sits a small metal key for lack of a better word. This “key” has a hole through it and is open on one end. In use, the knob (with the pointy end) is threaded into the end of the arm shaft and as it’s tightened the pointy end spreads the key ever so slightly so that it binds the shaft against the bore of the hand wheel. When you no longer want the hand wheel to be driving the arm you simply slacken the knob off a tad so the key is no longer spread and the hand wheel spins freely again.

Not terribly complicated but I’m on the west coast and said sewing machine is on the east! So, using a few critical dimensions and several photos of similar machines with knobs I was able to scale the features enough to put together a drawing and built from that.

I used 4140 annealed and turned the entire knob from one piece so that I didn’t have to worry about joining two together. It’s just under 1-3/4” diameter with an uncommon 9/32” x 28 tpi thread. Fortunately there are some other fairly common fasteners on old Singer machines that use the same thread so I at least had a nut that I could use as a gauge for fit. Hope it does the trick!

Thanks for looking…

-frank

 

[Just for fun]

Hi @Just for fun

Nice part. Looks good.




I am glad this worked out for you. By the way, just leaving the saddle engaged while cutting thread is one of the reasons that Mark advocates the electronic proximity stop. I built one into my VFD conversion it is nice. It is not hard to do and can also be installed even without the VFD conversion. I am actually a little surprised you do not have one... or maybe you do? Anyway, it is just an inductive pickup that senses when the saddle reaches a point you want to stop, and this sensor then sends a signal and breaks the current to the lathe control safety latching system. If there is no VFD conversion like I have, then there is still a latching relay in the controls as it is the common safety system used by the E-stop. I posted a detailed description of how my PM1440GT was originally wired up, which discusses the safely latch relay, and a lot of folks have downloaded the description. I posted this when I posted how I built my Solid State VFD conversion. You will find it in this "original" electronics description. I think you will find that the electronics in your PM1236T are essentially the same. You can pick the document up at the following link ... if you want to see it. Part 1, the first pdf document shown as an attached file. If you have any questions I would be happy to help out with suggestions.


Dave L.

Thanks Dave,

I was surprised that I had to leave the half nut engaged as on the scale for the half nut it lists 11.5 TPI. But nowhere else on the machine does it reference the thread count.

I don't have a proximity stop, but really it hasn't been a problem. I guess it would be nice to have one. I'm not sure it is possible with my setup, OK, everything is possible with the right amount of work and money. I do have a VFD and I am using Mark's @mksj basic VFD conversion. I'll check out your documents.

Tim

 

[B2]

I do have a VFD and I am using Mark's

I think that Mark's VFD conversions provide for a proximity stop. After all, he has them and his conversion. So you must be able to easily add one. I have not read all of the postings where he discusses his conversions as they seemed to evolve over time... So, effectively, the proximity stop is like hitting the E-stop button and shutting off the current to the motor. In fact, you can just wire them in series where the proximity stop, and the E-stop, are normally closed switches. The advantage of having the VFD conversion, at least with the Hitachi VFD, is that you can program the E-brake to kick in when the E-stop (or proximity stop) event happens. This stops the motor quickly and so it does not coast very far. So you do not cut much thread after tripping the stop. My Solid state design is a bit different in that it uses an normally open proximity stop. When it is closed the current flow then shuts off the latch via a transistor and so the latch opens..... The latch being closed in both design styles and the original circuits is what keeps the motor running. In your conversion schematic see if the E-stop is not in series with the current supplied to the latching relay. In concept one can also put a proximity stop on either end so that you can work between two limits.... I suppose getting started is a little more complicated. In my design the Jog function even works when the latch is turned off, so I just use this to jog a way from the stop position rather than having some other override switch.

 

[FOMOGO]

Another small storage solution. Was balancing some tires the other day and noticed the top of the balancer had become a catchall for a variety of miscellanea. Had a cheap closet organizer that I had gotten for free, and decided to repurpose it for my tire repair gear. Made a mounting bar from a piece of 1" angle and hung it up next to the balancer. Won't be it's permanent home as the tire area will be moved later this winter. Just one of those quick and easy jobs that makes life a little easier. Mike

 

[ChazzC]

Another small storage solution. Was balancing some tires the other day and noticed the top of the balancer had become a catchall for a variety of miscellanea. Had a cheap closet organizer that I had gotten for free, and decided to repurpose it for my tire repair gear. Made a mounting bar from a piece of 1" angle and hung it up next to the balancer. Won't be it's permanent home as the tire area will be moved later this winter. Just one of those quick and easy jobs that makes life a little easier. Mike

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All horizontal surfaces in the shop are workbenches/short-term storage

 

[woodchucker]

Another small storage solution. Was balancing some tires the other day and noticed the top of the balancer had become a catchall for a variety of miscellanea. Had a cheap closet organizer that I had gotten for free, and decided to repurpose it for my tire repair gear. Made a mounting bar from a piece of 1" angle and hung it up next to the balancer. Won't be it's permanent home as the tire area will be moved later this winter. Just one of those quick and easy jobs that makes life a little easier. Mike

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got one of those in my wood shop corner to hold stuff, and in the shed I have 2 to hold pool stuff.
Yep, handy, and I always feel good repurposing things, rather than throwing them out.

 

[dkemppai]

Two 1/8” NPT plugs for my bandsaw hydraulic system.

What did you use to generate the helical thread for the pipe thread?

 

[ArmyDoc]

Finally up and running...