Quarantine Projects!

[hman]

Weldo:
@hman Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't even know about such a thing. The data sheet says that the switch prevents you from reversing until the motor stops. How does the switch know?

I think you might have mis-read the description. All the switch does is prevent you from switching all the way between forward and reverse in one motion, so there's no danger of doing so by accident. If you're in forward, you can switch to off, but no further. You must release the toggle and let it move back just a bit before you can switch further (into reverse).

A machine I used many years ago had such a switch, and I bought one for a lathe rebuild a wile ago. So I'm familiar with their "mechanics." As you realized, the switch has NO way to get feedback from the motor. You CAN complete the switchover before the motor has stopped ... but it takes a deliberate set of actions.

 

[Weldo]

And then, and then,,, this morning I thought I take my Kobolt 3-drawer middle chest and just, you know, add it to the Craftsman pair.

Nope, the Kobolt is 3/4" wider than the Craftsman. Depth was fine though. Don't-it-figure?

Time for a Plan 'B'.

All you gotta do is take a whizzer wheel and cut a 3/4" strip out of the middle of the box and all the drawers. Then weld 'em back together. Simple!

 

[Weldo]

Nice work @jwmelvin ! That's gonna be convenient as heck! I've never seen it done with plastic like that. All the plumbers around here love that stuff though. The flexibility of it can really minimize joints needed.

@matthewsx looking good!

And thanks for the explanation @hman ! Sounds like a good possibility. I'd hate to jam it in reverse and watch my chuck bounce off the bed and land on my foot!

 

[middle.road]

@jwmelvin - Now that's a fine looking air-line installation.

I'm starting to think I should maybe give up on this 'use the new-to-me' toolboxes project
The pristine (4)-drawer Kennedy had a large sticker on the side.
Laid it down and figured a little heat some naphtha - no problemo.
Finally got all the residue of last night after a day of lawn & yard.
Went to pick it up into an upright position and it scooted on me, lost my grip and it landed back down on it's handle.
Bent the side all to h*ll, mangled the handle and hit hard enough to affect the top drawer.
Tried to pound it back into shape but now it just looks like some clod dropped it and the top drawer no longer moves smoothly...
And, while the Wife was rocking the Toro, I thought I'd get a weed whacker running.
(4) gas whackers and I succeeded in getting -0- running.

 

[Weldo]

Man, that sucks about the box. Crap like that has happened to me before, you get 95% done on a job/project and then something happens to ruin the whole thing. Takes the wind out of my sails for sure.

Just a few weeks ago before the lock down we started demo on a kitchen remodel. My two coworkers started the job without me and got pretty much all the cabinets and granite counter tops out except for one big piece. One guy hurt his back doing something else and the other guy had to help on a different job so I showed up to continue alone. I figured I could remove the big piece of granite (about 28" x 68") if I was careful. I slid it off the cabinet then down to the floor so now it's leaning like a ramp on the 28" edge. Then I lifted up the upper end, now it's standing vertically on the 28" edge. I was walking it over to lean it against a wall and the weight of it caused me to loose the balance of the piece. Down it went into a thousand pieces!

No one was hurt and no damage was done, but that didn't stop me from feeling like a total A-hole for the rest of the day. I was so close to success but ended up in failure, it really sucks when that happens.

As far as the weed whackers, I too have 3 and none of them run properly! Two of them only run on half choke, and thus only give you about half power, and the other one, despite being super clean and only 2 years old, will not start at all! What the hell, ya know?!

 

[Weldo]

Spent some time grinding lathe tools. I tried to set up a few common types in a few holder I have.

From left to right I made, chamfering, turning, grooving, small boring, and threading profiles. The grooving and boring one I found in a bundle of HSS tools and just touched them up. The other three I ground today.




Next I took care of a nagging problem I've had with my QCTP. Because of the shape of the Atlas compound the square body of the tool post hits in some orientations. To remedy this I had to space the post up with a large washer but the set up is not as rigid as it could be.




Interference happens when I try to rotate the tool post.






To allow the tool post to sit properly on the compound I need to clearance a little bit.




This is the washer I had been using under the post.




Might as well disassemble and clean the rest of it.




I just did the clearance with a stone wheel in the angle grinder. It didn't have to be machined, just relieved. The grinded portion is actually a tiny bit below the machined surface, which should be fine. It would've been nice to mill this perfectly with the rest of the machined surface but I lack that equipment. I slipped one time with the grinder, damn it! If only I had some paint left for touch ups...




Hopefully this gives me a little rigidity versus the washer under the tool post.

Just a quick project but one that's needed done for years!

 

[C-Bag]

It's funny how projects seem to have some kind of inertia. I can remember lots of things going bad at the end and that sux, but when they start going bad at the beginning its really hard to turn them around. My shop is so full of side projects or things I'd like to fix or change I'll jump off something onto something else just to halt that breaking bad thing and it ending up a loss. I particularly hate having this good idea only to have it miss by fractions of an inch.

Weldo I had a somewhat similar problem with my QCTP mount. But the guy who owned it before me had decided to press the center bolt into the compound and didn't bother to get the press fit right. It was way too tight and warped the upper compound and bulged it out so the body of the QCTP wasn't sitting flat. i had to replace the upper compound and this time made it sit right and that got rid of my chatter problem.

I gave up on stupid gas weedeaters 20yrs ago. I guess if you use them all the time you're ok but everybody I know has several of them in apparently good condition except the silly carbs all plugged. I'd rather deal with the cord and get the job done than spend hours fiddlin'. Just yesterday I did a couple hours of weed whacking with old electric whacker. Now I don't have a huge yard so that's another YMMV.

 

[Weldo]

I've been eyeing up a battery whacker for awhile now. The price of admission can be pretty high for them 80V ones, but the headaches should be pretty low.

 

[C-Bag]

I've been eyeing up a battery whacker for awhile now. The price of admission can be pretty high for them 80V ones, but the headaches should be pretty low.

Even though I drive a plug in hybrid Volt I have one battery Dewalt drill and when the remaining battery pack dies on it, it's outta here because the batteries are always dead and don't last. The little Craftsman impact driver I have always seems to have a charge and so does the backup battery. Guess I'm just too old and attached to my cords.

 

[ttabbal]

I only have one year on it, but the Ego wacker does a decent job and the battery holds up well for a 1/2 acre yard. I also got the blower, so I have two batteries for those times I let it get too long. They charge fast enough that I can also use them for the blower to clean up the concrete afterwards.

The Echo gas powered one is doing alright still. I usually use it with the blade when the weeds in the field next to my property get tall. I started using the engineered fuel rather than mixing it up myself. It seems less likely to jam up the stupid carbs on the tiny engines.