Tons of projects coming up,...

Pop Quiz.

Who can put a label on all these numbers? ;)

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I took the time to digitize the user manual for our surface grinder since I like to read in the shop and this manual is basically printed on thin newsprint. East Germans were frugal back in the late 1960s.

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Oh Fedex...

I knew there was more than one package to my shipment, but I only tracked the master tracking number. I figured that with a long one day delay in shanghai that they'd all manage to stay together.

Nope.

It's almost as if the vendor crammed all my parcels in a huge cannon barrel, pointed the barrel out over the pacific and fired. Only some of them are due to arrive tomorrow. I guess the one partying it up in Memphis wont be arriving tomorrow. That delays my plan to install the DROs tomorrow and Tuesday

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This morning I got an alert from the fedex saying some more parcels in my shipment were arriving today. Cool

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Then I go online and check the last tracking number and find it too is now "out for delivery". Cooler!

Around 1 pm fedex truck pulls up, I run out to wait for the driver to disembark, and out come three more packages. I prompt the driver, "that's it, just these three"? He say's "sorry that's all".

To which I reply "That's cool, the final parcel should be coming sometime today on a later truck" and IMMEDIATELY another fedex truck rounds the corner 25 meters down the road!

Being a small quiet residential area that blew both my mind and the minds of the first fedex driver. I didn't have my cell phone to capture a video to post to the youtube.... damn.

SO, that means I have two DROs, 6 scales, 2 magnetic rpm sensors and two machines awaiting the addition of these instruments. Busy week ahead.

I will start by modifying the current magnet rotor design in fusion 360 to hold 5 magnets instead of 1 and then re-printing the rotor. I selected this method of mounting the magnets intending to make this very upgrade. I'm upgrading to a DRO that is multi-magnet capable via a simple software input. A nice improvement to the single magnet version I have on the lathe now when reading very low rpm.

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This ring mounts on a two part hub with matching tapers that when tightened to draw the tapers into each other causes clamping forces on both the inner and outer rims.

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The new sensor is the same diameter as the existing one, and the swap out with be fast and easy due to my bracket design. I may machine all these parts out of metal when I get a moment, for now they function well enough.

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Today I picked up the radius and angle dresser I bought, and also got a great deal on a mitutoyo 2" -12" internal micrometer set. Both basically new and unused. The dresser still had remnants of packing grease.

The owner is an awesome guy who shares many interests with me and unprompted offered to help me make anything I needed if it was beyond my capabilities. He has a beautifully restored Jones and Shipman cylindrical grinder I love to go back to use sometime.

I also grabbed a few diamond wheels and carbide blanks from another shop where the owners have retired and are getting rid of everything. Nice fellow too. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

So I did not really move forward on the Mill, the Lathe or the surface grinder per se, but I got some necessities I needed. Tomorrow I'll be welding up the stand to hold the rotary phase converter and transformer, so inching closer to getting the surface grinder running.

I'll likely start milling some brackets for the DRO installation too.
 
so apparently the home depots has stopped carrying #6 wire in Canada, except T90.

curse you home depot.

now I have to up my expense and run conduit between the panel and the rotary phase converter connection. All I want is a nice piece of 6/2 AC90
 
I feel like crud today, but duty calls.

Welding, wiring, and whingeing are on tap for today.
 
And another step towards getting the surface grinder operational...

Today with new flux core wire in hand, and the mig welder changed over to run 0.035 wire with negative anode I was able to knock out all the welding for a wheeled stand onto which to mount the 7.5 HP rotary phase converter, and the 3 phase transformer.

I welding on wheels because my brother has always wanted to weld on wheels. I hope enough zinc was sanded off so I wont die from zinc fumes... I only had n99 mask

Much better than the pallet they were mounted too before wasting all kinds of space.

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Busy day today, but no pics.

Spent a little while organizing and reviewing locations for all the major tooling. Located 1/2-13 tap sets for making new tee nuts and put them in a handy location to save time looking when I have limited time during the week when I will do that work.

I determined how the spindle comes apart on my tool and cutter grinder so I can make a new spindle that will accept 1.25" bore grinding wheels. Currently it accepts 32 mm bore wheels. All my diamond wheels are 1.25" and I dont wish to modify either existing parts.

I decided to complete that task to another day, since It would have necessitated disassembling more of the machine than I wanted to tackle today. But at least I know what needs to be done precisely

Then we planned out the DRO scale installation and sketched out plans for mounting brackets. Then we got the Bridgeport head trammed to an acceptable tolerance (well actually my brother did most of the actual tramming work) and got the vise installed and squared up.

Then I welded up a bracket that attaches to the side of the mill column and bends twice to be outside the diameter of the ram pivot point. I'll mount both the VFD and the DRO screen to this single bracket with the VFD control fixed vertically on the bracket while the DRO head will be on a pivot arms mounted to the top of the bracket.

I'll post pics tomorrow. You could hang a 90 pound child from this bracket... but I wont post pics of that. That would be cruel despite tomorrow being halloween.

I wanted to practice welding while the welder is still set up and handy. I can't wait to get some mig gas and practice actual mig welding soon.

Now drawing up plans for a simple universal bender for rods...
 
Forgot to update yesterday.

Got the bracket for the VFD and DRO completed, well except for cleaning up and painting it.

I used a 2x2 angle iron as an upright, notched and bent it to shape and welded the upright back together at the notched sections. Then I used a piece of angle iron welded perpendicular to the main upright to provide a surface to attach cable glands to for strain relief purposes. I added a piece of plywood to fasten the VFD to at all four corners. I was tempted to just fasten 3 corners to the metal portions but the plastic housing is cheap and weak.

I didn't want to cram the VFD into a box just to get strain relief and then end up with potential cooling issues and I thought a huge box like I added to the lathe would not be aesthetically pleasing


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