# Thrift store find



## Kludge (Feb 4, 2009)

In one of my "pushing my limits" trials, I went to a thrift store today. The goal was distance and not to buy anything but I managed to find something anyway, a silverware case thingie for $2.99. It has the flip-top lid like normal ones do but underneath is a drawer for the things (serving spoons etc) that would usually be attached to the lid via elastic or something. It needs a little TLC (So do I but that's another issue. ) but basically what it comes down to is two felt lined areas useful for keeping tools out of harm's way. 

Among the purchases planned for March is 1/4" basswood & hardwood (oak?) to make dividers for the two sections and some velvet to cover/replace the somewhat dingy brown felt. I can use February to figure out precisely what it will be used for along with a few other wooden boxes that have yet to be made shopworthy. 

I may remember to take pics but don't yell if I don't!

BEst regards,

Kludge ... who is darned proud of his triumph


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## speakerme (Feb 5, 2009)

Hello Kludge,

Necessity, and the male imagination are all that are needed for a successful "tool" grab at the local discount shop. I find that the better the imagination the more potential the "find" has. Sometimes I'll store something away that I clearly needed, and later look at it, after an appropriate time (1-2) years, and say, what on earth did I buy that coffee can of bolts for? Then it is clearly time for re-invention, and the necessity to procure some other items to go with the newly found coffee can of odd bolts to make something entirely usefull, and justify the first purchase, until a suitable amount of time goes by......

By the way my current project is an electric beer can crusher, where did I put those flange bearings....
and that bucket of bolts.....?

best wishes

chuck m


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## itowbig (Feb 6, 2009)

ok how about those plans for the beer can crusher sounds like something i need. ha ha 
 i need to go treasure hunting too i need a crank from a large engine so i can hack it up


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## Kludge (Feb 11, 2009)

speakerme  said:
			
		

> Necessity, and the male imagination are all that are needed for a successful "tool" grab at the local discount shop. I find that the better the imagination the more potential the "find" has.



I find my imagination tends to go places not related to machining dependent on who's in view but, getting back on topic, I agree. There's yet an amazing collection of toys out there waiting to be discovered and repurposed to (for?) our ... ummm, purposes. Repurposing stuff gives new life to what might have otherwise wound up in a landfill so it's also the Green Thing to do. It's also fun when you get right down to it. 

At the moment, I'm looking at a bunch of steel golf club shafts (still on the drivers - I haven't converted them to carbon fiber yet) and thinking about ways to use them other than as more canes. I made a few into walking canes earlier - not keeping one for myself, of course - which turned out to be pretty popular. Now I've got a dozen more to convert and the shafts are going to pile up. 

Side note: My own driver isn't among them. It's a wonderful old club with a wooden head and shaft that I got at a thrift store and shall never part with. I've been looking for more of them to build a complete set of woods (which goes up to a 5 although a 6 wood has been spotted here & there, for those too much into irons) and a short set of irons plus a couple wedges & a putter. 

That coffee can of bolts? If nothing else, they can be turned down to make other things. 

Best regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 12, 2009)

I like the dollar stores for finding odd bits: cheap steel mesh for burners, little stainless sauce cups for whatever. Best item was a crappy plastic circle cutter that is just perfect for making the teflon sheet sight glass gaskets for my Jensen engines.

I work in IT, and I've started parting out what I'm throwing out, be it old inkjet printers (motors, springs, some nice heavy steel rod), hard drives - magnets and platters, tape drives - springs, rollers, ball bearings. If I've got the right screwdriver bit, and some free time, I'll pull it apart.

Those hard drive magnets are by far the strongest I've ever seen. Bolted a bunch to a board last summer to drag the lawn for nails after the roofers had at it.


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## Kludge (Feb 13, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> I like the dollar stores for finding odd bits



They also are an excellent source of goodies capable of being repurposed (or, as a friend of mine called it: perverted) to our will and requirements. 



> I work in IT, and I've started parting out what I'm throwing out



I've got some optical and 3-1/2" floppy drives sitting waiting to be recycled as useable parts. Three printers have been so treated with one more to go once I get it out of storage. (Why do I keep dead things like that? To part out! ) I'm weak in hard drives at the moment but I'm sure some will show up eventually. The new import computer cases are made of sheet metal thin enough that it's easily worked and power supplies can be re-used with a little careful rewiring. Computer fans can be used for any of a number of really cool things and heatsinks can be used as heatsinks for various things (motor speed controllers come to mind) or for aluminum stock to melt down ... I think. Everything not used can be shipped off to any of several recyclers so, unlike pigs, even the squeal is used. 



> Those hard drive magnets are by far the strongest I've ever seen. Bolted a bunch to a board last summer to drag the lawn for nails after the roofers had at it.



Neodymium (actually Neodymium-Iron-Boron) magnets are among the strongest known and that's what they are. They chip & shatter easily but can almost be a hazard if one gets one's finger between two particularly strong ones. One of my doctors told me about some magnetic therapy research being done and that's what they're using. This isn't alternative medicine but mainstream so it should be interesting to see what comes out of it.

Best regards,

Kludge ... who writes a lot more than is good sometimes.


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## itowbig (Feb 13, 2009)

i like parting out hard drives they have vary small bearings that are great for something im sure.


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## Kludge (Feb 14, 2009)

itowbig  said:
			
		

> i like parting out hard drives they have vary small bearings that are great for something im sure.


They do in fact. They also have aluminum disks that could be make into some Really Strange flywheels. 

Somewhere in the mists of time long forgotten, I posted something about using a HD as the basis for a grinder I found on ... hmmm ... Instructables? YouTube? Somewhere anyway. Since then, I've been pondering them as a means of honing tools, using them as polishing wheels and an assortment of other Really Strange Things. Since some SCSI drives go up to around 15,000 RPM, there's a wide range of cool possibilities to be had.

BEst regards,

Kludge


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## Kludge (Feb 14, 2009)

In trying desperately to organize my shop, I came across a couple of forgotten cigar boxen that contain the bitzenpieces of some VHS camcorders. A good number are plastic (I know - Boo! Hiss!) but a few are Really Cool. Among them are brake bands and pads, belts, many much lots of gears, optics (for those who like optics), the little bitty monitors used as eyepieces, motors, and a whole lot more. Like the computers, everything else can be recycled somewhere so nothing is lost. 

I love a throw-away society - so many cool toys!

BEst regards,

Kludge


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## baldrocker (Feb 14, 2009)

> Repurposing stuff


 :bow:
Kludge you sure you don't have bureaucrats genes
somewhere. The gnomes of Brussels would love that one.
BR


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## Kludge (Feb 14, 2009)

baldrocker  said:
			
		

> Kludge you sure you don't have bureaucrats genes
> somewhere. The gnomes of Brussels would love that one.


Does spending time in academic administration count? :big: :big: :big:

Best regards

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 15, 2009)

I ripped apart one of two dead LTO drives the other day. Got a few ball bearings, a couple little motors that might make good generators for small engines, some shiny pulleys, and a lot more stuff that I'm not even sure I'll be able to use or not.

...Like all of those tiny torx head screws

I've never investigating repurposing the power supplies. Usually the ones I'm getting rid of have blown caps anyway. I've a few of the old AT style ones that I keep around. Nice to have a real live power switch.

I need to save some aluminum drive chassis for which to practice milling, since I've not tried that yet.

Interesting idea regarding using the old hard drives for grinding or polishing. I've never tried to hotwire the motor on one (though if the logic board is intact most will start on their own).

I can't see there being a hell of a lot of torque in those, though. Piles of momentum, certainly, but they're only meant to reliably spin the platters at a certain velocity. Probably work as well as my single speed bench grinder, though


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## Kludge (Feb 15, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> I've never investigating repurposing the power supplies. Usually the ones I'm getting rid of have blown caps anyway. I've a few of the old AT style ones that I keep around. Nice to have a real live power switch.



Heh, yep. I haven't seen an AT supply for a while but the ATX ones are plentiful and cheap (read as: free if you're in the right place at the right time.) They can be powered down using the existing power control logic but that only shuts off the DC side and not the AC side. They also require a fairly fat power resistor (10 ohm, 10 watt, IIRC) between Power Good and +5v so they stay on. On the other hand, they make fairly potent bench supplies among other things.



> I need to save some aluminum drive chassis for which to practice milling, since I've not tried that yet.



Cool idea! I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!



> Interesting idea regarding using the old hard drives for grinding or polishing. I've never tried to hotwire the motor on one (though if the logic board is intact most will start on their own).
> 
> I can't see there being a hell of a lot of torque in those, though.



Nope, not much at all. The original presentation was pretty much someone just fooling around but for situations where a light touch is indicated, they have speed and a lovely flat surface to offer. The really fast SCSI drives can be geared down to a more reasonable speed which also can help the output shaft torque quite nicely.

As to hotwiring ... they're servo (brushless) motors so the logic board is needed to turn them up and run them at a constant speed. Someday, I'd like to trace out the drive control logic for one and eliminate everything else but, until then, may as well just keep the logic board & motor together to make life easier. BEsides, for a SCSI drive, I think I have to.

Ah, the fun!

BEst regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 16, 2009)

Thanks for the info about the resistor in the ATX supply. I knew how to jump start them, but not how to keep them up without having a drive attached (got one of those first generation testers that lights them up and gives you a single green okee-dokey LED to let you know it's working). Certainly handy if you need more than the 200watts that the average AT unit peaks at.

Out of ideas for now. Other than old network cable being a good source of hobby wire and old servers having some substantial sheet steel (I could dance on top of some of those brutes, not like the stuff you get today).

Base plate for my little project engine was hacked from an old DVD-ROM array. Must be at least 1/16"..

I'll cut another sheet to bolt to the plywood that the unimat is secured to, so I can stick a dial indicator on it


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## Kludge (Feb 17, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info about the resistor in the ATX supply.



My pleasure. There are several sites on the web that show how to convert an ATX power supply to a bench supply. 

Ahhh, but that's not all. I think I've mentioned my micro welder at least enough times to make everyone not want to hear about it again. The DC arc welder portion is powered by an ATX power supply, specifically the 3.3 or +5v outputs, which ever is good for more power. I'm pretty sure I can use the +12v output for charging a capacitor bank for a cap discharge spot welder. 2-3 farads at 12 volts should make a decent zap.  Alternatively, it can be used to power a small compressor to air test engines or, for that matter, power electric engines or chargers for batteries that run electric engines.

By the way, I remember seeing a picture of someone who used an old computer case (I mean OLD ... when desktop cases were made out of serious metal) as a BBQ grill and another who managed to make one water tight enough to use it as an aquarium with glass sides. That is serious repurposing. 

I hadn't thought of network cable for anything. Thanks for the idea! I know where there's some laying about unclaimed. 

When I retired we still were running an IBM 3090 as a centralized server for a multi-campus net, each having not a lot of local power. That wasn't how I designed it to end up but was a transition stage where it got stuck a bit longer than it was supposed to. Academic politics at its worst held it up until someone actually read what I had written and figured out I knew what I was talking about. (The fall out from the political side is a separate story probably not for this forum.) I'm told it's pretty close to how I'd planned it ... except the fiber optics which are still dark. :wall: :wall:

Anyway, dragging this back on topic, the network connected arrays etc are post me but now I know of more places to look for toys. I wonder if anyone here is upgrading their systems. Thanks! 

Best regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 17, 2009)

A micro welder? That certainly sounds interesting 

I haven't arc welded since high school, but I've been kicking around the notion for some time about possibly getting a small unit (and realizing I have no place to set one up).

I've got to use one of those hard drive magnets to test some of these cases I throw out. I'm almost certain a few are aluminum..

Fortunately my boss appreciates the need for solid infrastructure. For us it's both politics and a lack of money. But in the almost 5 years I've been around there have been solid improvements. It just takes time.

Okay. Here's a really lame item, before I rush off to work (so I don't go too far off topic): repurpose old SDRAM DIMMs as bookmarks


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## Kludge (Feb 17, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> A micro welder? That certainly sounds interesting



This may actually be a good thing to cover in another topic (I'm good for Really Strange threads ) but it started with a friend of mine who needed to reattach some condensor (capacitor to the younger members of the audience. ) plates to their mounting rails. He used a small 12v battery, some wire, an alligator clip and, for a welding rod, a piece of paper clip. I tried the idea and found it worked but replacing/recharging batteries got a bit old so I tried a computer power supply instead. After blowing out a couple of them, I put a resistor in series with the + lead so at a dead short the circuit wouldn't draw more than the rated current. This worked like a charm, especially with the lower voltage, higher current outputs. 

The next step will be to wire 2-3 together in parallel through some fairly fat diodes to ramp up the available current. The welding current will be controllable by switching power supplies on and off and using the diodes to isolate the power supplies so any switched off won't load the circuit. With the power supplies available today, 100 amps isn't a real problem even at 12 volts. OTOH, at that current, the "micro" part comes into question. 

The box (an old computer case) also will have in it power supplies for the cap discharge spot welder, a resistance welder and a resistance soldering piece. If I can get the 1w laser working right, it will contain the power supply for it as well. The problem at the moment is getting everything in with plenty of cooling air to circulate around all the fiddly bits which is kind of amusing since the typical computer case is designed for precisely one power supply.



> I've got to use one of those hard drive magnets to test some of these cases I throw out. I'm almost certain a few are aluminum..



Aluminum is good. Not a whole lot of magnetic at the temperatures we prefer but useful none the less. 



> Okay. Here's a really lame item, before I rush off to work (so I don't go too far off topic): repurpose old SDRAM DIMMs as bookmarks



Heh, heh, heh ... I've got a bit of DDR2 that decided to take a hike I use for the same thing. The SDRAM I have on hand is destined either for my G3/G4 Macs or my various ancient laptops & tablets. The Macs seems a bit picky but the others are more forgiving. I think.

Best regards,

Kludge


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## Kermit (Feb 17, 2009)

Hey Kludge I saw a computer on the web somewhere that they had hooked up to run in Mineral Oil. All the electronics are immersed and a small aquarium pump is used to circulate the liquid to a radiator with a fan on it.  Google it and see what you think. It doesn't harm the electronics and greatly increases the cooling effects.



Kermit


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## Mark-One (Feb 17, 2009)

Your ideas boggle the mind, Kludge 

I do remember in my youth fooling with an old DC transformer from a model railroad or some such, and doing the same thing with a paperclip and bit of metal. Best I could ever do was "arc" weld the paperclip to the opposite alligator clip. Considering I wasn't exactly trying to accomplish anything, I thought it was neat...


I remember seeing the oil cooled computer too. I don't know if that was the 486, of if the 486 was the one that they cooled in a beer fridge and supposedly overclocked to the point where they could play half life on it.

Overclocking was fun in the days when it gave results that you could perceive.


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## Kludge (Feb 17, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> Your ideas boggle the mind, Kludge



Okay, gonna be real serious here for a moment. A lot of my ideas, including things like what I've mentioned here, come from times spent chasing night demons by forcing my mind to engage in imagineering. They're persistent but I'm stubborn and usually I win. These demons are the products of nightmares, flashbacks and unwanted memories which can actually come at any time but are far, far worse at night. Combine that with a 180 IQ (I dropped out of Mensa due to terminal boredom.) and it's a recipe for Really Truly Strange designs/ideas.

Right now I'm living on a 100% VA disability pension and I don't like waste. I never did. As a result, I try my best to salvage everything I can that might have some future use. This sometimes gets into the realm of unintended consequences but not often enough to concern me.



> I do remember in my youth fooling with an old DC transformer from a model railroad or some such, and doing the same thing with a paperclip and bit of metal. Best I could ever do was "arc" weld the paperclip to the opposite alligator clip. Considering I wasn't exactly trying to accomplish anything, I thought it was neat...



I did this once or twice (that I'll admit to ) building power supplies. To do a proper job of it requires a steady hand one of which I don't always have so I'm thinking about an attachment to one of my lathes to let me use the headstock spindle as an electrode holder and mounting the work on a cross slide milling attachment. 

Kermit, listen up:



> I remember seeing the oil cooled computer too. I don't know if that was the 486, of if the 486 was the one that they cooled in a beer fridge and supposedly overclocked to the point where they could play half life on it.



It was an early Pentium. Er, they were since several were built that way. The problems with these were twofold - keeping the oil inside the case yet having clear plastic sides and keeping the oil out of the drives where it wouldn't be a Good Thing to have. Some of the solutions were quite imaginative. 

Anyway, the fastest overclocked machine I know of used liquid nitrogen cooling to double (triple?) the speed, although the cooling had to be partially shut down or the processer wouldn't start at all. Apparently, college students have too much time on their hands. 

Best regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 18, 2009)

Ah, I've never had my IQ tested. I'm afraid to find out that I'm not as clever as some people think I am (as in those without the specialist training I took to get my job).

I tend to roll things around for a good long time before they're acceptable enough to even be called an idea. Takes awhile, but I eventually get there...usually. Usually doesn't take quite so long to work out the logistics of it all. (My last idea took a good year to jell into something workable and practical, a couple months to plan and accumulate parts, and maybe 3 weeks on and off to put together, with a few last second changes).

So I get the reputation of being slow and reliable (and thus a whole lot of fun at parties, since there is always a DD hanging around doing nothing save looking uncomfortable). 

This new little hobby-within-a-hobby (got back into steam engines originally because living computers 24/7 was driving me around the twist to burnout land) gives me something new to obsess over now that accumulating these little engines has lost some of its luster. I don't necessarily want to build them. For now I am happy modifying them into something they previously weren't 

So that's where I come from in all of this.

I remember one oil cooled PC that was just the motherboard, etc, immersed in a bath... I had a friend online years back who was going to try that.. Not sure if he ever did. I think he was going to use distilled water, which struck me as being a bit of an iffy proposition considering how much water likes to take on ions..
I just slapped bigger fans in mine and was happy with 50% OC. Then my buddy, who is a walking tech-hex, came over one day, sat down in front of it, and the CPU died a minute later.


Anyway, do we now have the record for taking the greatest tangent from the original topic? 

Take care

Mark


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## Kludge (Feb 19, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> Ah, I've never had my IQ tested. I'm afraid to find out that I'm not as clever as some people think I am (as in those without the specialist training I took to get my job).



It was a requirement to take the tests when I was in school. When I did, I sort of dogged them because they seemed silly and a waste of time. Shortly thereafter, the guidance counselor, who was built like your average main battle tank, got us into a nose to nose & toes to toes situation where he informed me that I *shall* retake the tests and I *shall* put some effort into them. Apparently there were some built-in traps to catch people doing what I had done. Anyway, a new enthusiasm grew out of a preference not to become roadkill and I retook the tests. What was sad (for him, not for me) was that the official score was forever imbedded in my transcripts where it declared for all the world to see that I'd have to work really hard to get up to the level of moron, and that sit, beg, fetch and not piddling on the floor were probably beyond my grasp. When I took the entry exams for college some years after graduating high school, the scores were literally off the charts and the secret was out that I really did have two functioning neurons to rub together which was rather upsetting since now people expected me to be all smart and stuff. :-[



> I tend to roll things around for a good long time before they're acceptable enough to even be called an idea.



Once I've imagineered something in my head, it takes a while to get all the pieces parts etc figures out. This is where my CoC Beta comes in handy though now I've got a tablet computer that I can use as a fancy etch-a-sketch - a good thing since I don't have a scanner.



> So I get the reputation of being slow and reliable (and thus a whole lot of fun at parties, since there is always a DD hanging around doing nothing save looking uncomfortable).



(DD: Damsel in Distress?) I was never a party person so it is a joyous occasion when I don't get invited to them. But then, I have these trust issues with people so I rather like the way things are now.



> This new little hobby-within-a-hobby (got back into steam engines originally because living computers 24/7 was driving me around the twist to burnout land) gives me something new to obsess over now that accumulating these little engines has lost some of its luster. I don't necessarily want to build them. For now I am happy modifying them into something they previously weren't



Ah, a most noble and valiant undertaking but someday you're going to get the itch to prove to yourself if no one else that you can do it better - or at least stranger. BEing strange fits right in here. ;D



> Anyway, do we now have the record for taking the greatest tangent from the original topic?



Tangent? We're talking salvage here and repurposing goodies so what tangent? ;D

Speaking of which, two cordless drills showed up to be taken apart for the stuff inside. I already have a cordless screwdriver that is to meet the same end. What I find inside should be fun.

BEst regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 19, 2009)

Kludge  said:
			
		

> (DD: Damsel in Distress?)



Smartarse  - Designated driver. Too many pisstanks in my family tree, so I've decided to be teetotal in order to break the pattern. But, yeah, I try to duck any social situation that I can.



			
				Kludge  said:
			
		

> BEing strange fits right in here. ;D



I have a knack for gravitating to such places ;D
If you want to see a couple strange things, I've just linked to my youtube site in my profile (I don't keep a web page as such... That would bring this hobby far too much back into the realm of computers)



			
				Kludge  said:
			
		

> Tangent? We're talking salvage here and repurposing goodies so what tangent? ;D



An inverse one?



			
				Kludge  said:
			
		

> Speaking of which, two cordless drills showed up to be taken apart for the stuff inside. I already have a cordless screwdriver that is to meet the same end. What I find inside should be fun.



Cool. Should be a few gears anyway, no? I've never had a junk one. 
...I have a laptop here in front of me that I am about ready to fire through the wall, so it may well be salvage soon. I wonder what could be done with the high voltage inverter for the backlight... ;D


Unfortunately metal salvage is harder to come by. I can't find aluminum round bar anywhere outside of ebay. Half the scrap yards I went to won't even let individuals in. Did get some nice brass, though, including some sheet that can't be more than 10 thou.

Looking at a pile of falling-apart computer desks, of the sawdustboard variety. I'm just imagining what I could do with all of that "wood" (the stuff is to wood what baloney is to meat) once we scrap them..


One thing that I need to make up out of something is a pipe center. I want to turn some copper plumbing pipe. Just enough to remove the dings and the stampings so I can use it for faux chimneys, so it will be light work, but has to be fairly precise.
I was thinking of turning a piece of brass to conical shape, center drilling it, and letting it ride a smaller live center, sandwiched between the center and the work. Bad idea?
I suppose I could also use a steady rest for that matter....


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## Kludge (Feb 21, 2009)

Mark-One  said:
			
		

> Smartarse  - Designated driver.



I'd far prefer a Damsel in Distress. They're a lot more fun. 



> I have a knack for gravitating to such places ;D



Apparently we all do hence the popularity of the place. 2251 complete nuts can't be wrong! 



> If you want to see a couple strange things, I've just linked to my youtube site in my profile



Seeing strange things is why I moved out of Waikiki. ;D Anyway, I'll check out the YouTube thingie in a bit.



> An inverse one?



Let's see ... Tan-1x ... Actually, I'd think maybe perverse but that's just me. 



> Cool. Should be a few gears anyway, no?



One drill yielded most of a dual planetary drive (like the ones Brian recovered), an 18v motor and a speed control good for 24vdc/20a. I haven't been able to fully dismantle it yet - the chuck et al seem stuck in place and nothing I've tried has unstuck it. I shall defeat it even if I have to call on someone I know who has access to high explosives. If that doesn't work then I may have to get brutal with it. 

Among other toys, I'm scouting around for a cordless circular saw with issues so I can swipe the motor from it. I don't know if it's apparent but I far prefer DC motors (which includes brushless motors and steppers, though neither are obviously DC) over AC. In my rarely humble opinion, DC is a lot more controllable and more efficient plus, with proper digging, can be a lot cheaper. Treadmill motors & controllers are a decent example of this with some muscle with way lots of lower voltage/current examples around. 

Anyway, cordless circular saws turn in the 3000-4500 rpm range with enough torque to get the job done. I've never stalled either of mine (Don't ask 'cuz I have no idea how I wound up with two!) which means that in the apps I have in mind I should have no problems at all.



> ...I have a laptop here in front of me that I am about ready to fire through the wall, so it may well be salvage soon. I wonder what could be done with the high voltage inverter for the backlight... ;D



Keep the backlight too; it may make a decent low level light source for you. All the drives have motors and I'm sure there's other salvagable parts inside. Even the screws can be recycled. 



> Unfortunately metal salvage is harder to come by. I can't find aluminum round bar anywhere outside of ebay. Half the scrap yards I went to won't even let individuals in.



We only have four yards that I know of on Oahu and none allow individuals to come in - or I've been talking to the wrong people. Aside from a 140 pound haul I was given a couple months ago, all my metal comes from ePay or a couple of online vendors. On the other hand, I also have a bunch of wood - mostly pen-making blanks and some veneer - so I can use that as well.

I don't do aluminum (so far) but rather stick to brass, nickel silver, 12L14 steel or stainless of an unknown but fairly machinable type. I'll be adding drill rod so I can make some dies to match a few taps I got handed for which I have no mate. That should be fun.



> Looking at a pile of falling-apart computer desks, of the sawdustboard variety. I'm just imagining what I could do with all of that "wood" (the stuff is to wood what baloney is to meat) once we scrap them..



Make secondary work benches? My primary bench, which is still in the hands of Murphy, is 36" high and is for the heavy work. I have a small roll-around I'm using now that I kind of like and will probably keep for the really small stuff once I can get my main bench back. There will be one for the watch/clock work as well so that it can be kept away from the main bench for its own protection. 



> I was thinking of turning a piece of brass to conical shape, center drilling it, and letting it ride a smaller live center, sandwiched between the center and the work. Bad idea?
> I suppose I could also use a steady rest for that matter....



A steady rest would be cheating. 

I kind of like your idea, though I'd probably grease it up and use it against a dead center instead in my case. The live center on my Taig is spring loaded and tends to retreat into the tailstock if presented with any sort of challenge. I don't have any live centers for the other machines. Yet. Anyway, if you turn it so it is a slip fit into the tubing instead, that may help keep it more stable. If it's turned like a step drill, it can be made to work with several sizes of tubing. Just a thought.

Isn't this fun?

Best regards,

Kludge


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## Mark-One (Feb 21, 2009)

That was such a good idea that I had to go and make it. 

I did two steps, for the two sizes of pipe that I use. They are a snug fit, needing a bit of oil and a smack to get in, and doubtless a whack to remove.

I'm turning it against a dead centre, for the sole reason that it's shorter than the live one and I am at the limits of bed (have to remove the entire tailstock to insert/remove the work).

So what I have here is a sort of mandrel that lets you mount a tube as if it was a bar.

I'll always think of it as my Kludge-bar 

I'll get a picture later. Got a heck of a headache now from trying to turn down such a long bit of copper. In the end I finished the bugger with sandpaper. All I wanted was to remove the dings and the makers stamp rolled into the side.

Actually it looks so nice with that bit of brass on the end that I think I shall have to make a chimney cap for it next...


I was working on a button tool the other day with the drill rod cutter and keystock base. I have to take it apart and either make a new cutter or grind mine down because it projects too far above centre to compensate for. Though for my little machine I really need a smaller one, and in that size it's hard to find a screw with a small enough head (yeah, I chucked the screw and turned down the head already...)

Seem to be spending as much time making tools as I do making parts, which is certainly not something that I imagined myself doing. It's fun, though.


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## joeby (Feb 21, 2009)

Kludge,



> One drill yielded most of a dual planetary drive (like the ones Brian recovered), an 18v motor and a speed control good for 24vdc/20a. I haven't been able to fully dismantle it yet - the chuck et al seem stuck in place and nothing I've tried has unstuck it. I shall defeat it even if I have to call on someone I know who has access to high explosives. If that doesn't work then I may have to get brutal with it. Smiley



 Have you had a look inside the chuck? Some of these have a screw into the end of the shaft (left hand thread), helping the threaded chuck body (right hand thread) stay put. I put the chuck key in one of it's holes and bump them (key) with a screwdriver handle. That's usually all it takes.

 Of course it's possible that it's a tapered fit, I think that rather unlikely though, in which case a powder wedge could be used to good effect!

Kevin


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## Kludge (Feb 21, 2009)

joeby  said:
			
		

> Have you had a look inside the chuck? Some of these have a screw into the end of the shaft (left hand thread), helping the threaded chuck body (right hand thread) stay put. I put the chuck key in one of it's holes and bump them (key) with a screwdriver handle. That's usually all it takes.



Hmmm ... YEs, indeed there is a screw in there. This is a keyless chuck but I'll figure some way to get it to happen as I want.

Thank you!

BEst regards,

Kludge


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