What Are You Up To Today?

[DICKEYBIRD]

I did my good deed for the week last night & this morning.

My almost blind neighbor's self-propelled mower cable end snapped about half-way through the mowing job his young son was doing. I didn't think he'd find a replacement cable any time soon so I volunteered to put the mighty powers of my garage R&D facility into immediate action.

The cable end was a swedged in place fitting that slipped over a peg spot-welded to the control lever. I clipped off most of the broken fitting and squared it up with a Dremel mounted stone. Next was an aluminum fitting with a milled-in slot to capture the modified end. The first try didn't give enough cable movement so I milled the slot longer and made a steel spacer to fill the gap. I made a cover plate to hold the whole mess together and held it on with 3 2-56 screws. I drilled a 1/4" hole in it to fit the peg and drilled/tapped the end of the peg for a 4-40 screw & washer to hold it on. The original one-time use retainer cap of course exploded into several pieces and there wasn't room for a simple cotter pin & drilled hole.

Works a treat and would only be about 437 times more expensive to make than a new cable would cost!

 

[Stan]

There is no joy in repetitive production work. There is a sense of accomplishment when you face a challenge and win. Your solution is great and like the Mastercard commercial, the feeling is priceless.

 

[tel]

Nice work-around, and bound to be unique! ;D

 

[Bernd]

Nice engineering job there Dickybird. :bow: I love projects like that.

Bernd

 

[DickDastardly40]

Having the almost in-laws round for dinner tonite, I reckon I've got the Lazy Susan to .001" TIR ;D

 

[Bogstandard]

Al,

Tell me what they taste like, I ate mine years ago, but due to their age they were a bit tough.

Bogs

 

[Cedge]

Thought it might be time to re-resurrect this thread once again....

Hands nice and dirty today.... The mill badly needed tramming, the rotary table beneath the vise had to be removed for lack of clearance and my handy dandy indexing table desperately needed a crucial bit of repair. The tramming was no problem and was quickly accomplished, but repositioning the cloned Kurt vise for zero TIR took what seemed like forever. Nice to see zero movement on the DTI as it moves down the inside of the stationary jaw.

The center pivot pin on the indexer top plate was loose and required the center to be drilled larger and then plugged with fresh metal. It too now has less than .0003 run out if my DTI isn't lying to me. The needle barely fluctuates at all when applied to the pin.

While I was at it, one of the ER40 collets (3/8) that I recently bought from Ebay's 800Watt was not running concentrically, so I dropped in at Travers Tools and picked up a replacement, along with 3 new R-8 collets which were on sale for 40% off. This evening will be dedicated to putting tools away and getting things clean enough to begin the next project fresh.

Feels good to have the needed maintenance done and looking forward messing it up all again....LOL. Even old reprobates like me enjoy the sleep of the righteous once in a while.

Busy Steve

 

[Bogstandard]

Steve,

Isn't it a nice feeling when you tweak your bits and they are spot on again.

I've been cutting in anger tonight, getting used to the new mill. I just don't know how I got such good results before without the power feeds.

Put a cut on, start the cut and adjust the speed of the cutter and feed until it sounds nice and smooth. Half round grooves have come out really smooth, that can just be cleaned up with a quick wipeover with emery, instead of finger aching rubbing down to get the machining marks off. All done, sitting down, no effort at all, except for throwing a lever every now and again. Fly cutting comes straight off the machine, ready for polishing.

I am going to enjoy this new part of my machining life.

John

 

[wareagle]

Well, I'll bite and jump in here as well... I have been doing the typical post project clean up. Including making sure tooling is in it's proper place, lubing equipment, vacuuming swarf, wiping down hoses, sweeping/mopping the floor and hauling trash out. Not real exciting. But......

I finally have an opportunity to get back on the Crusader project that I started seemingly years ago. Things have slacked up for me a bit, so I am digging this one out and plan to widdle some metal tonight. Who knows, maybe I'll actually get to finish it up before I retire!

 

[kvom]

Today the plumber finished up in the new garage/shop. He had to find the house water supply to connect to the garage circuits, and luckily I had an album of photos I took 15 years ago when the house was under construction. By studying a couple of these carefully, he deduced that the best place to hook into a 3/4" supply line was directly over the kitchen refrigerator. The wife was a bit apprehensive when he cut into the ceiling, but lo and behold the pipe was right there.

Apart from supervising the plumbing, I also managed to finish the last part for our fireplace mantel. Basically I had to cut an ogee on three edges of a pine board, and then sand it down. Once it's tacked in place the wife can paint it to match the rest.

Tomorrow a friend and I start wiring the garage/shop. Luckily for me he's an electrician.

 

[Bogstandard]

WE,

I finally have an opportunity to get back on the Crusader project that I started seemingly years ago.

I don't recall you mentioning that, what is it about?

John

 

[Cedge]

Kvom...
When are we going to officially christen the new Man Cave? Inquiring minds want to know.

Bogster
I always enjoy having my bits tweaked but 'er indoors says they need less of it these days...(innocent grin)

Wareagle
The housekeeping thing is on the schedule for tomorrow, now. With me bits all freshly tweaked, I get lazy...LOL


Steve

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Spent the day doing damn little --Discussed a possible new job with a gentleman out of the USA---Did my bit to deplete the ozone layer. (I have garbage pickup for household trash, 2 bag limit. The actual dump is about 25 frickin kilometers away, so I save up all big junk that will burn. I'm not actually "in" the city here. I am within shouting distance of the city, but down over a hill and surrounded by pine forest. I wait untill a heavily overcast, light rain day, when smoke can't be seen and the forest won't catch fire---then drag out wooden shipping crates, cardboard boxes, styrofoam packing, oily rags, various half emty cans of flamable substances---and have a great big, very hot, very quick bonfire. Then I'm good for another 3 or 4 months!)----Take that, you treehuggers!!! ;D ;D

 

[steamer]

Started and engine block for a tugboat engine.

Here is an older picture

It's a "Seadog" by Scratchdog motors

 

[kvom]

Kvom...
When are we going to officially christen the new Man Cave? Inquiring minds want to know.

If we get wiring done this weekend or the next, then the only obstacle to the next inspection is installing the AC. In the meantime I expect the exterior doors, the windows, and the siding will me installed as the materials have been delivered.

Once past the inspection, them we have insulation install, then drywall. Then another inspection.

Then we install lighting, toilet & basin, and garage doors. If all that goes well then we get the certificate of occupancy and can have the chirstening (once I locate a suitable beer fridge).

Thereafter I will need to finish upstairs flooring and baseboards, plus painting the walls. And of course moving gear into the garage, installing automotive lift, building workbenches, installing some cabinets ....

One good reason for me to keep going with my twice-weekly machining class is to ensure some chip-making time as opposed to the other must-dos.

 

[itowbig]

ive been fixing my brand new (to me) bicycle that sister inlaw did not want any more. now i can ride to work no more gas. trying to figger out how to make a crank thats not got a bend in it. cleaning out the garage work shop a bit. still need to oil up the machines. counting how many projects i still got to finish. (to many im afraid) well that acounts for my day so far. got two days off from work and in between hunny do's i get out to my man cave.

 

[steamer]

Speaking of lathes and whats up
I have one of these.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/waltham/index.html

I am going to restore it. I am looking to find another in this world somewhere

If you have one, or know of one, please send me a post. He's Lonely!

Dave

 

[wareagle]

WE,

I don't recall you mentioning that, what is it about?

John

The Crusader .60 is a two stroke glow plug engine from bar stock. Like a model airplane engine. Home Shop Machinist did the build article a while back. I started the project at the beginning of the year, and have made very little headway on it. The funny thing about the machining hobby is nothing happens when you don't have time to be out in the shop!!

I did get a little done on it tonight! I have basically gathered all of my bar stock needed for the project and have it roughed to size. :

 

[Divided He ad]

What am I up to today.... Well I was relaxing and perusing the site. Now I am about to embark on a plumbing adventure.... My dad put a chisel through the main central heating feed :

The last 10 min's spent ripping a hole in the wall and crushing the pipes to stop the 40 gallon tank from pouring it's contents all over his lounge carpet!
His fingers were getting sore from plugging the hole!!

So now it has to be repaired ASAP or no hot water!!! PITA !!!


Signing off to go shopping for pipes!



Ralph.

 

[steamer]

oh man!

make sure dad buys lunch ;D