What did you do today (2015)

[Capstan SpeakingParticipant @capstanspeaking95294]

A custom muzzle thread protector. Very happy with the hot bluing.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Moving along in the same vein, I went off to John's this morning to try to finish my "Universal Action Cat" sounds good, I made it up. It is a special chuck to hold rifle actions for me when I work on them. I was getting a bit fed up with the lashups (not good for my nerves) and wanted something that would take just about anything I could throw at it. We started off with a lump of 6082 about ten inches by five and a half-ish. A big heavy lump. It is much, much lighter tonight, about six bags of swarf in total I think.

We started where we had left off, I had brought along some long drills so I could get the hole started and get some clearance for the one inch boring bar, starting cuts:

this is the business end of the chuck and the narrowest, the other end I am leaving at 140mm so I can get plenty of purchase for the mounting studs, However, for a number of reasons, all of which you will all be familiar with, the deepest I could get was five inches, which was fine by me.

Then it was time to turn it around and part off a couple of inches, here is John going for it with a 3mm tipped parting tool:

Then it was start again from this end and meet up in the middle:

While I was busy boring this John set up on the Mill and when I had finished – I also faced this end off and recessed for the register – I handed over to John to mark out with a spot drill for the four studs. I spent the next half hour Getting all the swarf out of the machine and off the floor!
Determined to get it finished this week.

graham.

[Bruce EdneyParticipant @bruceedney59949]

Posted by Steven Greenhough on 10/05/2015 15:05:35:

whilst at Harrogate on Friday I bought a little vertical slide (amongst a few other bits n bobs). I fitted it this morning.

I removed the compound slide and dismantled the cross slide from the carriage, after making a centre line where I wanted it to sit on the slide, position to give equal and full travel of the cross slide. I then popped, drilled and tapped two M5 holes, carefully nibbling at the iron with my cheapo drill press and a small centre drill initially (I have no spot drills) then up to 4.2mm before tapping by hand (roughly in centre of pic)

When fitted, I get full, equal travel either side of centre, about 65-70mm I think, and just shy of 50mm of vertical travel (this is restricted slightly as the bottom of the vertical slide grounds out on the carriage approximately 4-5mm before the slide has reached full travel:

A simple job but a significant one for me as it's the first modification to the lathe that I've undertaken.

Take extra care with that

I have one and I couldn't get the clamps to clamp onto my work piece with sufficient force and ended up stripping the nuts in the slots ( I think that was a combination of over tightening and bottoming out)

Bruce

Edited By Bruce Edney on 11/05/2015 06:40:47

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Steven,

I did almost an identical pair of holes as the first on to my mini-lathe some 15 years ago! I opened the holes out to take M6 screws but otherwise exactly what you have done (great minds etc.).

I also made a raising block from a lump of cast iron (2" nominal with rounded corners) this is tapped for the vertical slide and has fixing holes to suit the toolpost mount, this means you can fit the slide with full travel and angle it. I machined one side of the block square for the fence on the back of the vertical slide, so it was still easy to align it with the edges of the cross-slide.

I also made an improvised 'milling vice'.

More photos in my album.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

As for in my workshop… I actually found some time to do something in it yesterday!

I made a stepper motor drive for the telescope mount, just a few simple components:

A stainless spindle extension for the drive which takes a large moulded gear that uses a captive 2mm drive bar under a splined cap – this is from a HP Laserjet 4, quality design and will take the drive torque easily!

Mounting plate from scrap 3mm alloy (means an extra hole or two, but hey…) Motor mounted by two M3 screws in slots to allow adjustment of engagement with intermediate gear.

Intermediate shaft for a double gear – bit of a challenge due to space requirements – it couldn't protrude from the bottom of the plate. I made 5mm shaft from 1/2" bar so it has a big flange, and pout an M4 thread underneath (to max number of threads engaging).

Mounting pillar from 1/2" brass – M5 spigot to fit the provided drive mounting hole, and tapped M6 at the other end.

Added a 'bristol' handle, and there it is, an easy swing clear arrangement.

I also adjusted the worm for minimal backlash and gave it a good dose of teflon grease.

Now the hard bit – the electronics! With 1/16 stepping using the Pololou board I should get theoretical resolution of 0.87 arc seconds, and the scopes theoretical resolution is 0.7arc seconds, so as I'm not on top of Manau Kea I should get away with it.

I also tried the aluminium weld to fit a brace between the two sides of a tripod leg. Learned two things -1 the aluminium weld really works. 2 – aluminium gets soft when hot so the g-clamp causes it to distort a bit… I had to force the middle leg back into the reduced gap. One leg is now significantly stiffer, but of essentially fixed length!

If I mod the other legs I shall do so with the middle section in position and use less aggressive clamping!

Neil

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Went to Harrogate Exhibition yesterday; bought some goodies, its amazing how little bits soon mount up…but had the Finance directors prior approval…

Actually did some more on the Educational model last week, the fly wheel, cam arm, & template for the cam…

Initial flywheel cutting out..

Managing to split the pops..

Finished job… with crankshaft bushing entered, cam arm & cam template made..

TBC..

George.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Nicely done George – it looks to me like you are a handy man with a file. You should be good at crossing out clock wheels!

Norman

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Finished fitting an ER32 chuck to a second hand D1-3 backplate I that I bought yesterday at the Harrowgate show.

I have had the chuck a few months but never used it. I would ideally prefer a 5C one for my lathe as they are more versatile, but I have already a set of ER32 collets for the mill.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Not today but Saturday last, phone call from nephew that a swarm was out in the Apiary, I went down and found it in a Red Current bush.. Found a cardboard box and gently cut the stems it was hanging from and took it to a 5 comb nucleus box I set up prior to taking the swarm. I set the box down with a flap lid as a ramp and they set off marching into the hive. This always fascinates me the way they start following each other and as they march up some cluster around the entrance fanning their wings and others stick their bums up in the air to release a Pheromone to attract the bees to the box. Within about 5 mins it was all over and I placed a feeder on top with 2 pints of sugar water and left them to it, this morning they were still feeding and some were flying out foraging so all is well.

Clive

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Yesterday and today I managed to get some metal cut on the Tormach at long last. It's not for real but just an exercise to see if I can actually draw something then get the machine to make it and it is typical of the sort of things I will be using the mill for. I had problems with Tool Z axis offsets and the finishing of the inside wash,t done because the tool selected sat way high above the job cutting air. I am not in the least disappointed because at last I have achieved something and still have a long way to go but I will enjoy getting there in the end.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I would encourage anybody no matter how old to give this CNC lark a go.

Next phase will be to flip the part and hopefully end up with something that resembles my drawing.

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

I have spent the last few days replacing the rear wheels spokes of the Saunderson & Mills tractor (3" scale) as I had riveted them on the wrong side of the inner rims! The first spoke took half an hour but by the time I had reached number twenty four the time was down to fifteen minutes. A visitor came to the workshop and wondered why I was bothering as he thought no one would notice. There is an old saying that is applicable to our hobby "Small things make perfection but perfection is no small thing". I still have a long way to go to reach perfection but that's the challenge.

George .

Bundaberg.

[NilochParticipant @niloch]

Had a fascinating guided tour of the Starrett Tool factory in Athol, Massachusetts, 2.5 hour drive from New Hampshire.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Spent the day getting the grass and garden back under some sort of control after my trip to Harrogate.

I actually heard a Cuckoo calling somewhere fairly close by, that definitely made up for the rest of it!

Edited By V8Eng on 13/05/2015 17:36:32

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Steve G – re: vertical slides with (vertical) T-slots and the type of movable jaws and clamping bolts "vice" often provided with them..

Before my vertical slide was "repurposed" – I had found it almost impossible to clamp work tightly with my version of this vice without pushing the two vice jaws apart. Clamping up the work caused a sideways pressure on the jaws that was too much and the jaws just slid apart in their T-slots.

The simple solution was an 1/8" steel plate (the same size as the vertical slide) with two rows of holes drilled in it to match the T-slots. When placed behind the jaws (with the T-nut bolts through the appropriate holes in the plate) – the jaws cannot be forced apart and you can clamp up much tighter with the three clamping screws without damaging the T-slots.. I also made a third 'jaw' (with three matching indents in it – to take the 3 clamping screws) that I could use to help protect the work itself.

I don't think l have any photos of it but hopefully you get the general idea. If you have a conventional small machine vice to mount on the vertical slide, then the vertical T-slots are not a problem (assuming they match the vice mounting holes. However, the moving jaws type vice will often hold longer work, so is still useful sometimes.

Regards,

IanT

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, this evening I managed to mark out, cut and fold a couple of stiffeners for the top of my new lathe stand that I'm making.

Regards Nick.

[Steven GreenhoughParticipant @stevengreenhough56335]

Bruce, Neil, and Ian.

Sorry I can’t quote your posts as I’m on mobile (android) and that feature doesn’t seem to work.

I got a matching machine vice to go with the slide.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Sat up waiting for Saturn to rise above the trees…

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

More Bees, yesterday afternoon I went to the Apiary and walked around looking for swarms, was about to give up when I noticed a couple of bees hanging about a big Bramble bush. I went to have a look and yes, there was a swarm in the Brambles, I mean, 'In the Brambles'. I set up a Nucleus box and donned my bee suit and cut my way into the Brambles until I could sever the stem they were hanging on, placed this and bees in a box and took them to the Nuc. I have a piece of plywood as a ramp and I tipped the bees onto the ramp and they started to march up the board into the Nuc. As I watched I saw the Queen moving about so I guided her to the entrance and she went into the dark opening. Within a few moments the bees all turned and headed straight into the box and all the flying bees settled. I am always fascinated by the way bees do their thing.

As I made my way back to the car I tripped over a small stump, fell on my right side and cut and bruised my left hand! To add to the misery I also had 2 stings up my trouser leg, I had to go and strip my keks and clear the bees in my trousers.

Clive

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Just as well you keep Bees and not Ferrets Clive!

IanT

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well the loss of sleep was worth it, I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this lark…

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

Very impressive Neil! I had a couple of goes at imaging Saturn and Jupiter when I first got my scope but with very poor results.

Ed.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 14/05/2015 07:40:00:

More Bees, yesterday afternoon I went to the Apiary and walked around looking for swarms, was about to give up when I noticed a couple of bees hanging about a big Bramble bush. I went to have a look and yes, there was a swarm in the Brambles,

Funny how you seem to be able to find swarms everywhere – I've never seen one in my life. I suppose they must be out there, right under your nose, if you know what to look for.

Hope they weren't too far up said keks!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The secret is in alignment, stacking and image processing software. That image is a composite of the best 3500 from over 7000 frames.

This is a typical frame from the video, some are better, many are much worse.

Working on the best 20 minutes of shots and also trying out derotation, seems to be getting it even better.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 14/05/2015 12:39:11

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

During the interval at the club meet last night some of us were outside (9pm) and saw two stars. Lower to the right we thought was Venus, higher, fainter, to left maybe Jupiter. Never really noticed them before.

It was auction night so I now have a Boley Leinen 'Reform' less tailstock. I probably have to add 6mm collets to my range. Why does everything have to be different.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Strange, can't see edit button. Anyway think it may be 8mm before anyone corrects me.

[Author]

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