What did you do today?

[Willy]

Dan, nice bit of fabrication on the Jeep snowplow frame. Not much time left till show, or should I say, snow time.
Don't suppose you have the luxury of doing the actually assembly on the Jeep at work do you? Looks like you've got everything you need there, would make it so much easier and faster for you.

To continue the rusty car theme in the oposite direction.....: )
Did more work on the Heep frame tonight after work. Tacked the side panels together, then cleaned them all up to the same size. While they were still together I use them as a bending form to heat, and beat the top and bottom plates to shape.


I can pull the rest of it together with clamps while welding it out.
here's the peices all done and cleaned up ready for welding. Not shown are the fish plates for the sides.

and mocked up with some spacer blocks inside to keep things square and spaced properly.

I was going to weld them out at work tonight as we just got a new (to us) millermatic 250 and I've been itching to try it but I didn't bring my hood, and the gen pop one we have at work sucks really bad (because people are muppets and don't look after things).

Lipstick on a pig you say? Not worth the effort? I agree on both counts. : )

[thaiguzzi]

I think that R8 used to be difficult to get tooling for here and so 3MT was the defacto HSM standard. Now that's no longer the case and I think that R8 is perhaps superior. The issue with 3MT for a spindle is purely in getting the damn things back out again if you've tightened them enough to be sure they aren't going to slip on you. More of an issue with finger collets where to grip the tool more, you are tightening the drawbar and jamming the 3MT into the spindle. Must get round to making some risers so that's not so much of a requirement.....although that's bound to just lead to taller workpieces!

Was jealous of the Kurts until I realised two things: the cost is definitely in divorce territory....and sticking one on my mill would most likely topple the mill! Definitely jealous of your 5" facemill. My machine's only rated for 35mm (1" 3/8) which hardly seems worth it!

Check your spindle bore.
Even a MT3 spindle should just need the drawbar nipping up with a spanner, no pulling on it with all your weight. A half turn nut loosen, and a slight wack with a brass hammer and the tooling should come free.
Anything else and there is something amiss.
My Tom Senior M1 runs a MT2 fer chrissakes in the quill feed vertical head, cutters never slip, and anything is removed easily as above.

[vpt]

Today I stopped at my mechanic's shop to find out why I have been hearing a rattle and clunking sound from the rear end of my 1999 Saturn SL1. It's been getting worse, and I suspected maybe shocks or bushings or even a muffler clamp. Well, it was a shock, alright!



He said, "You need a new car", and at first I thought he was kidding. But I'm surprised that I can even drive it. Actually, it's not really safe to drive, so I will have to use my 1989 Toyota pickup until I find something. He has several vehicles on his lot that are for sale. One is a 1998 or so Mercedes SUV that he would sell for $2500. There is also a 2005 or so Hyundai for $1500, but needs $1000 of work. And he also has a 2009 Honda Passport SUV in good shape that one of his customers wants him to fix up to sell. I'd prefer a small car with good fuel economy like my Saturn, which gets 35-45 MPG, but I don't really drive very much (maybe 5000 miles a year), so a 15 MPG increase would be only be about 58 gallons per year increase (based on 35and 20), or $174 per year. I will also check Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace to see what is out there and reasonable price estimates for these vehicles. I figure to spend up to $5000.

So, more pictures:





I should have taken pictures when the car was up on the lift, but I was still in shock and there was another vehicle coming in so I had to move mine out quickly. It probably could be welded, but there are other places with pretty severe rust, and this mess is next to the gas lines and tank. Maybe I can get $500 for the car as-is? It has only 110,000 miles and nearly new tires, doesn't use oil, and runs great. But since Saturn has shut down, parts are hard to get.

My brothers chevy lumina did the same thing. It was a winter around town beater so we got new trailing arms off ebay for around $25 each. I pulled up the carpet in the back above where the bars mount, threw down a thick plate of steel, drilled the bolt holes threw the floor, and bolted threw the whole deal plate, floor, trailing arm. Lasted out the car for another 3 years.

[DennisCA]

Painted some walls and ceiling white in the area the milling machine is to go. Not very pretty since I didn't mask anything off and I got shelves and stuff in there so I can't even paint it all. But I did it mainly for the light, everything is a lot brighter in there now when the walls aren't gyproc brown.

[Dan Dubeau]

Dan, nice bit of fabrication on the Jeep snowplow frame. Not much time left till show, or should I say, snow time.
Don't suppose you have the luxury of doing the actually assembly on the Jeep at work do you? Looks like you've got everything you need there, would make it so much easier and faster for you.

Thanks Willy. Supposed to snow this weekend.... The jeep will never leave the property unless going to the scrap yard, so all work ON it must be done at home, in the backyard. It's funny, but I'm actually much better equipped to do fab work at home than I am at work (work has me beat in the machining dept, but I'm slowly working on catching up). It's easier for me to do small stuff like this at work though, because I can work in the shop. At home it's working outside (welding/grinding) on a workmate in the driveway or backyard, under lights by the time I get home. It's just easier to stay at work for an extra hour or two. Plus when I get home from work, I spend time with the kids before I have to put them to bed, and by then I'm zonked, and don't feel like doing much of anything that resembles work. I'm totally at mercy of the weather on this project, and the only free day's I've had the past two weeks have been raining. Laying on my back on wet grass, cutting, grinding and welding isn't my idea of a good time lol. The clocks ticking though....

[DennisCA]

I got a call out of the blue and soon after I am looking at this in my shop.

[Zahnrad Kopf]

Oh WOW...!!!

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wowwwwwww....

Now THAT is something to gloat over. Congratulations. There are not many machines as capable as that one. ( generally speaking ) I would love to have somethign similar, myself. Did you get any of the accessories with it? Come on... what's the story? Out with it.

[mattthemuppet]

that's the kind of call I'd like to get!

My evening yesterday was spent breaking down the pallets leant against my mill so I can use the mill Wood is going towards a stand for a rain barrel and whatever else needs making.

[DennisCA]

Oh WOW...!!!

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wowwwwwww....

Now THAT is something to gloat over. Congratulations. There are not many machines as capable as that one. ( generally speaking ) I would love to have somethign similar, myself. Did you get any of the accessories with it? Come on... what's the story? Out with it.

Thanks, not that much to tell, I found it online at a machine reseller in Sweden, sent a mail via their website, they never answered and I got kinda peeved. Then I saw them putting their machines up on another side and lowballed them an offer on the machine and hey, they accepted. The call I got was the trucking company who were unexpectedly ready to deliver before schedule. The accessories seems to be a load of various tool holders, vertical and horizontal. I should get more pictures of it, but nothing like a dividing head or similar. But it has the best type of head, the sliding vertical head, which doubles as the horizontal overarm support, so I don't have to remove anything to switch between vertical and horizontal milling.

The x-axis glass scale though is busted. Not even sure if the DRO works, only just got it home and been trying to degunk it.

[boslab]

That is a nice machine, we don’t get many dekels over here, ive only played with one, ever but it was a nice experience, the tall blonde of mills
Mark

[Dan Dubeau]

I've had this coil of 6/3 in the basement for about 5 years now and forgot about it until the other night looking on amazon for a welder extension cord. Dug through my stuff and I found a female socket, so I only had to buy the male plug end. Not sure sure how long it is as I haven't uncoiled it yet, but for less than $20 and a couple few minutes of time I'm sure it will come in handy. I've got about 50' of leads for my stick welder and now being able to reach the backyard with the plasma cutter will make building my sawmill back there a lot easier. The back yard is "flat". The driveway out front is sloping away from the house, so there's no way I'd be able to jig up a 24' frame level and square to weld it out.


What I need to do is to put a couple plugs on the same circuit (yea, I know it's not code....) so I don't have to keep switching plugs back and forth all the time.

[Mcgyver]

"we stand behind our cranes, but never under them"

well ok, not me, the team built it. They only let me near it with a camera. Its the second we've made, - an 80' box girder just painted, waiting for installation of commercials. I invested lot to be able to make these, sub arc machine, bench, huge spreader bars etc. I hope to ( I better!) make a lot more....but its neat seeing it come together sitting there in monolithic glory. Stuff on the right are 40' truss conveyor sections - 1400' feet of handrail in that job!

[Mcgyver]

I got a call out of the blue and soon after I am looking at this in my shop.
]

nice looking mill, way to go

[Dan Dubeau]

Got the Heep frame all welded up yesterday (was a nice relief when I let the jack out and it didn't break lol). Not my best and nicest welding but it's strong and should buy me another winter or two before something else falls off it lol.

Winterized the boats today, Now I'm having a coffee break, and heading back out to finish bringing in the 2 loads of wood I have left into the basement. Once that's done I'm all ready for winter.

Also convinced my Wife to bring my wood bandsaw down in the basement for the winter and out of the garage. Was a tough sell..... I said "would you be ok if I brought the bandsaw down into the basement for the winter?" and she said "ya sure, why not?. Are you going to bring all your woodworking tools downstairs too?" She's a keeper. I need to get it, and a few more things out of the cramped garage so I can work on building the sawmill carriage this winter.

[plastikosmd]

Snowblower project about running then will sell, need air cleaner for it.

what a beast of a yardman, twin auger, two stage



also working on electrical draw or charging issue on a friend’s Astro .006 amp leak isn’t terrible, likely just a bad battery



Also started fixing an oliver 777 bread slicer for someone. Needs a chunk cut out, fabricated and welded in with some work on bushings etc



Also did Xmas lights on tree in front w boom lift