What did you do today?

[PStechPaul]

You couldn't sell it on Craigslist or elsewhere for a couple hundred bucks?

I got one offer for $150 in a text from the CL ad. They can be dicey. I'll let the ads run for another day or two, and also follow up on a few junkyards. I need to find out if I can remove the tires and sell them separately.

The battery is eight years old. Not worth very much.

I might also ask if I can pull the seats and use them to replace the badly rusted bench seat in my Toyota P/U.







This was three years ago, when I replaced the rusted seat belt anchor:


I was recently offered $1200 for the truck by a couple Hispanic guys who were in my driveway when I returned from early voting. I've had several others asking about it as well.

[J Tiers]

Those Tesla coil-like high frequency setups were pretty common from what I was told. I poked around in a few of the old high frequency add on units sold through Granger as Dayton units and a few others. I rewound one of those air core coupling transformers fro a customer at a place I worked at but don't recall what brand unit it came out of. Interesting setups and quite robust. Not so much to go wrong with them I suppose.

Yeah, it looked to be pretty solid. The two mica capacitors were leaking something, but were still working. Hard to see a way to damage the system, unlike the electronic versions, which are admittedly far more efficient. This one had about a 500VA transformer and probably only put out about as much HV power as a furnace spark igniter.

The coupling coil was interesting, wish I had got a picture. The welding current portion (secondary) was a heavy U-shaped cross-section "wire", which was wound with the groove on the outside, and the HF wire fit into the groove of the U-shape, so it was evidently a 1:1 transformer. Rough dimensions about 6" diameter, 8" long, or so. 8 or 10 turns total.

[markx]

Yeah, it looked to be pretty solid. The two mica capacitors were leaking something, but were still working. Hard to see a way to damage the system, unlike the electronic versions, which are admittedly far more efficient. This one had about a 500VA transformer and probably only put out about as much HV power as a furnace spark igniter.

The coupling coil was interesting, wish I had got a picture. The welding current portion (secondary) was a heavy U-shaped cross-section "wire", which was wound with the groove on the outside, and the HF wire fit into the groove of the U-shape, so it was evidently a 1:1 transformer. Rough dimensions about 6" diameter, 8" long, or so. 8 or 10 turns total.

I actually built a HF arc start into a homemade tig that I made once out of a simple AC buzz box. I can take some shots of the contraption. The coupling transformer I built was of the same type as mentioned: 1:1 ratio of about 10-15 turns. The weld current main lead was coiled and the HV lead wound into the groove between the coils of the main weld current carrying cable. The lot was secured with insulation tape to keep it from unwinding and that was it.
I did not use a HV neon sign transformer to power the setup as I was really afraid of the amount of deadly high voltage current it can put out. A random arc over to a conductor it should not touch and the operator can be toast.
Instead I built a low power HV generator out of an automotive ignition coil and a HV diode driven by a small printer power supply....no way will it put out enough power to harm the operator if anything goes wrong with the system. Worked like a charm and another upside was that the spark gap could be made out of a simple piece of pcb board. Because of the low power involved it did not really wear to any noticeable degree during all of the years I've used it.

[MrFluffy]

Plated the bench with the metal floor plates I picked up a while back, its not super flat, but it does give a nice surface to drop heavy things on.
One thing that puzzles me is the metal itself, the backside where it sat on the floor is heavily corroded, into flakes almost like it was laminate formed originally, so not a corrosion proof stainless. But its only very weakly magnetic, comparing it to steel or cast iron surfaces I can feel the difference in pull on my mag blocks etc. So I cut a slither and bent it, and it bends well past 90deg without shattering and it cuts like steel so not cast iron it seems. I need to spark test it next, but still, no clue what it actually is, also there's a few plates that are not corroded at all either side, but these look like dull stainless steel.
I don't have access to a xrf gun or anything fancy but really my concern is only that I haven't picked up something odd thats seen previous service shielding a nuclear reactor or something. I got it when a gentleman passed and his wife emptied the house to sell, it was lining the barn floor to save laying concrete but the purchasers had insisted she move everything, so that included the plates.

Also two chinese dro scales arrived for the surface grinder DRO'ification project, one is a JS not a JCXE, and checking the advert on fleabay it had that mixed into the chinglish description so I messed up there. I think the JS designation means it outputs sinewave output rather than quadrature, but the plug pinning is different to all the others too. I popped the read head apart, and its vastly different, instead of all the usual tiny circuit boards covered in ic's there is a single dip chip in a socket and a handful of discreet components, so that fits with the guess I've accidentally bought a sine wave output unit as they do the processing at the dro end.
Its not a very expensive mistake to make, all part of the price of learning.

[mattthegamer463]

Wasting more time at work with the infernal 3D machine

Lathe tool height setters, the red things were supposed to be end mill storage caps but they dont work right. Made from thermoplastic polyurethane that is stringy but reasonably easy to use. Makes good gaskets and O rings.

Also made some dovetail to .375 shaft indicator clamps to use my imperial DIs on chinese arms that only have 8mm rod holes.

A handy machine for when you want something but not enough to make it out of metal.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[754]

Matt, do you not like making those things out of aluminum ?
I sure do..

[J Tiers]

No machining, just woodworking.... We have a dining room table (older) with those curved legs... three that come off of each support. Similar to this, only multiple sets of three legs/feet.

http://www.fotoventasdigital.com/Ga/76089/7lwwwa-scenic-mahogany-homely/76011/

One of the curved legs broke, and it turns out to be the one that I repaired something like 15 years ago, but it broke in a new place. So I get to fix it again, oh joy.

I hate the table on account of the legs, but we have not got around to replacing it. Those legs are completely ridiculous as far as grain orientation... they were built up of three pieces, but the grain is oriented lengthwise on all three. Just MADE to end up breaking for no good reason.

I have been gluing the various pieces over the last two days... with hidden screws to take the forces. It's time to move it onward.....

[Tim Clarke]

Hey Matt, where didja get the level vials?

[MrFluffy]

Matt, do you not like making those things out of aluminum ?
I sure do..

I would guess that he's in the "wheeee I have a 3d printer" phase of ownership of his 3d printer. That will subside in a few months then he'll get round to using it as just another complimentary process to the rest of his shop

Today I bandsawed the legs off our frozen xmas turkey because it was too large to fit in our freezer when it was delivered. I did wipe the blade and table first and cooking will remove any straggling bacteria. Its the poor saw I'm worried about. Currently all the cats are circling its waste pan with this hungry look in their eyes

[Tungsten dipper]

I would guess that he's in the "wheeee I have a 3d printer" phase of ownership of his 3d printer. That will subside in a few months then he'll get round to using it as just another complimentary process to the rest of his shop

Today I bandsawed the legs off our frozen xmas turkey because it was too large to fit in our freezer when it was delivered. I did wipe the blade and table first and cooking will remove any straggling bacteria. Its the poor saw I'm worried about. Currently all the cats are circling its waste pan with this hungry look in their eyes

LOL!

[Mark Rand]

Maybe you should take the scrap turkey legs out of the bandsaw's waste pan?

[mattthegamer463]

Matt, do you not like making those things out of aluminum ?
I sure do..

I do, but it seems time is ever more at a premium. Also, I often make things that I never use again, due to a perceived need that didn't exist. I'm trying to invest less time in that sort of thing. A new mantra; if the 3D printed version wears out, then I need a metal version. If the 3D printed one never gets used again, basically no harm done.

[plastikosmd]

Oliver bread slicer rehab for a friend
It shook it self to pieces. First identifying all the cracks and then cutting out the damaged area:



Removing rear housing and bearings where offset shaft runs

[plastikosmd]

I’ve been scrounging for some 3/16 inch plate but haven’t found any therefore decided to finally just cut down some quarter inch plate using the shaper

Roughing cutter, single pass after flattening it out. Even with roughing cutter it leaves a good finish


Getting ready for layout


Video of shaper cutting

https://youtu.be/1yCw0P10RqY

[Lew Hartswick]

Watching a shaper is about like "counting sheep" to go to sleep. Not too many before I'm in the arms of Morpheus snoring away. :-)
...lew...