What did you do today?

[hornluv]

I finished making my wife's Valentine's day gift. I'd tell you what it was, but I don't want to risk her checking the forum and seeing it before it's time. Unlikely, yes, but paranoia is the first line of defense

[rbertalotto]

Got my new Kimber 82 "Rusty" from the Civilian Marksmanship Program.......What a deal. The government bought thousands of these single shot 22RF target rifles to be used in various school programs back in the 80s. They were never used. All are brand new. They are available in two versions...pristine for $600, and with a few spots of rust for $400.....

Mine was just about perfect! A very little bit of rust on the target sights...

You can read about it here:

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378605

[vpt]

[DICKEYBIRD]

Nice work Andy....what kinda engine is that?

[vpt]

Thanks! I was suprised how nice the finish was on the stainless. The engine is a 2.2L (I believe) porsche.

[darryl]

Picked up a Devilbiss compressor today, rescued from a dumpster. Not a large one, actually about the smallest one I've seen besides the obvious bicycle tire inflators.

Tank was about 1/4 full of water, which I drained. The wiring had been chopped and the gauges bashed. A check with an ohmeter showed no continuity through the motor, which turned out to be the thermal breaker device. Bypassing that, I hooked it up to the variac and gave it a try. I found out why the breaker had gone- the armature was rubbing on the field. The end result of all this is that I now have a good air pump, without a motor, but with a shaft that can be driven either directly or using a belt and pulleys.

I'm opting for the belt and pulley, since I'll be able to couple it up to a vacuum cleaner motor and build it into my workbox. The gauges work even though they're bent up, and the regulator works. There's also an adjustable output pressure regulator.

My challenge now is to determine the step-down ratio that will match the vac motor to the input shaft on this pump mechanism, and come up with a clutch which will decouple the vac from the compressor shaft. Operating the clutch will also switch power input from the pressure regulator to the vacuum cleaner switch.

The compressor has a belt reduction drive already, which eases the load that will be put on the reduction drive that I add to it. It would seem that because the motor was a universal type, the shaft probably turned at about 5000 rpm. If I can turn it at half that, I'll be happy. It shouldn't be a big deal to knock down the vac motor speed from its 20,000 or so to about 1/10 of that. The motor has its own cooling fan and doesn't rely on pumped air for cooling, so it should be fine in this application. It already has a drive for a belt on the shaft, and I might just put on the micro v pulley I have and use the belt that matches it.

That's been todays project. I have most of the parts brought together in one place, and with the rest of them gathered I'll make the final decision whether it's a go or not.

[SGW]

I replaced leaking gaskets between the tank and bowl of a toilet. Much to my astonishment, given my general luck with plumbing, I got it together and it did NOT leak, first try.

Generally with plumbing I start to replace a faucet washer, something breaks, and I end up ripping everything out back to the water meter. Or so it seems.

I don't like plumbing much.

[vpt]

Put some pipes together the other day. Waiting for a few more matterials so I can finish it up then onto the intake mani.

[Deus Machina]

I milled the giant T-nut to mount a new quick-change toolpost onto my lathe, which reminded me how much I hate working cheap mild steel in my mini-mill. Still need to tram it on the Y axis.

Used the QCTP to turn a new sheer pin for the leadscrew, then part off 32mm of a drill chuck shank and 15.5mm of a dead center so the 'zero' mark on the tailstock quill actually means zero, and then used the now functioning chuck to start, and the now functioning leadscrew (well, the automatic feed function) to machine a chunk of 1.25" 6061 Al round stuck into the blank that will later be threaded inside to 7/8"x14 to act as a 'sleeve collet' in the 3-jaw to produce a few parts.

Tucked that away, went inside to refill the washing machine's transmission with gear oil (80-90 because I couldn't find GS90. Not worried about it.) and install the new motor coupling. Just waiting for the RTV to dry so I can reassemble and have this thing working again.

It's now 9:20 AM. I think I deserve the rest of the day off.

[dockrat]

Yesterday's job was to push/pull this 800' x 16" pipe


Down to the river you can see in this pic

[mike os]

thats a BFO pipe & no mistake

[steverice]

This is an air shifter for a dragike with a three speed semi-automatic over riding transmission that I built using my Logan 10 x 24 and vertical mill.

[Carld]

Didn't do anything today but Tuesday and Wednesday my neighbor and I drove to Bedford Hills, NY and back, about 1600 miles, in a tad over 24 hours including gas stops and meals.

[macona]

Installed my new projector. Infocus SP8602.

IMG_0113 by macona, on Flickr

[RussZHC]

Finally finished a temporary water/rain fix at work.

I don't mind sheet metal work but man...265 feet of 26 gauge (27 ten foot sheets, 2 feet wide) with a 1" 90* brake the whole length via a piece of square tubing, 4 Vise grips and a framing hammer...then rivet it in place as much as possible while trying to stand on the remaining ice in the parking lot (that last bit was the royal PITA part)

No pics but I was told by more than one, it looked really stupid!

On the plus side it continues to warm up slightly each day, so "work" in the "shop" may soon begin again