What did you do today?

[PStechPaul]

Another possibility would be an angle grinder mounted on a jig that allows it to be moved along the axis of the lead screw. Grinding wheels are a lot cheaper than carbide end mills, and won't be bothered by sand in the casting. Or maybe use a diamond tool in a Dremel, or even use an adapter and chuck it in the router.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Most routers would be able to cut metal but most run too fast so your cutter speeds are too high and wear out quickly. Putting a speed control on the router might work better.

I allways wanted a die grinder that would be fixed to a machine similar to a drill press,after stumbling across this old Wadkin it was the perfect match.

I first removed all of the internal motor componets of original motor then bored housing out to 3-1/2".I then slid a Bosch
8000-25000 rpm Wood Router in to existing motor housing .It really works well on metal and can take any tooling a die grinder takes.

[wierdscience]

Very nice adaptation!

[Willy]

Very nice adaptation!

Yes it is, looks like it would have lots of uses around the shop. This is actually something I wanted to do several years ago.
If the K&N air filter would have been green it would have looked like a original manufactured product. LOL Nice touch though.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Very nice adaptation!

Yes it is, looks like it would have lots of uses around the shop. This is actually something I wanted to do several years ago.
If the K&N air filter would have been green it would have looked like a original manufactured product. LOL Nice touch though.

Thanks guys, the K&N filter is to keep filing from router as it sucks air from the top and discharges out the bottom.This pic is how I make slim boxend wrenches (round things are magnets to show both sides after cut)this one is a 7/16".Takes less than a minute to do these and are pretty accurate.

[Willy]

Nice!
Yeah I figured the K&N was to keep the abrasive dust out, and the pleats match the motor. What's not to like?

[DennisCA]

I've repaired a gouge in the dovetail of the sliding table on my milling machine using epoxy (Devcon WR-2)

[Willy]

Replaced another Dodge Cummins flexplate. The flexplates in these trucks with the 5.9 Cummins from 1989-2007 are absolute junk, even the improved ones.
I didn't have time to take pictures today but I have some from my own that I did a while back so I'll post them instead.

The flexplates are prone to cracking near the center where they bolt onto the crankshaft flange. These things are paper thin and asked to transmit a lot of torque. On my own truck I tore the center out completely on the first one and this is the second improved one shown below that was also going. When I heard that all too familiar sound under the truck I knew what I was in for and replaced it with a much better aftermarket one that is rated for a far greater torque and HP level than the stock piece.

One thing I've noticed in doing several of these is that although they all have stamped tabs to locate the flaxplate onto the periphery of the crank flange they all exhibit what I consider unacceptable radial run-out, .050"-.070".
This only tortures an already bad flexplate due to the constant flexing and added strain to the transmission's pump bushing where the torque converter enters the oil pump.

In order to get the flexplate mounted as close to the central axis of the crank I machined up some tapered nuts and placed them on a couple of temporary bolts. This way I could stud-pilot the plate to the crank while I installed some of the flexplate to crank bolts in order to secure the setup. After I was done checking for run-out the temporary bolts and nuts were replaced and all was torqued into place. I know this setup and much improved flexplate to work well from previous experience even with much greater than stock HP and torque.

Below is the stock flexplate still in place. The radial witness marks and lines emanating from the mounting bolt circle are evidence that hairline cracks are working. The picture is not quite good enough to show the hairline cracks but trust me they are there. I'll have to look for the photo of the one that I tore the center out of, not a pretty picture or experience 50miles from the shop.



Next is a pic of the tapered nuts I machined in order to stud-pilot the flexplate to the crank.



How it all looks when installed.



I'm also doing a major upgrade to this guys transmission to give it a new lease on life while upgrading a lot of internal components to handle some anticipated power increases.
So I started by making a driver for the new bushing needed for the oil pump in the transmission that the wobbly converter situation caused.

[gambler]

nice work willy

[jdedmon91]

More work on the bandsaw conversion. I decide to machine my jackshaft, it would been easier to use a 5/8 shaft but I decided to machine mine with a larger center diameter. Here is the video https://youtu.be/i07d8RhfxZ8


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cameron]

Nice work indeed,Willy, but I have to ask, why the slots in the tapered nuts?

[wierdscience]

One thing I've noticed in doing several of these is that although they all have stamped tabs to locate the flaxplate onto the periphery of the crank flange they all exhibit what I consider unacceptable radial run-out, .050"-.070".
This only tortures an already bad flexplate due to the constant flexing and added strain to the transmission's pump bushing where the torque converter enters the oil pump.

.050-.070"? Sheesh makes you wonder if they even tried to get decent runout.

I used to work on some yard forklifts that had Funk Reversomatic gearboxes in them.Invariably the operators would forget the machines had a inching/brake pedal and use the fwd/rev pedals instead to ease into a load.The transmissions had no problem taking the strain,but the flex plates would stretch bolts and crack out.Funk wanted $1100 for the flexplates.It was only .065" thick cold rolled steel sheet with a couple rows of holes in them.I used to get 11 gauge 316 stainless and make replacements out of that,never an issue after the upgrade.

Nice job on the fix,here's hoping it lasts.

[wierdscience]

More lathe repair/mods today.The orginal T-slot the topslide mounts too was made for M12 bolts.These were a crudely forged T-bolt,pretty soft material,the threads were nearly gone on the originals and the heads didn't fit the slot too well.The bottom edge of the slot was pretty rough as the rough forged finsh of the T-bolt heads telegraphed into the cast and left it ragged.
I was going to make new bolts from the start,but decided to kill two birds with one stone and widen the T-slot to accept 1/2" bolts which would also get rid of the rough edges.I set the cross slide body up in the Bridgeport and used a freehand gound bit in the boring head to machine .025" off each side to achieve a finished slot width of .520"


Then I machined up four new T-bolts from some SAE 1045 and a couple extended height toolpost nuts from the drops.Going to heat treat these and temper them in the morning,these are much improved over the old ones.


The remains of the old crosslide nut.You can see how much they milled off to get clearance,it's amazing it held out as long as it did.

[Willy]

Nice work indeed,Willy, but I have to ask, why the slots in the tapered nuts?

Thanks Cameron.
A buddy of mine in aircraft maintenance gave me lots of "mil-spec" hardware. These are just aluminum lock nuts and that's how they came.Worked out well and gave me just a bit more insertion distance into the hole as the nut collapsed onto the bolt shank.Think of it as a stud plioted wheel fastener.

.050-.070"? Sheesh makes you wonder if they even tried to get decent runout.

I used to work on some yard forklifts that had Funk Reversomatic gearboxes in them.Invariably the operators would forget the machines had a inching/brake pedal and use the fwd/rev pedals instead to ease into a load.The transmissions had no problem taking the strain,but the flex plates would stretch bolts and crack out.Funk wanted $1100 for the flexplates.It was only .065" thick cold rolled steel sheet with a couple rows of holes in them.I used to get 11 gauge 316 stainless and make replacements out of that,never an issue after the upgrade.

Nice job on the fix,here's hoping it lasts.

Thank you.
Yeah I think she'll be okay, the one I did today is identical to this one but no time for the popparotzi today. The one in the pics has a couple of years under her belt already holding a good 700 lb. ft. of torque. The tickness difference you mentioned is about what I'm dealing with here. The new ones I have are also SFI approved, not that I'm going to rev a Cummins to 12 grand. LOL
The lack of attention to the runout issue is amazing, you don't need a dial indicator to see the difference with it running and the inspection cover off of the bellhousing.

[Tundra Twin Track]

[QUOTE=Willy;1224177]Replaced another Dodge Cummins flexplate. The flexplates in these trucks with the 5.9 Cummins from 1989-2007 are absolute junk, even the improved ones.
I didn't have time to take pictures today but I have some from my own that I did a while back so I'll post them instead.

Nice job Willy,it's amazing how out to lunch some of the mass produced parts can be.