What did you do today?

[sawlog]

I like the use of a rail for making anvils. I have a 16 inch long piece of railroad track that came from my grandfather, it is useful for using like an anvil. Also I have a 3x3x12 piece of steel that came from grandfather also that is just as useful. The bad part is I am recovering from shoulder surgery and can't work in the shop

[schor]

Part 1 - blocking up the mill, building a pallet under it and get it outside.

[bfjou812]

You guys work fast...................nice work

[dp]

Didn't do this today, but yesterday I finally found a way to get my Harley Road King out of the back of my pickup truck without building a ramp. I bought it last week while at a rider's party in California. This is the second time I've owned this bike, having bought it new in 1999. Nice to have it back home.

Solution: Local supermarket had a dock with ramp I could back my pu to. With a couple planks of 2x10 pine under the tires the tailgate was at a perfect height. The manager was happy to let me use the dock. Love small towns!

Downside: It is now parked where I was going to set up my lathe

[Mr Fixit]

Hello George Bulliss,

This thread is a regular visit for me and from what it looks like many others. Is it possible that this thread be made into a sticky so it stays at the top. It provides good food for thought in many categories and has generated other threads of interest.

Tx Mr fixit for the family
Chris

[schor]

Thanks for watching, stay tuned for part 2 which should be later today or tomorrow morning sometime.

You guys work fast...................nice work

[schor]

Let's get this mill onto the trailer.

[PStechPaul]

I decided to finish some of the milling work on the mini-vise for my class project. It seems to take a lot longer at school to get the tools I need and get set up, and there are distractions with 17 other students and the 2 instructors "milling around" and "lathing". Sometimes I hear noises and I think it might be from the machine I'm using, and sometimes other students ask me for advice (flattering, but distracting). So I used my own milling machine to face mill the bottom surface of the slot in the vise base, and then I cut the 20 degree angle on the end. I also squared the stock for the moving jaw and milled it down to the specified 0.62" (from about 0.78" as cut). These operations all went quite well, and I took some videos as I did. I ran out of memory because I hadn't deleted some of the previous videos, but I got almost everything except the final cut. Here are the results:









The finish is actually better than it looks, and the 0.62" thickness of the moving jaw came out within about 0.002 or better, and probably could be precision ground or otherwise smoothed to a few tenths.

Here are some short raw video clips:

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1564.AVI

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1566.AVI

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1569.AVI

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1571.AVI

[PStechPaul]

I milled the "finger slots", or whatever they might be called, in the movable jaw. I used a "new" (or at least little used) 3/4" 4 flute end mill, and the results were very good:



If you are wondering why the back parallel is on an angle, it's because my cheapo milling vise has a "notch" below the jaw so I have to angle it to rest on the flat portion. I'm thinking about milling it to a convenient width and depth, and then attaching a steel plate to the same height as the rest of the inside flat area (and I'm not sure how flat that is). I might also make new jaws, or mill the surfaces of the ones you see to get a little wider opening and get rid of the dings. Yeah, get a Kurt? This vise does the job, and remember, this is a cheap HF mill/drill, so I don't want to put lipstick on a toad.





I also took video of the process. These short clips show the beginning. I used the table positioning dials to be sure that I cut 0.370" from the edge, so I touched the work and set the dial to zero, and then advanced this amount. It's a little difficult because the table moves 0.165" per revolution, so I used two full turns for 0.330" and then 0.045". I actually stopped at 0.040" to allow for a finish cut if necessary, but it turned out just about right on target, and the finish is nearly perfect.

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1579.AVI

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/CAMM111/CAMM111_Vise_Project_1581.AVI

[schor]

The finale, get it home. There are some still of the rig and a few outtakes after then credits, so hang in there.

[PStechPaul]

That was quite the project to get that thing moved. Looks like you did a good job. Now that I'm learning how to run the Bridgeport in my machining classes, I am more appreciative of its power and versatility.

In my class last night, I had to drill a 5/16" hole 0.25" deep in the moving jaw of the vise project. First, I had to use the edge finder to locate the reference (datum) edges to set the DRO and position on the center. The assistant instructor wanted to set the speed to the high range to use about 1000-1500 RPM, and he moved the hi-lo lever without spinning the chuck to engage the gear, and when he turned it on it made a horrific noise.

I was getting set to use the micrometer quill stop to set the depth of the hole, but he told me to use the knee instead to drill it to depth. The Z-axis adjuster was rather tight and although I tried to bring it up smoothly, it jerked and did not cut smoothly. Then the main instructor (John) told me to do it the way I had started.

Then for the final operation I had to drill a 5/16" hole in one end of the base and tap for 3/8"-16. I had a tap in a large T-handle, but John had me use a spiral flute tap and he did the job using the mill under power at about 60 RPM.

Cleaned up the mill, then moved to the Clausing lathe for the adjusting screw. Got a HSS bit and touched up the grind on a grinder that was twice the size of mine. Cut a piece of 1/2" stock, faced one end and chamfered it 45 degrees with the tool set at an angle, and finished it with a file. Added layout dye and used a "hermaphrodite" divider to mark a line at 5/8" from the end. Flipped it over, faced, and drilled a center. Now it's ready to be turned down for threading. We are doing that with a die rather than single point. It's hard to adjust the compound angle because the bolt-heads are stripped. It looks like it would be a big job to change them. By then it's 15 to nine and time to clean up, put tools away, and go home.

Going around the beltway there was a sign about a crash up ahead that had all lanes blocked. So I took a scenic detour on I70, Rt 29, Rt 99, and Woodstock Rd through Granite and Pikesville before getting back on I695 and I83 home.

[schor]

Thanks Paul, I think the real project was to edit the videos.

[winchman]

I spent the week building a new tailgate for the city housing authority and some sawhorses for the local welding supply and metal company.





Here's the remains of the old one.



It was made for lawn equipment, but they had been hauling around a small tractor that weighed around 4000 pounds.

The sawhorses.

[RichR]

A friend of mine came to me for help repairing a toy roller coaster. One of the gears had split and the splined shaft was slipping. I turned a tiny
aluminum collar for a close fit on the gears hub and then pressed it back onto the shaft. You can see the split at 8 and 2 o'clock:

Here's how it sits in the gear train:

[schor]

I picked up a toolscore. I've been looking for a dividing head for a bit, and I got a couple of cutters for my horizontal mill.