What did you do today?

[doctor demo]

Sold the oliver oc3 crawler
One of my favorite implements is my drag, 8’ x 8’. Weight is around 300 pounds but when it digs in it is quite heavy
Flat ground the B16 has pulled it OK but turning was never ideal because the front and was a little bit light

I had to retrieve with a bigger allis

Your big Allis looks a lot like a dozer I ran off and on for a few years. Do you have a ''tool carrier'' set up or just a dozer blade on a loader?

Steve

[plastikosmd]

Came as seen, missing the clamshell bucket but all new u/c and runs/ steers like a top
I got an insane deal as I think dozer people want a dozer/6way and loader people want a loader. I have 2 ih parts machines with drotts on them. I will cut one to fit (hydraulics/controls/rams all still on machine just need to fit the clam)

I got to dig in rear controls to see if rear root rake is plumbed. If not I will add a rear arch/winch

[Tom S]

Measured up to fit a Hardinge D9 toolholder that I picked up off Ebay for my Ames. Nice little tool holder, easy to adjust and a solid mount. I also ended up picking up a 5C mount 4-jaw chuck that was on sale, nothing special but it gets me up and running for the time being. I jerry rigged the toolholder mounting, ground up a quick HSS bit, and managed to take some test cuts on an acrylic blank, cut real nice. Really liking the Elgin compound with the friction-sliding dials, managed to hit my measurements within .0005 without any real effort. I found myself fighting some chatter after a while and noticed that my lever collet closer that was holding the chuck had started to loosen up and the lever had moved towards the open position. I think it's going to take some fiddling to get it positioned and operating correctly, from what I understand the lever should be perpendicular to the spindle when fully locked? I'm thinking an adjustable mounting link might be the trick to get things working properly.

[PStechPaul]

About a week ago a storm brought down some good size tree limbs and made quite a mess:



Yesterday I used my 56V Lithium Echo chainsaw and tackled the devastation:





Cleared the access road down to here, where some big stuff is hidden under the smaller branches:







For another day. It seemed that the battery had been depleted, but I might just have been tired and didn't fully release the safety. When I got back to the house it ran and the battery showed about 75% charge. But it may not be accurate. I was about "bushed" anyway



Yeah, still a mess...

[mattthemuppet]

well on the plus side you should never be short of firewood!

[PStechPaul]

Yeah, I have a lifetime supply, especially if you include several other standing dead trees in that area, and many more on top of the hill. So, Did more work on the mess today:





I took a break for water, and put more oil in the chainsaw. It seems to drink a lot of bar/chain lube! So, almost have the lower access road area clear:





All that work and the battery still shows at least 3/4 charge. It wouldn't run a couple times, but was OK after a brief timeout. And in one case, I had accidentally engaged the chain brake. So, I'm pretty happy with this cordless chainsaw.

[DennisCA]

I got myself a vise for my mill.





And working on a filterbox for the cyclone. The smaller hole is 6", I have two filters to mount and the 6" hole will connect to a blast gate that goes to a pipe that goes outdoors. So I can choose to recirculate the air or blast it outside. Or maybe a bit of both.

[Cenedd]

I got myself a vise for my mill.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on that vise as/when you use it. I could do with a sensible vise that'll actually fit on my table and I was looking at similar 'screwless' vises to that...but much smaller.
You've seen ATW's beautiful hold-down clamps for such a situation presumably?

Would you mind slowing down on the shop renovation? All this progress is making some of us (me, specifically) look bad!

[MattiJ]

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on that vise as/when you use it. I could do with a sensible vise that'll actually fit on my table and I was looking at similar 'screwless' vises to that...but much smaller.
You've seen ATW's beautiful hold-down clamps for such a situation presumably?

Would you mind slowing down on the shop renovation? All this progress is making some of us (me, specifically) look bad!

I have kinda similar wise from Paulimot.de and its absolutely pain in the arse to use. "locking bar" turns to some weird position about every time and then you try to wiggle-waggle it straight in the underside notches.

Dennis seem to have bit different model from mine so it might be actually usable.

[DennisCA]

The vice IMO is very easy to change the position on, just unscrew the screw a little and lever the allen key forwards, then move it to the notch you want.

I have not used but I will have to improvise some kind of temporary clamps so I can make some hold down clamps. I had considered a different style of clamp myself that is easier to make.

[Cenedd]

Oh good, two entirely contradictory experiences. And there was me thinking I was asking something with simple answer!

Had a go at making push-fit plugs out of Delrin to plug the holes I drilled in the rectangular tube to mount the digital scale on my mill. Thought Delrin might slide a little easier but found that the balance between an easy fit that just fell out and one that didn't fall out but wouldn't come out easily either...was too much of a pain to mass produce (I needed 12 for this scale - yeah, I overdid the number of screws). Tried threading one instead but it started seeming easier to just order some button head bolts if I was going to do that....so I did. Got some flanged button head M8's (hole was originally 6.4mm) that I'll need to shorten. I think I may be making something like this to hold them while I shorten them on the lathe as they need to end up about 3 or 4mm long. The threads don't go all the way to the head either so I've got some neoprene washers on order that'll fill/seal the gap. Have I mentioned before about over-thinking and over-engineering things? I did at one point think about just putting a length of clear packing tape on that would cover all the holes in one fell swoop....but I couldn't do it.

Made myself a tap guide to keep the M8 tap straight as I take those 6.4mm holes directly to M8. It's only 2mm thick aluminium and the first one went fine....it was just fiddly to get it started straight. Just a faced cylinder drilled to clear the flutes and then a reamed hole for the shank to turn in.

[brian Rupnow]

Within the last month I have seen a post on some forum, where a guy made a filler plate which attaches to the underside of that type of vice, which allows the threaded cross-piece to move when required, but not go sideways and get all bound up. It looked like a great idea.---Brian

[JFLingg]

It was this thread:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/79320-Screwless-Vise-LMS-New-Internals

Don't know how to reference a thread otherwise JFLingg

[Ridgerunner]

I had converted this concrete mixer from a gasoline motor over to being powered from a tractor pto. The tires are useless with using a 3 point tractor hitch so I decided to just make some pads or feet for the mixer to sit on.



cut off tire hubs from axle





very quick welds



a quick splash of paint

[PStechPaul]

I have had my small room A/C connected through a short extension cord consisting of a 15 amp duplex outlet in a steel box. The cord is a round gray 3-wire cable, probably #16 AWG. The A/C only uses about 6 amps, so this should have been adequate, and it was OK for several years of intermittent use. A couple weeks ago, I noticed that the A/C had stopped running, and I thought maybe it had finally crapped out after 40+ years. But I noticed that the box was warm, and the A/C worked when I plugged it in directly to the wall outlet. So I dissected the ailing patient:











I found that I had put a coating of solder on the stranded wires that were screwed on the terminals, and apparently one of them got a little loose. This caused heating which melted the solder and further loosened the connection, and the wire also overheated and eventually broke. There was also a good bit of green corrosion on the copper strands, which may have been from a combination of heat, solder flux, and high humidity. Only the black (hot) wire broke, while the white wire wire was still (mostly) intact and tight. The green safety ground was still in pristine shape.

The receptacle probably got quite hot, and the Bakelite housing embrittled and cracked. I suppose I was lucky, and the steel enclosure probably served well to contain whatever arcing and fire may have occurred. I had noticed an occasional whiff of what seemed like "magic smoke", but could not track it down. I haven't smelled it since, so this is the likely suspect.