What did you do today?

[RMinMN]

[

[Pictures? No Need. You guys have seen wrenches before.

We've seen wenches before too but we still like pictures of them.

[mattthemuppet]

[

We've seen wenches before too but we still like pictures of them.

one day I'm going to get some stickers made for my bike that say "I STOP FOR WrENCHES"

[Tungsten dipper]

Built a banner stand for the church. First project out of my new shop since we moved to South Dakota.



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[PStechPaul]

I had been hearing increasing noise and poor performance from my Remington electric chainsaw, so I thought it was bad motor bearings. But when I took it apart, I found this:




It's a rather special part, and I don't see any way to fix it or make a new one. It's about 20 years old, or more, and parts are probably no longer available.

[edit]Seems it is available, for just $5 + $8 shipping. Maybe I'll buy two and have a spare to use when it wears out again - in 20 years!

http://partsfor.com/107713-01-remington-chainsaw-polesaw-sprocket-gear-desa-10771301.html

So, I decided to replace the carburetor on my Poulan Pro chainsaw. It looks like the fuel line was clogged, so I replaced it:


The new carburetor required some modification to the cover to clear the linkage, and then I added fuel and tried to start it. It cranked a few times, and then jammed up. I had forgotten to release the chain clutch, but that wasn't the problem. It was blasted recoil spring again


I was able to bend it back into reasonable shape, but I think this time I will just replace the spring with a solid piece. I found that 3/4" EMT conduit is the right size, so I might be able to cut a piece with tangs to engage the holes where the spring ends fit. But I'm not sure it will be strong enough. I can probably just use pins or bolts and nuts to fasten the two pieces together.

[SLK001]

Repairing a Curb Find Sears Compressor

Today I made a fitting for the air intake for a curb find Sears 3-1/2 HP, 26 Gallon oil-less air compressor. The original only had a plastic air filter (cheap bastards) like this:



They want over $20 for that piece of crap, so I made an aluminum adapter that I pressed into the head of the compressor. It looks like this:



I don't have a mill, so this is done with a hacksaw and a file! I ordered a METAL air filter attachment from China, so I haven't completed the tapping of the hole (it's 1/4" NPT). I just stuck a brass 1/4" pipe in it for evaluation.

The air compressor needed a new cylinder and piston ring, which I received yesterday. I'm posting this guide, so that anyone who needs to replace the ring on this piston can find the info here (the kit to rebuild everything has been discontinued). Hopefully, GOOGLE will index this guide. The piston is number CAC-1118 and up until last night, I had no idea as to how the ring went on the piston (it looks like a single piece, but it is NOT).







The outside ring (that 1/4" wide outside ring) is removable. Take a thin blade screwdriver and insert it fully in the slot and pry it up slightly. Work your way around the piston, prying the ring up a little at a time. As the gap gets wider, insert larger screwdrivers and proceed as before. Soon, the ring will pop off, so that you can install your new ring. The retaining ring has to be pressed back on, so I used a vise and worked it on slowly as I advanced around the piston. Here is a picture of the piston with the new ring:



Here's a picture with the piston inside the new cylinder, ready to be installed:



I also cleaned and repacked the bearing that the piston rides on. I need to wait for the air cleaner so that I can finish tapping the adapter, then I can reassemble everything and have myself a fairly cheap compressor (although IMHO, oil-less compressors are junk).

[PStechPaul]

I found an electric chainsaw on Facebook Marketplace for just $25. It is a 14" Wen "Hornet", and the guy selling it lives less than a mile away.


It looked pretty good and ran OK. But there was no oil in the tank and the chain and bar were pretty dry. I filled it with oil and ran it for a while, but still didn't see any oil, so I took it apart:




The drive gears are impressive, compared to the plastic sprocket in the Remington saw.


You can see that the yellow button on the handle actually is a plunger that squeezes the oil tank for manual oiling. But the hose was rather stiff and seemed to be possibly clogged. There was a copper plate held on with some tape.



I replaced the hose with a new piece left over from the Poulan chainsaw repair. It took a while, but eventually some oil squirted onto the bar. The saw works pretty well.

Now for machining content ! I had a piece of 1045 steel tube roughly 7/8" OD and 11/16" ID. I cut it to length and bored it out to 0.720" to fit in the starter assembly, and I drilled holes in the wall of the piece and inserted roll pins. It seems to fit OK. I'll find out tomorrow if it works.


This tubing seems to be something like hot rolled steel, with a rough finish and several hard inclusions. Nasty stuff!

[Galaxie]

This photo is a bit dark, but the toothed belt drive was a success:

The clamp on the left is on an eccentric bushing to tension the belt.

[Mcgyver]

spent the day setting up a turret to make small "chatons", a watchmakers term for the brass holders holding a bearing. Press fit into the plate and the bearing sort of presses into them and then gets sort of crimped. Rubbed in is the technical term. Its a really old school watch technique. They're small, fit a 3x1mm by 1mm thick ball bearing. All for an indicator repair. Not sure if I'd call it fun or a royal pita, definitely fun once its all set up!

[phillip1]

I 3Dprinted car for son

Hi!

I just want to share my work! I made this car as a gift to my son. He is a real fan of retro car, especially Hotrod.

Highlights:
Printer Tronxy x3, HC19-carbon plastic, nozzle 0.4.
The height of the compressor layer, unit, valve covers, headlights, grille is 0.15, and the rest is 0.3.
Nozzle temperature is 230 C.
Table — 80 C.
Blowing minimum.

[flathead4]

Back in May I bought a Bridgeport milling machine that came with a NIB North America 5 HP rotary phase converter kit. I mounted the panel on the wall last week and went about making a stand for the idler generator. The instructions say not to mount the idler solidly and recommend using rubber mounting feet; not included in the kit. The four rubber feet from North America cost $19.95 plus shipping. I came up with a cheaper solution last night (free) using two left over rubber hoses that just so happens the smaller fits snug inside the larger and my bolts through the smaller. Four jam nuts and I am in business.


Tom

[flathead4]

I just want to share my work! I made this car as a gift to my son. He is a real fan of retro car, especially Hotrod.

Cool car. Did you print the parts and then assemble it or print it all at once? How long did it take to print it?

Tom

[phillip1]

Tom,

i printed the parts and then assembled it, it tooked about 2 weeks!

[PStechPaul]

I assembled the repair piece in the chainsaw, and tried to start it. First pull seemed OK, but subsequent pulls did not retract properly. When I took it apart, I found this:



I thought roll pins were pretty hard spring steel. But these were in a HF assortment, so who knows? The original spring was a bit thicker, so maybe I can drill the hole larger and use a thicker roll pin. There is not much more material in the wall of the tube, but it might still work OK even if the wall breaks out. Another option would be hardened dowel pins, or maybe use two, or four, roll pins, which means extra holes in the mating plastic parts.

[Cenedd]

Picked up a QCTP holder with an MT2 bored through it and an ER32 collet chuck with an MT2 arbour. The former not available here in the UK but found them on Banggood.
Was trying to drill a deep hole on the lathe so thought I'd give it a go. Bit spun and I couldn't tighten the collect enough to stop that without the chuck spinning in the taper. There are two flats but they were something like 37mm AF. Now who's got a 37mm spanner?! Alright, stop showing off at the back there!
I bought and cut down (it was too long) a 32mm spanner for my MT3 ER32 collet chuck...so onto the mill it went :-D
Ran a file over it and it didn't totally cut and didn't totally skate so I figured it was hard-ish and went with carbide rather than HSS. Managed to get it done but in passes of 0.2mm. Chattery on entry (a little) and on exit (lots) but fine in the middle when the entire endmill was engaged and some pressure applied on the feed. Kept the chatter on exit down by slightly snugging the Y axis lock and keeping the feed up. At this point I was wondering if it was case hardened rather than through hardened.
Flipped it and had at the other side and found it even more odd. Quite similar but it was kangaroo'y - you know how a car is when a learner doesn't yet have good control of the gas and each lurch makes their foot jerk and make the lurching worse? (What's sometimes known as kangaroo petrol) Well that's what it seemed to be doing. Sometimes it would be hard to cut and then it would lurch forward through what I assume was much softer. Some bits sort of flaked off as the endmill went through.
Not the sort of chinesium I'm used to. Would I be right in guessing case hardened but very irregularly (badly) so some is very hard and some still soft?

[Dan Dubeau]

Made my first lipped crankbait last night. I "gold leafed" the sides, and had some trouble with my airbrush (use error) hence the big blob of red paint on the nose lol (it was supposed to be a nice gradual fade...oh well.). Body is cedar from my backyard. Lip is from a blank CD-R, and I made the eyes too. Heading out later this afternoon to test it out.

Can't wait till my uv resign and light get here so I can make a drying lure turner and do proper clear coats.

Also picked up a nice little delta scroll saw yesterday for $35. Table is flash rusted, but should clean up great. It's single speed, but I've got a treadmill motor that i'm going to see if I can make fit.