What did you do today?

[danlb]

My mother in law made me an apple pie. She was up till 3 am baking so that we could take it home. The least we could do is sample it.

We decided it was not much different than pancakes with apple compote at IHOP.

[Dave C]

Does she work at IHOP?

[RB211]

Played with Linux, Python, and watched YouTube. Not much else to do when trapped in a hotel room.

[DennisCA]

How to set up a part in a lathe when one side is ruined... Ideally it would be turned between centers but that's not possible now. So the 4-jaw is the answer, and using the fixed steady. I tried with the 3-jaw but there was too much run-out. A collet chuck would have been nice because it was somewhat annoying to indicate the part near the jaws because of the splines, had to retract the indicator needle when turning it, indicated against the inner ground face. Then I used the steady to do final adjustments because it was not entirely straight in the chuck and then I got it down to a little less than .01 mm runout which I think is good enough.



https://i.imgur.com/RCH8vtI.mp4

Still, I have to break this down again and cut off the broken piece on the bandsaw. Planning a 2-part repair. LH-thread so it will be self-locking, use Loctite 272 to boot.

[stevehgraham]

I am hoping I put the last coat of paint on my new bench grinder pedestal. I can't wait to get the grinder off of the floor.

I was so excited to get it finished, I drove to the metal place and got steel for an arbor press stand. Spent almost $90. Hope I'm not overbuilding it!

[Dan Dubeau]

Finally found some time last night to get back to my 3d printer. The Anet A8 has received a lot of bad press over the internet for being a "firestarter" due to the stock firmware having no thermal runaway protection so before I started anything I thought I'd re flash the firmware to Marlin. Not being a "computer" guy I watched countless videos and read numerous how-tos outlining the procedure. Thinking I had it down I went for it and promptly bricked (as the cool kids say) my board. Not sure what I did wrong, but I ran out of patience last night trying to figure out why or how. I found a couple more videos explaining how to fix the bootloader with an arduino, so I might look down that avenue. If it's totally screwed I'll just upgrade the board to something else, or maybe buy a resin printer.

So, after a couple frustrating nights playing around with stuff I don't fully understand, and watching video after video, and reading countless posts I STILL couldn't get Marlin to load on my printer. Until NOW. I was missing the u8glib library and the sketch wouldn't compile when switching my LCD definition to the correct one from the anet sample configs. Not one video about flashing marlin to an a8 mentioned that, except the last video I watched about flashing marlin to an E10, when he mentions it may not work if you don't have that library installed......Light bulb. If that sounds like another language to you, don't worry it did, and still does to me too. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to coding, but can bumble my way through things sometimes given enough you tube and forums. I'll forget it all in a week or 2..... Kids will be happy again, and we can get back to printing stuff.

I'm really jealous of you guys who understand this stuff naturally. Every time I get into stuff like this, smoke starts rolling out of my ears...My brain just inst wired that way.

[Bob La Londe]

I spent a couple hours figuring out how to get the tool number dro on mach3 to change with a tool change. Then I spent two hours trying to figure out why it looked like it was still using the old tool change macro files I wrote years ago... because I had written my new ones into the wrong machine profile directory.

[Jim Stewart]

Wasn't today, nor yesterday, but the day before - got a real time test of my new generator. Power went off while I was shaving in the morning, I figured I'd wait a bit because often it's a problem somewhere else that PG&E will sort out.

Half an hour later, checked their website for planned outages (we have those these days) and they said nope. After breakfast I poked around their site with my cell phone, verified no planned outages, so poked around a bit more to make a trouble report.

Started the generator (new gas/propane hybrid) - turn the valve on the tank, hit the primer button on the generator three times, turn the key. Came right up. It's been in place for nine months and been run a few times under load, now's the real test.

Here's the link to my earlier thread about this generator: https://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/fo...fuel-generator

Flipped the six switches on the transfer switch, one at a time, and the generator stumbled and the main breaker popped. Hmmm. Flipped them one at a time, slowly, and realized that the big load in the computer room and the refrigerator were trying to start at the same time. OK, different sequence. Refrig up and running, rest of the breakers on, all good.

Ran the generator for four hours with no problems. Happy to see the furnace didn't make any difference when it came on - unlike the refrig and freezers, the blower in the furnace has a soft start with no apparent surge current. Already know not to use the microwave or toaster.

Very satisfied with the results, love the propane, the carb on that generator has never seen a drop of gas and won't unless I run out of propane. And I've got a second bottle sitting beside the generator.

And a shout-out to PG&E: I finished filing my trouble report at 10:15, the tech and his boss showed up at 1:15, the boss said they would replace the drop since it has so many splices (it's more than 50 years old) and it would be done "sometime today". Sigh.

But the bucket truck didn't go away, and I saw the bucket going up and down. The drop had been rubbed raw by my neighbor's tree. The tech trimmed a bit and spliced the drop - again.

When he came back to check that the smart meter was happy I thanked him for sticking around and getting me back on the air. Nice guy.

PG&E has taken a lot of deserved abuse for their cheating, lying, and outright defiance of laws around here. Devastating fires in Santa Rosa and Paradise, the gas explosion in San Bruno, more outrages. Somebody (corporate officers) should be in jail.

But the guys on the line are taking a lot of undeserved abuse from the public. Not fair.
Not right. They don't make policy. They're not the criminals.

Way to go, guys!

-js

[PStechPaul]

Today I laid two more blocks of the shed foundation. While doing so, the hose nozzle actuator broke. I guess it's been banged around a lot.






I'm not sure if epoxy will hold up for this, although possibly by reinforcing it with a couple drilled holes and wire. I'm thinking about making something out of some heavy gauge steel wire, wrapped around the handle, and with a couple "eyes" for a hinge.

[Peter.]

Today I laid two more blocks of the shed foundation. While doing so, the hose nozzle actuator broke. I guess it's been banged around a lot.






I'm not sure if epoxy will hold up for this, although possibly by reinforcing it with a couple drilled holes and wire. I'm thinking about making something out of some heavy gauge steel wire, wrapped around the handle, and with a couple "eyes" for a hinge.

Looks like a bit of an ask for epoxy but I guess you couple get some thin wall tube and slip over it, fill with epoxy. Might hold for a while.

[The Metal Butcher]

Lots of stuff at Dad's shop today. Lots of fixing, little tasks, but also some fabrication done.

• New Shelf system started
• Bridgeport powerfeed fixed
• Started on a new mailbox post
• Ran the diesel genny a bit and charged the battery
• Tracked down some air leaks
• Moved a 5 ton Dake arbor press stand into place and started mounting it securely. Need a hammer drill bit and some anchors to finish the job.

The arbor press is a pretty big job. Someone had hacked off the front of it and built a plate that mounts on for a custom application. We're converting it back, so I started by welding a 4x4x5/8" piece of angle iron to the front of the heavy angle they had fabbed up. Ground it out about 3/8" deep, 45 degree or so angle, root 6010, then 4 5/32" 7018 filler passes and 1 cap. That's perhaps a bit overkill for a 5 ton press, but nothing too strong ever broke. I'm loving the old 330A/BP more every day. I've been doing a lot more stick welding lately, other than the smoke, I enjoy it more than mig welding in many ways. Especially the penetration side of things. I just feel like my welds are a lot stronger. You can make a cold mig weld stick, but a stick just won't run right if it's not at the right heat it seems.

Next is to flatten it on the mill, then drill a hole for a daisy wheel and the clearance hole. Original was 3.5", I'll probably open it up to 2" with a twist drill and bore it the rest of the way.

[PStechPaul]

I decided to try using JB Weld. I laid it on pretty thick and heavy, and it looks like it has at least a chance of working. Fortunately the piece is in compression, not tension, so it might be OK. This is the first time I've used JB Weld. It also happens to be the same color as the piece I'm repairing

[Glug]

Had an oral surgeon grind off part of my jaw, a complication from an extraction 5 months ago, and something that should have been resolved during the original procedure. The location was near where the nerve 'often' is, creating an unquantified risk of permanent tongue numbness and facial paralysis. He said there was no way to image the nerve location.

I don't think some dentists, especially surgeons, like engineers who ask questions about probabilities, risk management, and alternative approaches. The sharp bone was protruding through my gum and cutting my tongue, unlikely to heal, and so it was not optional. Still, he tried to make it out as something I merely "wanted" to have done. The procedure was, concerns about risk aside, no big deal, though the first injection was shockingly painful. Many aspects of dentistry remain truly medieval. The mechanics of the work were fairly trivial (especially compared to what those experts do in more complicated cases), though the knowledge and training behind it are huge. I have friends who are dentists and I enjoy chatting with them about their profession.

More on topic - he did use a really sweet electric handpiece. It had great low rpm torque, something critical for this work, where he needs to feel what he is doing, not merely wipe away everything the burr touches. I have written here before about my preference for electric die grinders, and lower rpm torque for feel and control. It had a digital controller, where the torque could be set. 5Nm at 40K rpm, about 4 ft-lbs. RPM control was via a wireless 3 pedal arrangement. I should have jotted down the model info while I was waiting, just to see what they cost. The heads are removed and sterilized. I'm sure it's not the $20 disposable China special.

[Dave C]

Looks like a bit of an ask for epoxy but I guess you couple get some thin wall tube and slip over it, fill with epoxy. Might hold for a while.

Go and buy a decent nozzle, and throw that pos in the trash.

[Peter.]

Go and buy a decent nozzle, and throw that pos in the trash.

That would be MY option, but not what the OP is asking. He might be so far out in the boonies that $5 nozzle would cost $40 fuel to go fetch.