What did you do today?

[DennisCA]

I've completed what shaft repairs I can do myself for now. I hope I can get the 6mm broach and bushing this weekend yet, if so I can visit my friend with a hydraulic press and broach the gears. Then I just need to take the shaft to the local shop and have them mill a bigger key slot and reassembly can commence. Also ordered new bearings for lower and upper shafts.



I also had to make a new nut, pictured next to the shaft. Reason for this was I made the thread on the shaft left hand, apparently it was a right hand thread. For some reason I thought it was LH and not RH. I decided to make a new nut instead of removing the thread when I had gotten it firmly on and machined. I do not think it matters much here which direction it goes. I will loctite it to be sure.

[DennisCA]

With the shaft out of the way for now I decided to look at the motor and the housing. The bearings are not in good shape from what it sounds like, the grease is probably all old and useless so it's like running them dry. So the motor has to come out so I can replace those bearings too.





It's an AEG.



Taking a photo to note the phases before removing the wiring.



This is what it looks like inside, and this is after I scraped out a good amount of oily, greasy metal that seems to have turned into something more than the sum of it's parts (but not in a good way).



Wow, the motor actually has a color, looks like the original deckel grey-green. I really like that tone, I'm still miffed my own paint turned out too dark.





Mostly cleaned up, I will take apart the motor later and check the bearings.

[Cenedd]

Ah they don't paint 'em like that anymore DennisCA How many years of use and gunk and it comes out looking like new; not a crack or bubble or chip in sight. Not sure what they painted my lathe with but let's just say that given that when you wipe it down, the cloth comes away red (like the paint) I don't think it's to the same quality as your Deckel!

[Galaxie]

I was turning a spindle for my Brooks cutter-grinder between centers and found I could not take a very deep cut with my go-to HSS bit, so I thought I would give a knife-edge tool a try. Despite having a very acute angle, the edge held up and I could take .030" per pass with no problem. The surface finish was better than I expected, but I couldn't get a good photo with the harsh lighting I have.

M42 HSS, about 50 SFM, 1144 steel

[Dan Dubeau]

Drew this up and printed it this morning. A disposable mixing prop printed in pla, that threads on to a bolt for mixing stuff with a drill. Couple firsts here.... My first time really doing anything aside from playing around with fusion 360, and my first time printing threads. It took 8 minutes to print, and used a half meter of filament for a cost of $0.04 (according to cura). Was very surprised the bolt threaded in with zero issues. I tried it out with some water and food colouring as a quick test and it works great. This glow in the dark PLA is surprisingly strong (didn't feel like changing form what was already loaded) so I have no doubt it will work great in heavier stuff like the silicone and resins that I made it for.

It's a down spiral, but I might make one the other way to see if it mixes better. Although I could probably just reverse the drill as it's on there pretty tight when you bottom it out, I don't think it would unscrew itself. The drawing being fully parametric allows me to quickly alter the blade size, angle and direction to print whatever I need.

[nc5a]

Dan, just curious if you have other cad experience. It's pretty impressive to do such a nice job your first time using Fusion 360.

[Dan Dubeau]

Dan, just curious if you have other cad experience. It's pretty impressive to do such a nice job your first time using Fusion 360.

Thanks. I've been a Mechanical designer/CNC programmer for almost 16 years now. But almost all of my CAD/Modeling experience is old school surfacing and solids style manipulation using Rhino and Mechanical Desktop. I'm trying to teach myself Solidworks/Fusion 360 sketch based push/pull style of modeling as I feel my skill set is WAY outdated to current technology. We're upgrading to Solidworks at work shortly so I have to change regardless.

What usually happens is that I start a project in fusion, get frustrated at the workflow and how different it works compared to what I'm used to, then abandon and finish it in rhino or mechanical because I just want it done lol. This time I decided to stick it out and choke it down. I've always known fusion to be a more than capable package, but it's my own stubbornness of trying to use it like rhino/mechanical that leaves me frustrated all the time.....

[Mcgyver]

good day today, (or added to the endless project list burden)...picked up a partially built Jeanie Dean in 3 1/2 gauge (LBSC) - an LNWR Teutonic class locomotive from the late 19th century. Full size engine photo below....there's an appeal about these particular engines that's like art or sculpture, for me anyway. Very cool locomotive, aside from its look, for two reasons. First its a duplex, the two sets of driving wheels are not connected, and secondly its a compound. The outer high pressure cylinders drive the rear wheels, and larger low pressure cylinder between the frames drive the forward wheels. In a moment of rash enthusiasm, I also got the complete casting kits for a traction engine and another British locomotive.

[Dan Dubeau]

After getting the heap a jeep going for the first time this year and plowing the driveway and road to barn I sat down and designed this guy. It's printing right now. If I like the shape of it, I'll make a silicone mold and cast some heads with weight and embedded hooks in alumilite resin. Then I need to make a mold for the tail witch will be a soft plastic tube/twister hybrid. I've had an idea for this lure for a couple years for winter lake trout. I think it will work great, but time will tell if the fish think so too.

This was my first time modeling with a t splines quadball. It's just like clay but electronic. I can see me having a lot of fun with this and fusion. Hate to say it, but its starting to grow on me.....

Edit: Done printing and I'm pretty happy with it. I printed another one out at 50% scale to fit a tube I already had just to check it out. The detail, and tube skirt didn't scale properly as you can tell by the bulging skirt, but I think in full size it will be a fish catcher. Gotta wait till the new year to find out. Means I better get cracking on the mold and pouring some heads. Also need to design and make a tube mold for the tail.

[DennisCA]

Cenedd well I think the motor has been protected quite well under all that grime for many decades.

Took the motor apart further, bit unusual design from my perspective... Fans are pressed on from what I can tell, and placed behind the bearings. So I'd have to pull off the fans in order to get the rotor out... I haven't removed the front cap yet so maybe things are different there and that fan comes more easily off. I can see the fan inside there yes despite the cap being on. The motor is apparently open and not closed. I had assumed motors by then were mostly closed and no longer open. But I guess if it was I should have seen radiator fins on the outside.



I might just stop disassembly at this stage and fit new bearings, I hope if I heat the bearings they will drop on without the need for a press. This has worked for me before.

Based on feel the fans are metal and not plastic and not magentic so cast aluminum, I tried with the bearing puller but did not want to put a lot of force on it because I had it grip the outside.

[edbannister]

good day today, (or added to the endless project list burden)...picked up a partially built Jeanie Dean in 3 1/2 gauge (LBSC) - an LNWR Teutonic class locomotive from the late 19th century. Full size engine photo below....there's an appeal about these particular engines that's like art or sculpture, for me anyway. Very cool locomotive, aside from its look, for two reasons. First its a duplex, the two sets of driving wheels are not connected, and secondly its a compound. The outer high pressure cylinders drive the rear wheels, and larger low pressure cylinder between the frames drive the forward wheels. In a moment of rash enthusiasm, I also got the complete casting kits for a traction engine and another British locomotive.

What a stunning locomotive. Everything about that picture makes me smile. Even the lamp posts and the factory in the background frame it perfectly. Thanks for posting

[mattthemuppet]

turned 58lb of scrap



into 10lb of stainless



the ride home was MUCH easier

[DennisCA]

I removed the other cover and that held the key to disassembling it, the fan on that side was much smaller and could be removed backwards through the stator. Now the bearings are off and I am awating a couple of new bearings, someone from Sweden was kind enough to gift me a pair of SKF 6206s, which I do appreciate as I just spent 100 euros on the other bearings for the gearbox too.

[928gene928]

I fabricated my version of the commercial "Quick Lift". Made a few improvements to the hydraulic lift cylinders etc., and used heavier materials. Also made a hydraulic power unit to supply power to the units. Works very well, and will assist with my various projects now and in the future.

[mattthemuppet]

yesterday, but still..

sat with my cats upstairs while grading (wife was playing Cher downstairs, yuck)


sat with my dog downstairs before wife started playing Cher (I was grading, double yuck)


she wanted to go for a walk, hence the puppy eyes.

Finished of a 12V 20Ah LiFePO4 battery for a friend who lives in a van and needs a back up to run her fridge whenever her main battery doesn't get enough charge from the solar panels. It's portable so she can bring it into work to charge in her office if needed. I worked out that it should run her CO2 fridge for 24h on a 25% duty cycle with a full charge. Batteries came from an old eBike battery someone gave me. Glad to reclaim that bit of space on my bench.


nicely sealed in a Rubbermaid container


cost her $40 and as many beers/ margaritas I can milk her for.