What did you do today?

[plastikosmd]

About done for today
Tacked them together and drilled



Prepped for welding



Also made a (more solid) plastic template if someone out there needs one of these again

[mattthemuppet]

tried out markx's black oxide method. Seems to have worked pretty well, but I have to wait for them to cool down before taking some pics

[Dan Dubeau]

Put 350kms on a snowmobile from 1999 with original suspension this weekend..... I feel like somebody tossed me from the back of a truck going down the highway. Was fun though The kids each got about 30km rides today which was the longest rides for them yet. Friday I took the wife out for a 3 hour tour out to the lake for lunch and back. She had enough fun that I've got the green light to find her own machine for next year. It must have electric start, reverse, heated grips, heated seat, and I need to get her heated gear. But other than those minor details she had enough fun she wants to ride herself . Unless we get anymore snow that will be it for the trails around here.as they got pretty knackered this weekend. Sled will now be relegated to work duty hauling sap out of the bush until I can get the SxS in there.

On a shop related side, I made some waste wood resin buttons, and a silicone mold to cast some more. My wife dyes self striping sock and sweater wool so I dyed some wood to match her wool colours and am going to try and sell some matching buttons with her yarn. Bit of an experiment but it's been fun so far. I'll post some pics when they're all done.

[Tungsten dipper]

Rebuilt a 40 year old rolling shutter. It wouldn't roll down and that's because the grease in the gears were like bee's wax. The track on the sides were covered with paint and now it works like new!

[ulav8r]

Installed a door opener on my big shop door, 9'wide by 10 feet high. Used the 48 tooth sprocket driven by the 12 tooth sprocket on the opener. Worked great and not as slow as I expected. Only issue is the the up button lowered the door and the down button raises it. Too much trouble to move the opener to the other side and Genie would not tell me how to reverse the motor rotation. It is a dc motor but not sure how easy it would be to open it up to get to the motor leads.

[Dr. Rob]

Made a brass precision oil syringe, for oiling sophisticated things.
Now, i have no real need for any such thing, but it is nice to be prepared if i need to pull it out of my tuxedo pocket and oil something fine someday.

(PS: DAM Quick Super. 2 speed.)

[Tom S]

Very happy today. Yesterday i received a cross slide I purchased off Ebay. When I purchased my Ames lathe it came with a non-original cross slide, perfectly functional but from another manufacturer. I have been keeping my eyes open for an original one, but the prices for even trashed cross slides is outrageous on EBay. I spotted this one, the seller did not list it as an Ames, I do not think he knew who the manufacturer was. He had an Ames tailstock for sale as well (very recognizable) so I decided to take a chance on the cross slide and threw a number out that I thought was fair. Just barely managed to win the auction with that number and upon receiving the cross slide yesterday am extremely pleased. Great condition, no rust, very light use, and dovetails in great shape. Most times cross slides like these are very worn and beaten up from years of use, but it’s almost like someone use it a bit and then stuck it in a cupboard. Even the little sheet metal covers for the oil holes are still there. Only thing that needs attention is the handles, both have been bent but should be easy to repair.

[BCRider]

Did a bit of sights work for a buddy on his cowboy action lever rifle. And FINALLY did something I've promised myself for a long time. Instead of just grabbing the drill vise in the big vise for the small item holding I finally made a "rail" to hold the drill vise in the big vise. Just literally a 10 minute break in the flow to drill out the tubing to use for this. And somewhere later I might slot one of the holes so I don't need to remove the nut on one of the bolts. But it's still quick and easy to make this work for the small detail work.

... I smiled at myself for FINALLY getting around to doing it....

The silly thing is that when I just grabbed the DP vise in the big vise do you think I could remember to use the DP vise handle? NO WAY! I dropped the DP vise one time and had two or three close calls more. At least with the tubing on the base of the DP vise if I loosen the big vise handle it just sits there now. Saved from further personal embarrassment by design...

[plastikosmd]

Ok arms installed, just need to add stabilizer links

[Dan Dubeau]

Tapped my trees this morning with the wife and kids. Only a few running right away and the kids glued themselves underneath immediately. Both forgot our phones so no pics, but if you've seen one bucket hanging from a tree you've seen them all. Still quite a bit of snow in the bush, and didn't think I'd get the sxs out there but my Son and I broke trail while waiting for the ladies to get ready then went back to the house to get them. We all made it out, but lost momentum and got hung up half way back home. An atv in that situation is fine because you can rock it side to side and search for traction and walk it out, but with a big heavy sxs with a full flat belly plate once it stops, it stops. I installed a winch last spring but never finished the wiring because I needed to make a few brackets for the fuse block and wanted to do it right (perfection is the enemy of completion...). Project got put on the back burner and forgot about. Will be finishing that project this afternoon trail side now lol. Wife said "you need tracks for this thing" I agree. Snow on top is hard and crusty enough to walk on, but if you break through it's pure powder. It was a nice walk back to the house though, beautiful day out there .

Took a coffee break to find some tracks on kijiji, but no good deals around right now. Will be some in a few weeks when everybody has hauled their ice huts off the lake and income taxes are due lol. If you manage to squirrel some money away during the winter it's always a great time of year to buy some impulse toys .

Coffee's done heading back out to finish about 10-12 little procrastiprojects in the garage.

[Excellent]

I trimmed my toenails, which, I guarantee you, on a machining forum, is not OT. I'll spare you pictures.

[J Tiers]

I hesitate to ask if the two flute end mill or the rougher turned out to be best.... and there is also a work holding issue.

Perhaps we really do not want to know.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Got home late last night from a 9 day Snowmobile Trip riding the High Country in BC interior.Rode 2 days at Seymour Arm and 5 days at Grizzly Lodge,the lodge located above Scotch Creek at 4800'.Had good weather and snow,the snow was not Armpit Deep like some previous years but was great and rode some very cool terrain.My muscles are telling me I'm not getting any younger lol!

[Tundra Twin Track]

About done for today
Tacked them together and drilled



Prepped for welding



Also made a (more solid) plastic template if someone out there needs one of these again

Nice work ,is that a LSV Doall in background looks like Powerfeed is intact with that one.

[Stepside]

Spent the afternoon polishing the parts of a streetclock pendulum. I built and installed it in 2010 and nobody took care of it. When this is done my next task will be to build a full set of new bushings for the main works. This will require several "custom" sized D bits.