What did you do today?

[Ironbearmarine]

I have a belt grinder that I use for shaping and deburring. But a coarse belt for shaping leaves ugly when deburring. So when I found a belt SANDER at the dump, I knew what to do with it. Make a stand:
and use it to deburr:

Crazy noisy & I need to put a toggle switch somewhere more convenient than the trigger. We'll see.

some scrap, some nuts and bolts, and some imagination. Presto! A new tool for the shop. I do that often myself. Made a stand for my port-a-band. Been using it this way for years.

[J Tiers]

Had wonderful fun replacing the alternator on the V-wagon. I think the existing one had been on there ever since Volvo put it on there in 1988 or so. Every single bolt and nut was corroded and stuck, fighting to the last ditch to stay in position. One actually twisted off, but I found a 6mm in my miscellaneous stock that was long enough to work. It was the tension adjuster. Worked fine once I got the broken one out of it's hole in the adjusting block.

The good news was that a local NAPA actually had an alternator in stock, so I could pick it up and do the install while it was still warm. It was a nice 73F outside (very odd at this time, although it has happened as long ago as 1970), so I could work in a t-shirt and get my hands down in there without having to take off a coat and get cold. Tomorrow it is slated to go back down to normal, and be down at freezing by the time anything I might have ordered-in would be here.

[Bented]

Victaulic grooves in 10" PVC pipe, the material can be far from round.

The diameter of the groove is 10.562" +.000 -.027", this is difficult to achieve when the stock pipe is .100" out of round (-:

1/2 hour set up on each end then 3 1/2 minutes of spindle time for the groove, this is annoying.

https://www.victaulic.com/assets/uploads/literature/25.11.pdf

[Fasturn]

Antenna loading coil with taps. For a good friend in Texas.

[Mr Fixit]

Fixed the family upright freezer that had quit working, found it just in time to NOT loose all the food inside. The fan blade had moved down the motor shaft until it hit the motor mounting screws and quit rotating. I made a 1/8" shaft collar out of aluminum with a 4-40 set screw to keep it spaced a fixed amount, then reinstalled it. It's running and cooling like before.

Saved a service call or a new unit that was not available for at least 1-2 weeks when calling more than 1 Appliance store, including Home Depot & Costco our mega warehouse store for the PNW.

Wife is happy, so I'm good to go back to the shop tomorrow...!!

TX
Mr fixit for the family
Chris

[alanganes]

While this is not metalwork, I did utilize my lathe. I had to repair this highly prized sword that belongs to one of my grandsons. He is convinced that I can fix anything, so I have an image to uphold. This plastic will glue with pvc pipe solvent cement and the lathe provided a handy clamping fixture while the glue set up.

Early returns say it was a successful fix.

[Tungsten dipper]

That's what Grandpas are for...

[I make chips]

Grandpa alan has since been promoted to King.

And on the same note sorta same story I have an 8hp Ariens blower someone dropped off for a no start fix. It was sitting with fuel for 5 years.The grand kids were over and rather having the 13 yo boy endure making muffins with his sister and granny I took him to the garage. He's pretty good at tinkering and has done surprisingly well on the lathe and mill.

Ok, drain the rotten gas and take the carb apart. Call me when you get it off. A quick run to the mower shop for the typical Tesuckem bowl gasket and o rings then he had it gutted and bubbling away in the ultrasonic. He got it back together and it runs well.

More to the story...
A couple days later I get a call from his dad all pissed off. He's got the goddamn carburetor off the riding mower.
Yeah fine I quipped, it'll be just fine.

[Cenedd]

Ironbearmarine Go on an put a man to shame why don't you! I've not got beyond clamping mine in a bench vise and swearing at the adjustable foot for being a rubbish table. Such is the way when you insist on over-thinking everything....sometimes it never gets done!

alanganes Nice. Unconventional and some would call it heretical....but meh, if it works well, it's good in my book!

imakechips Getting them to take things apart is childs-play....it's the getting them to want to put them back together again I need to work out! Also to pay enough attention to how it came apart in order to reverse the procedure! Hopefully another 3 years will do it as I failed again today

[garyhlucas]

[QUOTE=Bented;n1972989]Victaulic grooves in 10" PVC pipe, the material can be far from round.

The diameter of the groove is 10.562" +.000 -.027", this is difficult to achieve when the stock pipe is .100" out of round (-:

1/2 hour set up on each end then 3 1/2 minutes of spindle time for the groove, this is annoying.]

Got in a big argument over this with the shop foreman when he cut one with varying depth that didn't seal properly. We used an internal adjustable spider to get it round and then use the 4th axis in the mill to cut the groove. I asked him how he was sure it was round and he said he used the 12" calipers. I told him that won't work because you can't measure round over two points. I told him that it might be a trochoid (which it was) and I got in trouble because everyone thought I was being a dick. I might be, but he scrapped 4 parts that he hid in the dumpster. The right way to check if it was round is a dial indicator as you rotate it in the 4th axis.

[Bented]

I had to resort to a 4 jaw chuck and force the material to be "more" round.

The customer supplies the material, it often has localized distortions that can not be corrected.

[JRouche]

I had to resort to a 4 jaw chuck and force the material to be "more" round.

The customer supplies the material, it often has localized distortions that can not be corrected.

Hmmm? I am trying to think why I would not just end that business, Ok, one supplier.

The Four Jaw is your go to when you want the best way to dial in your work. And for strenther, very t6ight. JR

[J Tiers]

I decided to never again post in this thread!

[RMinMN]

I decided to never again post in this thread!

I will miss your contributions. Please change your mind.

[Cheap Jon]

Bented, could you take a heavy wall tube and turn the OD to fit the ID of your PVC tube, then split it. You could use a wedge or a screw to expand it. I do not know how consistent the ID is but it could be rounder than your dealing with now.

Jon
SW Mi