What did you do today?

[ChazzC]

Finally (after 8? years) got tired of banging my knuckles using the too-close carriage & cross slide hand wheels on my 7x16 mini lathe and replaced them:


Ignore the perspective: they're both 63mm Ø.

The cross slide is much more pleasant since the hand wheel has a swivel knob, and there is still adequate torque using the smaller hand wheel on the carriage (plus I get better feel when making incremental movements on the carriage). As the cross slide hand wheel is dished the knob is about 3/4" further out from the saddle than the balanced hand wheel's knob was, adding to the clearance resulting from the smaller carriage hand wheel.

[chipmaker4130]

. . . I get better feel when making incremental movements on the carriage. . .

This I find surprising, since I much prefer big wheels for small movements. My carriage wheel is 160mm (6.3" to me) and I'd really hate to go smaller! Glad it works for you, and nice (very nice) work.

[ChazzC]

This I find surprising, since I much prefer big wheels for small movements. My carriage wheel is 160mm (6.3" to me) and I'd really hate to go smaller! Glad it works for you, and nice (very nice) work.

Thanks. I guess it depends on the gear ratio: when I did some work on a 12” Monarch 40 years ago) I liked the larger carriage hand wheel, but with the mini lathe it’s more like tuning in a distant/faint signal on a shortwave receiver.

For clarification, I didn’t make the hand wheels, just purchased on eBay & installed (I did have to @extend” the shaft hole on the one on the carriage).

[BWS]

Made in USA Lancaster shrinker stretcher stand. Working on foot pedals today.

[DennisCA]

After trying to use the pressure pot with my blast cabinet I got new motivation to restart my compressor build project. Need more power. This block is supposed to give 355l/min at 6 bars and even more at lower pressure so I think it'll be enough. German brand called Mehrer.

I started by selecting this motor, a 3kw motor that's been lying in my shelf for years, I bought it and a 2.2 kw one for 25 euros years ago. Hook it up to actually see if it works, and it does and the bearings sound fine even, but they probably want new grease. Strömberg motors where made just 25km from my home.



I made a console of L-profile steel. 80x35cm with the console supports 60cm from each other so I can attach them to the studs of the outside wall. This one will sit outside and the tank inside.


Temporarily jigging everything up, some boards to support the console so it doesn't tip over, everything is damn heavy.


I decided to use a piece of plywood to mount everything on, simpler than working in metal. I mounted the plywood sheet on springs to reduce vibrations, but maybe some thick rubber might work better.



The flywheel gets to hang over the edge, easier to fabricate the console then and uses less materials. I will build a separate enclosure when it's all done, with a roof and walls (with lots of air flow, but to keep fingers out).

The motor is unfortunately a 1400rpm one so I will have two large pulleys if I want the proper RPM. I am wondering if I should replace it with a 4kw motor I got that is 2800 rpm, but it has no feet since it's flange mounted so I would have to fabricate a mount first.

[eKretz]

After trying to use the pressure pot with my blast cabinet I got new motivation to restart my compressor build project. Need more power. This block is supposed to give 355l/min at 6 bars and even more at lower pressure so I think it'll be enough. German brand called Mehrer.

I started by selecting this motor, a 3kw motor that's been lying in my shelf for years, I bought it and a 2.2 kw one for 25 euros years ago. Hook it up to actually see if it works, and it does and the bearings sound fine even, but they probably want new grease. Strömberg motors where made just 25km from my home.



I made a console of L-profile steel. 80x35cm with the console supports 60cm from each other so I can attach them to the studs of the outside wall. This one will sit outside and the tank inside.


Temporarily jigging everything up, some boards to support the console so it doesn't tip over, everything is damn heavy.


I decided to use a piece of plywood to mount everything on, simpler than working in metal. I mounted the plywood sheet on springs to reduce vibrations, but maybe some thick rubber might work better.



The flywheel gets to hang over the edge, easier to fabricate the console then and uses less materials. I will build a separate enclosure when it's all done, with a roof and walls (with lots of air flow, but to keep fingers out).

The motor is unfortunately a 1400rpm one so I will have two large pulleys if I want the proper RPM. I am wondering if I should replace it with a 4kw motor I got that is 2800 rpm, but it has no feet since it's flange mounted so I would have to fabricate a mount first.

I would stick with the lower RPM motor. There's nothing unfortunate about it IMO. the motor will run quieter than a higher RPM one, will have less tendency for vibration and you can simply size the motor pulley for whatever RPM you want the pump to run. Won't hurt anything if it's a little bigger. You could always reduce the size of the driven pulley if it's going to be too large. Should be fine though I'd think.

[DennisCA]

I can't really reduce the size of that huge flywheel on the compressor block. So that's a constant, the only variable is the pulley on the motor. And I can't reduce the pulley on the motor without loosing speed and thus loosing performance. Which I don't want to do.

FWIW both motors make the same amount of noise and vibration in as much as I can tell, very quiet.

The motor would have to have a pulley with a diameter of 39cm, almost as large as the flywheel, to achieve the proper RPM that the block is specced for.

[eKretz]

Obviously you can't reduce the size of the motor pulley if you're running a lower RPM motor...And the noise reduction isn't just about the free running motor noise. It seems counterintuitive, and I thought the exact same thing, but a friend changed a couple of his compressors' motors from 3400ish to 1700ish RPM and boy howdy did they get noticeably quieter. And yes that included upsizing the motor pulleys to get the pump back to the correct RPM.

[Cenedd]

You might not be able to reduce the size of the flywheel but could you either replace it or, if not feasible, mount a smaller drive wheel in front of it to take the belt?

[Cenedd]

Finally broke ground on fixing the sewer issue that's been plaguing me for the last six months. Half the garden has been dug up but proper drain has been found. The trench has been dug so that everything outside is ready and on Friday they start digging up the kitchen to connect it.

So at 22:30 I suddenly realised that the cat couldn't safely leave the house over night as going through the cat flap would result in a significant drop into the trench. So in the darkness, I've laid planks to bridge the gap and then put back one of the stone slabs so that there is a bridge over the trench and he can fet in and out. Well, they do say that cats have staff!

[Ridgerunner]

I needed a 5/8" (.625) tool to scribe an arc for a project I am making so turned one up.

[The Metal Butcher]

Don't have dividers?

[Ridgerunner]

Don't have dividers?

I machined the pivot hole when I did the plates so to late.

I finished this project today. It is going to be a pond rake to rake algae I hope. I bought a 4 foot landscape or rock rake and cut off the vertical mounting bolt. This left a flat area to weld the mount I made to. It adjusts to a few different angles since I was not sure which one would work the best. I will post a picture sometime when I get to try it out. It mounts to a truss boom with 2 x 2 trailer hitch tube. Stretched out it is about 27 feet long.

[Bob Engelhardt]

[...]
It is going to be a pond rake to rake algae I hope.
[...]

Nice. That is about the longest hydraulic cylinder that I've ever seen. A video would be great.

[Ridgerunner]

Nice. That is about the longest hydraulic cylinder that I've ever seen. A video would be great.

Ya, I think that cylinder is about 10 feet long. This is one of those things that a person dreams up and hope works. I am concerned about hydraulic oil from the cylinder getting in the pond. The cylinder and boom are new so at least should not drip. I hope I can just skim the pond without getting the cylinder in the water, but trying to control something sticking out that far on rough terrain might get tricky. I think sometimes they do use these things to scrape the bottom of ponds but there are at least 7 snapping turtles in this pond so I don't want to pull any of those out. Just have to see how it goes.