What did you do today?

[ChazzC]

I've got one of these, very handy. Infinitely adjustable from room temp to 1100°F and PID controlled. I've even used it for surface mount PCB rework with some shop made nozzles. I think the later model is 8988-20. I've had mine 10+ years.

Ouch, $220 ( per a post on the Milwaukee website, it was $200 11 years ago). The current AC Craftsman is $60, and I doubt I paid more than $40 in the 90’s.

[eKretz]

Ouch, $220 ( per a post on the Milwaukee website, it was $200 11 years ago). The current AC Craftsman is $60, and I doubt I paid more than $40 in the 90’s.

Yeah, ouch is right. I think I might have given more like ~$80-$100ish for mine when I got it. Don't think I would have paid $200 either.

[Paul Alciatore]

Did some finishing work on the aluminum mounting bars for a replacement chip shield for my Grizzly mill. Countersunk the holes to provide a bit more Y movement without hitting the heads of the mounting bolts. And then sanded in preparation for painting.

Was wondering if I should paint them black or a reasonable approximation of hammered Grizzly green from Tractor Supply. Then the aluminum looked so nice after sanding that I said au naturel was a nice look on the aluminum. I just need to hit it a bit more with a fresh sheet of fine sandpaper. Unfortunately the support at the other end is steel and will need a coat or two of paint.

Had to come in from the shop to dress a wound that was dripping blood. (Clumsy Bastard!) Then I was hungry. So I guess I'll finish this tomorrow.

[Paul Alciatore]

Those dies look good. I am wondering about the size and positioning of the three gullet holes, as you call them. Are there any general rules for the diameter and position or did you just wing it? Seems like you would want a reasonable rake angle on the leading/cutting edges. And probably on the trailing edges as well for breaking any attached chips when you reverse the rotation while threading with them.

Anyway, nice job. I hope the heat treatment comes out OK.

Not only today. Been working on this over the past week and a half while sick with flu or the latest covid. Either way the last couple of days I was almost back to normal.

Anyway, it's a rather oddball thread tap and die for a gunsmithing deal on an old vintage Remington pump action .22. Due to liking these oldies and the Remingtons seeming to have dodged under the collector's radar I've managed to gather up 6 of the things in various conditions from poor to very nice with wear consistent with loving attention over the past 90 to 100 years.

But out of the lot I've got like 3 of the pump handle retention screws. And thus the drive to set up and fabricate a bunch of them.

Today I finished up the dies that are shown below and were cut using the shop made tap in the picture. My buddy that is lusting to get one of my Remingtons made the tap up to the point of cutting the grooves since he doesn't have a mill.

Fluting this tap was also the reason behind my adjustable mill table tail stock you can read about HERE. The picture of the tail stock in post number 13 is this tap ready to be fluted.




Anyway you can see how it came out. The dies are machined from some 7/8" O-1 drill rod that was cut down to 13/16 (0.810 actually to match the other nominally 13/16 dies I have) and then drilled and threaded on the lathe. This evening I set up the rotary table and trued up the little chuck that lives on it and cut the three gullet holes with a 3/16 end mill.

Right after the pic was taken it was into the soup can forge for hardening. And as I type this they are in the kitchen toaster oven soaking at 450F for tempering.

....DRAT! Looking at the posted picture just before hitting "Post Reply" I realized that I forget the divot for the die holder screw. I'll have to grind a shallow V notch across the rim instead I guess. No solid carbide drills in my shop.

Anyway, my buddy also made up 4 screw blanks ready for threading. That's for tomorrow.

[ChazzC]

I spent about a half hour looking for my 1/2" wide Vinyl safety tape. After looking in the box where I should have put it for the third time, I turned over a plastic bag (that was on top of the other stuff in the box) and found it. To my credit, the side of the re-purposed bag that was upwards had a manufacturer's label that concealed the contents.

Why did I need the tape, you ask? Well, you may have seen some of my photos that show the use of this tape and plain yellow tape in an attempt to keep me from banging into stuff:


I keep telling you I have a small shop!


This is what I needed the tape for:

Week before last I commented on a post on another Forum, noting that while I had added a Priest Tools Spindle Brake to my Mini-Mill years ago, I hadn't spent the extra money for the one with an interlock. After thinking about it a bit, I decided to make an investment in my mill's (and my own) safety and got the Deluxe Spindle Brake Kit (also available in different variations for the LMS Bench Mill and PM mills). The installation is straight forward (you can see the instructions here), and I now have an electrically-interlocked Spindle Brake.

I did make a couple of modifications to the installation:

• I made a slightly larger hole in the bottom of the Control Box so I could use a grommet to protect the cable from the edges of the box:
  
  
  This photo also shows where the Nylon set screw goes to secure the cable.

• I did not remove the Bearing Dust Cover when I installed the plain Spindle Brake; I just removed the stock SHCS's and installed the plate with the longer SHCS's that were included, so after removing the old plate I left the Duct Cover in place and installed the new plate. I also added a dab of Vibra-TITE to the screws to keep them from working loose. Also, instead of using the jacking screws to adjust the height of the original plate, I used a 0.030" plastic sheet between the plate and the head:

No shim was needed for the Deluxe plate.

Oh, what about the tape? It's here, visible when the brake is engaged:




And when the brake is dis-engaged:


Green Means Go! I punched 3/8" circles out of a green adhesive label and stuck them over the ends of the magnets (what's the sense of having large-hole punches if you aren't going to use them?).


PM me if you're interested in the non-interlocked spindle brake kit parts; but take a look at the Priest Tools (#Not Sponsored) website and contact Greg Priest with any questions (he mentioned to me that if there was interest he could modify his Power Draw Bar kit to make it suitable for the LMS Hi-Torque Mini-Mills [and probably other SEIG Mini-Mills, I'm guessing]).

[Cenedd]

I keep telling you I have a small shop!

We clearly need to play "My one....'s smaller than your one!"! (That's only a boast if you work in IT! ) Perhaps the only competition I'd be happy to lose
I marked up my loft hatch in a similar pattern but with a paint pen. Trouble was that a white hatch hanging down at head height, blends in with the white doors and frames behind it...with obvious consequences. Also found a roll of black and yellow grip tape (basically self-adhesive sand paper) that I marked out the area the ladder folds into. Got fed up of finding out I'd left something fouling the ladder AFTER I'd folded up the ladder needed to fix the problem!

I'd quite like a power drawbar...but a thousand dollars is more than I paid for the mill!

[J Tiers]

..........................

I'd quite like a power drawbar...but a thousand dollars is more than I paid for the mill!

Check "Inheritance Machining" for his air powered drawbar, made from an air tool. A Harbor Freight cheapo unit would likely work fine.....Not sure what the equivalent cheap source (if any) is over there.

[ChazzC]

I'd quite like a power drawbar...but a thousand dollars is more than I paid for the mill!

I understand: Greg’s price for the Mini-Mill version was under $800, but as a hobbyist that’s a lot of manual tool changes.

[ChazzC]

Check "Inheritance Machining" for his air powered drawbar, made from an air tool. A Harbor Freight cheapo unit would likely work fine.....Not sure what the equivalent cheap source (if any) is over there.

There was a thread on one of the forums not too long ago lamenting that HF stopped selling butterfly drivers. They’re still on eBay, but $50+, more that HF wanted. Also, while there are a number of kits for Bridgeport & clones, we’re talking about Mini-Mills, so there aren’t many options, and not a lot of real estate to work with. The cheapest option would be what Clough42 used to have, which was a butterfly hanging on a spring, and since the head moves up & down 10” it would have to be an impressive spring, and I think it would be more cumbersome than just using a wrench.

[Cenedd]

I'll be honest Jerry, Chazz. What I'd 'like' and what fits into my available time, money and sanity budget are often two very different things! If I could just resolve some of the current problems....I'd have room for the next load of problems to come trucking in!

[ChazzC]

I'll be honest Jerry, Chazz. What I'd 'like' and what fits into my available time, money and sanity budget are often two very different things! If I could just resolve some of the current problems....I'd have room for the next load of problems to come trucking in!

I hear you and have similar issues. Also, I have to be careful what I spend my tax refund on so it lasts through the year. Now if one of the consulting opportunities comes to fruition . . .

[Dan Dubeau]

Slow at work so I took the day off yesterday to work around the house and burn the annual brush pile. This is the last of the old rotten paddock fences from around the property I pulled last fall. There will be a large pile of spikes, and other metal hardware to dig out for future blacksmithing projects.

Weather changed quite dramatically over the course of a couple hours from nice and sunny tee shirt weather, to whiteout and windy. About 1.5" of heavy wet snow fell in 20-30 minutes. Just in time for the kids Bus run.

Also did some walking around the property (first since the fall), and found a couple nice chunks of Chaga. Didn't find any antler sheds though.

But I did spot this guy....He didn't look too happy to have his picture taken....

Spent almost the entire day outside, and can't remember the last time that happened. Only went in the shop a few times, but that was to grab more of these . Mmmm tasty, the apple wasn't bad either.

[Ridgerunner]

I needed a anti vibration pad for under a linear actuator so I 3d printed one in TPU filiment.

[Ridgerunner]

I needed to add a rocker switch for my mower and the clever company made the knock out opening to large for a standard switch. I printed a grommet to reduce the size for the switch out of TPU filament. The picture shows a first try at getting the size correct for the step in the filament. I didn't get a picture of the one that worked but basically it was U shaped.

Switch opening.





Switch installed tight.

[SVS]

Wife and I met our kids in Omaha for a nice dinner and a show by comedian Brian Regan.