What did you do today?

[J Tiers]

It's leaf raking season again, here... cleaned up the yard, that's about it...

Cleaned up shop #2 out in the shed, the paths through were getting clogged up. Need to unearth the engines that are out there and do some work on 'em.

Oh, yeah, got a little bit done on a long term scraping job that I need to finish up.... Guy says he's in no rush, bit will probably develop a sudden need for it all of a sudden.

[MushCreek]

I cleaned out the barn to make room for my next project. I'm putting a new engine in my '72 F250. Might as well work out of the weather.

[vpt]

Sounds like that would be the fix right? Do you go a lil under and over or just spot on and over? JR

Spot on and over.

Funny I remember, because the nut is brass I was able to stick it in the press and actually squish it a tiny bit to tighten up the threads inside, run the expendable chunk of acme rod threw it with a bit of force and that helped tighten up the backlash on the nut. Still has some, no getting away from that without balls in the nut. That being said, some day there will be a ballscrew in my mills X axis.

[Arcane]

Not today, but this past week I fixed a floor foot switch. A friend got it from his work place since it had been damaged (missing toe guard) and was ordered removed from service. It came with just a roughly .935" hole in the end threaded @ 14 tpi for the original electrical cable connection. I bought a 3 foot long electrical cord with a triple outlet on one end and cut it in half with the intent of using it for the in and out cables. The problem was what to use for a "bushing" in the threaded hole. I decided to use a piece of 28 mm nylon shaft I had on hand so I reduced one end and threaded 1/2" of it so it would screw into the box. Next was two holes for the electrical cord. It turned out the extension cord measured just a shade over 11/32" so after doing the math to average out the material left on the sides of the holes and between them I drilled two holes through the bushing. I thought I might have to bore the holes out a smidgen but as it turned out I was able to force the cord through the holes with a bit of hand cleaner for lubrication. I was worried I would have to fashion some method to secure the cord in the bushing but as it turned out, it's like the bushing was molded around it and it would take a great deal of effort to make them move, especially now that the lube has dried up. All that was left was to do the connections inside and once that was done he now has a fully functional foot switch suitable for home shop use.

[vpt]

I did some more work on the paths going up the hill behind my houses:

You must live on a busy road. Every picture you ever take and post there is a car flying by.

[MattiJ]

Goddammit, Summer is here.

+29 °C without warning and there is no night anymore either
Northern Finland is at the moment warmer than north Africa or most of the southern europe.

[Dan Dubeau]

Quickly figured out why my tow behind mower was scalping in the middle and promptly burned up a belt. There used to be a couple 6204's in there somewhere.....



My Dad was the last one to use it, and I'm sure it didn't fall apart by itself over the winter. But, I've broken way more of his stuff growing up than I'll ever be able to repay him for so it will get fixed quietly with maybe a couple subtle jabs about getting his hearing checked...... lol.

I might have to fab a new tower housing as this one is a bit bent. Brought it to work with me to take a couple measurements, and I'll do some digging in the scrap pile to see what I have to work with. The original is not very beefy at all, so there's lots of room for improvement.

[sasquatch]

Spent all weekend working at my son's garage to get his drag car and trailer, and new pusher motorhome ready for this comming weekends first points meet. Beautiful weather helped a great deal. Got a bench vise, and bench grinder mounted in the race trailer, only thing left to leave friday morning now, is to pick up some cans of race fuel. Can't wait to get back to the track, and see all the other guys we haven't seen since last fall.This is going to be a tough race season as my son and his car have a target on their back since winning the championship last summer. Lol

[Cenedd]

Today I learned what happens when you try to power-tap a hole in a piece of steel that's held on an unlocked rotary table. You'd think this wouldn't be a lesson that needed to be learned! *sigh*
The other day I learned about 'Whip' and how it applies to even parts you thought were too thick to be problematic when hanging out the wrong end of the spindle.
Clearly, survival is optional on my learning curve!

[CCWKen]

Today I learned what happens when you try to power-tap a hole in a piece of steel that's held on an unlocked rotary table. You'd think this wouldn't be a lesson that needed to be learned! *sigh*
The other day I learned about 'Whip' and how it applies to even parts you thought were too thick to be problematic when hanging out the wrong end of the spindle.
Clearly, survival is optional on my learning curve!

LOL... I'm laughing but laughing at myself. Years ago I was drilling a 3/4" hole in the rear web of my tailstock. (Adding quick release lever.) I had already drilled a 3/8" pilot hole with the same setup. The setup was me holding the tailstock on the drill press. I learned real quick that EVERYTHING needs secured. I'm just glad the drill press was only spinning at 80rpm. It still spun about 10 times before I hit the power switch and it came to a stop. Nothing broke, including me, but I was lucky. And an A/C 12" tailstock is no small piece. Even the HF drill bit held up.

[Cenedd]

If that's the tailstock as seen in Tubalcain's video then no...that's not a small piece! My workpiece was well clamped down but, being more used to either a vice or direct clamping, I'd neglected to lock the rotary table. Drilled the hole, no problem....which was why it was more of a surprise when the table started helicoptering and took out the indicator holder I'd been using to gauge drilling depth. Nothing broken and the cheap indicator is probably more accurate for a good clouting!

[Cenedd]

I really should have written yesterday off as a bad day to be in the shop. All the evidence was there: mistakes, injurys, swearing. But no, even having to start again (because I'd drilled a hole in the second end too big and through instead of blind) didn't stop me. Stubborn like a mule!
I did learn that whilst you can hacksaw off the top of a clamp stud to get enough clearance to continue milling your circle without moving the workpiece....unless you file the top of it, it's entirely possible for the burr to line up and just the perfect angle to slice through your finger like butter. Superglue is my friend!
At least got one one done and the other prepped for when I have time.





Is there a better way (and I really mean easier!) of clamping small pieces to a rotary table? I figured I'd use the 4-jaw self-centring lathe chuck but because the arcs and circles being cut are so small and/or full depth of the part, I couldn't get it to clear the jaws. Ended up having to clamp it direct to table but the only alignment I have is to shove a tap in the hole and hold that in a centred drill chuck whilst I clamp. Would be nice to be able to pull it out, spin it round and do the other side without losing placement - like a vice with a stop.

[vpt]

Is there a better way (and I really mean easier!) of clamping small pieces to a rotary table?

Yeah, you use a washer for a spacer and save all the machining ops.

[Cenedd]

Totally. I could also file and sand the clearance at the end or just mill it off square ….but where's the fun in that?! Plan to try some Birchwood Casey Super Blue on it when I've finished.

[DATo]

Was on my way to the barn (shop) and happened to glance down on the pathway. YIKES! About a 4' Diamond Back was sunning on the path. Ran (a quick hobble) back to the house to get backup. When I came back out, he had moved over near the garden. Had to dispatch him. All other nonvenomous snakes are welcome but not the rattlers.

Doc wants me to lose some weight so each morning I walk 3.5 miles at a local park. In the last couple of weeks I have seen two moccasins (AKA cottonmouths) on the paved path where I walk. In both cases it was very early morning and I'm sure they were sunning themselves to get their juices flowing.

A fellow machinist, a "country boy", told me his dad was once bitten by a water moccasin and he went blind for two days. Very nasty critters. Where I live there are only moccasins and copperheads. On another occasion my nephew got on his tractor one day and a baby copperhead which was about the size of a pencil bit him on the arm. Even that little bit of poison left him in very bad shape for about a week. He said his forearm swelled up to about the size of his calf.

Your photo caught my attention because while visiting another nephew's home (I got a lot of nephews) we saw a snake which looked exactly like the one in your photo and about as large crossing the street in front of his house. He lives in a very urban part of town though there are some woods close by. The damn thing appeared huge and I'm all but positive that it was a copperhead. The stupid idiot (and he can be a stupid idiot at times) went out to the street and kicked it a few times despite my frantic cautions. Son of a bitch got away with it. You have to know the guy, he leads a very charmed life. If he fell into a bucket of sh!t he'd come out smelling like a rose. To this day I get shudders thinking what might have happened if he had gotten bit. That thing was big enough to have caused some serious harm. We have pigmy rattlers migrating into our neck of the woods I'm told, and as the queen might say ... "We are not amused."