What did you do today?

[Bob Farr]

I made a spacer for my clutch cable sheath. The cable was too long (or the sheath too short) to get a good adjustment between full engaged and fully disengaged. This little spacer did the trick.

It isn't much of a project, but being able to fabricate my own solution instead of ordering a new cable, waiting a week and hoping it fits is a small miracle. I sure am glad I bought a lathe!

[loose nut]

Had a string of bad luck these last three weeks. Had a power surge that took out the microwave, two DVD players, stereo system, several wall warts, and the air conditioner control module and transformer. Got the air conditioner working first thing. Lawn tractor broke a belt, water softener had to be replaced. Rather than spend $800+ dollers on a new one, I bought the resin media and rebuilt the unit. It works great now, but I broke and the main water pipe coming from the water pump that had rusted as thin as the galvanizing. I'm currently repairing rotted window sills that I fixed last year but found that the Behr paint with built in primer doesn't stick to the Armstrong wood putty, resewed our 15x25 awning that had a seam let go down the middle, continued work on a Boyer Schultz surface grinder rebuild, (pictures will be posted eventually...).

It's because of days like that I prefer to do nothing at all, ever. If you ain't doing it you can't break it.

[John Stevenson]

Had a busy day today.
Went out in the shop today about 11:00 after doing a load of email and support issues.

Surface ground 58 laser cut discs for division plates and set the CNC up, that had a busy day chuntering away to itself.



Believe it or not there is a 10" heavy duty chuck under all that. Those turnings are all from a 1/8" drill !!



Fifteen plates stacked on the side, one in the chuck. About 8,500 holes with three 1/8" stub drills.

In the meanwhile I was doing some POS Bridgeport double life drawbars, cut all the heads up in different lengths for step speed, varispeed and the extra long ones for the horizontal attachment.

Cut the bars up for the screws, got 48 out of what I bought.



Got the double length thread on all of them and about half of the short thread where it goes into the nut.

No thread wires were harmed in the cutting of these threads.

Sod it off down the pub for a pie and a pint, I think I deserve it.

.

[Tony Ennis]

Today is the day I get the stuck faceplate off my lathe spindle. It was stuck when I got it and has remained that way. I've repaired or replaced most of the lathe now - there's nothing left to do except get the damned thing off.

I bored a 1.5" hole in a 4x4, cut it in half on the bandsaw, and chiseled a mortise for the woodruff key that connects the spindle to the bull gear. I removed the spindle from the lathe, wrapped the fixture around it, and clamped the two halves tight in my vise. I put a 4' cheater on the face plate and gave it a sharp pull. The woodruff key ate the fixture up. So I took it all apart, found where the woodruff key stopped eating the fixture, and embedded a piece of steel there. Did it all up in the vise again, gave a yank, and the fixture split out.

My third and final try will involve me clamping the fixture together with steel straps and bar clamps. It's gonna be good for one more try.

Now I need a helper to make sure the spindle doesn't hit the floor.

-=-=-=-
This is a low-probability event now. I'll likely have to come up with something else.

Stay Tuned.

[Timleech]

Not today, but all last week......
Small coasting barge, 6-cyl engine from 1968. Not run for 5 years, and left with the exhaust uncovered. result, rain and salt spray finding its way into the bores, engine seized absolutely solid. My job, to make it go.

Engine room:-


One good and one bad bore:-




Jacking arrangement, there's a piece of 6" dia brass bar on top of the piston and a 50 ton ram pushing it down:-



More in another posting........

Tim

[Timleech]

........that rotates the engine enough to lift the worst piston complete with liner:-



That liner was brand new, never done any work, but left to rot........

Two more liners were much older and had to be extracted, here's one block with the liner removed and the B/E journal showing:-



3 liners need replacing, amazingly the pistons might be salvageable but we have new ones available if needed.

It'll keep me out of mischief for another week or so.

Tim

[EVguru]

I took apart one of the wooden garage doors that came with my workshop (I bought it with an upgrade kit consisting of a second 'blank' end-wall and a floor kit) and re-built it as a 78" by 32" entry door.

I then built a door frame and fitted hinges to the door. I'm off to a bike show tomorrow and probably won't feel like doing much when I get home, but perhaps monday evening I'll cut a hole in the wall and fit the frame and hang the door.

[saltmine]

I had an unexpected machine shop job, yesterday. I was getting into my car and I heard a "SNAP", and the rear driver's side window rolled itself down.

Power windows, cable operated. I pulled the door panel, and found the anchor block on the window regulator where the cables are attached, had one side missing, the top, the side that raises the window and keeps it up.

I guess the heat of the day was too much for the nylon block that holds the cable end. I carefully took it apart, ground the locking tabs off of the block and, with a little heat, popped the damaged block out.
I took a few measurements, and fabricated a replacement out of 6061 aluminum. I glued this in place, where the nylon block was, and put the window regulator back together. Back into the door, and hooked up, it works perfectly, and I didn't have to wait three days for a $150 replacement window regulator assembly.

[PeteF]

Thanks for the photos Tim. At least it looks like you have plenty of space in which to work!

[Tony Ennis]

Lathe face plate (continued)

Try #3 failed as expected. The fixture split again, and permanently.

My friend had come over to help and brought with him some manner of aluminum scrap that had a 1.5" bore and thick walls. We filed a slot for the spindle's woodruff key, slid the aluminum sleeve onto the spindle, and chucked the whole thing in the vise's pipe jaws.

A few heavy swats to the cheater bar with a 3 lb sledge hammer didn't seem to do much. I then leaned on the cheater bar to get it all under tension (with my friend holding the back of the spindle to make sure it stayed put!) and gave the cheater bar several medium taps. Suddenly, thunk! The cheater bar rotated to the floor! The face plate was free! It's probably been on that spindle for decades.

Finally!

[RB211]

Ran cable, replaced conduit boxes, and worked on the track at the golden gate live steamers.
Shortly will be going to Point Pinole for a walk around the former Giant dynamite site.

[DeereGuy]

I anodized this part. After several trail runs I think I am getting it.

[J Tiers]

Started cleaning up a got-for-free blacksmith's post drill I picked up today...... Spindle cleaned up with no rust on the journal section.

As if I needed anotehr tool.... I tell myself I might want to drill holes in heavy steel when power is out..... yeah, right.

[Weston Bye]

Completed my next article for Digital Machinist and dropped it in the mail to George.

The Genesis for this article can be found here:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=39588

This is the MkII version of the drilling/milling/grinding spindle for the article, all anodized and pretty.

[spkrman15]

Engine repair

Tim,

50 tones! Wow i would not have thought the head bolts could handle that. How do you remove the sleeves? When the piston is not seize to it

Keep the pictures coming

Rob