Machinery fixed and returned, shop stuff

Machinery Fixed and returned 

Hines delivered my UTV and tractor to the farm after extensive maintenance.  Especially extensive on the UTV.  They had to replace pretty much everything associated with the drive to the wheels and the drive belt too!  The shifter was replaced too.  Its been dead for a over a year, I was just shifting using pliers for a long time!  It seems a bit stiff, but that's OK.  The bill hurt, but it hasn't seen service for a number of years...  The tractor had all of the fluids changed and the read left lights replaced.

Yikes!

 Printed a new lathe spindle protector

 I noted the old protector was a bit tight in the threads, so I added about .03" to the thread diameter dimension and reprinted it (I used red this time!).

I have been printing without mats lately.  Most of my items have a natural flat side so a mat is not necessary (and takes a long time to print and wastes plastic!)

Fit is much nicer on the threads!  However the registration area is still a bit tight.  I am not reprinting it though, its good enough for now!

Belt-grinder finally attached to the table!

I had to pick up some 3/8" bolts that were long enough first.  Then I drilled into the table and the underlying metal frame (which I arranged to be right under the bolt tabs so it would be more sturdy) and then attached the table using 3/8" nuts and bolts.  It's sturdy!  Now I can rotate the belt-grinder to horizontal without worrying about heaving it off the side of the table!

Of course, this poor lever handle had to be right above the bolt and therefore needed to be ground down even further!

Showing that the attachment bolts go through the frame.  This thing isn't going to blow away!

Shop-floor-plan adjustments

I went ahead and added a cover for the front of the grinder table to help keep metal dust off of anything I had stored under the grinder  I also added a shelf under the grinder to hold the welding accessories.  I might add another shelf to hold the belt-grinder accessories (belts, other tables, platens, etc).  I then got the welder and gas cylinder off of the welding table; that was really bothering me!

I moved the plasma cutter- stick welder over beside the belt-grinder and placed all of its attachments on the shelf below the belt-grinder.  I am not sure the plasma-cutter cord will reach the plug from there, but its much light to move than the MIG welder!  I might just add some cord to the plasma-cutter machine.  I am still thinking about the electrical arrangements.

Organized the welding clamps handy to the welding table.

Moved the MIG welder to the cart that was holding the plasma-cutter.  It fit just perfect!  The chair situation is still not optimal though.  Still thinking about what to do for that.  Shop stool?

I think there is enough room for a extra shelf for the grinder accessories.  The cord for the motor from the VFD is awkward.  I might lengthen that and put the VFD controls under the plasma-cutter.

I moved the jointer to in-back of the workbench to make room for the grinder.  This setup is ok for now.

Grinder access from the workbench.  Here you can see the front panel I added to keep grinder dust off of the storage area below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Machine care and rust prevention

I purchased a product called "Fluid Film" that was highly recommend by a number of shop forums for rust prevention purposes.  I cleaned up the rust on my tools and machines (a rough job, not meticulous) and applied this stuff.  It has lanolin in it and no solvents so it never "dries".  The point is that it maintains this coating (even if dirty) and that keeps the surfaces from rusting.  For use on machine tools that are not in the weather they say it should last about 3 years!  Fingers crossed!

The surface of this jointer takes a lot of abuse, so I did it first.  The fluid-film stuff really seems to penetrate!

This is not rust-prevention - just showing the workbench surface after some cleanup. 

I used that green brillo pad there to clean up the metal surfaces before I applied the fluid-film

This vise took a lot of rust damage.  I will have to spend some time later to clean it up with some steel wool.  I still coated it with the fluid film to keep it from getting any worse.

The ER-32 chuck and collets didn't seem to get any rust on them!

These drill chucks and centers didn't do too bad either

This "spin-dexer" did show some rust on the labels there - I don't think that should hurt anything.

The 4-jaw chuck took a hit, but not on the jaws!  Whew!

These slitting saws where already a bit dirty/rusty.  I coated them to prevent any further rust

These V-blocks took some rust damage.  I will have to try some steel wool on them when I have the chance.

These indexing plates came with something else that I ordered off of ebay.  I don't know if they can be used with anything I have.  I coated them just to be sure though.

The cross-feed on the lathe got some rust.  Most cleaned up pretty good.

This looked the worst.  I will hit it with some steel wool, as well.

3D printing, spring making, and the belt-grinder bench build

More 3D printing fun!

I decided to get some more colors and some different types of filament for my 3D printer projects.

Blue and red PLA, some "natural" nylon and some black PETG

Again, I found a good and useful part by watching my hero, Mr. Pete, on youTube!  A lathe spindle thread protector!  I attempted to make one of these as a skill building exercise almost 2 years ago now, but I screwed up the inside thread and never got back to the project.  I really don't need one since I don't use the collets that go in the spindle.  I made a ER-32 collet holder that sits on the spindle threads, so I don't need to protect them when using the ER-32!  Nonetheless,  I wanted to make one of these spindle protectors on my 3D printer.  I found the reference on thingiverse, but the author of the part didn't include the CAD/CAM files so I couldn't use his design as a basis for my thread-protector.  I did find his references though and with some fussing about I was able to use openSCAD to develop my own design for a thread protector that should fit my lathe!

This is a prototype thread-protector that I made with the white PLA filament that came with my printer.

I got the dimensions off of the Logan lathe web-site (www.lathe.com)

I test fitted it on the lathe this past weekend - it's a damned TIGHT fit

But it does fit.

I plan to adjust the inside threaded diameter to be a smidge larger.  And not print it in white.  Ugh.

I already posted my files to thingiverse, so I will have to update those so people don't use this version and get it stuck on their lathe!

Fun stuff!

OK, was talking to a friend at work and he showed me some of the stuff he had printed.  This piece in particular caught my eye, so I printed my own copy!  Its so fun!

Nautilus gears that move!  All 3D printed (not in place though)

Making springs on my lathe for my belt-grinder

I needed to find a better torsion spring for my belt-grinder, but so many of the springs I could find commercially didn't have their strength in their specs!  I should have looked at MCMaster-Carr probably, but I didn't think about it until someone suggested it later (way too late).  In any case, I bought some 7/32" piano wire - 4 pieces of it - and went about trying to bend it into a spring by hand.  That didn't go to well.

My attempts to make a spring by winding it around a 1/2" mandril (rod) by hand

So then I remembered something about how lathes are used to make springs, so I checked out youtube to get ideas.  You just pretty much just put the lathe (metal lathe, of course) in direct drive/back gear mode and wrap the wire around a mandril held in the chuck.

My first "lathe-wound" spring!  Turned out pretty - but - I used too many windings and it didn't fit the area I had on my belt-grinder.

So I decided to use a bigger mandril and use fewer windings.

It worked - but this diameter is too BIG!  This spring didn't fit into the space either!

Actually, it did fit, but not well.  There was metal hitting and causing uneven torsion, which probably doesn't really matter in this application.

So I tried winding on a 3/4" mandril (actually some of the 3/4" DOM left over from the belt-grinder build).  This produced a decent looking spring that fit!  Unfortunately, I installed it to test for fit and never stopped to take a picture of it outside the belt-grinder.

Finally, success!  Still it was a bugger to get those spring ends into the shape I wanted!  Frankly, they don't look like I want them too, but I am done messing with them!

Belt-grinder bench build!

Now that I got the belt-grinder working and am happy with it, I decided to go right into making a bench for it to sit on (and thereby cleanup my workbench again).  I based my design on Jeremy Schmidt's design for his table, but I only used 1" square steel tube (because I had a bunch of that as scrap!)  I also changed the design in that I didn't want those drawers.  The storage space will be used for another purpose!

Lots of metal cutting and welding and grinding went into getting it this far!

Oh, and I broke another metal bandsaw blade!  Ack!

I am not using a metal table, instead I used this OSB that I found in my shop that was already cut to the proper width!!

Fitted on the table and ready to bolt down. But I didn't have any of the right size bolts on hand and the weekend was over already!

The controls are still a concern.  I might put them on the side of the bench.  I hate to lose the table space.  I am  currently thinking of using the space under the table for welder storage!

It fits in horizontal mode!  Whew.  I was worried the motor clearance might not be sufficient.

I have a video of this that I add below a bit later.

AND - I got my tractor and UTV back from the shop!

Yay!  But OMG, it was expensive.  The UTV needed all 4 wheel bearings replaced and a ton of drive components fixed.  But it works nice now.  I drove it around the property for the first time this year!

The tractor got new left rear lights and all of the fluids changed.  Also an engine tune up.  It wasn't that expensive compared to the UTV.

In any case, I am in pretty good shape for when my trees arrive.  I would still like to get my fence around the grapes put up and the grape arbor posts replaced (those that need replaced).  I hope to get some decent weather soon so that I can do that.  There's still time to do pruning too. 

New left-rear lights!

It's all nice and clean too, so I couldn't help but take some pictures!

UTV has had some major parts replaced.

Also, got a new  transmission shift cable

New wheel bearings for all of the wheels!  (you can't see them here - but I wanted to document it somehow!)