Collet chuck done, new lights in shop and trying some TIG welding

ER32 Collet chuck done

The socket head bolts came in so I installed them and cut them to length.  The collets also came in this week so I chucked a couple in and gave the new chuck a spin!  Works great!  I much prefer the ER collets to the 5C's (and 5V's on the mill) that I have.  

New metric (M8-1.25x40) socket head bolts installed (and cut to fit lengthwise)

ER32 Collet in the chuck - fits nice!

Video of Chuck construction and running for first time!

Shop lights

I finally got around to putting up some of the LED shop lights that I have had for about a year now!  I dearly needed more light around the lathe and the mill!  Now I have it.

Wow!  Such a difference! I can SEE!

Its like a new shop!  Except now I can see how bad the walls look!

Also, now I can see how dusty everything is!

TIG welding!

I managed to stop by Roberts Oxygen in Frederick Maryland on the way up to the farm.   I got some E70S2 filler rod and a small tank of argon.  the filler rod I had ordered off ebay didn't get to me yet.  But I didn't feel bad about buying it at Roberts since I will always need more!

"consumables" that came with TIG.  3 different size collets, a collet closer, and 3 different diffuser cups - I think 4, 5 and 6

This is still setup with the plasma cutter - but the connections are very similar

Just a front shot of the combo unit

They don't get great reviews - but so far its done everything I need it for!  

Here is the TIG torch with a "red" tungsten tip in it.  I sharpened it myself on the grinder.

Its a "New Century" WP-26.  New Century is a Chinese brand and WP-26 is the size designation.  This is air cooled torch.  WP26 is a larger torch from what i have read.  But by no means the largest.  Size actually isn't necessarily a good thing - it makes it hard to reach into places!

See the "New Cent" logo?

Here is the cute lil argon cylinder connected up!  I had to get a hose clamp to connect it to the welding hose - the little clip they sent let it leak!

Notice that this flow meter is calibrated in L/min?  I didn't at first - I was assuming it was cfh!  I was blowing holes in my work!

Connected up and ready to go!  I wasn't sure how much Argon I would be using so I got this small unit.  I figure if I need more I can always trade up.  Small cylinder is easy to move around!

TIG welding requires very clean metal and close-in work so I set up this table in the shop.

I put a chair in the - it helps a lot!  but can't see the work that well - even with the halogen lights I set up nearby (you can see the glare from the lights in the picture)

The torch, in between tip sharpenings!  I went through about 1 inch of a tungsten electrode during the weekend.  I am not sure how much argon.  So far though, I am not alarmed at materials usage.

Some of my first tries at drawing a bead!  Yes, the metal was clean when i started!  

I tried left and right handed.  There is a surprising amount to keep track of when you are doing this!  Besides the settings for argon flow and amps there is the torch angle and filler rod feed rate and tip "extension" from the cup.

I got tired of cleaning metal so i just used some old bolts

Some of these beads aren't as bad as they look - I hammered on some afterwards to see if that black was scale of just dirty metal.

On the right there you can see that I actually welded these two bolts together.  The welds are surprisingly strong!

Bottom line:  I need MUCH more practice!  I am watching youtube videos like crazy and learning a lot.  However, nothing but practice will get the hand steadiness that I will need to get good welds.

More orchard care

I got out the pole-trimming tool and went to work on the orchard.  I did all of the high cuts and some of the low cuts on a few trees I didn't get to last time.  Actually, I didn't get to the peaches at all last time - and peaches take a lot of trimming!   I finally got to the spraying of the dormant oil and realized I needed to remove the plastic protectors to spray the trunks.  Worked out fine though as a way of marking which trees I had sprayed.  I would remove the protector just as I sprayed the tree. When I was done spraying the trees and grapevines I went back and gathered up all the protectors. The next day I sprayed the cherry trees and removed their protectors.  

I was in a rush of sorts to get this done since the weather report says we are going to have a warm week and the trees might take damage if I do this too late this year!

Septic field concerns

While looking for some papers earlier this week, I found the septic field layout that the original inspectors drew up for us when we bought the farm!   

The drawing shows some interesting things. 

I tried to layout some markers on the ground to get a better Idea which trees I would need to move.

See the little white "baton" in the upper left of this picture?  On the ground.  That's about where the distribution box is for the septic drain lines.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out where the individual lines were  - I think that this is close to where one of them is. (the yellow measuring tape on the ground)

Overall, it looks like I really only need to move the lower 2 sweet cherry trees!  I will move them all - the lower two are the biggest anyway - the upper ones should be an easier move.  I am considering moving some of the sour cherry trees too - but from my understanding - sour cherry trees are all "dwarf" and maybe wont send roots so far...  I will do more thinking about this.

Christmas! Sawmill-lathe-attachment, Logan Engine lathe, and the Lotos welder (backhoe issues continue)

First, the Engine Lathe

Well, my attempts at figuring out the wiring without getting into the motor wiring was in vain.  I tried to check the continuity through the wiring through the switch, but I just got more confused since some of the connections could have been made in the switch itself!  While looking around for the ground wire to the frame I stumbled across the previous power hook up!  I connected the wires up to the 220V line and turned it on.  It ran - for a little while.  Then the breaker popped.  At this point I had a suspicion that the motor was previously wired for 110V, since the circuit was 30A and at 220V the motor rating was only 15A.   The only way to confirm this was to open up the motor wiring box - NOT EASY!  This box was facing BACKWARD in the metal cabinet and was very close quarters.  I wrangled into it as best I could and was able to confirm that the motors was indeed wired for 110V.  I switched the wiring according to the diagram on the front of the motor so that it would accept 220V and tried again.  IT WORKED!  Forward and reverse and no circuits popping and no humming.  YAY!!

See those numbers on some of the wires?  Those are important!  LOL  

After getting the lathe cleaned up a bit and lubricated (a little - I still need to go over it more carefully) I started machining the faceplates for the sawmill-lathe-attachment.  This went real smoothly, despite the fact that I haven't used a metal lathe in years.  I only had two bits to use and they were both the same type.  Fortunately they were useful for the cutting I had to do.

These steel pulleys took very little time to machine.  I just cut of one side of the v-belt channel and a suitable faceplate is obtained!

Lotos Welder Rediscovery

I needed to weld a steel pulley hub to a 12 inch pulley, so I got out the Lotos welder and gave it a shot.  After messing around a while I got a weld that seems ok.  I definitely need to practice more with the stick welder!

While looking around the shop I noticed I had a kit for a welding cart that I never put together.  So I put the cart together and went through some more welding stuff that I had on the shelf.  This Lotos unit, the UitLTPDC2000, is pretty cool.  It is a 3-in-1 unit that can do stick welding, TIG welding and plasma cutting!  I couldn't find any manuals for my unit but I searched online and found a manual for a later unit that was similar.  I got the plasma cutter setup together and hooked up the pancake compressor for the compressed air supply (it needs 65-70psi - fortunately the pancake compressor has a regulator).  I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised!  It cuts well - up to about 3/8 inch thick!  Not bad for a small unit.

The TIG welding test will have to wait until I get a tank of argon.  It looks fascinating though.

The pulley and hub welded together.  Not beautiful, but its strong enough.

Sawmill-lathe-attachment - FINISHED!

I finally finished the back-stock for the lathe attachment and painted everything (I had to switch to black paint because the local hardware store didn't have anymore grey).  NOTE to self:  painting indoors in the winter sucks.  Also, painting takes a long time.  Then I put all the stuff together, and gave the motor a try.

First run!  It runs nice!  I was afraid that the pulleys would bind and create so much friction that the motor would lock.  Nope.  Runs nice!

I do need to put on another hub to keep the pulleys aligned.

On the sawmill-bed, finally!

Whew - the blade clearance over the unit is just about a half-inch!

Oops! The boards don't allow for shorter lengths of lumber!  Here, just for the first test, I over lapped the base boards to get the shorter length.  This will lead to a somewhat conical cut.

Also, the first cuts that remove the bulk of the wood are important!  If you don't do this the wood will deflect the blade and you get these uneven cuts.

Also, critical that this is CLAMPED down quite well!  It broke free a couple times because I used these friction clamps.  Use the screw type clamps only !

Link to Vimeo video of this thing in use!

Also, a major lesson learned is that the faceplate attachment idea is not satisfactory.  The faceplates "fight".  If the faceplates are not perfectly in line with the direction of rotation they vibrate and cause significant problems.  I will have to figure out how to implement head and tail stock spurs like on wood lathes.

I am so glad I did not buy the lathe-mizer attachment at this point simply due to the observance that most of the added value seems to be mostly inherent in the rotate the log to make lengthwise cuts more easily - the "lathe" functionality is extremely limited due to the nature of the bandsaw.  To make a cylinder you have to make extremely light cuts.  EXTREMELY light cuts!  The bandsaw blade deflects very easily.  $4,000+ is a bit much for an indexable post turner!

NOTE TO SELF:  consider using the bandsaw to make the "octagon" and then make a router rail system so that real lathe like work can be done.  A router would also be able to make heavier cuts than the bandsaw blade!

Backhoe Issues

I had great hope of getting the backhoe running this weekend.  Indeed, I did get it to run for a few seconds, but it just would not continue running.  So i continued to charge it.  And charge it.  Even more.  Still no go.  So on the warmest day, when it would not start i decided that the contacts on the battery terminals must be too dirty or corroded.  So I cleaned them.  As I was cleaning them it occurred to me to check the fluid level in te battery.  It was DRY!  So I added water - a bit more that one gallon of distilled water was added!  Then i put on the big charger and set it at 2 amp slow charge.   Then later in the evening I switched to the trickle charger.  When I looked at it the next day, the fluid in the battery was fizzing and bubbling.  Still not up to power.  I will have to charge it more when I go up next time.  Unfortunately I am afraid that I wont see any more warm days this winter.  I just hope the battery can be recovered!  Replacing this battery (2 batteries actually) will not be cheap!