Wongster's Production

Testing BlogPress

2012-01-30T09:48:00.001+08:00

The BlogPress developer replied to my mail this morning asking me to either to repost or reinstall the app. I've been trying to repost many times yesterday and do chose to remove the app and reinstall it.

Let's hope this test post appears... and with this pic...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Adding Bearings to Y Axis Part 3 - Bearing Mounted Thrust Collar

2012-01-29T23:07:00.000+08:00

This is going to be a long post, combining what I did for the last 2 sessions. Blame BlogPress, if you want to; for whatever reasons, the 2 posts done on BlogPress, one for each session, cannot be uploaded. I've sent a mail to its developer earlier today. Hope that they sort out the problem soon.

Ok, with the longer leadscrew adaptor completed, I went on to make the other component that made up the whole assembly. Not knowing what to call it, it should just be known as bearing mount as its role is to hold the 2 flange bearings to the base of the mill where the handwheel is to be mounted on.

The stock I started with was a piece of 40mm diameter aluminium round stock. It was cut to about 40mm in length on the bandsaw, catering for the the height of the 3-jaw chuck in its reverse position. The part is supposed to be 12mm thick and so I thought I can make 2 pieces at one go. If I'm successful, I'll have 1 extra to use on the X-axis.

Here goes:

Cutting off a section of 40mm in length. The straightedge clamp to guide the cut.

The end was faced off to "flatten" the sawn surface.

Turning as close to the jaws as I was comfortable with.

The largest center drill in my toolbox was employed.

Drilling through using the largest drill the tailstock drill chuck can take - 10mm diameter, to prepare for boring.

I was trying to use the set of boring tool from Proxxon but they apparently require a bigger bore to start. So the little boring tool was used instead. I really love this little beast! Very nice finishes can be achieved. The only regret is its short length though - max at 15mm.

After opening the bore to about 12mm in diameter, I tried using the Proxxon boring tool to see how it performs.

Bad Bad Bad... Just look at it! I must have done something wrong... the mini boring tool was mounted back to clean up the mess created and work continued.

Testing how well the bearing fit. Not tight enough though no wobble felt. One more chance to get it tight when the recess is done to cater for the flange.

I did it again... the recess is a little too deep for my liking, but it is really tight when I press the bearing down with my finger. So tight that I can remove it with the L-shaped allen key...

I'm now ready to part off the mount to clean up the other side. I was so confident of the experience I acquired parting off brass and steel that I didn't expect to encounter problem with this piece of aluminium stock - the lathe motor was stalled twice and I've a bad case of chatter. The part was so hot to touch that I burn my fingers touching it... ouch!

This was where I left the workpiece to cool off while I think through how I should do.

I was standing at the lathe looking at where I stopped the next morning. The tool was advanced to almost touching the last place where jam occurred the night before. I turned the chuck by hand to rid of the chips and chatter marks that caused the jam. For some reasons unknown to me, I opened up the gear box to look at the belt position and realized that it was set to 1400 rpm! This is too fast from the experience I gathered. No wonder the feel wasn't right when I feed the tool into the workpiece. I changed the belt to 330/660 position and selected the slower speed (330 rpm). The feel is now back!

All the way through!!! Well done, Wongster!

You can see from this pic that I didn't bore deep enough.

In fact, I was off by quite some bit!

The workpiece was put back into the chuck and faced off to the targeted thickness of 12mm. There just wasn't enough "meat" after parting to make 2 pieces of the same so I gave up the idea.

Bearings fitted on both sides.

Testing the mount on the mill with the handwheel installed. Please note that the original thrust collar wasn't removed when the modified thrust collar (now I know its name...) was tested.

There is still the 2 mounting holes for the #8-32 capscrews to be added before I can call the job completed. I'll be making another one as I'm not satisfied with the bearing bore. With this experience, I hope to do a better job when starting over.

I welcome any suggestion on how I should approach this.

Have a blessed night.

BlogPress is giving problem again...

2012-01-29T21:13:00.003+08:00

I just realized that the 2 posts written over the pass 2 days weren't updated onto blogger. They're about the bearings holder I'm making for the Y axis of the manual 5410 mill.

Of late, I'm getting very reliance on the iPhone app to update my blog. It frustrates me whenever it went out of action. I'm too lazy to rewrite the 2 posts again using my notebook and so will have to wait till it is up and running again.

Sigh...

You've got mail...

2012-01-27T23:57:00.001+08:00

The book "The Model Engineers Workshop Manual" by George H Thomas and the Set-Over Centre finally reached me this afternoon.

The book came recommended by the good folks from MadModder forum for beginning hobby machinists. The Set-Over Centre is a lathe setup tool for use on the tailstock to allow the stock to be offset for taper turning. It came as a kit with construction notes and raw materials to make one.

Both were purchased from Hemingway Kits in UK on Jan 8 night, which was a Sunday. I believe the delay was due to the lunar new year holiday.

I bought the Knurling Tool in kit form from Hemingway some time back. It is still sitting in the yet to be built project box. I'll get to that when I'm ready.

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Adding Bearings to Y Axis Part 2

2012-01-26T23:19:00.001+08:00

I was having allergic reaction today and came back early from work. Was knocked out till late afternoon feeling better after the rest. Don't know if the reaction was caused by the food I ate during the lunar new year holiday. Can't pinpoint it's cause though.

Anyway, I was itching for some action in the shop to complete the leadscrew adaptor, but first, the mini boring tool holder has to be completed.

2 diagonal lines were scribed to mark the centre point at the end of the aluminium piece as accurate as I can using the 6" scale. The interaction was punched out to use as reference for the centre drill.

Being to lazy to setup the Sherline lathe, I removed the uncompleted leadscrew adaptor from the PD400 to work on the tool holder. The aluminium piece was clamped onto the compound using the QC tool holder and the centre drill held in the 3-jaw chuck.

To align the aluminum piece to the bed of the lathe, I put the Sherline drawbar in the Jacob chuck on the tailstock and line up the aluminum piece with the shank of the drawbar as close as I could.

The punch marked end of the job was then centered using the centre drill in the 3-jaw chuck.

The 4mm hole was drilled to about 20mm deep.

The mini boring tool is tested in its new home. It was rather tight at first but after some deburring, it slides in freely with no visible wobble.

It's time to drill & tap the 2 holes for the setscrews to hold the tool in place. The Proxxon edge finder was employed to locate the 2 edges.

The first hole was drilled.

And tapped

And tested with a #10-32 setscrew.

The 2nd hole was done next. If you observed from my past posts on drilling & tapping, I tend to complete the entire process for 1 hole before moving on to the next. The right way may be to finish all the operations on 1 tool before going on the next, but I don't have the confident in getting back to the first hole after moving the dial. I may give that another shot to see if I can get the repeatability I need.

Anyway, the completed tool holder:

The tip of the boring tool was then adjusted to the lathe centre height in the QC holder using the tailstock centre.

Now I'm ready to go back to complete the leadscrew adaptor.

The compound was set to 15-degree for the 30-degree include angle. I find it rather cumbersome to have to crank the compound almost all the way out each time to set the angle. But I've no confident to implement the modification done by others on their 7x14 lathe at this moment.

The adaptor is put back into the 3-jaw and the boring tool in position to start the taper cut.

The cut completed. The tool was advanced onto the hole using the dial on the compound. The cross slide was adjusted after each pass on the compound to widen the taper hole.

Comparing the stock adapter from Sherline with the piece from Wongster's Production (Lolz...).

The hole looks wider that the stock. This is the cone tip on the leadscrew which I'm using to test fit.

Testing the new adaptor.

Perfect! At least at this stage.

I tested it next on the manual lathe with the 2 flange bearings loaded.

With the handwheel installed.

The next piece to complete the assembly will be the bearings holder that replaces the black one on the above pic. The 3 bearings will be mounted into the bearing holder from each side. The bearing holder was drawn up as a 3D model and will be the job for the next session.

I'm rather please with what I achieved in the last 2 sessions, especially with the tool holder for the mini boring tool. I did a lousy job in my attempt previously when making one for the A2Z QCTP.

Someone asked me sometimes ago why I am always making either tools or modifications to my machines but not some "end products". I thought about that and concluded that I do not have the required skill or knowledge at this point in time to start on what I want to make - clocks. All the little things I did and planned to do (or failed trying) are providing me with the needed experience and practice. In time to come, I believe I will.

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5410 Mill: adding bearings to Y axis

2012-01-24T17:13:00.001+08:00

I've been wanting to add bearings to the handwheels of the manual mill but the ones A2Z is selling are a little too pricey for me. They look like something I can make and, at the same time, practice the basic of machining.

Today is the 2nd day of the lunar new year holiday. Visitations start a little later today and we have only a few friends coming over at around 10.30am before we leave to visit a relative at around 1.30pm. Some time in between for me to play!

Though a little deprived of sleep, due to my own doing, I got up early to get some work done. Measuring and putting what I plan to do in CAD was done the night before. Of the 2 components to be manufactured, the leadscrew adaptor looked easier and was attempted first.

This is how the original from Sherline looks like. The object of this session is to make a longer version of this to mount 2 flange bearings.

A piece of 10mm diameter aluminium rod was used. I like the phase used by mrpete222 on his YouTube videos (he also calls himself "tubalcain" in his videos), "the part is hidden inside the stock...". A section of 33mm was turned down to 6.35mm and sand down to about 6.33mm. I overdid the sanding on a portion of the rod to 6.31mm. Did done fitting, no trouble expected in use.

Testing a flange bearing on the shaft to ensure that I didn't go undersize.

Using the fix steady, the end was faced and centre drilled. That was the first time I use the Proxxon fixed steady.

Drilling through with a 1/8" drill to allow the #5-40 screw to go through.

Testing fit with a #5-40 capscrew.

Opening up a short section to allow the capscrew cap to sit flushed with the end of the adapter. A 5mm endmill in use here, follow by a 13/64" drill.

Using the part-off tool to turn the recess for the handwheel setscrew to bite on.

Comparing with the actual adapter. The cap will be next.

The excess material was cut off on the bandsaw and faced to lathe. After cleaning up and deburring the edges, it's time for the last operation - boring the 30-degree internal taper to fit the end of the leadscrew.

I've this small little boring tool which Hamilton from Ireland bought on my behalf. The shank of the tool measures 3.99mm and the business end needs only a starter hole of about 4 to 5mm. Just nice for the job. The problem is, I've not holder for the tool. At my wife's relative's place, I thought of whipping up a simple tool holder with a slit in the middle to allow the bolt from the QCTP to compress the holder to hold the tool in place. I've no confident that it will work as the tool is rather short. The other way is to make a tool holder fashioned after Luiz, the very skillful Brazilian machinist. This is more elaborate and likely take more time. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to make the simple one first. If it didn't work, I'll get a piece of steel to make Luiz' version.

The boring tool - it is the smallest I have.

I've one side of a small piece of aluminium flycut as reference.

The one side that was too tall was cut to approximately 10mm on the bandsaw, using the reference side along the straightedge clamp.

The rest of the other sides were flycut next with the 2 ends milled.

I'm not going to make this piece exactly 10mm square. In fact, one side is about 10.68mm tall and the other, 10.03mm. The dimensions are not critical, but the hole which holds the shank of the tool is. Let's hope my 4mm drill is accurate enough.

Ok, got to stop here. Need to go for my showflat duty from 5.30pm to 9.30pm. I'll finish up with the tool holder and continue to finish up with the leadscrew adaptor in my next session. The Sherline lathe will be use for the drilling of the 4mm hole so that I don't disturb the work on the Proxxon lathe.

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Removing Compound Feedscrew

2012-01-21T17:45:00.001+08:00

I was told on Madmodder that the feedscrew on both the compound and cross slides should be removed when adjusting their gibs. That didn't occur to me when I disassembled them previously. There was this little key holding the feedscrew on each axis, which turn along with the turning of the handwheel. I decided to explore a little to see if I can remove it without it flying away and lost amongst the overpopulated shop.

From this pic, the little key can be seen on the feedscrew.

A plier was used to carefully ply it out of its slot. It wasn't that difficult.

The key out of its slot. Did not expect it to be rounded at the bottom.

The feedscrew removed from the slide. It was cleaned and oiled before reinstalling.

After cleaning up, oiled, and adjustments done, the slide was reassembled. Here, I was rocking the cross slide at right angle to the bed. Quite some moment registered on the Digital DI. No matter how much I tighten the gib on the cross slide, I'm not able to eliminate the moment - unless I lock down the cross slide.

Anyone ideas or suggestions to eliminate play on the cross slide, please drop me a note. TIA.

It will be Lunar New Year in 2 days' time. I'm was scheduled to be on duty on the 2nd day of the public holiday, much to my dismay. I believe those, like me, who are to work on the holiday will not be very happy. This is the time of the year where Chinese all over the world would get together with their families and friends. Now that we are made to work... I know that I'll not be in working mood.

Skeleton Wall Clock - test cutting in plywood

2012-01-15T23:51:00.001+08:00

I was playing with trying to get the template of the plates into BobCad so that I can machine the parts under CNC. Thought of making them by hands, as shown in the book, but I remember that I can't follow a line with even the bandsaw, not to mention the piercing saw.

This is how a piecing saw looks like, taken from windplus.co.uk

I'm supposed to paste the template provided in the book, saw out the shape, and clean it up. The same is done to the back plate using the completed front plate as a guide. The 2 plates are to be fastened together for this operation. I'll try doing that after successfully making the first one or if I fail to put the template into BobCad "correctly".

I scanned the template as a jpg and loaded it into BobArt. I tried to vectorize the outline of the template but couldn't get useful result. BurrMan, the guru over at BobCad forum jumped in as usual to help, when I posted. He produced a few tiff files and dxf for me to try out. He even make a YouTube video demonstrating how it can be done. According to Burr, the outlines need to be "blurred" in order for vectorization to work well in BobCad.

The resulting vectors from the process represent a solid line as 2 vector lines (note: I may be using the wrong terms here - pardon me). Simpler to look at the pic:

The blue lines are the result of vectorization. The black solid line is the outline I want. What I really wanted is the vector to trace the outline in the middle.

I wrote to GeneK after I posted on BobCad forum with the scanned image as he mentioned before in a comment to one of my blog post that he is into clockmaking. He responded the next day and forwarded me a dxf file. The lines in the file traced the outline of the template which is exactly what I am after. At almost the same time Burr also sent me the file tracing the middle of the outline.

I loaded up the 2 files and saw that GeneK's is a little undersized and Burr's a little oversized. I believe the size difference is due to the image I scanned. When I forwarded GeneK the image, I sent him a resized version to seek his advice on which are the critical dimensions to keep. This resulted in a tiny image when loaded into BobCad which he scaled up.

I decide to try out the smaller sized version from GeneK to avoid having to worry too much on setting up in the mill. More work had to be done to get the geometries into the right size for the real work.

After assigning the features to the inside and outside of the shape to cut, I cut up a piece of MDF and a piece of 4.75mm thick plywood on the bandsaw to 200mm square. The MDF will be the sacrificial base.

The wooden pieces were fastened to the mill table with a pair of 1-2-3 blocks to raise their height. Otherwise, I'll run out of Z travel before I can cut through the plywood.

Running the gcode. Lots of wood fiber was produced. I wonder if faster spindle speed will solve this problem. If yes, I'll mount the Proxxon IB/E on the Sherline as it has spindle speed of up to 20,000 rpm. Sherline spindle maxed out at 2,800.

The first part of the inside shape done.

Machining the outside. I was worried that I may hit the hold down clamp but all went well.

From this angle, you can see how close I was to the vertical bed. This has always been a dilemma for me; if I don't raise up the part, I don't have enough Z travel, but when I raised up the stock, I sometime do not have enough clearance for bigger stock... Sigh...

Job done. Quite some clean up to do with the sand paper.

One strange observation: though the image used for this is slightly smaller than the template, the machined plate is even smaller.

Comparing the part against the template.

More work to do on BobCad and I also need to figure out why the part turned out undersized as compared to the drawing in BobCad.

That's all for now. Fever is back. I need to wrap myself with thick blanket to sweat it out. Lots of things to do tomorrow. Can't afford to be ill.

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Completed Locking Lever

2012-01-15T18:12:00.001+08:00

Managed to get some work done during my waking moment on Saturday, in between medication.

A piece of stainless steel leftover from another project for a friend was used. Only a short length required. It was turned down to 5.01mm and sand down to 5mm - just to see if this helps in getting the accuracy when required. It works!

After settling for 5mm diameter for the short rod to be used to turn the bolt, I put the "Wongster" bolt into the vise and touch its edge with the edge finder. The Proxxon edge finder has a tip of 0.20" diameter, or 5.08mm. After finding the edge, a total of 9.04mm was moved (1/2 of the 13mm dia of screw cap + 1/2 of 5.08mm). Being a round surface that I'm drilling into, I chose to centre drill before drilling with the 5mm drill.

Test fitting. Too loose. The hole is slightly oversized. Why am I not surprised... Anyway, this is not a precise part, the Loctite will do the job of holding the 2 together.

Done, in it's locked position.

Just a little is required to unlock the tailstock to slide smoothly. No more reaching out for the hex key...

Just a preview on what I started:

This is not the real thing; just a test piece in plywood for the plate of the Skeleton Wall Clock. The real thing will be in brass and a little bigger. Both BurrMan & GeneK helped me in getting the template from the book into BobCad - a task I'm not up to. Thanks guys!!!

Hope to start work soon.

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PD400 - Threading Done!

2012-01-11T21:58:00.001+08:00

This post also act as a test using BlogPress as I lost a completed post done this morning with my update of the threading problem encountered yesterday night.

While sitting on my great white throne, I recalled having a set of taps & dies which I bought 2 years ago. This made in India set has dies that have a slit that can be opened slightly using a screw in the die holder. The Japanese set I bought don't have that.

The workpiece was clamped in the Proxxon Primus vise and the M8 die applied to it.

Lots of chips produced in the process and some force needed. That should mean that I didn't cut the thread deep enough.

It works! Now I've my own brand of steel bolt!

In my next session, I'll drill the hole for the tommy bar on the mill. Won't be doing any work tonight. Am still not home...

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PD400 - Cutting the Threads

2012-01-11T00:59:00.001+08:00

No appointment at tonight. So I left office after the system was shut. Was quite a busy day and a little tired. My dear wife was called last minute for a visitation with Pastor, therefore, this is the night to complete where I left off in the previous session - threading.

I checked my setup once again to make sure I've not forgotten anything that will screw up the hours spent so far. The thread cutting tool was installed on the tool holder and the compound was set square to the movement of the bed. I "fished" out the fishtail gauge (or centre gauge) to make sure that the tool is held perpendicular to the workpiece.

Don't know if I'm using it right. Comment please?

Once I have everything setup, I ran through the process from the manual again to make sure I have the steps in my head. I advanced the cutter by 0.1mm into the work and started the lathe.

Right or wrong, we'll find out soon.

First time running the lathe at 80 rpm. The steel was just peeling off the workpiece.

After 2 passes of 0.1mm each.

Checking against the thread gauge. Right on!

Just about done. A couple of light cuts should complete the job.

This has to happen at the very last pass... I was trying to get close to almost the should, turn off the lathe and reverse the leadscrew. But I turned the switch to the wrong direction... The tool crashed into the shoulder causing the shoulder to be sheared off and knocking the part out of alignment. Should have been more careful...

Inspecting the damage.

I rechucked the workpiece and to my amazement, there isn't any visible run-out of the part when the lathe was turned on! The right hand tool was installed to clean up the mess at the shoulder.

I tried chasing the threads with an M8 die but the die simply refused to go on it. Frustrated, I took out an M8 flange nut and it threaded on nicely though I can feel a little tightness.

You can see the cleaned up shoulder from this piece. The nut can be turned all the way up to the shoulder.

Closer view of the almost done work.

Can't really see much from this pic but it is showing the part off turn in use. I chose the wider Proxxon part off turn rather than the Sherline's or AR Warner's to see how well it work. The cut was effortless and I didn't experience any binding of the tool during cut.

Almost there.

Look at the long nip... Rechucking the part with the jaws gently pressing on the threads.

After cleaning up. It took me so long just to make a... bolt... The head (or cap) was chamfered to break the hard look.

Now for the test before drilling the hole for tommy bar. The clamping plate was taken off the tailstock to make testing easier.

This is the max I can get the bolt into the clamping plate. I measured the diameter of the original blot (the black one on the foreground. It is only 0.01mm smaller than the one I made. Could the bolt I made a little too big? Checking against the thread gauge confirmed that the thread pitch is correct.

Got to stop here. Wife is back with dinner. If anyone know of a way to remedy this, please drop me a note.

Be blessed.

In the mail today...

2012-01-09T22:21:00.000+08:00

Not exactly but almost. I had a pleasant surprise when the courier man came in today with a box marked to me.

I ripped through the paper box like a child receiving his Christmas present to reveal the 4 books and 2 DVDs on clockmaking and plan on making a skeleton clock.

Pardon me for the mess in orentation. The pic was ok in photo gallery but not on blogger... Anyway, these are the books I bought from Mr WR Smith, all relating to clockmaking.

This is the clock the book plan is for - The Skeleton Wall Clock. Pic taken from Mr Smith's website at www.wrsmithtelegraphkeys.com/. I sure hope I can make it to the end with this.

I flipped through the books, the information within looks intimidating... but I rememebered what Roger Antrobus, whom I got to know from the Proxtool list, shared. Like me, he was also from the financial industry with absolutely no shop or engineering experience. But hey, look at those clocks, ships, and cars he made! They're beautiful to say the least. To admire his creations, visit his site at roger-antrobus.magix.net/.

The other 2 parcels reached me later today and they were long overdue (read my post yesterday on the problem I've with VPost.com). I made another call this morning to complain that the parcels have not reached me as promised on Friday before 1pm. The lady on the line assured me that she would get the courier to delivery it by today and if I haven't receive the goods, I'm to call again to update her. A couple of hours after I returned to office after late lunch, the courier man came.

These are the items in the 2 parcels - the digital inside caliper, Incra tiny T-Rule, and the Precision Double Square. The battery in the foreground was taken out of the caliper as it was dead on arrival...

The legs of the caliper don't feel like metal but I believe they're. The handle and the piece below the reading head is definitely plastic. This piece doesn't feel solid at all. The minimum opening is 0.5" or 12.7mm. This is my first time seeing a display being "zero'ed" to 0.5" instead of zero. Interesting.

The T-Rule is for marking out layout lines on stocks. This is the 3" version (that's why its called "tiny". I've its bigger cousin, the Professional T-Rule bought a while ago. The bigger cousin is 12" in length and has markings for both metric and imperial measurements.

I'm supposed to be continuing my work on the lathe tonight with my wife out for church meeing. But I'm feeling rather lazy (and a little tired rushing quite a bit to clear some cases today). Maybe I'll just read the clockmaking books or watch one of the 2 DVDs.

One last thing to share. Yesterday was our 14th anniversary. We had our customary wedding on January 8, 1998 (we registered our marriage on July a year before). I total forgotten about it!!! This is the first time I let it slipped past me. So I wrote a short sms to my wife telling her "sorry, forgot to remind you of our anniversary...". She wrote back rather quickly saying "I remembered" with an angry face emoji icon. Well, I thought I was rather smart with my approach but apparently it didn't work! Maybe she is punishing me by leaving me home alone... hahahaha... I'm just kidding!

That's all for today.

Be blessed!

Changing Gears to Cut Threads

2012-01-08T22:01:00.003+08:00

I had little time after reaching home and spent that 15 - 20 mins to change the gear according to the table provided on Proxxon manual and the gear box. This is the first time changing such gears and I was careful to read the instruction over and over again before executing it.

The table is posted below (given in the manual and on the gear box):

The default setup was dis-assembled after pics were taken so that I can put them back in the same order. The gear change went well except another cut on my middle right knuckle when the wrench slipped. The cut wasn't as bad as the one I had when trying to remove the tool holder from the QCTP - the dovetails are really sharp! A small piece of skin and a little flesh came off. This round, just a little broken skin with some bleeding.

This gear, with position labeled as 'L', gave me some problem in removing. The nut turns when I tried loosening it. I engaged the power feed (with the power turned off of course) and use the handwheel to hold the leadscrew while applying a little torque at a time.

The changes done. At the back of the 50-tooth gear (the one in the middle), there is a 30-tooth. I didn't see any spacer other than the one on 'L' (the 60-tooth at bottom right), so the 20-tooth is used to act as one. Hope that won't cause any problem.

View from the side. The 30-tooth gear can be seen behind the 50-tooth (the 2nd gear from the bottom).

I did a "dry run" with the tool a distant away from the stock. Everything seems to work alright. The carriage moved at snail pace with 80 rpm selected. According to the manual, I'm not to disengage the half nut during operation. Just need to move the cross slide in, power one the lathe with the spindle turning anti-clockwise, turned the spindle off, back off the tool, reverse the spindle, reached the start of cut, turned spindle off, move in the tool for the next pass, and so on. Seems easy enough. I'll do another dry run till I can do it without thinking before proceeding with the cut.

I see that I have some time tomorrow night as my wife will be out meeting with her church friends. They're planning another visiting to some homes a month or two from now. These meetings usually end rather late. I should have the locking lever completed by tomorrow night.

One thing I've been thinking about on this project; If I'm to loctite the tommy bar to the bolt head, how do I remove it should I need to remove the clamping plate from the tailstock?

This is how the bolt looks currently. The bolt is just a simple M8 capscrew.

The capscrew holds a steel clamping plate beneath the tailstock.

Anyone with idea please drop me a note. Thank you in advance.

PD400 - Tailstock Locking Lever - Part 3

2012-01-08T13:15:00.001+08:00

Work continues this morning with the objective of turning down 5mm off the diameter for a length of 30mm to receive the M8 threads.I realized, from yesterday's discussion over forum and yahoo groups, that the Proxxon tool set came with a HSS roughing tool. It was put into use and I'm amazed that the tool's geometry allows 1mm to be taken off in one pass (0.5mm depth per pass)! and the surface finish was as good. The job was done pretty quickly. The flip side of the tool is, I've to stop short of the shoulder of the bolt head and finish off with the right hand tool. No problem there as that's rather simple and quick to do with no real accuracy needed (the gripping part of the threads is at the end anyway).I've to stop work after removing the gears while noting the existing arrangement to prepare to cut threads. Wife brought back lunch and we need to get ready for church. The roughing tool in use. It cuts nice and fast. Notice the "slope" at the left of the turned length. It was cleaned up with the right hand tool. Cleaning up to square shoulder and turning to final dimension. Job done! The chuck end measures 7.92mm while the unsupported end 7.91mm over the 30mm length. Proxxon recommended spindle speed of 80 rpm for threading. The belt moved to the big pulley position for 80 rpm at stage 1 and 160 rpm at stage 2. Gears for threading taken off except for this one (labeled as 'L' in Proxxon's manual). I finally figured out how to loosen the but in front. The leadscrew has to be engaged and with one hand holding the handwheel, the nut was can be torqued out. Care was taken so as not to damage anything connect the leadscrew to the gear. Looks like I've to do a part 4 for this. Time to go to the house of my daddy God. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PD400 - Tailstock Locking Lever - Part 2

2012-01-08T01:48:00.002+08:00

I continued my work tonight on turning down the steel stock to the size of the bolt head. The stock was cleaned up first and re-chucked for sufficient length to turn down to 13mm. No support was used at the tailstock end. Spindle speed was set at 660 rpm with power feed at 0.07mm/rev. I started with carbide insert tool before switching over to HSS as I was told that the speed table on the gear box is for HSS tools.

After I switched over to HSS from carbide, I observed that the surface finish was rather bad. But as the diameter gets smaller, finishes improved quite a bit (under 18mm diameter).

Here are the pics:

The stock was flipped over to clean up the rusty surface. The rounded end was faced off first. This was a test piece after I converted my Sherline4410 lathe to CNC. HSS tool being used.

Facing operation completed. 0.3mm per pass was used.

The cylinder face was turned from 22mm to 20mm, matching the turned portion. It was perfect! I got it to exactly 20mm (or less than 0.01mm, the resolution of my Mitutoyo Vernier Caliper).

Deciding how much to put in the chuck jaw.

Lathe in operation. The 0.02mm error is pretty consistent throughout the turning operation. I'm taking 0.2mm per pass to reduce the diameter (0.4mm off the diameter per pass).

13mm diameter reached. The last 1mm was done with 0.1mm depth per pass. This dimension is not critical but done for the fun of it.

In my next session, I'll be turning down one end to the major diameter of an M8 bolt (30mm length) to prepare for threading. This will be my first time making threads on the PD400. I'll be reading and re-reading the section in the manual on changing of gears and the recommended procedure of thread cutting. I'll also be getting some 15mm round steel stock to stand by in case I screw this piece up. All steel rods in my box are 25mm in diameter. I don't want to go through another session just turning them down to the required dimensions. Shop time is rather precious to me. I tried various depth to see how deep I can go but at 0.3mm, I "sense" the extra effort in the machine peeling off the steel. Maybe it is just in my mind - I'm too scared to go deeper. Maybe I should really go at 0.5mm to remove 1mm off the diameter at every pass. Hope someone can tell me that it is ok to go at that kind of depth with the PD400.

That's all I did in about 2 hours. Time to hit the bed. Hope to have some time tomorrow for more fun in the shop.

God blesses you all!!!

Nano-Tram and my frustration with VPost

2012-01-08T01:20:00.000+08:00

Before I start writing about the session I just completed on the locking lever, I would like to show off the Nano-Tram I just received.

The Nano-Tram was purchased to help me in squaring up my 2 Sherline mills to save shop time. Like most stuff I bought from US vendors, it came rather well packed to protect parts that are critical to squaring up the mills. I played with it for a while this morning to get the manual and CNC mills squared up as I am preparing to re-start some projects, including the completion of the A2Z leadscrew conversion for the Z axis (of the CNC mill). It only took me about 15 mins to get both done but I've not tested them to see how square they really are with the Nano-Tram. This will be done before I start the other projects.

Meanwhile, some pics on the items I bought:

The Nano-Tram is the one at the top right (in yellow). Going anti-clockwise we've the LMS thin parallels (much better set than the Sherline's. Measured them using my Mitutoyo Micrometer. Good stuff for the price), the 6" Hermaphrodite Caliper for laying out, and the SpillMaster container).

I've another 2 parcels that supposed to come in at the same time with these but VPost seems not to be able to get their act together. They claimed that they made 2 attempts to deliver the parcels to my office but none in the office receive any delivery notes for the failed attempts nor notice any VPost fella trying to do the delivery. From the tracking screen, the first attempt was made on Jan 2, at about 8pm. If I know that they deliver after office hours, I would have given them my home address instead. The second attempt was made around noon on the 4th. I received a call while I was meeting a client in the office's meeting room but didn't answer it (I don't usually answer calls during meetings as a respect to my clients). When I called back about half an hour later, a rude fella told me that he tried delivering the items but there was no one answering the door. That is really strange as I've at least 5 colleagues around during that time. No one hear the door bell ringing and saw no one on the CCTV. Best of all, no delivery advice was received for the 2 failed attempts. I made a call to VPost and after trying to get the lady on the line to understand what I'm talking about, she promised a re-delivery on Friday (Jan 6) before 1pm. I was in the office till 12.30pm before leaving for my appointments. Let's see if the 2 boxes are on my table on Monday. I'm looking out for another company to use for consolidation of purchases in US. Let me know if you know of any company that does the same thing as VPost.

Ok, done with my rant, some shots showing the Nano-Tram in use:

On my manual 5410 mill.

The 2010 CNC mill finally re-assembled. I ws waiting for the Nano-Tram to put it back together.

PD400 - Tailstock Locking Lever

2012-01-03T23:56:00.001+08:00

I'm on leave today to bring my little girl to and back from school on public transport. She is In secondary one this year and has never been out on her own. Tomorrow on, she'll be on her own. I believe I'll get used to her growing up... though she is still my baby.

While she was in school, I had a few hours to myself after running some errands, so it was shop time! The objective this session is to turn down an M8 bolt with a lever to lock the tailstock. The only piece of unknown steel I have in my stock pile was about 25mm in diameter 50mm in length and it was covered with rust. The rest are too small. Didn't make it to completion as I got to pick up my girl to take public transport back. Will do a part 2 if I can finish the job in the next session, or even 3 if I can't.

Here goes:

Please ignore the diagram on the top. I took the measurements from the existing locking bolt. The cap will be taller to allow a tommy bar of sort to be inserted.

I set the pulley to the 2nd position for 330 rpm (stage 1) and 660 rpm (stage 2). I'll begin with the slower speed of 330 and increase as the diameter is reduced.

Cleaning up the rust. The entire length of the stock was 65mm and about 50mm was sticking out of the chuck (2 times it's diameter).

I started to feed the tool by hand. The surface finish was very bad. Power feed was used at 0.07mm/rev for the next few passes. The surface finish was so much better. I tried, at one point in time, set a depth of 0.2mm. The cut didn't sound too good to me. At 330 rpm, 0.15mm depth seems right, but i thought this lathe can do more?

I did a facing cut to end the session. In my next, hopefully this Friday night, I'll flip the stock around to clean up the other end.

One thought came to my mind on the way to pick up my daughter - if I'm to cut M8x1.25 threads for a length of 30mm, how would I solve the problem of the stock flexing during cut?

Anyone?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PD400 - Quick Update

2012-01-02T13:24:00.001+08:00

I bite the bullet and flipped the lathe over to access the gib plate from underneath. The weight of the lathe is rather unevenly distributed, making it hard to slide out of the chip tray's motor compartment. One thing to note when flipping over the lathe is the plastic cover of the motor. It has to be removed to prevent damage (thanks to the review done by Dan Kautz on his site www.thehobbyistmachineshop.com).

I'm a happy man! The carriage now slide smoothly on the ways whether the carriage handwheel or the leadscrew handwheel is used.

The gib plate for the carriage. The bolts and setscrews were very tight. I've to use a plier on the allen key to loosen them. They were retightened till snug.

The lathe on its side.

The movement is now very smooth. I'll be testing for play and adjust accordingly. The exercise of preparing the lathe for use is an invaluable experience.

I wanted to test cut a piece of steel rod measuring 8.35mm in diameter. This is the part that stumped me, who is too used to variable speed spindle of the Sherline. I need to learn how to read the table on the front of the machine. Anyone can help?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PD400 - Getting the handwheels to turn

2012-01-02T02:05:00.002+08:00

Good progress today. Managed to get the handwheels on the compound and cross slides (using the terms from mini-lathe.com) to turn rather smoothly. I stripped out the slides the 3rd time since 3 days ago to clean up and put in more grease this time. There is a little shoulder on the leadscrews of the compound and cross slides that push against the slide that I added a generous amount of grease. The surfaces between the handwheels and the slides were also greased. After playing around with different amount of torque on the handwheel nuts, I'm a happy man.

This leaves me with only the main leadscrew and the carriage, which I found a work-around after I disassembled the leadscrew but failed to remove the carriage. The work-around is rather simple - use both handwheels when cutting along the ways. It works!

While I was trying to remove the carriage, I saw a plate which I think is to clamp the carriage onto the ways acting as a lock. There are 2 capscrews underneath and a 3rd on top. The 3rd capscrew that is accessible locks the carriage when tightened. The other 2 seems to hold the carriage in place to take out play. I suspect that the plate may be a little too tight for smooth operation of the carriage. To slacken them a little requires the lathe to be flipped over. This, I've no courage to attempt given the weight of the lathe. I'll need another person to help lift the lathe up with me to remove it from the chip tray and flip it over to access the screws. Don't think my wife would want to do that and my lower back forbid me from doing it on my own.

I did some test cut of a taper using the compound slide. Actually, its more of cutting to a point than a taper. Not too bad a result though I'm off by slighly less than 1 degree in accuracy.

Some pics as usual.

Bought a lamp with goose neck and clip on the way home from church. Can't find those with magnetic base.

The plate that locks the carriage (the black between the yellow and olive green) taken from the spindle side. The 2 mounting holes, from what I read, are for the traveling rest.

Setting the compound to 30 degree for 60 degree included angle.

Measuring the compound angle that was set earlier. The markings on the compound are pretty accurate.

The cut was made on the same piece of brass stock I used for test cut yesterday.

The result - in between 60 and 61 degree.

That's all I've time for today. Its a blessing that I'm able to play in the shop for the past few days consecutive.

Its 2am now. Time to do some reading and rest for more action in the shop tomorrow. Got to remember to buy a 5.5mm open wrench to do adjustments on the gibs. I plan to do a test cut using the power feed.

PD400 - Day 2

2012-01-01T03:04:00.000+08:00

I spent sometime in the morning figuring out how to increase the speed of the power feed. The manual that came with the lathe is so small that some of the components the drawings refer to are not obvious. Also, I find the manual rather skimpy. Mike helped me with most of the "problems" encountered (some are not really problems but my ignorance of how such lathe works, like unlocking of the tailstock...). Really have to thank him for the support, despite being New Year's eve. He even called back a few times with the last being at around 8.45pm! Didn't want to disturb him during the eve of the New Year. Wasn't expecting a reply till the 3rd. Great customer service!

Following the instruction in the manual, I swap the 20-tooth gear with the 40-tooth. This increased the power feed to 014mm/rev from the snail crawl 0.07mm/rev. A strip of newspaper was used to set the distance between the gears.

After playing with the power feed for a while, I changed the belt to the smallest ring on the big pulley and the biggest on the smaller pulley. This gives me speed of 1400rpm at stage 1 and 2800rpm at stage 2. I'm using this setting for brass and aluminium.

Wanted to turn some aluminium to for testing purpose but those in the box are a little too big and I'm lazy to turn the chuck jaws around for bigger diameter stock. A short piece of brass was used instead. I struggled through while facing and turning the short length as the handwheels were really hard to turn.

Despite the problem with the handwheels, I had good result. This lathe is rather accurate. I dialed in 0.5mm (in radius) and I ended up with exactly 1mm less in diameter (or an error of less than 0.01mm as my Mitutoyo Digital Vernier Caliper has resolution of 0.01mm). Surface finish is good too.

Determined to solve the handwheels problem to enjoy the lathe better, I stripped the top slide to find out the possible cause. Found that the screw holding the handwheel on each axis is too tight. Took the opportunity to clean up the grease and put on new grease. Now the top slide and the cross slide hand are much smoother when cranked. There are still some stiffness which I will try to research on the web before continuing. Tried adjusting the gib a little but didn't yield any result.

This is the cross slide, or the bottom of it. Read about it from a link posted by Steve Wan (thanks Steve!). I believe that the capscrew here is to take out backlash.

Putting back the top slide on the cross slide.

I tested the radius cutting tool which I bought together with the lathe. After going through yet another skimpy documentation, I managed to figure out how to mount it. I think they design the manual for experience users. Anyway, I'm not able to proceed to make the cut as I realized that which ever possible position I mounted the tool holder and the base, I'm not able to reach the stock. Extending the tool out of the holder didn't help, not to mention sacrificing rigidity.

From another angle with more stock sticking out of the 3 jaw. This is the farthest I can advance the carriage. Need to find out exactly how this is to be used. One possibility is the length of the stock. I'll try again later.

I attempted to turn the brass stock again after loosening up the handwheeds a little. It is much better now but still not smooth enough. More research has to be carried out in order to solve this problem, and before I can start doing some work using the new lathe.

I would like to take this opportunity, at 3.15am on January 1st, 2012, to wish all readers

A Blessed 2012!!!

PD400 - First Look?

2011-12-31T00:32:00.001+08:00

The lathe was delivered today to my home. The delivery guy and myself struggled to get it onto the workbench but we managed.

I spent sometime trying to figure out how to work this machine, taking pics along the way. It was not an easy task for a newbie. I immediate realized that all the handwheels can't be cranked. It took me a while to get rid of the grease Proxxon used to prep their machines for shipment.

The space I set aside is more than adequate for the lathe. At this point, the lathe has not been bolt down to the splash guard.

This is the mounting bolt at the tailstock head. It was covered by the tailstock. It took me a while to move the carriage out of the way to move the tailstock to access to this area. The other mounting point is just below the spindle. That was easy enough so no pic was taken.

The yellow paint chipped easily on my unit. I dropped an allen key at bed level and the paint chipped. Maybe that's how this got its name: Splash Guard and "Chip" Tray...

Look at that "cracked" line. Rushing for a date while applying the paint?

Not a defect but rather unsightly.

The 2 capscrews that need to be loosen to swivel the top slide. The base of the top slide looks rather crude. But I'm no expert...

The top slide removed for cleaning off the grease.

This is the base of the top slide after cleaning up.

The cut off tool holder came with an "injury" but no problem clamping the part off blade down.

Look at this piece that holds the gear to the leadscrew. Not a nice smooth piece as expected. I'll learn the name of the components soon to better describe them.

The spindle and back plate look beefy. It comes with an acrylic cover that will cut off the motor when lifted. Kind of an E-Stop?

This piece is nice... The spindle is MT3 with 20.5mm bore.

The guard in place. I left the guard out when trying to start the lathe. It won't allow me to do so till the guard is in this position. Saw a tiny magnet at the side of the acrylic hinge.

The whitish pieces is the magnet. With the guard in this position, there is no way the motor can be started.

The lathe came with the bottom 3 gears in this position. It should be in the position shown on the next pic for power feed to work. So the "working out of the box" I read about is not true after all.

This is the right position for the power feed to work. It took me a while to find out using the pics from the manual and referencing Dan Kautz's review on his site (www.thehobbyistmachineshop.com).

To get to the position shown in the earlier pic, the clamping bolt will have to be loosen and the whole assembly swing upwards to mesh with the spindle gear.

The control panel. A table with suggested speed for different material is printed next to the controls.

Let's have a look at the accessories that came with the lathe as standard package and of those I bought.

These are what I'll start with. Knowing myself, the collection will increase in no time... God help me...

The 100mm 3-jaw chuck as standard. The Sherline 3 jaw looks tiny next to it.

Assortment of turning tools. They're rather beefy.

Sherline left hand tool comparing with the Proxxon's.

Radius/Ball turning tool. Always wanted to have one. Dream comes through...

The chuck key came in 2 pieces. I've to hammer the handle in before it can be used.

I will not claim what I've written is a review of the machine as I know too little about the topic to review any machine. Please take this as my first time experiencing a new lathe and sharing what I saw along the way.

I hope to mount up the chuck tomorrow and start to do some experiments with it. I've only the morning to do so. Therefore, it is wise for me to hit the bed now.

Preparing The Shop For The New Lathe

2011-12-29T23:16:00.001+08:00

I was at Ikea earlier to purchase the Kitchen Trolley to use as the machine table. This was what Mike uses in his shop for his display of the Sherline machines. Decided to go for it after failing to find what I want. Thinking that it may be inadequate for the PD400, I decided to let it be the home for the Sherline lathe.

The table is rather heavy. Bought 2 plastic boxes to replace the used drawing as metal storage. The mat and the straws are for my wife.

The table was assembled in the living room as I simple do not have the space in the shop to fix it up. The wooden wheels can be seen from the pic; something I don't like.

The last piece of usable wall in the shop cleared for this. The only thing I don't like about this spot is the air-con unit directly above the table. Worried about leakage as the air-con is slightly more than 8 years old.

The Sherline lathe was relocated to its new home. The table was butted as tight as I can against the wall to minimize table movements. I'll reinforce the joints with some steel brackets tomorrow.

This is where the new lathe is going to sit. The surface is not very even. Hope that I won't have the problem of the lathe bed twisted.

What a mess... Will do some cleaning up and rearrangement when the lathe is in tomorrow. Not feeling too well to continue.

The messy shop from another angle. The yellow vac is a Kacher which I bought last Saturday from Homefix.

The Proxxon TBH Drill Press sitting in one corner. The plastic drawers and the wardrobe (not in pic) are the last pieces of non-shop item that I failed to get rid of, due to lack of space at home. I've a plan...

I've a couple of stuff to settle in the office tomorrow to close the year. Will be back home to clean up the shop and reinforce the table while waiting for the new member of my family to arrive. It will be exciting... I'm sure I'll have another write up tomorrow. Stay tune.

Meanwhile, got to get some sleep. The medication I'm on is taking its effect...

Arrival of PD400

2011-12-29T14:37:00.001+08:00

Mike SMS me this morning that the Proxxon PD400 has arrived! I've yet to buy a table or stand for it being sick for the last 3 days. He'll arrange for delivery to my place tomorrow as both of us have some problem with our back. I went over to his shop to have a look as I've also some business to attend to in the other office opposite.

Some pics as usual.

The box is rather big. With the standard accessories that come with the lathe, I can bearly carry it up. It is heavier on the left side which is where the spindle is located.

This is Mike, checking on the splash guard and chip collection tray. This tray is tougher than I thought. I'm glad I ordered it together.

Look at that! This one is a beauty... The lathe with a bunch of accessories nicely packed.

The spindle end. The motor is quite big. It has a spindle bore of 20.5mm.

The tailstock and cross slide. The tailstock has a MT2 taper. Strange that this pic isn't oriented the right way up when inserted here.

The 100mm 3 jaw chuck, chuck key, and drill chuck with B12 taper are part of the package.

Other Item I ordered with the lathe:

Parting Tool Holder and Tool

Cabalt HSS Steel 5 piece Cutting Set

3 piece Thread Cutting Set

Additional 3 pieces of Quick-Change Holder. The package has 2 included with the Toolpost.

Travelling Steady

Fixed Steady. This looks like the Travelling Steady from pic. I'll take another pic when it gets home.

Splash Guard & Collection Tray with the lathe mounted.

Radius Turning Attachment. Always wanted one...

HSS Boring Tool Set. These are also for cutting internal threads.

(The pics of accessories shown above were either taken from Proxxon or Axminster website)

I rushed over to Ikea in Tampines after I settle my stuff to purchase the kitchen trolley that Mike uses at his shop. The problem with this as table for the lathe is the 2 wooden wheels at one end of the table. With the weight of the lathe, I don't know how long this table will last. Therefore, I decided to go with Mike's suggestion of putting the PD400 on my current bench and use the new table for the Sherline lathe.

Now that I've done writing this post, I'll go fix up the table and clear up the shop to welcome its new resident. Tonight, I'll go through the manual again to familiarize myself with the new machine.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Igaging DRO - Z Axis (Partially Done)

2011-12-26T01:10:00.001+08:00

I've been thinking about how to install the digital scale from iGaging since I received them last week. Jimmy, aka Sherlineuser on Sherline group, replied in his email to me that he will send me more photos of the mounting point when he returns home this coming Thursday. The itch is so great that I decided to give it a shot on my own, with the help of some photos posted by Jimmy on the group.

It has to be Christmas night that I matched 2 brackets that came with the scale that may just do the job. I was a bit hesitant at first to start work as I need to put 2 tapped holes on the mill; one at the column base holding the Z axis bed and the other on the saddle. The brackets supplied have slot holes that allow some adjustments. These holes will provide me a certain degree of error show I screw up the hole location while drilling.

I started by fixing the 2 brackets together and on the reading head. The screw used are a little too long but they're the only ones that I've that can fit into the holes in the bracket. They will be chopped shorter later.

Getting my daughter to hold the assembly to the mill, I marked the spot to drill as accurately as I can.

Centre drilling the spot to prevent the drill wondering off. You can see that I'm still not very good with the drill press - the hole is a little off.

Hole drilled with #21 to about 8mm deep.

Using the drill press to start the tap. I'm using the Lupromax Tapping Compound recommended by Chan Man Lee's sales staff.

The #10-32 tap was released from the drill chuck and a tap holder installed.

I freaked myself out when I realized that the tapped hole is too shallow for the shortest cap screw in my box. 2 washers are now filling the gap.

As I was dismantling the Z axis assembly to access the saddle for easy drilling, I realized that there may not be sufficient "meat" on the saddle to drill and tap the #10-32 hole. I may get too close to the dovetail of the saddle and hit the gib or the hole may have too thin a wall at one part. This stopped me from proceeding any further for fear of serious mistake(s) when the mind is tired.

While writing this blog, I started thinking about how I can solve this problem. The only way I can think of at this moment is to use a smaller screw size and drill closer to the top of the saddle where the gib exits. This is the part where the gib is the thinnest and the dovetail smallest.

I'll sleep on it and see what comes out in the morning.

Its 1.10am now. Time to hit the bed.

Blessed Christmas.

BlogPress is still down...

2011-12-24T22:43:00.001+08:00

I've just wrote to BlogPress developer to enquiry if they've sorted out the issue on IOS 5.01. Sad to be told that though they've gotten the reply from Apple review on their updating of the app, there is still a bug to sort out. The app has now been taken off the App Store pending the bug fix.

Hope BlogPress can get things straightened up real soon.

I downloaded a few blogging apps these few days. None is as easy to use and support multiple photos. BlogPress allows photos to be inserted at locations of my choice and not having to meddle with codes - a feature that I don't find elsewhere.

Blessed Christmas to all who are and have been following my posts, though right now I do not have much successes in completed projects. With God's blessings, this will come to pass.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Proxxon PD400 To Arrive Next Thursday?

2011-12-24T15:45:00.001+08:00

Mike whatsapp me yesterday that the lathe I ordered sometime in September may reached our shore next Thursday. It is now ready and is over at the port in Germany waiting for Mike's forwarder. If the forwarder didn't manage to get the lathe out by 2.30pm yesterday, it'll have to be after Christmas.

The specs of the lathe, taken from Axminster's website:

Model: PD 400
Centre Height: 85mm
Cross Slide Travel: 85mm
Distance Between Centres: 400mm
Taper Headstock: 3MT
Height Over Cross Slide: 58mm
Spindle Bore: 20.5mm
Nett Weight: 45kg
Overall L x W x H: 900 x 400 x 300mm
Power: 550W
Rating: Trade
Spindle Speed: (6) 80 - 2,800rpm
Taper Tailstock: 2MT
Thread Pitch Range: 0.2 - 3.0mm (10 - 48tpi)
Top Slide Travel: 55mm

Frankly, the excitement I had when ordering is now very much muted. The wait, to me, is rather long. Let's hope it's worth the while.

I'll do up an instalment on unboxing when I get it. Meanwhile, I have to find a suitable workbench for it.

iGaging DROs Have Arrived!

2011-12-18T01:28:00.001+08:00

While I was trying to figure out how to make my set of Sherline's parallels more parallel with its matching pair, my helper came into the shop saying "postman, postman...". I ran out of the shop like a little kid running to receive his new toy and signed off for 2 boxes containing the DROs and an envelope containing the Mitutoyo Edge and Centre Finder.

I've always wanting to have linear scales on my mill and lathe but wasn't sure how I should install them. Sherlineuser of the Sherline Group uploaded some pics showing his installation on both his machines and that blown me away! After receiving some advice from him, I quickly ordered 5 sets from Quint Graphics through Amazon.com.

Some pics taken showing off my new toys:

Don't understand why some pics where shown upside down but here are the 3 packages I received this late morning.

First, the Edge and Centre Finder. This was indicated as Mitutoyo but nothing in the packaging or on the tool has any marking to show that except the invoice. The Edge and Center Finder has a 3/8" shank which fits my largest endmill holder.

The 24" scale came in a long box wrapped in bubbles. This will be for the Z axis of the lathe.

The iGaging DigiMAG, as indicated on the box. All features listed here.

Its specs as given. Accuracy indicated as 0.05mm per 6" and repeatability of 0.025mm.

The content of the 24" scale. The 4 sets of 12" scales have the same content except the bracket marked with the red circle. 4 3V CR2032 batteries are provided though only 2 are required in the DRO. Good stuff!!!

The DROs group photo. The scale shown is the 12" version with the bag of mounting hardware and batteries.

The scales are longer than what I need. Sherlineuser said that the scale can be cut to length on the bandsaw. I'm planning for the installation right now and am rather careful with the process before drilling and tapping holes on my machines. Just dropped a mail to Sherlineuser asking him for pics of his mounting points. Hope to receive a reply soon. This upgrade will help me greatly as I often get distracted while counting handwheel turns and catering for backlash.

The other items I ordered in the past few days:

- Nano-Tram for Sherline from Dan Kenner of Accudyne Corp.

- a set of 10 pairs of thin parallels (3" long) from Little Machine Shop

- a 6" Hermaphrodite Caliper from Little Machine Shop

- a Spillmaster Container from Little Machine Shop

- 4 books and 2 DVDs from W. R. Smith on clockmaking

- INCRA 3" Precision Tiny T-Rule

- iGaging 6" Inside Caliper from Quint Graphics

- iGaging 4" Steel Double Square from Quint Graphics

All the items except the books and DVDs from W. R. Smith should reach the VPost consolidation center in Portland Oregon next week. They'll probably reached me early next year. The books and DVDs will only be sent out when Mr Smith received the USD bank draft I sent him.

Plus the gift I bought for my wife and kids, I've spent quite a bit this month, not counting the cost and expenditure of the recent Taiwan trip with the family. I've also bought myself a massage mat from Ogawa to smother my neck and lower back yesterday. It seems necessary after playing on the walking course in Malaysia earlier the same day. This is the first time I played on a walking course. The turf-mate the caddie was on seemed tempting after the first nine... This means that I need to start getting back in shape after laying off for some years...

Now for some rant:

I'm so far satisfied with the service from VPost though occasionally their postmen would just leave the collection slips under the door though I've someone at home (I may need to make a big "PRESS THE DOOR BELL!" sign for them). It is rather troublesome for me to make time to drop by Sengkang's Post Office to collect the parcels. This round, the Dykem layout dye I bought for marking seems to be stuck in their US consolidation centre. I paid for the shipping together with the DROs and the Edge Finder. Yet I don't see any update on their tracking screen for this item. Nobody there even bother to call or write to me to highlight any issue. My mail to them seemed to end up in twilight zone. I'll lodge a complaint if I don't hear from them by Monday.

Its 1.30am now. Time to hit the bed. Otherwise, I'll be nodding at everything my Pastor says during service.

Have a blessed Sunday.

The Millie: Cylinder Mount - Another Failed Attempt

2011-12-14T22:02:00.004+08:00

I spent quite a few hours on and off in the shop preparing the stock to redo the Cylinder Mount for the Millie. I drilled the 2 1/16" holes through rather than just breaking through the 1/8" holes from the sides of the Mount. When I was about to complete the job, I made the same mistake of drilling through again!!! What a fool I am!!! I was enjoying the drill cutting through the brass like it was cutting through butter not realizing that the mistake was committed only after going through the second hole... sigh... Got to start over again... What a waste of precious shop time!

Anyway, some photos taken during the session.

Right on target! I'm so glad!

On target again! I'm feeling good...

Making the counterbore using a 3/16" endmill after drilling the 3/32" hole.

The 2 bigger holes done. The 2 1/16" holes will be next.

This was where I screwed up. The 2 small 1/16" holes are no supposed to be through holes...

Quite some time was spent trying to prepare the brass stock to achieve certain level of accuracy. This, from what I see from the plan, is not required as the dimensions of the stock are not critical. I did it nonetheless to see how close I can get as a form of practice. Besides, I was working only to 0.01mm (10 microns?). Wait till you see the measuring done with the micrometer; the numbers wouldn't be that nice...

Anyway, I've to start over again with this...

W. R. Smith's Books & DVDs

2011-12-14T13:24:00.001+08:00

Dear all readers,

Is there a US person who has a PayPal account and can help me purchase some books & DVDs from Mr W. R. Smith? His website is at http://www.wrsmithtelegraphkeys.com/books.htm. Payment can only be done via personal check or in cash (USD only).

I'll make the payment via PayPal first and upon receipt, the kind person will then make the payment. The shipping address will be to the consolidation center in Portland Oregon (VPost.com.sg). I'll also take care of the fee charged by PayPal.

Thank you for reading.

Regards,
Wong

Video on SFM - simplest I can find

2011-12-12T12:12:00.001+08:00

I was away with my family in Taiwan for the entire first week of my leave. No time yet to be in the shop. What I bring back from the trip? Sleeping on the coach from point to point, toilet breaks, and the jokes from the tour guide... sigh... That's the pain of traveling around the country in 7 days...

Anyway, I found this series of videos from CNC Geeks on YouTube. One of the videos talks about Surface Footage; a subject that I've never really understood. I like to share it here:

http://youtu.be/9VGSlJU53ng

I should be back in the shop these couple of days. The golf game with my business partners has been tentatively planned to be on Friday.

This December, I'm back to my spending spree. Ordered 5 sets of DROs from Quint Graphics via Amazon.com, a Mitutoyo Edge and Centre finder, a bottle of Dykem Layout Fluid, and now about to order a Digital Inside Caliper, some books and DVDs from Mr W. R. Smith on clockmaking. I've also ordered a new Tailstock for my Sherline lathe as the current one is drooping when its spindle is extended. No time to fix that on my own and so the new one.

I'll finish off the current project (Millie) and go back to machining the Z axis mounting to adapt the A2ZCNC leadscrew this week (hopefully).

Will keep you folks posted.

Have a blessed December.

Millie In Action on YouTube (ChooChooMike's Channel)

2011-11-08T01:20:00.000+08:00

I was looking on the web for any build log on the making of Millie and stumble across this video on YouTube posted by Mike (handle: ChooChooMike). The little engine sounded rather nice in the video.

Here's the link:
http://youtu.be/VCgqIxOxoZo

I hope that mine will run as well as his when completed.

Millie - Cylinder Mount

2011-11-07T20:43:00.001+08:00

I'm home alone today. My wife brought the girls out to the Bird Park with her girlfriends and their kids. I was invited but I feel kinda weird to be the only spouse around. Further, I'm attending the bank's Dinner & Dance tonight (for the dinner part. I can't dance...). Beside catching up some sleep, I completed the Cylinder Mount for my first engine.

From this and previous sessions, I found that my mill doesn't seem to move the distant I dialed into. I rely on the layout lines to locate the hole locations most of the time. Will have to check that out soon.

A square piece of brass was included in the kit for this engine running on compressed air. It measures 1/2" square and slightly more than 2" long to make the Cylinder Mount and the Cylinder.

I started by slicing up the brass stock on my bandsaw for the 2 parts freehand.

Next, the flycutter was used to thin the piece for the mount to 3/16", as called out in the plan.

The insert used is from AR Warner made of HSS.

Yet again, I was out by 0.004"... Really need to pay attention to creep up to the right size... I'll move on and rebuild any parts that won't work later.

The 2 sides were trimmed next.

I did it yet again - undersized by 0.006". What's wrong with me...

I decided to layout the hole locations rather than relying solely on the handwheels as I seemed not to get the distant dialed.

The first hole, 1/8" diameter. Again, I've not gotten the reamer. The 1/8" drill will have to do for now.

I should start drilling the holes from the top of the workpiece (the right side in the pix), which is the datum shown in the plan), but the top 2 holes (the 1/16" holes on each sides of the centerline). I wasn't confident in remembering how many turns I made and therefore started with those 2 on the centerline.

Holes all done. The 3 smaller holes to the right are right on the marks but not the 1/8" hole.

The plan calls for the hole in the middle to be counterbored.

I should have done the counterboring in one setup but... it is not very concentric to the through hole. That's the price to pay for not planing forward. Anyway, that's a good lesson learnt.

The 2 inlet ports (is that the name of the holes?) were drilled till each broke into the 1/16" hole on each side.

All done. Looks good... Hehehe...

The last part for this engine is the Cylinder.

This will be done in the next session. The truth will be revealed when I assemble the parts together.

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Millie - Piston

2011-11-05T16:07:00.001+08:00

I had a short session this morning making the piston. It was made from the supplied steel pin which I turned to 0.123" instead of 0.125" called for in the plan. I've to learn to be more careful when creeping up to the required dimension. Hope this 2 thou difference will not cause any problem later.

Turning the piston

Overshot the required 1/8". Measuring after parting off.

The next operation involving the drilling of the 1/16" hole on the cylinder face. I wanted to try using the rotary table to hold the job in the mill. This is to provide the practice I need in setting up. Didn't follow through with this as I couldn't get the face of the rotary table square to the table of the mill. I'll have to learn to square it up at a later date.

I notice a deep cut on the right angle attachment when removing it from its plastic bag. I would feel better if I caused the cut but it has been in the bag within the box it came in since I bought it. Should have notice it earlier.

I parted off the piston 2 thou longer than the required 0.6875" this time do that I can trim off the excess later (I've been going under too often so far...).

Holding the piston in the vise, I carefully touch off a 6mm steel dowel to find its centre and end. The 1/16" HSS drill was then swapped in and drill away.

It was tricky at first when the drill started wondering. Light stabbing movement was used and the drill managed to find its way through the piston. The hole looks centered on the face of the cylinder.

The piston done.

One thing on the crank disc from the previous instalment surprised me a little; the crank shaft was originally a sliding fit in the centre hole of the crank disc. I left it in for the night after taking photos of the assembly. This morning, I can't remove the shaft from the disc anymore. This shows that the heat generated during machine operation does expand the part a little to allow a much tighter fit. Instead of using Loctite to hold the shaft to the flywheel (which no long can be pushed in), I'll heat up the flywheel a little to fit the shaft.

I believe I've completed the lathe work for this project. Will be starting on the other parts which are mainly done on the mill. I'm think of doing that tonight, after my birthday dinner, if I'm not too tired.

I'm sitting at the showflat opposite Katong Shopping Centre at this moment. Time to shift my mind back to work.

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Millie - Crank Disc

2011-11-05T01:24:00.001+08:00

I had a short session in the shop tonight after meetings and dinner with the team at work though reaching home a little late. The crank disc was done. This is a simple part measuring 1/2" in diameter and 1/8" thick. There were 2 holes to be drilled; a 1/8" hole in the middle for the crank shaft and a 1/16" for the little crank pin that will be driven by the piston. The supplied 12L14 steel measured exactly 1/2" in diameter, which is what's called for in the plan. I merely sand off the rust on its surface using sandpaper on the lathe running at slow speed. A #0 center drill was use before drilling the 1/8" diameter hole.

The 1/8" hole was then drilled.

I paused for quite a while thinking how the 1/16" hole should be done. According to the plan, it should be 1/8" away from the center of the disc. I thought of re-chucking the job in a 4 jaw and offset it like the way shown by some folks on YouTube. But I don't have an idea how to offset it by the required 1/8" from center. Since I've the mill squared up, I thought using one of the horizontal axes to do the offset. First, I've to find the center of the job.

This was what I did

The 1/8" hole that was drilled was aligned with the MT1 center. Once the center was established, I moved the x axis by 3.175mm and drill the 1/16" hole. This is the smallest hole I ever drilled since I started this hobby. I was afraid to break the tiny HSS drill but the operation went without a glitch.

Hole done

The stock in the chuck was transferred back to the lathe to be parted off.

Done

But... the 1/16" hole wasn't deep enough to break through the bottom...

The challenging part was to mount the stock back to the 3 jaw to face the other side till the 1/16" hole show up. This took me quite a while till I decided to hold a engineering square to the face with the motor turning at slow speed. After a few attempts, I managed to get the part turning without visible wobbling.

Facing was done carefully as I only have a little stock sticking out of the chuck.

I stopped with the hole showed up.

Test fit was done with the supplied pin & shaft.

The fit of both are rather tight. I'll still use a drop of Loctite to avoid the parts falling apart.

I reported in my previous post on the flywheel that it's 1/8" hole was a sliding fit to the crank shaft. When I tried inserting the shaft to the flywheel, I couldn't get the shaft into the hole. The part must be warm enough the last session to allow the shaft to just slide in. I think I'll heat up the flywheel when inserting the shaft during assembly.

The completed disc with pin & shaft viewed from another angle.

That's all for today. I'll be making the piston in my next instalment before starting on the rest on the mill.

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Millie - Flywheel

2011-10-30T20:26:00.001+08:00

Ok, as I've promised, I'm back in machining related posts from this post on. I've started on my very first engine, the simplest one I can find with the least parts - Millie. The Sherline distributor here, Mike of SG Tooling, gave me the kit many months ago but I've not the time to start building it.

I spent some bit of time on Saturday figuring out how to best convert the plan to metric. The rounding up and down of the dimensions are tricky; I need to make sure that mating parts still fit and work together after the conversion & rounding off. At the end, I decided to adjust as I move along.

I've the lathe just trammed and so decided to do the round parts first. I may even bore the piston hole on the brass cylinder on the lathe, if I feel I'm up to task later.

The OD of the flywheel was turned from the supplied 1" 12L14 steel rod to the 3/4" called for in the plan. in fact, I wanted 19mm instead of the 3/4" diameter (which converts to 19.05mm). But I went over a bit and ended with 18.92mm. I don't think this would affect the running of the engine. It will be left as that.

I went on with center drilling and drilling of the 1/8" hole for the crankshaft. I don't have a 1/8" reamer so the 1/8" drill will be it.

The crankshaft of 12L14 steel supplied was inserted into the drilled hole to test fit. The fit was a little loose. A little loctite will be used to keep it in place.

Before parting off, the recess has to be machined on the face. I wasn't sure how I should do this and so put my question on the groups after cleaning up. I was on the bed when I received replies to my post. Both Mr Kieffer & Mr Glickstein suggested using boring bar for the job. Why didn't I think of that?! I jumped off my bed and headed for the shop. My first attempt ended in failure.

I went back to bed as it was late, though still trying to think of a solution before falling asleep. Then, I remembered that I ever bought a grooving tool insert. That should be the right tool to use for this job. But it's too late to do anything; I was already too tired.

This morning I got up to complete the job.

The recess on one side is now done. Time to part it off.

Comparing with parting off aluminum rods, this was much easier and quick. Maybe because of the little experiences I gained, the operation went smoothly without a glitch.

I re-chuck the flywheel to work on the other side. In my excitement, I forgot to face it to the thickness according to plan. This, I don't think is critical. I align the flywheel in the 3 jaw by tapping on the face while the spindle turns. Didn't want to pull out the DTI as my shop time was running out.

Both sides now done. Instead of 1/4" (or 6.35mm) thick, I ended up with 6.59mm. The chatter mark can be seen near the hub.

Measuring the completed flywheel.

I'm going leave this flywheel as it is. Will decide if I need to make another one after I have the rest of the parts done. May even drill holes around the face to represent spokes of some sort.

Let's see when I've time in the shop this coming week to continue this project.

Have a blessed week.

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Crazy Month

2011-10-28T19:49:00.001+08:00

It is finally ending with 1 more working day on Monday. It has been a crazy month. First with my dad's health and second, with me covering my buddy who went for his holiday in Europe.

Dad is recovering well. He had his last ops last week and was discharged on Tuesday. He is still feeling a little weak but I believe God will nurse him back to health. This old man of mine is tough!

My buddy will be back in the country on Sunday. Hope he'll be back in office on Monday though I don't think that's likely; some adjustments may be needed due to jet-lag. Then, it'll be the adjustment from holiday mode to work mode; kind of tough especially towards the end of the year.

I was passing through Mike's shop 2 days' back. He reported that my order from Proxxon may only arrive after the year ended. I was kind of disappointed to hear that as I was hoping to spend some time in December getting to know the new lathe. I'm praying for miracle...

The little manual mill seems to be pretty well squared up after spending numerous hours over several weeks adjusting it. I want to get started machining the parts for Millie, which looks the simplest engine for beginners like me. I've converted the dimensions from imperial to metric. Some adjustments will still be needed to ensure that mating parts are within tolerance. All this are being done on the notebook using CADCAM software. I really want to start work tomorrow but I'm feeling the strain; the produce of the crazy month.

Alicia's 12th birthday is coming (October 31). I bought her a Nintendo 3DS 2 weeks' ago as her birthday gift. She is asking us to fund her party with her classmates after school on Monday at Swenson. Thought I've already given her what she always wanted? Kids these days...

We'll have Japanese buffer dinner with the family to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. I'm hoping my dad and granny can join us. There'll be 16 of us, 2 families (including my in-laws), getting together chatting away. This will cost me quite a bit, but for the family, it's well worth the money.

This post should mark the end of non-machining topics. My next one will either be on my work making the Millie or continuing with the z axis leadscrew mod for the bigger mill.

Stay tuned.

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Challenging weekend

2011-10-16T12:36:00.005+08:00

This has been a challenging weekend with my dear wife out of the country. The 2 little ones was recovering from food poisoning and our helper being only a few days old with us.

Alicia, the older girl, recovered well. Its Ruth that is still having her occasional run to the toilet. She looks weak and kept having nightmare. So both of us didn't get much sleep for the last 2 nights.

This week will be a tough one for me with little rest over the weekend. Most of my days are filled with appointments and rushing of cases.

In fact, this month has been challenging starting with my dad's condition late last month till a good part of this month.

I thank God for His strength to see me through.

Regards,
Wong

Beautiful Engines - John R. Bentley

2011-10-16T11:07:00.000+08:00

Couldn't exactly remember how I got the link to this site but I'm glad I found it. Mr Bentley's creations are simply beautiful. I'll be contented if I build to that standard even if I can't get them to run. But I believe when I'm up to par, the engines built will run...

Here's the link: http://modelengines.info/. Enjoy!

Good News!!!

2011-10-04T13:44:00.001+08:00

We were originally told that my dad will have to go through an ops today to route his intestine to his stomach to pass motion so as to keep his wound clean. His doctor told us today that his wound has started drying up so much that the ops is no longer needed!!! They'll be monitoring his wound and will get in a plastic surgeon for skin grafting in about a week's time.

Thanks God!!!

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Day 4 - morning

2011-10-01T10:26:00.001+08:00

We had a feast late last night, celebrating my dad's recovery. He was enjoying the Lord's shalom and comfort. Pastor Chris came by yesterday. She shared with dad the Good News. We prayed and worshipped the Lord in the ICU, partaking the Holy Communion. Dad slept with peaceful look on his face.

My cousin, a doctor with another hospital, read dad's record and told us that dad's condition is stable, confirming what the Lord has placed in our heart. We're rejecting all bad news in His name, claiming ALL His promises. If His Words is not truth, what else is?

We'll be talking to the doctor later. We believe the tubes that in his mouth, down to his throat, will be remove today. He will be able to eat, talk, and celebrate with us. This will all end in jubilee though it started with us almost losing him. God is faithful. For all He is giving us, He gave freely. It's up to us to claim all the blessings He has already provided. The price was paid in that ONE ACT.

Praise Him!!!

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Day 3

2011-09-30T12:05:00.001+08:00

Dad looks much better today. Think he is getting used to the tubes in his throat & nose. It broke our heart to see him strapped down to the bed. Bad night for him and all of us yesterday. Yesterday was also the first time I broke down after almost 30 years. It just came while I was driving home.

He is very worried about the operation later. That will be his third in three consecutive days. He is also worried about granny. Communication was done via marker & paper. The last instruction to my brother surprised us; he asked if my brother has fulfilled the order for their client, remembering even
the address. This man is sharp!

I'm praying for His Shalom on him, that he rest in His peace while all required are done on him.

We are now waiting for the doctor to tell us what time will the operation starts. She'll brief us at 4pm.

There is nothing we can do now but pray and leave dad in God's hands.

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God Heals

2011-09-29T20:32:00.001+08:00

I am declaring that my dad is healthy and whole. Whatever that is causing the infection is gone in Jesus' name. No pain, no suffering, no diseases can stand in the way of my mighty God!!! His peace is on him that he has no fear. By His strips, he is healed! At this very instance.

GOD IS GOOD!!! ALL THE TIME!!!

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Magazines on Machining

2011-09-09T22:32:00.001+08:00

I requested for trial copy of 2 magazines on machining from here: http://www.homeshopmachinist.net/home?noredirect=true&noredirect=true after seeing the recommendation on Sherline group. Not that resources and information are not available online, but the feel of holding and reading from a magazine is really nice.

The magazines were in the letterbox right on time; for the company trip the next 2 days. I flipped through the pages briefly and saw an article on making a stop for Sherline lathe. Cool... Looks like I'll be a subscriber soon.

The mags:

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Ikea Lamp Holder

2011-09-09T08:49:00.001+08:00

Finally had the chance to fix it ip to the lathe board just before going work.

The hole to the left was what I used. Part of the swivel of the lamp was blocked by the board such that the lamp cannot be held at a certain position. The lamp holder solved that problem.

Got to thank TK for printing this holder. Almost 2 hrs of preparation & printing. It will take me longer than that to make this in aluminum.

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3D Printing of Ikea Lamp Stand

2011-09-05T10:50:00.001+08:00

I have been reading on 3D printing briefly and got interested in the possibilities it opens up in a home shop environment. From my little understand of how this works, this an additive method of create parts (my metal working machines are subtractive as in they remove materials to form the required geometries). Plastic filaments are melted and squeezed out of a nozzle to form parts layer by later. The structure is basically a 3-axis stage that controls the positioning of the nozzle. Frankly, that's all I know or can understand.

I bumped into a gentleman, Mr TK Ng, at Mike's shop. He was buying the Sherline lathe and mill when I met him. We chatted and learnt that he owns the Makerbot's Thing-O-matic 3D printer. Cool!!!

This was what he printed:

This is some kind of a space fighter from some movies.

I'm interested to get a unit of the printer myself upon considering what can be printed within it's 120mm x 120mm x 10mm stage. Not an easy decision as I've also committed to purchase the Proxxon PD400.

To see the usability of the parts a 3D printer produces, I ask TK if he can help print a lamp stand for the Ikea lamp I have. He kindly agreed. This is the STL file I sent him:

The part measures 49mm x 49mm and has a height of about 50mm.

Very quickly, he sent me these:

Another view:

From the bottom:

From the side, you can see the angled wall also printed per the STL:

What amazed me is the capturing of even the fillets.

TK said that the print job took him about an hour and a half. Setting up took another 15 minutes (generate GCode, calibration etc).

I'll try to pick up the printed part from him and will post a pix of it in use.

Now, the Proxxon lathe has a lead time of 12 weeks while the 3D printer about 5 weeks. Maybe I should get one to play with and start making some useful household stuff to justify it's present in my shop... lol... Mike, when you're ready...

I would like to thank TK for the print. Will be troubling you when one magically appear in my shop.

I need more space...

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Setting the mill on it's new base

2011-09-04T09:58:00.001+08:00

Back home, I prepare the board for the mill. Six round rubber bumpers were attached to the backside of the board to dampen vibration and prevent the mill moving around during cut.

The mill was placed on the board to have the hole locations punched out.

Then I started to screw up... My laziness got me to just drill the screws in using the punch marks as guides. After the 2 front screws went in, I saw that the screws pushed the alignment out. While trying to remove the screws to start over, one of them stripped.

I tried using the screw extractor with a hand drill - didn't work. Never did get that to work before anyway. I was thinking, if I can drill off the head from the shank of the screw with a slightly bigger drill than the shank, I should be able to remove the screw and not damage the mill base. I carefully measured the shank of the screw. Slightly more than 4mm. Took a 4.5mm drill and drill away. Light sewing oil was used to keep the heat down. In less than a minute, the head came off. Hahaha! It works!

This was what's left on the board:

The threaded shank was rather stubborn. It just refused to come out. So out came my brand new Proxxon IB/E with it's cutting disc. The idea was to cut a slot for the screw driver to be used.

The cutting disc stood the cut but didn't withstand the slight knock on the mill base...

Now I'm able to carefully remove the screw shank without major damage to the board.

I'll use the other side of the board to start over. Small holes will be drilled this time to guide the screws. I'll also be drilling 2 additional holes for the bolts holding the column to the base so that I don't have to remove the base from the board for future adjustments.

More pics in the next instalment. Got to get ready for church.

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A Trip down Kelantan Lane

2011-09-03T16:01:00.001+08:00

The title sounds like a trip down memory lane...

Ruth and I made a trip down to Ban Heng Long to get some wooden boards to replace the boards for mounting the mill and lathe. It's always fun to have Ruth along with me while I shop at Kelantan Lane.

While there, we saw this:

Ruth insisted that I take a pix of the "dead squirrel". She is so funny. Wanted me to pick the dead rat... No way darling...

At Ban Heng Long, I ordered 2 pieces of plywood 18mm thick as they do not have hard wood of the sizes I want. The plywood boards are laminated on one side to keep oil and coolant off. Also bought for TK some MDF of various sizes.

The man at work cutting the board to size on a shop made saw table:

Interesting to see the guy using blocks of wood as guides. Adjustments of the distant to saw blade was done by stacking the wooden blocks.

These are the stuff I bought:

TK's MDF:

A trip to MacDonald's for fries and coke ended the outing with my little one.

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Mill out of alignment AGAIN!!!

2011-08-31T20:21:00.001+08:00

I was preparing 2 aluminum plates for the A2Z nut mount. When flycutting the sides, I realized that they are not square to the face of the plate. Ok, I don't get perfectly square work most of the time, but this time, the difference is too obvious to ignore; they're off but about 1-degree!

First thought, vise moved during
cut? No, that wasn't the problem after checking.

The stock is standing too tall in the vise? No, sandwiching it with the 1-2-3 blocks didn't help...

I put in the indicators to check. Boy!!! Along y axis, I'm off by 5.xmm!!! Along x, not too bad - 0.03mm.

During the first few passes of flycutting, key '1' on the keyboard got stuck and instead of doing a G01 move, the command became G0. This caused the table to move at 500+ mm/min! I hit the e-stop and started over. Too confident of my typing without looking at the keyboard and little pinky was too fast on the "enter" key...

I started cleaning up the chips to prepare to square up the mill again. Then a thought struck: "shake the mill", "shake the mill"... I rocked the mill holding it's base and the column bed. To my horror, I hear knocking sound coming from the joint between the base and the round column! I am very sure that I tightened the 2 bolts during the last clean up just a few weeks back. Argggh... I'll have to dismantle the mill again... Looks like it is also time to convert the mill back to 5410 for more rigidity...

Sigh...

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A2Z Leadscrew Conversion - Nut Mount Top

2011-08-30T10:47:00.001+08:00

I was extra careful this time in my preparation. The idea is to work from the 100mm square aluminum stock directly without cutting to size first. The only thing I did to the plate was to square off 2 sides as reference and drill 4 mounting holes. For the fun of it, I painted the top face with a red felt tip marker and marked out the features required. The markings will only serve as a guide, as how close I can cut depends on how aligned the stock is to the axes of the mill.

The mounting holes will be used to mount the plate to a block of wood. After the first screw, I indicated the reference side to the x axis.

After having it along x, the rest of the holes were used to fasten the plate down. The tightening of the screws moved the stock quite a bit but since I've sufficient material to work on, I didn't bother to redo the alignment. Only 3 screws were used as I've only 5 of such on hand. The other 2 will be for the inside piece.

The drilling routine was executed for the 4x5mm and 2xM5 holes. The 2 pan head screws were used to hold down the part during the profiling job.

The profiling job up next.

WD40 was used as coolant, creating the mess on the wall behind the mill.

And finally,

I like the cut out stock... Looks like some sort of stencil...

The part, standing proud.

A short clip taken during the profiling job:
YouTube Video
What's left to do on this are tge facing of the stock to 6.5mm and tapping of the M5 threads.

I'll be starting on the 2 side plates in my next session.

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Gift from a bro

2011-08-29T09:24:00.001+08:00

I returned to office today, after the 2 weeks' break, which I bumped around doing nothing constructive.

On my desk, a gift awaits; a Braun Buffel name card holder from a beloved bro.

Thanks Julian.

I'm now struggling to clear over 300 emails. Some are junk, some "For Info Only", some need my attention... Think today is mail clearing and clean up day!!!

Got to also thank my buddy, Andrew Goh for covering me. The Bapes clock is under way.

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Baby Sarah's Baby Shower

2011-08-27T15:10:00.001+08:00

This is baby Sarah and her mommy, Helen. She is a month old.

Cute little one.

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A2Z Leadscrew Upgrade - Silly Silly Silly

2011-08-21T09:38:00.001+08:00

I am so "talented". Can't believe I'm a "born hobby machinist"... I can even mount the stock upside down to start the profiling cut of the nut mount. Argg....

The 2 M5 holes are supposed to be on top. There goes the effort and precious shop time. I'll have to start over...

What a smart ass I am... I'll pray for wisdom later in church.

A video showing the cut. Don't know if you can hear the slight chatter. Feed is about 500mm/min. Spindle at 2800 RPM. Both numbers generated by BCC. DOC at 0.25mm. Maybe I'll bring the DOC to 0.2 to see if that helps.

YouTube Video

Two things I need to remember for the next piece; 1) mark the stock for orientation, 2) get a thicker piece of MDF.

It took me a while to figure out which side should be facing up as the job is not symmetrical on the stock. As for thicker MDF, the one I was using is so thin that the spindle is almost at it's extreme when cutting through the stock.

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A2Z Leadscrew Upgrade - Nut Mount Top: Session 2

2011-08-21T01:47:00.001+08:00

Lacking idea what to name this post, I decided to denote each project with the session which the work was done from now on.

In the 1st session, the stock was sized. The surface finish was very much short of ideal but sanding down the ridges on the surface plate put it in an acceptable state. In this session, the 4 x 5mm and the 2 x M5 holes were done using gcode generated by BobCad-Cam V24 (BCC from now on). The profiling part was blanked out as I intend to use the mounting holes to hold the stock on a sacrificial piece before applying the profile cut.

Not much pics were taken. I was focusing on the progress as this was my first time using generated feed rate by BCC, which are usually much faster than what I'm comfortable with. I usually use feed of not more than 200mm/min but BCC output feed of more than 500mm/min. It turns out that the fear of high feed is unfounded on aluminum.

The 4 x 5mm in progress. Notice the 2 centre drill holes at the top - a little too shallow for my liking.

All holes done. The 2 holes in the middle were drilled 4.2mm for M5 screws. These will be the mounting holes for the anti backlash nut from A2Z.

Test mounting onto a MDF 6mm thick. The shortest wood screws I have are a little too long. Will buy some shorter ones tomorrow.

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Lathe in Trouble

2011-08-20T15:31:00.001+08:00

It seems that I've not live through a session without having some problems for a long while. Hope that's just part and parcel of learning.

I started the morning session figuring out what is causing the stiffness in turn with the handwheels after installing the DRO housing. While removing the cross slide's motor, this happened:

The motor shaft was stuck in the coupler. Wiggling it out caused the coupler to bend out of shape.

I rushed down to Mike's place to quickly get a replacement. Along with it, I bought several other things (thicker slitting saw, 2 saw blades for the Proxxon mitre saw, and T-slot cutter). Don't understand why I have to left his shop blowing holes here and there in my pocket... He must have black magic applied to his door...

Anyway, when I got home late night, I saw that there were burrs and chips in the slots if the coupler:

Bad bad Sherline. Sloppy work. No problem there, I clean up the slots with a used and blunt slitting saw blade.

I continued my investigation on the stiff hand wheel and finally able to ease off the stiffness on cross slide. Few things were done. First, slight loosening of the gib. 2nd, easing the preload nut, and lastly, making sure the handwheel set screw bite onto the motor shaft properly. Now, turning the handwheel is easier without the DRO housing on. With that on, the stiffness appeared. I'll have to look somemore to figure out what's rubbing against the handwheel causing this.

Too late to do anything meaningful on the lathe at 3am, I took out the wire mesh bought from Daiso to fasten it with cable ties on the window grill. Now I've more storage space!

With the accessories on:

Cool!!! I'll stop here. Will be looking for a new base to place my lathe on. No more particle board. It should be a wide piece to allow the mounting of the lamp and DRO display but shorter than what I'm using so that the handwheel for Z axis is hanging off the edge for easy turning.

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1st Anniversary of Wongster's Productuon!

2011-08-14T18:24:00.001+08:00

Wongster's Production is one-year old this month! Only realized that I started blogging a year back when I was going through my past post.

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Quartz Movement

2011-08-14T18:13:00.001+08:00

Dropped by Art's Friends in Bras Basah Complex after church to pick up a mini Quartz Movement. I'm planning to make a small clock face for a buddy who loves a monkey brand of clothing. I'm going this way (with the Quartz Movement) as I'm not ready to confuse myself with making gears. They look awfully complex. Maybe one day I would go into that but definitely not now.

As for the design, I'm still at CAD stage. Don't know if I will infringe any copyright posting the picture or having it engraved on the clock face. I'll tread carefully.

This is the pic:

Right after lunch, I picked up this brand new 22-degree wood in a preowned pro shop. I was told that it was a prize won by it's current owner who doesn't want it. The grip wrap is still intact, so is the sticker on the club face. Anyway, it's only SGD150. I like the shorter length of it's shaft. My current 21-degree is a little too long though it helped me save quite a few shots.

I'll add a few pics here when I get home.

Pic of the assembled mini quartz movement:

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Bandsaw Trouble

2011-08-13T12:38:00.001+08:00

The little Proxxon bandsaw is giving me problem again. The cut is jerky and the blade moved forward, off the bearing supporting the back of the blade.

Called Mike. He agreed to take a look even though the bandsaw wasn't from him. Thanks Mike, you are the best!

Some pics:

The blade guide in the housing has a "new" slit... Likely the cause of my problem.

A short vid to show the blade running.

YouTube Video

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A2Z Z-Axis Leadscrew Upgrade - Nut Mount Top

2011-08-12T00:37:00.001+08:00

I was home alone while my wife was attending a workshop at church. Though feeling tired, I urge myself to start working on the long overdue leadscrew upgrade at the home workshop.

Not trusting that the split vise is clamped flat to the mill table, I've to cut the stock for the top piece of the anti-backlash nut mount to fit my favorite Matchling 3" vise, leaving about 10mm on top of the actual dimensions. The markings were done using the height gauge on the surface plate. I was then stuck with my first problem for the session; the bandsaw gave some trouble when cutting off the excess stock. The blade was rather jerky and didn't sit properly in the bearing guide. But I managed to rough cut the stock to size.

Facing was done next to smoothen down the sawn sides. Though I don't need the 4 sides to be perfectly square, I took the opportunity to practice squaring up stock. The Japanese-made engineering square was put to use against the mill table and the best side of the stock. After going round the stock, I've an acceptable piece; the best almost squared stock I ever achieved.

Next came facing of the top to the required thickness of 6.5mm. I gathered that this is not a critical dimension from looking at Tang Kee's drawings. The gcodes was done using BobCad with a 1/2" HSS 2-flute endmill. The target depth to face is 2.98mm at about 0.25mm per pass. Step over was set at 40% of the cutter diameter.

The whole process took over 1 hour to complete! Midway, I realized that I was actually climb milling... The cutter was going from left to right, from front to back. No problem encountered.

I also observed that there were steps created every time the cutter stepped over the programmed 40% of it's diameter! What a pain!!!

This is how it looks under normal light:

I applied filters to exaggerate the surface:

I've tried my very best to tram the mill and yet... Sigh... I can even feel the ridges running my fingers across the surface.

Anyway, a short video of the run midway through:

YouTube Video

Anyone can suggest solution(s) to this?

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More New Toys...

2011-08-11T18:39:00.001+08:00

I was over at Church Street seeing a client this late afternoon. Popped over to Mike's place after the meeting since it is a stone throw away. Guess what? I left his place with my haversack stuffed till I hardly can zip up.

These are the stuff in the bag:

1) The Proxxon IB/E rotary tool, which Mike has been boosting about on it's 3 micron run-out. I'm planning to use it for engraving jobs.
2) The Right Angle Attachment for the Rotary Table to save me the trouble making one. The adjustable angle plate I have is a little cumbersome to use.
3) A cheapo Chinese digital caliper to make a poor man DRO (not very cheap at SGD29. But much cheaper than my SGD170+ Mitutoyo). Planning to mount it on the manual mill. Once I'm satisfied that it works, I'll buy 2 more for the other 2 axes.

I also received the iGaging digital depth gauge bought through Incremental Tools earlier today. Looks "plasticky" but for the price, I've no complain...

Seems that I'm still buying things to fill my shop but not making enough chips....

2 more days to end of work and to the start of my 2 weeks' leave!!! I'm really excited!!!

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Tree Wizard's Tribute to Mr Nathan

2011-08-11T01:23:00.001+08:00

You may have seen this latest work of my friend, The Tree Wizard, of our President, Mr Nathan. Mr Lee can be seen in the background in F1 suit. Cool stuff, Chris! You're GREAT!!!

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Split Vise

2011-08-09T15:54:00.001+08:00

I am writing this post in a showflat on National Day. Most of us dislike working on a public holiday, me included. For my friends in the other part of the globe, August 9 is Singapore's independence day. This year is the 46th year since we were separated from Malaysia. The celebration will start in about 2 hour's time at the Marina. It will also be telecast live on all local stations in 4 languages. But me and my buddy here will be sitting at this showflat till it closes. Sigh... I wish I can be home with my family watching the telecast munching snacks. Anyway...

Having only about half an hour to spare in the shop before lunch with my parents and before my showflat duty at Thomson Grand, I couldn't start on something too elaborate (to me as a newbie, I mean). The plan was to do up a split vise featured on "Tips from Sherline Machinists". This is Tip 51 from the master, Jerry Kieffer. The split vise allows long parts greater than the maximum capacity of the original vise (~2") to be clamped.

Since I've 2 Sherline's milling vise, I "scarified" the older one for this.

The straight edge clamp was used to guide the back of the fixed jaw. The bandsaw struggled a bit midway through the cut. Was that a sign of blade getting blunt? Strange if it is, as I barely use the bandsaw since the last blade change.

After quite some minutes, I've the 2" vise in 2.

The 2 cut faces looked pretty clean. Little deburring was needed. I plan to face the cut surfaces to make them smoother.

An aluminum plate mounted on the split vise. Couldn't get this piece in the 2" vise before the split. I am to face it to 6.5mm thick for the top piece of the leadscrew nut holder later.

4 sets of vise hold down are needed with 2 on each side. Even so, I still feel that the fixed jaw lifting a little when I fastened the stock down. Will mill the hold down slots on the 2 sides for additional clamping places. Alignment is a little tricky during setup, but I think as long as the 2 jaws are parallel to each other, a little misalignment on their sides should be fine. I can also make a straight piece in aluminum to help the side alignment. Will write about that if I ever get to doing it.

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Arrival of BobCad-Cam v24

2011-08-05T07:19:00.001+08:00

Didn't expect to receive the software so quickly as I placed the order only last Friday. The courier appeared yesterday afternoon at my office to dropped of the brown box. I ripped the box open to uncover my purchase of the latest Pro version.

Had it installed after dinner with my business partners and friends the very same night. Too excited to wait despite feeling tired. I opened up the image of a baby dog which I was trying to program and apply the latest Advanced Roughing Toolpath. It sure look nicer than what the previous version can produce in simulation when backplotting. Just wonder if it will cut the same. I'm a bit hesitant to try cutting this. It'll take too long - more than 15hrs based on the cycle time displayed.

These are the 2 boxes received:

Gotta stop here to prepare for work.

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Installing The DRO

2011-07-30T23:39:00.001+08:00

I walked into the shop this morning wondering what I should do for the next few hours. The to-do list is long but I was feeling a little lazy. I wanted to machine the nut mount for the leadscrew conversion to get that project out of the way. I also have the axles for Dennis which were long overdue. There is also the reorg of the shop to prepare for the arrival of the PD400. On one corner of the bench is the simple steam engine waving at me... Boy, I'm lost.

I finally settled down to install the DRO and work out the mounting to hang up the monitor on the window grill.

Lathe DRO
These are the parts that read the turns of the handwheel:

The DRO thrust collar was fastened to the back of the stepper motor using 2-part epoxy:

The thrust collar caused the setscrew on the handwheel to clamp too close to the edge of the shaft. Sherline's instruction is to drill and tap another #10-32 hole for the setscrew as close as possible to the plastic encoder gear.

I followed the instruction to do this by clamping a dowel pin to the handwheel using the existing setscrew. I do not have any 1/4" dowel pins around, and so had to make do with the 6mm dowel pin with some adjustments.

Job done for both handwheels:

You can see, from the existing setscrew hole, the end of the motor shaft:

The encoder housing was next. Quite an easy step:

I have a problem here; the encoder housing has the tendency to rotate when I turn the handwheel a bit faster. The instruction calls for a drop of super glue to mate the housing and the thrust collar should this happens. I'll do that as soon as I get myself some super glue.

The RPM sensor was mounted next, after I stick the decal on the pulley. Before applying the decal, I cleaned the pulley surface with adhesive removal to rid it of cutting fluid and oil. Didn't do a good job sticking the decal as it is slightly off centre.

I screwed up when fastening the sensor to the belt housing; it was a little too far in, causing the plastic arm of the sensor to pop up. The correction was easy - just relocate the sensor and fasten it with the self tapping screw on the belt housing.

With all the wiring work done, it was time to plug in the wires to the DRO.

The RPM sensor tested ok. I turned the speed control knob all the way up and it displayed top speed of slightly above 3000 rpm. This is in line with the number shown on the handheld tachometer I used sometime back. Sherline's advertised top speed is 2800 rpm.

The X axis tested ok but not the Z. I swap the encoder to see which is the culprit. It turned out to be the encoder I was using for the Z. I opened up the cover that house the wires of the encoder.

Strange things happened - it works with cover off!!! I screwed back the cover and it stopped working. This shows that 1 or few of the wires' exposed contacts came in contact with each other when the cover is pressing down on them. That's all I can do for this. No knowledge to work out a solution on my own or do further testing. I'll bring it back to Mike for a replacement.

This is a video showing the problem:
YouTube Video
There are 2 parts that are useless if you are installing the encoders to the back of stepper motors. I'll keep them unless someone wants to take them off me.

Some thoughts on the DRO kit. The plastic parts looks and feel flimsy. I'm a bit disappointed with its quality. I expected some harder plastic material being used. The handwheels felt stiff after the encoder housings were installed. Turning them will take quite some effort from now on... Sigh...

Mounting the LCD monitor
I bought the wall mounting bracket for LCD monitor hoping to modd it for use on the aluminum window grill. I wanted to fabricate a pair of brackets to allow the wall mount bracket to be fastened on them. Due to the messiness of the bench at the moment, I decided to just hang the LCD monitor using part of the hardwares provided with the wall mount for the time being.

This is how it looks:

Some space is now saved as I can have the small keyboard I've just bought on the Soigeneris controller box.

Oh, one more thing: I've now rolled up the blinds to free up the grills for use. To shield my machines from direct sunlight, I sticked 2 pieces of black cardboard bought from the neighborhood stationery shop to the glass panels, leaving the top uncovered to allow some natural light.

That's all for now.

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BobCadCam v24 - I did it again!!!

2011-07-29T22:02:00.000+08:00

I wrote to BobCadCam asking the total cost to upgrade all my licenses from v23 to v24. I indicated in the mail that I do not wish to be contact via phone due to different time zone, not wanting to be disturbed while I was asleep. Their sales rep sent me a mail and we started emailing each other a few hours ago with my queries on my existing licenses. He called after, saying that it is easier if we just talk. A few minutes later, I made the payment via PayPal.

This round, I decided to try my hand at hammering down the quoted price, after reading much about this topic on the forum.

The sales rep started at a total of USD1,520, including shipping and custom tax (GST included, as I was told. I'll verify this when the package gets here). I went on my plan and managed to bring down the price to USD600, inclusive of shipping (USD480 for the software and USD120 for shipping & tax). To think that I paid a total of USD1,600 the last time for the same set of stuff for v23.

These are what I'm getting for v24 (2 seats of everything):

1) Mill Pro, Lathe, BobArt;
2) Training DVD;
3) Simulation level 2;
4) Editor level 2.

For the v23 I bought the last round, I bought over a period of time (upgrading and adding on) the above plus the v22 training DVD. The v23 training DVD wasn't available when I first started on the software.

I've them promised to deliver the package to me before I go on leave from August 15 for 2 weeks.

Frankly, I don't really know if I need the upgrades. Maybe its the newer graphic and the few toolpath and features that attracts me to them.

Like I always like to say, let's see how things go.

Sherline DRO kit received today!!!

2011-07-28T19:59:00.001+08:00

Just a short note to express my excitement. Picked up the DRO kit for the lathe from Mike this later afternoon. Was a little rush as I was supposed to meet a client later.

Will be doing a write up after I get it installed.

In this shipment, I've the 2 QC tool holders, tailstock extension, the slide extension for thread cutting with DRO (don't know what is that actually. I'll figure it out later).

That's all for now. Waiting for my client to come back down with some documents.

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"Follower" Rest

2011-07-27T23:42:00.002+08:00

Got home today around 10pm. Kind of tired from work but since my dearest wasn't back from a prayers meeting for a boy with tumor, the shop looked welcoming. It'll be a short session, I promised myself, as I've a long day a head tomorrow, with last appointment starting at 9pm at a home in Yishun. I'll be focus to get the quick-fix follower rest working.

From the previous session, I observed that the 1/4" brass finger being in the way of the spinning tailstock center. A tapered end with a cut off should work. I fastened it down to the vise of the manual mill to cut the notch so that it can press against the turning stock on the top and against the cutting force. No measurements were taken; just eyeballing the depth and step over to what I felt is right.

I re-clamp the finger at an angle in the vise to mill the taper.

The finished work mounted in the A2Z QC holder:

I did some test cut with the QCTP at various angles. Best result was with the finger very slightly behind the cutting tool.

Managed to get 0.01mm difference in diameter across the cut length of about 55mm. Sweet!!!

A video to go along:

YouTube Video

Sorry for the shaky video. It was taken with one hand holding the iPhone and the other turning the handwheel. Maybe I should get a real camera. But the Proxxon lathe comes first. Let's see how things turns out.

Edit: I would like to give credit to Alan Haisley of the Yahoo! Sherline Group for the idea on creating the notch on the brass finger. Missed the mention due to disruptions when preparing the post.

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Tempering, aligning, and testing

2011-07-23T01:46:00.001+08:00

Had a couple of hours in the shop while my dearest was out for her visitation in NUH as a church volunteer. Few things I would like to try out after reading and playing with the ideas in my mind.

First, is to make a center with straight shank - to be used with the ER16 collet. This was also my first time trying my hand at tempering steel.

I cut off a short section of 10mm steel rod and turn it down a little to descale it. The compound slide was set to an angle of 30-degree to allow an included angle of 60-degree.

After cleaning up with sandpaper, I heated the business end of the center with the Proxxon torch. This torch was bought quite a while back from Mike. So far it has only been used to burn some irritating black ants in the kitchen. I didn't manage to get it cherry red as described in some forum postings. Still went ahead to dunk it in a cup of water when I saw the change in colour.

Somehow, I like the darkish colour...

Tested it by using it to align the A2Z adjustable tailstock with a dead center mounted, a painful process but I managed.

The reason for this adjustable one is the drooping of the original tailstock when extended. I'll work on the repair I saw on the web when I have time.

With some time more to burn, I decided to test out the "follower rest"; using the A2Z QCTP and a brass finger mounted. The brass finger was taken from the fixed steady.

It didn't work as i thought it would. I experienced lots of chatter leaving ugly finishes on the stainless steel pin. The diameter was still bigger at the tailstock end though alignment on both end were done.

I'm hoping that this will not be the result I get from using the Sherline's follower rest, which I should be receiving on the 26th this month. The DRO kit and some other items I ordered should be in the same shipment of there is no screw up.

A bigger lathe is still haunting me. It's now seems that the Proxxon PD400 is the right one to go for. The Wabeco D4000E is my dream machine but the price is too daunting; it is quite a few thousands more than the PD400 but with slightly shorter bed 350mm vs 400mm.

With that being decided, The problem left is, how will I be able to smuggle it into my shop without being seen? Not an easy task as the PD400 is quite big to simple hide away from sight. Besides, the bright yellow (splash guard and chips collection tray) and green would stand out from the Sherline lathe and 2 mills, which are black. Sigh...

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New tools

2011-07-17T10:16:00.001+08:00

I stopped the previous post frustrated. So thought of putting something more joyful today, being a Sunday - my new purchases. This always perks me up.

These were picked up from Mike the last 2 days. You can see the grooving tool at the far left with the 2 inserts next to it. The little inserts, smaller than the size of my finger nails, are USD23 each (excluding shipping and tax). I did a few tests of the thinner one (~0.79mm) on stainless steel. It "peels" off the metal like when you are peeling off an apple with a sharp knife. It cuts better than the HSS insert I bought earlier but it is also more than double the price of the HSS insert (USD10).

The round block is the raiser for Sherline QCTP. This will help, together with the tailstock raiser (the one below the round block) and headstock raiser (not shown), to increase the size of the stock I can turn on the lathe.

The above came in mid last week from Axminster UK. Took them a month to reach me as the parcel was returned due to unsuccessful delivery. But the service standard of the company's staff was so good that I don't feel a bit mad. There are 3 chatter free countersinks and a stop jig for the straightedge clamp in this shipment.

I'm always happy when I buy things for my hobby; just like a woman on their shopping spree.

Frustrating session!!!

2011-07-16T23:37:00.001+08:00

Right after sending off the guests, I went straight to the shop to continue my work on the axles. With the best piece just done, I thought that I would be able to hold the 0.02mm tolerance I set for myself for the job, across the length of 54.1mm. Boy, I was wrong! very wrong! The next piece was out by 0.18mm. The piece after 0.19mm. What the hell went wrong?!

I clean up the lathe, put in a 10mm steel rod with about 75mm sticking out of the ER16 collet. Several light passes were taken with measurements taken at the 2 ends and the middle. After tapping the spindle with a dead blow hammer here and there, I managed to clock an error of 0.02mm across the 75mm. That is good enough for me.

I put in a new piece of 6mm stainless with only 20mm sticking out. Took 0.1mm passes several time while checking the diameters at both ends - I've 0.04mm of error at such short length!!! What's happening?!

Is it the collets I bought from CTC Tools in HK or is it the ER16 spindle I bought from Sherline?!

I'm too frustrated and tired to do further test. I've failed the session today. When can I get such simple job done?!

I've lost my confident at using the lathe. I need help. Who can tell me what I can do to right the alignment problem?

Anyone???

Lunch on me if you can. Please drop me a note. I'm desperate!!!

The axle project continues...

2011-07-16T12:32:00.001+08:00

I've just gotten out of kelantan lane with more stainless steel pins. After the many trials I did, I've left with insufficient raw material to finish the job.

We are throwing a small birthday party for my little girl who is turning 8 next Thursday. The event will start at about 5. I should have some time to finish up a few more pieces. Tomorrow is a full working day for me. Won't be able to do any work.

A Mr Ho contacted me yesterday via Daddyhobby's pm. He is looking for someone to cut some holes and slots for 16 ABS boxes. I was told that they are for some circuit boards. I hesitated for a while as, you all know, I've very little shop time due to my work as a legal loan shark. But the thought of being able to try creating a simple jigs for small quantity production work is enticing. The time line of 2 to 3 weeks is a little scary. As much as I want to spend more time playing, I'm often left with a couple of hours once to at most 2 times per week.

I'll have to finish up the job I promised Dennis before starting this. Ive leant a lot from making the axles for Dennis. This, in itself, is the greatest reward.

Let's see how things turn out.

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Dennis' Axles

2011-07-10T13:05:00.001+08:00

I was given the weekend off due to my bad lower back (thanks boss!). It is still giving me a bit of problem being rather stiff and the occasional pull but I'm determined to do some work in the shop.

Some thoughts ran through my mind about achieving a uniform diameter throughout the entire 55mm length of the axle I'm doing for Dennis' landing gear. The flex in the tool was eliminated with the purchase of the HSS insert tool for parting & grooving from AR Warner thru LMS. But I couldn't figure out how to eliminate or at least minimize flex in the stainless steel pin, especially when it gets closer to the required diameter of 4mm.

Jerry Kieffer of Sherline group suggested turning by breaking the 55mm length into shorter sections till the entire length is out of the collet. He also warned of having to have accurate collet for this to work.

I spent Saturday afternoon aligning the spindle centre line to the bed and testing out what Jerry had suggested. It turned out well for the first 2 sections but as more of the stock was sticking out of the collet, I've a small "hump" between the 2nd and 3rd sections. Don't know if it can be seen from the pic.

I tested with another piece with the same result. This seems to suggest that I've run-out in the collet. These set of ER16 collets were from CTC Tools. Likely China made as the company is based in Hong Kong and their product ship out from Shenzhen.

So now I've another set of problem to solve... Sigh... I'm using the ER16 as Sherline's MT1 collets with the drawbar doesn't allow the stock to pass through the spindle bore. maybe I should cut the grooves on all the stocks first and either turn it between centers or use the 4-jaw chuck.

I did complete 2 pieces yesterday but I miscounted the dial resulting the 1st one to be a little shorter (by about 3mm) than the required length. Screwed up the other one, my best so far, when cutting the flat, also due to miscounting of the handwheel dial. So, 2 pieces completed with defects... Sigh... I need DRO!!! Mike, when my DRO coming???

This one has a flat of 1mm deep. Supposed to be 0.45mm. What was I thinking...

One other thing I can do in the interim; switch off my phone when in the shop. Both boo-boo's where made when I was interrupted by phone calls; one was from my colleague and the other a prospective client.

That's all for this week. Before I go, I posted the pic of my next purchase, probably ordering it by end August. Shipping will take about 8 to 9 weeks (hope I hear that wrong). Don't ask me if I need it, or will be able to make full use of it. I'm just attracted to it's bright colors and my need to de-stress.

Here goes:

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Sad weekend

2011-07-03T20:18:00.001+08:00

Got up early on Saturday to try out the Arthur R Warner HSS grooving tool I bought through LMS before my showflat duty at Seastrand. I was careful in my setup to make sure I've as little flex as possible in both the tool bit and the stainless steel pin. The circlip groove and the 3mm grooves turned out well and right at where they are supposed to be. Took a couple of pics and went on to prepare for work. I suddenly felt a pull on the lower part of my back, towards the left. Thought that it may just be the way I was standing over the lathe to tighten this and that and paid little attention to it.

The pain worsen and I was limping out of home. It's felt like spasm in the lower back. I couldn't stand straight and sit comfortably. Bear through the day and ended work at around 8pm when my colleagues asked me to.

My wife came over to pick me up to see a senseh. Spent an hour being "tortured" by the senseh. The condition didn't improve.

Now I'm lying on my bed typing this post on my iPhone. I've quite a long day tomorrow at work. Praying for miracle of instant recovery. July is another month where we are paid additional revenue for what we're bringing in. Can't afford to be down again. I could have done much more in June if not for the fever.

Ok, the 3
pics I took. Nothing much than testing of the grooving tool.

Using the Sherline thin parallel to ensure tip of tool at centre line.

First groove done. The tool was advanced by turning of handwheel to the next position. Gcode done for the ops but I want to ensure that I've flex down to minimum before going on CNC.

While cutting this 3mm wide groove, I can feel the flexing of the job as cutting came on and off though the tool was advanced consistently.

I'm planning to push the job into the collet leaving only minimum hang out.

For now, I'm banned from the shop. Quite boring lying on the bed for an active person (not in the sense of being active in sports but constantly wanting to work on something).

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Purchases from Little Machine Shop

2011-07-01T01:03:00.001+08:00

The Arthur R Warner Co. HSS inserts have finally arrived! Ordered them from Little Machine Shop (LMS) about a week or two back.

I started searching for HSS inserts after hearing from Tang Kee and reading about it on LMS. Just that I couldn't find the exact part number given on Sherline's site for their tool holders. I emailed Arthur R Warner Co. asking if they make HSS inserts that fit. Received a reply the next day with their recommendation. Unfortunately, they don't accept payment via Paypal and I'm not comfortable providing my credit card details via phone or email. Wrote to LMS with the part number given and was told they are able to order from Arthur R Warner for me at the same price! Now I'm able to use HSS on aluminum stock with inserts!!!

Included in this shipment is the cut off & grooving tool with HSS inserts, also made by Arthur R Warner.

Some pics to round off this post:

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Minor Fixes

2011-06-19T13:27:00.001+08:00

Given my inability to do serious work due to medication, I did 2 minor fixes which were long overdue.

Reworking the Tramming Tool
Wanted to do this for a while. I had the indicators mounted in the front of the holders, which was not inline with the spindle centre. The indicators' tip weren't sweeping along the same path in the previous setup.

Drilling done on the manual mill. The left hole a little off due to miscounting of handwheel turn. The 2nd one is right on the spot.

Done...

The tool in use.

Fixing the A2Z Adjustable Tailstock
This purchase has been sitting on my bench for quite a few months. Can't use it because of the threads in the 2 holes on the tailstock. The tailstock is the original from Sherline meant to be used on the mill with rotary table, but modded to use with the adjustable base by A2Z on the lathe. With the threaded holes, the tailstock cannot be fastened onto the adjustable base. So the threads have to go...

It was easier to align the drill to the holes on the manual mill than the drill press. 5mm drill was used to stripped off all the threads, which is the closest without enlarging the holes too much (tried 4.5mm, 4.8mm, and finally 5mm).

The tailstock mounted.

Next was to align it to the headstock - a painful exercise.

View from the top.

From the operator's side.

All done!!!

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Reassembling and Tramming

2011-06-15T22:23:00.001+08:00

After being "unconscious" in the afternoon, knocked out yet again by medication, I was up feeling much better. I was actually being disturbed by the vibration of my phone; lots of missed calls and SMSes. Anyway, I'm awake. I returned all the calls and responded to all SMSes. Found myself back in the shop staring at the main mill that was in pieces. Decided to fix it up and tram it along the way.

This was how I left it previously:

I clamped a DTI in the vise and swept along X-axis.

Then mount up the column bed and swept it again.

The first time got me quite close and this time only minor adjustments needed.

The motor and spindle were them mounted. I fastened a 5" square in the vise and fix up the DTI in the spindle to align the Z to the table. First, the spindle up moved up and down with the tip of the indicator running along the square in the X direction to adjust the side tilt. This process is quite a pain as there is no micro adjustment available.

The forward/backward tilt was next. This was easier. Sherline provided a #10-32 SHCS at the back of the column for micro adjustment.

The tramming tool was used next for fine adjustments. With the A2ZCNC angle adjuster mounted in the on their spacer, adjustments along X is now much simpler.

This is not so along Y, which require the use of shims to square it up. Maybe I should workout something along the line of the angle adjuster.

Ok. Time to stop work. Will continue in the next session.

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Handwheel Repair

2011-06-15T11:47:00.001+08:00

Wanted to go back office to clear up my pile today while on medical leave. Fever came back in the morning forcing more bed rest and the medication caused me to feel rather light headed.

Got up again feeling restless, I walked into the shop to look at the newly assembled mill. I broke one of the handwheels a while ago and have been thinking of getting it fixed. I remembered the warning on all forums not to operate any machines while under medication. I reasoned that I can still do light milling safely.

After fiddling around to remove the stiffness in X-axis, I proceeded to drill out a slightly bigger hole to fit an M5 button head SHCS.

The hole was progressively enlarged till the M5 screw cam slide in easily.

A flat is milled at the back of the handwheel to allow the screw to be tightened flat.

Next, some threads were removed in the middle section of the screw so that the plastic sleeve can rotate freely. This took a bit of time as the screw kept wanting to move out of the 3 jaw chuck.

Two nuts were used in the assembly; one against the face of the handwheel to stop the screw from loosening, the other loctited at the tip of the screw. The plastic sleeve was also shortened a little to fit.

The handwheel mounted. Works rather well! Glad to be able to save some money for other more useful stuff.

From the experience of using the manual mill, I found it to be easier to feel how fast I need to feed the stock to tool. With more practice, I should be able to determine what feedrate to set for CNC operation.

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Manual Mill Assembled

2011-06-13T00:20:00.004+08:00

After church and lunch, we were back home for a while. I took the time to finish up the assembly of the 5410 mill. This project was put on hold as I was waiting for the gibs and gib locks to ship in. Mike was so kind to accommodate my picking up of the orders after dinner on Saturday.

With the previous experience of replacing the Sherline gib, the process of drilling the holes for the gib locking wires was pretty quick. But I took my time to make sure the hole on each gib is at the right location and at the right angle. No precision needed here; just mark and drill through.

Here is a pic of the Z and Y axis done.

The X axis completed. Spindle mounted for show.

The spindle motor was taken out of the box for the photo taking session.

While putting the belt onto the slots in the pulley, I saw an unsightly defect.

I don't know how this happen. The plastic housing should have protected the motor pulley from any knocks during shipping. I've been getting items from Sherline with scratches starting from the 8-direction column. Even the QCTP I bought recently has a scratch mark on it's top face. The pulley of the spindle came discolored (oxidation?). Those that are cosmetic don't bother me. But the cut on the motor pulley looks quite bad. Let's hope it doesn't affect anything.

After putting on the belt and tensioned it, I mounted the spindle assembly on the mill for some simple test. There was some high pitch resonance when I turn the speed control knob to it's max. You got to tune up the volume to hear it. Recorded using my iPhone.

I'll be tramming the mill in my next session. Time to clean up the work bench to make way for the mill.

I also took some time to upgrade Mach3 to the latest lock down version and install the latest plugin for SmoothStepper. Had some problem with the lathe settings on Mach3. Couldn't get out of the blinking Reset button. Since the mill profile works fine, I duplicated the XML and change the screenset to lathe. Simple tests were done to determine backlash and the compensation applied. Works beautifully! Thanks Greg! Good job with the plugin. If you have some time, hope you can work on the manual.

Ok. Time to sleep. Meeting a client at 8.30am.

Parting pic - my lathe, after cleaning up the mess:

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Grinding Grooving Tool

2011-06-11T19:05:00.001+08:00

The grooving insert and holder I order from Mike will not reach me for another week or 2. Itching to do some work, I spent some time grinding my own using 1/4" HSS tool.

I want the width to be about 1mm or slightly less. The cutting depth will not be long to reduce the chance of flexing during cut.

The shape wasn't what I want but that's the best I can get from my grinder. You can see the business end sloped towards the shank, which will likely cause the groove to open up.

An idea come to my mind while trying to solve this: use the grinding stone with the Dremel rotary tool.

This gave a tight corner, allowing the 2 sides to be parallel (or almost).

The cutting width achieved: 0.95mm. Proper clearance were provided. It cuts really well without chatter.

The grooves completed. Next was to turn this segment down to 4mm.

This is my best piece thus far.

If you have not notice, the QCTP used is Sherline's. Adjustments is easier as the tool didn't move up when tightening. The tool post came with a hold down to prevent rotation during cut. A good investment.

I'm out for family dinner at time of writing this post. Hope to complete a few pieces of the axles, assemble the mill, tram it, and cut the flat. A tall order given the little time when I get home. Wouldn't be starting up late tonight as I'll be going church the next day; first service after 2 months...

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New Purchases

2011-06-06T23:06:00.001+08:00

Just got back from Mike's with these:

The Sherline's QCTP with it's 3 tool holders and the optional 3/8" tool holder (far left). On the foreground is the slitting saw. I screwed up mine while using it to make the tramming tool.

What's not shown are the 2 replacement inserts. The 2 little carbide inserts, smaller than my finger nails, cost quite a bit - about $14 a piece.

It took me a while to decide buying the QCTP system from Sherline. Main consideration? Cost. It cost me more than twice the amount I paid for the A2Z version and with 1 holder less.

Sherline's system looks and feels more solid; having made of steel, unlike the A2Z's, which is aluminum.

I've also ordered the grooving tool and it's insert. These will only reach me in 2 to 3 weeks' time.

Meanwhile, I'm planning in my mind how I should approach the machining of the grooves on the axle, minimizing or if possible, eliminating flex (in tool and in the job). Spoke to Grandmaster Mike while at his shop. He suggested using a rotary tool to cut the grooves while the job spin in the lathe. Need to make a holder to mount the dremel on the lathe cross slide or to buy from mike the Proxxon IBE with the holder. Anyway, the IBE will only be in stock on Saturday. Will think about that.

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Axle - an idea

2011-06-05T10:49:00.001+08:00

The idea came when I was preparing to go work this morning. To minimize flex in tool, the grooving insert should do the trick. For the deflection in the job when applying the part off blade,I can start the job with the grooving done first when the stock is still at 6mm dia. Instead of cutting them at radius of 0.2mm, I'll just cut 2pm more. Once the grooves are done, the stock will be turned down to the required 4mm. The problem I can see using this workflow is the lost of the reference point (think it's called datum. But I'm not sure). This can be easily solved by using one end of the stock to start counting from.

What I'm going to do also is to use Mach3 with the stepper motors to help in positioning of the first groove, power them off and turn from there. Should work. I'll give it a shot.

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Failed attempt in making the axles

2011-06-05T00:35:00.001+08:00

A disappointing session tonight. I was full of excitement when I got home from work and dinner at about 9pm. Planned the process in mind during the day of getting the grooves at the right places with minimal deflection from the tool and the pin.

I started aligning the headstock to the 100mm pin after cleaning up the ends as close to the chuck as possible. They came dead accurate at 6mm throughout from the metal shop.

After fiddling with the arm of the DTI stand, I managed to get the DTI in position.

With the extra length on each end (the final length of the pin is slightly less than 60mm), I'm able to start the cut away from the tailstock.

The pin look a bit like a main gun of a tank with the extra bit after turning the 50mm section down to 4mm.

I was to quick to faced off the excess, not thinking that I would still need it to hold the pin while cutting the grooves to avoid deflection - mistake #1.

While I was adjusting the cut off blade on it's holder, the bottom part holding the blade chipped off. Too much force with tightening down the cap screws - mistake #2.

You can see from the pic (the whitish strip at the top of the photo above) that the blade cannot be fastened to the holder anymore...

I'm force to end the session without completing anything. Have to order another tool holder from Mike and at the same time, order the threading and grooving tool holder and inserts from him. These are rather costly. The little insert cost SGD32.20 each and the holder SGD73.50. Both before GST...

PN 2269 measures 0.031" (or 0.7874mm) where PN 2270 is 0.062" (double the size at the cutting edge). PN 2268 is the 60-degree threading insert. Good that the holder can take 3 different inserts. Otherwise, more $$$ out of pocket.

This is the holder I mentioned.

Dennis, if you are reading this. Looks like I'm not able to complete the job and lack the required skill to do it. I'll continue working on the axles but please find someone with more experience to get the required done. When I've mine done, I'll give them all to you - no charge. Not even the cost of the stainless steel. I owe this to you for wasting your time waiting. Sincere apology.

Ok, enough of the failure. Good news to me. Boss is granting me the next weekend off; both days!!! I plan to bring the children out for some movies, do some shopping, and... I'll try to think of some activities... maybe go blading with them. It was their uncle Douglas that has been bringing them blading while daddy spending time with strangers in showflats over Sundays and public holidays.

Time to wash up and sleep. Tomorrow another day at the showflat. Drop by to say hello at Terrasse if you can. A packet of coffee would be good ;-)

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Nose Gear Stub Axles - Part 2

2011-06-03T00:58:00.001+08:00

Though I reached home rather late tonight (10.30pm), I was determined to at least test out the idea given by Mike.

With the same setup from the previous session, I started cutting from the middle of the 5mm pin marking the start of the 4mm section till I've about 0.2mm to the final dimension of 4mm (for about 30mm). The tool post was then turned a little such that I can turn the shoulder square against the 5mm section.

The end nearer to the tailstock cannot be reached by the 3/8" tool, it'll be faced off later after the grooves are done.

The grooves were done next using the parting tool. The blade had to extended out more than my comfort level to have the QCTP clear the live centre body. I observed 2 problems with this setup: 1) flex in the part off blade, and 2) flex in the middle of the 4mm section. I should have try to use the steady rest close to the grooves to minimize flex in the job.

The job after cutting the grooves.

Next was to part off the unused part that was held in the collet.

This was easier than I thought. Expected some problems from my previous experience in parting off aluminum.

It's now passed midnight. Time to clean up. Long day tomorrow.

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Purchases from RDG Tools

2011-06-02T14:28:00.001+08:00

I was buried in my work an hour ago when I received a parcel from Sing Post. It came all bundled up in layers of plastic bags and paper envelope. I ripped the wrapping apart to uncover a set of Transfer Punches.

I'm wondering if the smaller diameter pieces can withstand the knocks from the hammer... I guess it should.

I remembered the one I made from a piece of leftover steel rod. Think I chose the wrong angle for that one. The 60-degree point didn't allow enough of it's shank to be guided by the holes to make an accurate enough mark.

There were other stuff I ordered (2 pcs of 25mm plastic ball with M6 threads for the grinder rest I'm trying to make, a #0 MT revolving centre etc) which are not in the parcel. Guess they split the items up to reduce shipping cost.

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Stainless Steel Rods

2011-06-02T10:59:00.001+08:00

I was meeting a business partner for lunch at our favorite hawker centre in Jalan Beseh yesterday. Popped over to the metal shop nearby before heading back office to buy 10 pieces of 6mm diameter stainless steel rods of 100mm long.

They are for the pins that I'm making for Dennis. I do have a long piece of 7.96mm dia stainless at home but to cut them cost me more than buying them cut to length. The 3 cuts I made using the Proxxon mitre saw cost me a brand new cutting disc... Wow... I never thought I would see such fast wear with my infrequent use of most of my stuff.

The only thing left to do now is to find time to do the work. My boss loves us so much that some of us are scheduled to be on duty on both Saturday & Sunday this coming weekend :(

I'll see if I've some time after my last appointment tonight. Very unlikely as it only starts at 7.30pm and expect to end around 9.

I'll pray hard for more time and no sacrifice in revenue.

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Rant

2011-05-29T11:07:00.001+08:00

Only one day a week to split my time for my parents, wife, children, and myself... The rest of the week spent working. Tough balancing. Sometimes, I lose focus and spent more than half a day on myself. Even on the free day, I'm still disturbed by phone calls. What can I do to find more personal time?

I want more time with my wife, more time with my children, more time with my parents, more time in the home shop... I need solution(s).

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Nose Gear Stub Axles

2011-05-28T19:01:00.002+08:00

I hope that I didn't get the name of the parts I'm making. Dennis told me that it is some part of a landing gear on a R/C aircraft. From Dennis: "The pin is used to connect the landing retract assembly to the landing gear leg that the wheel is fixed to, so there is one pin for each retract / landing gear leg." Thanks for the info, Dennis.

I managed to do some work before being interrupted by phone calls. Short of the flat, which I intend to do on the mill, the rest of the features were completed.

I started with cutting off 2 pieces of stainless steel of 80mm length, 7.96mm in diameter.

Using the 3-jaw, one end was faced.

After turning a section to 5mm.

Nice looking chip...

Cutting the groove using the part off tool. I screwed up this one. Supposed to be 3mm but I made it 4mm...

Facing the 4mm diameter end to length. The groove at this location is for circlip.

Comparing with the sample. The flat will be done later on the mill.

I started planning for my approach on the 2nd piece (which will be considered the 1st as I boo boo'd on the one I just completed, or almost complete). Th plan is to use the ER16 adapter with collets instead of the 3-jaw chuck, supported at the end with the revolving centre.

Less prone to flexing of the job, especially when it gets smaller in diameter. But the 3/8 shank of the holder couldn't reach the end of the job. How I wish the new revolving centre I ordered from RDG Tools UK can be delivered to me the day I put in my order. It has a longer point which I think can solve this problem.

For now, it's tilting of the QCTP.

Ok, 5mm diameter across a length of 65mm done.

Got to stop here as my dad has arrived to pick us up. Going over to the Singapore Food Expo where his company has taken a booth. This is a yearly affair which my daughters enjoy serving up samples of their grandpa's products.

Ruth serving up the little sample cup of pudding while daddy laze in one corner writing his blog...

I hope to get back to work when I get home. Long day at showflat tomorrow. Lots of work to clear on Monday. When is my next session after tonight??? Sigh...

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Pins for Dennis

2011-05-28T00:55:00.001+08:00

This is going to be short. Barely can open my eyes now.

I've done up the 3D model and drawings after measuring up the sample provided by Dennis. Just realized that the total amount of pieces to make has been increased to 8; 2 for each of the 4 sizes! Think I'll be obedient and do up the code to machine it using CNC. Maybe I'll leave a couple of pieces for manual lathe work.

Here's the drawing:

I go rest now. Hope to finish at least half of what's required by tomorrow.

Dennis, which size is the most needed now for your flying object? I can make that first if I can't meet your deadline and give you the rest later.

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My new project

2011-05-27T20:31:00.001+08:00

Nothing to write about this project at the moment till I start working. Picked up the sample of a pin for R/C aircraft from Mike this afternoon with some drawings while I was over at the other office of ours. Someone Mike knows contacted him to machine the pins with some features on each. I'll take photos of the sample when I get home. For now, the drawing Mike forwarded:

I'm supposed to make 3 sets of 2 pins each with slight difference. The circlip groove is only 0.7mm wide. The width of my part-off blade is 1mm. I was told that that's fine. Will put in the dimensions after measuring the sample with my trusty Mitutoyo digital caliper.

Mike suggested writing codes to do the repetitive part of the job. But I'm thinking of machining them manually. More confident of getting the required accuracy turning the wheels by hands. Maybe after I tune up the lathe...

Hope to put up my progress soon.

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Brass Torch

2011-05-22T16:47:00.001+08:00

I meant to post this build log when I made the LED brass torch a year plus ago. But for whatever reason didn't make to complete the write up. So here is a mix of what was written then and added on now.

I stumbled across this fascinating site http://start-model-engineering.co.uk/ while searching for interesting projects to practice with. The site owner, John Somers, is a kind soul. I wrote to him to ask him about the brass torch and he forwarded me the plan on the smaller version and guided me along with the construction.

The originator of the brass torch is Ralph, aka Divided Head; another nice guy I met on the Mad Modder forum.

Enough said, now some photos.

The hand drawn plan provided by John.

Starting with brass stock of slightly bigger than 15mm dia

Sidetracked to make a die holder to cut the threads on the brass stock.

The tailstock die holder in use.

Threads completed. O-ring glued on. The metal surface is slightly below the O-ring to create an open circuit in normal position. When screwed tight against the mating half of the brass torch, the brass beneath will touched the button battery terminal closing the circuit.

The halve housing the LED completed. The inside was tapped M10 to match the male threads.

Test fitting the threads. Right on.

Innards done, it works!!!

and now for some detailing - knurling.

and the hole for
keychain to fasten to.

All done, except I didn't have any keychain with me to see how it looks.

I gave this to Jay, my god-son. It was quite a fun project to do.

Thanks to John and Ralph.

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Grinder Rest - 3D Model

2011-05-22T10:26:00.001+08:00

I've been looking around for a grinder rest ever since I acquired the Taiwanese grinder. Freehand grinding of my lathe tools or using the little rest that came with the grinder didn't work well with me given my "superb" skill. While looking for the item, I ran across this photo log of a gentleman on the Modmodder.net. He mentioned that his modified build is based off Harold Hall's design in his book "Milling: A Complete Course" (Workshop Practice Series No. 35). I've that book but it looks beyond my capability. But that brought me to my attention of the other book that I've in the same series - No 38 Tool and Cutter Sharpening, by the same author. It has plans and photos of a simpler version.

As of all my projects which involved more than one parts, I drawn them up on the trusty 3D CAD program to provide some visual.

This is what I ended up with:

Front view

From the bottom. Where do I get the 25mm plastic ball with M6 hole...

Quite a few parts for me and it is made in steel. My experience with steel on my Sherline has yet to be good. Maybe after the cleaning up and tightening of a few things on my mill can changed that.

Let's see how soon I can get to work. If everything goes well, I should be on leave for a couple of weeks in June, my usual month for taking a break other than December. This June, I will not be traveling with my family due to Alicia's preparation for PSLE end this year, except a couple of games with my business partners and friends in JB to clock my 3 to 4 sessions a year on the course to dig up some holes, lose some balls, and get myself all beatened up. But hey! I proud that I still able to maintain my greater than 100 but less than 110 score without practising in the range or play often enough.

Ok, time to prepare to go to work. A client is coming by to meet me at the showflat later in the afternoon.

Until next time....