| The Shop > Metal Stuff |
| Slowly casting up parts for a steam twin marine engine |
| << < (17/27) > >> |
| Artie:
Howdy folks, this has been a pretty slow time. Had much happening and as a result not much time in the shop....but.... a bit for tonight.... This is what Ive got... as you can see from the above C o C I came close to the concept...... And this is how it came about...... Am I ever gonna find a jig I can use more than once??? Made a mandrel (another one!!!) to support the big end and rounded off, trimmed the sides and well, its pretty much self explanatory... no rocket science, just tedious repetitious work... fun at the same time.... hand finished with the files and emery paper..... dont forget your files! The are your friends..... :med: I had a cock up in the machining sequence and ended up NOT drilling the end holes nearest the big ends on three of the links.... dont ask... brain fade or just tired.. I tried to do some work the other night and felt fine... but after 10 mins of serious concentration I gave up... just weary.... damn close to 50 these days.... :coffee: And a thought on the DRO's next..... |
| Artie:
DRO's...... Ive only recently installed them on my mill....... Wow..... how the hell did I ever survive without them? Firstly, I thought long and hard about the units available, my personal thanks to Rick (Balck85vette from HMEM) for his insight and the links he supplied. I concluded 2 things..... Firstly I did not want a single unit for this purpose, Im no electronic whizzz (or any whizz for that matter) and if one part of the unit failed, then all were junk.... Secondly individual units were approx half the price of a 3 axis DRO, so I wasnt about to pay that money and (see point above). So I have them installed and I absolutely love the precision they allow (with such little effort!). I installed the quill DRO first and imediatley fell in love with it (seriously!), I had the x and y ordered from Hafco and they took absolutely ages to arrive, but when they did, they almost bolted straight up, very little manufacturing required. The down side is that the readouts are no where as large as the unitised DRO's, ok, I can live with that.... But Im in no way displeased with them.... obsolute rippers! |
| jcs0001:
Artie: Really interesting series of posts. Having got to the point of making a few ugly aluminum ingots and making a lot of scrap metal on my lathe and mill I really appreciate your work. Also very much appreciate the amount of documentation you have done - thanks. John. |
| Brass_Machine:
Looking good so far. I really like the "action" shots of machining. Tell me a little more about the DRO. Eric |
| Artie:
A little more... its been sooo long since Ive had shop time.... and today was all hand fitting.... files and sandpaper.... last week I managed to machine the clevis grooves.... that was nice and easy with the DRO's G'day John, mate, no ingot is ugly... its now potential BILLET STOCK...... and you have the ability to have almost ANY size billet stock you wish... MAJOR advantage.... you are now one of the chosen ones..... oh the arrogance of a caster..... :D :). Mate its my pleasure to 'show off' my stuff if you and others enjoy it.... Hi Eric, I dont know what to tell you about the items, they are sourced from an Aussie supply company and are branded with their name, however, Im pretty certain the are chinese manufacture. What do you want to know and Ill do my best to help. These are NOT the ideal set up. They are however cost effective..... and I bloody LOVE them.... life is so much easier/precise/relaxed/ etc etc etc. Mounting was easier than expected and it works a treat.. so much so that Ive bought another set for the lathe... seperate thread coming up... Anyway a couple of pics for tonight.... Having cut the clevis grooves I went about hand finishing the parts, not finished as the clevis end hasnt been radiused to size or length yet, just roughly ground on the belt linisher... I get a real buzz from hand cranking the mill and lathe and then using files and sandpaper to finish the item.... a little old school I guess.... no apologys offered for that though :beer: Having said that.... I would LOVE to play with a CNC as well... Ideal world? BOTH hand and CNC..... I Look like having a couple of weeks where I can get into this a bit so, hopefully, some action on this front.... Cheers Rob |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |