What did you do Today 2018

Went out into the workshop last night and stripped down the table on the Bridgeport clone. I have had new ballscrews for the X and Y axes waiting to be fitted for several years now. The CNC conversion was delayed by our move back to the UK, then by the purchase of a proper CNC machine. I have 90% of the conversion parts made now and the original leadscrews have pretty much had it now. A DRO makes up for a lot of the backlash but surely the ballscrews will be a vast improvement and will allow me to make some progress with the conversion to CNC. I have to retrieve the "yoke" that holds both the X and Y axis nuts so I can machine it out to take the very slightly larger diameter ballnuts.

Took almost exactly an hour to remove the DRO, power feed, handles, leadscrews, table and finally liberate the yoke. Biggest challenge was sliding the 42" table across to the left to disengage it from the dovetails, given the lack of space. I may move the machine out from the wall before refitting but for now it gives me more space to work.

Here it is. I checked previously that it is small enough to swing on the bantam faceplate. I need to bore both them out to 40mm bore, so annoyingly, that's only 1/4mm - so near and yet so far. But I need to add fixings for the flange of the ballnut anyway.

Murray

Well it is not cars or motorbikes but it is engine related. Every 7 years the rubber seal that the saildrive sits in in the bottom of the hull has to be replaced. they do last for years but Volvo say 7 years so insurance Co's want to see it done if there is a problem. £ 225-00 for a rubber ring & a gasket!!!!.

Today i got the saildrive back into my boat & finally managed to line the splines on the saildrive with the engine. The saildrive floats about all over the place because of the flex in the rubber seal. The engine drops down without the saildrive bolted to it to support it on the aft mounting of the sail drive when it is all bolted as one unit so lifting the engine & trying to waggle the saildrive is a nightmare.

Finally lined the splined shaft into the engine up by rotating the flywheel then getting to the back & trying the fit then going to the front again & gradually sliding the heavy engine aft with a nail bar. bruised knuckles to match.

Why is it that the bolts with the stiffest thread always come just under the engine where the spanner will not fit easily?

But won in the end & torqued it up

Now to fit all the fuel lines wires, exhaust & controls. Hope the electrics go back right !!!. Then the panelling & berths. Job done for another 7 years.

Today I set about repaying my debt. I got given a bench grinder for free on the understanding that I would do a machining job for the person who gave me it. Little did I know it was to be a chimney for a Stuart 504 boiler. But this was my efforts today.

Edited By Jon Cameron on 28/01/2018 20:49:47

Noticed there was a bit of slop in the brake arm shaft bearing, runs direct in the alloy. So fitted a bush. When I tested with a piece of 14mm SS bar there was no free play but when I refitted the brake arm shaft there is still a little bit of play. You can see the wear on the shaft. Thinking of getting a TIG welder with my 25 years of servitude money and have a go at TIG brazing!

Cheers Michael.

Machined out the bores in the yoke (see earlier post). Had to make up a long boring bar by welding one of my SCLCR bars onto a piece of 3/4" square BMS. Worked very nicely and I took them out to 40.1mm which gave a nice sliding fit.

Refitted both ballscrews and reassembled the machine. No dramas or grievous cockups. I'll need to make up a spacer for the X axis handwheel, as I designed the ballscrew to accommodate a toothed pulley which isn't fitted yet. Although I haven't formally meassured it, the backlash on the Y axis has gone down from a large fraction of a mm to something of the order of 20um (~1 thou). That's a massive improvement.

I'll refit the DRO, way covers etc later. Been up since 7, so time to call it a night.

Murray

Internal thread!

A better approach would have been to thread it with support before turning that outside, which is effectively what I did, fortunately it was long enough to lose the last 10mm.

Oops, wouldn't have worked very well with a tailstock centre in the way...

Then you have the problem that aluminium extrusions are never round, so you neeed to turn the outside to use a steady anyway. .

I finally got sorted out trimming the heads of lots of M4 allen screws 25 thou shorter. Then mounted the collet draws I've been mackling up for the HLV.

Makes it easy to find the right size collets. Also easy to spot which ones have gone missing.

Edited By Mark Rand on 29/01/2018 16:45:37

Special steady to allow me to skim 0.04mm off the inside of my drawtube - I made it too close a fit, it will jam up if I get it anodised as it is.

Ideal job for 3D printing, but also one where you need to know how much allowance to make. My printer is consistently 0.2mm oversize (or 0.2mm undersize on bores) most of which I put down to the surface texture.

Neil

Faced off my faceplate, the faceplate didn't look as though it had ever been skimmed.

Before

During

And after. Less than 1 thou out over the 7" faceplate. Not bad for a knackered old machine

Don't get it. To steady an inside skim I would expect some kind of 3 point jobbie. Maybe I have had another TIA, my brain has become unreliable

Did a bit more on the eccentric assembly for my vertical cross, cleaning & polishing, threading the valve rod, replaced M2 bolts with M2 studs on the valve chest body fastening points, general piddling about., Ahhh! calmness & quiet , apart from the radio & the kettle boiling.

George.

The outside of the tube is turned to a near-mirror finish, I didn't want to run a steady on it.

I've just done a 75mm tube, far too large for my 75mm capacity steady in any case, the internal one worked OK but I woudln't want to take heavy cuts.

I might 3D print some 'large diameter noses' to fit over my rotating centre for external cuts on tube.

Neil

Went OK, but a bit scary when parting off an d it started howling - 2mm of aluminium had built up on the insert

Collapsed in the workshop on Sunday - no warning, just my wife asking me what was wrong ! Sitting in hospital with all the fantastic medical attention is good - at least I'll get chance to catch up on the ME reading backlog !

Bob

Best Wishes, Bob !!

MichaelG.

Best Wishes, Bob.

V8.

Edited By V8Eng on 31/01/2018 21:11:40

Thanks guys. I've manages two ME's today so far, and read the forum 3 or 4 times !

Bob

Hope you are up and about soon.

Brian

Wishing you a rapid recovery, Nd much enjoyable reading !

Ian

Checking what exciting offers ebay has in the way of bikes/cars and wondered across this listing. Should I be concerned with the buy it now prices? Or do I lack the ability to trust others?

**LINK**

.

Perhaps the list has been updated since you looked, but;

I see no 'buy it now' prices ...

MichaelG.