Author Topic: Main Workshop  (Read 6738 times)

Offline jadge

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Main Workshop
« on: May 29, 2015, 07:43:28 PM »
Following on from my introductory post here are some pictures of my main workshop. It's a bit crowded, and embarrassingly a bit of a tip, and that's after a clear up!

First, looking from the entrance door. Starting from the left is a Tormach CNC mill with 4th axis, lurking in the background is a 4ft by 1/8" power guillotine. Then a 13" by 40" (in US terminology) centre lathe, with an Ainjest high speed threading unit, capstan unit and a hydraulic copy unit. Finally a standard Bridgeport with slotting head on the back:



Looking the other way (door on the right) is a universal (meaning that the table swivels) horizontal mill and a cylindrical grinder:



Looking in t'other corner, from the entrance door, is an electric furnace, an old USA pillar drill and B&S surface grinder, an 18" shaper and a box 'n' pan folder:



Finally there is a surface plate, hardness tester and a repetition lathe:



Here are the shelves holding accessories mainly for the milling machines, although the Coventry dieheads on the top shelf are for the lathe:



Not shown, or not clear, are an oxy-acetelyene welding set, a Clarkson tool and cutter grinder and a pedestal grinder.

There is also an arbor press and an AC/DC TIG welder in the hall, not shown here.

Andrew
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 10:12:22 PM by jadge »

Offline Roger B

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2015, 08:03:58 PM »
You look pretty well kitted out there  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp:  :) Ready for anything  ::)
Best regards

Roger

Online Kim

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2015, 12:59:53 AM »
Wow, that's quite a setup you have for your shop!  You've got a wonderful assortment of tools!  Gives me something to aspire to someday :)
Kim

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2015, 01:49:44 AM »
Nice cozy shop you have there Andrew!

Thanks for sharing,

Dave

Offline jadge

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2015, 08:59:38 AM »
One can never have too many toys; my main problem is that I have almost run out of space. At least the workshop keeps me slim(ish); too many beers and I won't be able to wend my way round the workshop. The weather today is awful, equals workshop time, but here's the toy I was playing with yesterday, 5 hours airborne and just over 300km cross country:



Andrew
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 10:16:38 PM by jadge »

Offline tangler

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2015, 09:27:45 AM »
Andrew,

Now I recognise you!  I've always enjoyed your posts in another place and look forward to reading your contributions here.

Welcome,

Rod

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2015, 10:18:45 AM »
Yes me too, missed the into but when I saw all those machines, well just the Tormach actually I thought of you.

Welcome aboard, will be be getting the tour of the additional storage facilities too?

J

Offline jadge

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2015, 09:59:44 PM »
Rod: Yep, that's me, the strange guy who flies instead of being in the workshop! I hope I can live up to expectations.

JasonB: Indeed the tour will continue, but I need to take some more pictures as things have moved on since the pictures you may have seen elsewhere.

Offline jadge

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2015, 05:16:58 PM »
As hinted at by JasonB the workshop has spread a bit. So here is a brief tour of the additional facilities. First, the hall:



The Pultra lathes were a job lot. When I've sorted out what parts I want to keep the rest will be going on Ebay. We now move onto the tool and metrology store, aka the dining room. It is actually a bit tidier now as all the big milling cutters, grinding wheels and INT40 tooling have moved to the main workshop. I prefer to keep things like micrometers and slip gauges in the house.



Finally we have the 3D printing area, plus a few bits for the engine and some home made cutters:



There are additional areas for magazines, manuals and books, but that's no different to any other house.

Andrew
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 10:20:32 PM by jadge »

Offline jadge

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2017, 04:37:21 PM »
It's a bit of a downer that my recent posts have gone AWOL. The last post is still saved pretty much as was. However the post on the arbor press is gone for ever. I'm not going to replicate it, but just post the pictures again with a brief commentary. Last year I acquired an arbor press, made by Edwards of London, from a small engineering consultancy that I have worked with on and off over the years. I needed to make a plate with slots in it to act as a baseplate. Here is the 8" diameter blank faced both sides in the lathe:



The two smaller slots, ¾" and 1", where machined with ¾" and 1" slot drills respectively:



For the larger slots, 1½" and 2", the circular features were chained drilled first:



And then machined to size with a boring head:



The remainder of the slots were removed by endmilling. The finished plate:



And the arbor press and plate in position on the bench:



Andrew
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 10:24:33 PM by jadge »

Offline jadge

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Re: Main Workshop
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2017, 06:42:53 PM »
This post is more or less as was, as I had a copy saved in case of computer malfunction during posting.

Some years ago I had an abortive attempt at engraving using my CNC mill. I eventually reached the conclusion that the maximum spindle speed of 5000rpm simply wasn't high enough to use proper engraving cutters. Looking at the available options for high speed spindles I selected a high speed motor and mating VFD from ArcEuroTrade, as being a proper spindle rather than an adaptation of an existing power tool. However, they weren't cheap so I'd been putting off purchase. Earlier this year an Arc catalogue was distributed with ME and MEW. In the ensuing discussion on another forum I bemoaned the exit of the high speed spindles from the catalogue. The owner of Arc posted in the thread and invited me to 'phone the shop, as they had an ex-demo unit available. I did so, and bought a high speed spindle and VFD (ready programmed for the spindle) at an advantageous price.  :ThumbsUp:

Buying the cables and filters for the setup was simple, but what about the connector on the motor? Waipu? Never heard of 'em. Turns out to be Chinese, with only a one man and dog in the shed distributor in the UK. Fortunately Arc were able to send me a used mating half for the spindle connector. I couldn't get the ruddy thing apart in order to solder in new wires. Despite lots of fiddling I eventually reverted to BF and BI, and broke the connector.  :embarassed:

Cue a lengthy search of all the large professional electronics disrtributors in the UK. Eventually I found a suitable connector in terms of number of contacts, voltage rating and physical size from RS.  Wiring up the VFD and spindle to see if it worked was then easy. A running in sequence at increasing speeds was recommended, starting at 6000rpm and finishing at the top speed of 24000rpm. I did this in the hall:



The spectrum analyser scan is from 1MHz to 25MHz; although well above the basic PWM carrier of the VFD output it was interesting to see if there were any significant harmonics. Turns out not, so the screened cable was working.  :ThumbsUp:

The mains switch, input RFI filter and VFD fitted neatly onto an access panel on the back of the CNC mill. At first glance it's not an ideal location, but I'm not going to be fiddling with it very often. Set it up and let the CNC mill run for several hours will be the norm:



I needed a bracket to hold the spindle onto the main spindle of the CNC mill. The main spindle is a copy of the Bridgeport in terms of the R8 taper and OD of the 'quill'. Although cutting forces will be low with small cutters I wanted a rigid setup. So I machined the bracket from a lump of hot rolled steel, all done old school on the Bridgeport mostly with a 20mm HSS 4 flute end mill. I ran at 600rpm and about 350mm/min for a chip load of 0.15mm (6 thou) per tooth. Profiling was done full depth (22mm) each pass. The chips came off blue, as was the language when they landed in th wrong place. The holes were chained drilled and bored, as shown previously. The external radii were profiled using a rotary table. The half-moon cutouts are to weaken the side arms and thus take some load off the M6 clamping screws:



Here is the spindle in place, complete with a 1mm ballnose cutter:



And here is the first part I've made with the new spindle:



It's a 16 tooth 16DP straight bevel gear, as a test piece for the bevel gears in my traction engine governor. All done with the 1mm ballnose cutter at 24000rpm and 350mm/min feed. It took about four hours. I need to tweak the G-code slightly and then I can makle the real gears in bronze. During running the spindle got warm, but I could hold my hand on it comfortably, so nothing to worry about. The spindle is also quiet, which is important in my rural village location. I'm set back a bit from the pavement, and standing on same you couldn't hear the spindle at all, just a hint of noise from the stepper motors on the CNC mill axes.

The next, slightly longer term workshop project, is to get the Pultra instrument lathe up and running:



I don't feel like running a 3-phase extension lead from the workshop so I will running it on single phase via a VFD and 3-phase motor. I don't need fancy control features so I will be going for a V/F VFD rather than the more expensive vector control option. I need to work out the pulley sizes and make them as well.

In the background is a dead weight pressure tester with a Bourdon tube under test at 250psi. After a few failures I've made one that works, so I now need to finesse the design parameters and design the rest of the pressure gauge. That's also the reason for getting the Pultra going, as I will need to cut some small gears (not sure but probably around 80DP) and that won't be easy on the 1-3/4 ton horizontal  :o

For the avoidance of doubt both the Pultra and dead wreight tester are on the kitchen table.  :insane:

Andrew

Update: Bronze bevel gears being machined as I sit and type!
« Last Edit: August 21, 2017, 10:30:05 PM by jadge »

 

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