Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel

[crueby]

The slots were taken to width on the last set of track segments this afternoon, and I have started rounding the corners off to form the hinge fingers...

As I think I mentioned before, the bottom of the round-over cutter had to be ground off to get the curve to go all the way to the bottom of the slot, the cutters are usually made with a little excess straight portion beyond the curve to blend in with the next flat.

[10KPete]

You're gonna wear out that mill by the time the project is finished. No wonder your wrist is shot!

 

Pete

[crueby]

You're gonna wear out that mill by the time the project is finished. No wonder your wrist is shot!

 

Pete

They are both definitely getting workouts!


The mill base is new from several months ago, had upgraded to the larger version to get enough reach, just yesterday I put on some cardboard deflectors since all the chips from milling the center slots kept getting into the ways and screws.


Not much change in the wrist yet from the shot the other day, but it sounds like it normally takes a week or two. I am resting it, doing the milling left handed for now. Just the occasional lifting of a glass...   

[Don1966]

Still with you Dog and I have to say a lot of repeat parts can get dull. But hey not to worry with all the elf’s you got on the job it’s just a walk-in the park..... now did I say .......I..........like........


 
Don

[crueby]

Still with you Dog and I have to say a lot of repeat parts can get dull. But hey not to worry with all the elf’s you got on the job it’s just a walk-in the park..... now did I say .......I..........like........


 
Don

Thanks very much Don!


 

[crueby]

Got the inside corners rounded off on all the slots, starting to do the same for the outside corners. These go very quick, one pass over and back for each, with the table locked down for the depth of cut.

[steamboatmodel]

CNC milling left handed is pretty easy.  Just need 1 mouse click on the green button.    

Which hand do you hold the coffee cup/coke with then?

Gerald.

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Looking good Chris. What size did you say the radius was? I guess you could turn a disc with a recess on the rear that would slide over your hand wheels, drill a hole for the handle to protrude through, attach a rod in the center, and drive it with a cordless tool ( redneck power feed  ).

Cletus

[crueby]

Looking good Chris. What size did you say the radius was? I guess you could turn a disc with a recess on the rear that would slide over your hand wheels, drill a hole for the handle to protrude through, attach a rod in the center, and drive it with a cordless tool ( redneck power feed  ).

Cletus

Hi Cletus!
The radius on the hinge portions is 1/8", on the corners of the top is 1/16".

Have not tried that kind of power feed, though last week I got a bit of sunburn on the nose at the pond, so I must be more of a RedNose than a RedNeck!      Sorry, us elves have to work in Rudolf jokes where we can...!

[crueby]

This afternoon I got the last of the hinge corners rounded off.   

Pretty good pile of them, ready for cutting the slots to form the hinge fingers. There are two fingers on one side, three on the other, and a no-finger section out to the outer end. So, going to start with the two-finger side, which has one slot to cut in the center. Later on I'll mill the larger outer gaps, those will be a different setup. Here is the start of the center slots:

Notice that I am not bothering to go all the way through - the section that is on the left will be cut down later, leaving just the slot.

As a reminder, here is where all this is going (the slot I am cutting now is the one on the left side of the right-hand part) :

[zeeprogrammer]

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?

 

[crueby]

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?

 

Yes.


And we are there yet too.


Sigh. Where's the button for the backseat ejector...
 

[crueby]

And a good reminder to me of why I cut a half dozen extra parts for the tracks, and have been including them in each step. This morning I went through a batch of 20, cutting the center slot for the hinges, which requires a full cut pass, one-turn move to the side, and a lighter pass to finish the width of the slot. Towards the end of that batch I forgot to move the table back to the starting position, and very carefully, very exactly, made the slot precisely 0.050" too far to the side.
That part will still be taken forward through the next steps, but it will be used as the trial part in each operation to get things aligned. So, one major boo-boo down, have 5 more spares so far...  On the Lombard tracks I had made a handful of extras, and used every one of them. Much easier to make some extra in big lots like this (76 needed) than to recreate setups to make one more!

[ddmckee54]

Spares are good.  If you're really lucky you'll have EXACTLY the amount that the Elf Maintenance Department requests as part of their recommended replacement parts order.  You HAVE been allowing for that replacement parts order haven't you?

Don

[crueby]

Spares are good.  If you're really lucky you'll have EXACTLY the amount that the Elf Maintenance Department requests as part of their recommended replacement parts order.  You HAVE been allowing for that replacement parts order haven't you?

Don

That would explain the invoice for 12 more bags of cookies!