Author Topic: Workshop Log  (Read 42280 times)

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2018, 11:53:20 AM »
Quote
I find myself currently more interested in model engineering than motorcycling, so that will be the focus again soon.

  ;D !       :-[ !

Glad to see/hear the shop coming along.

Wait - YOU!

 ;D

Good to see you here. I haven't given up on riding, but I'm not drawn to it as I once was. For now. All in good time. I've decided not to force it, and just get back to it when ready. My new Tiger is ready to rock and roll, so it's all good.
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline Ye-Ole Steam Dude

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #16 on: July 15, 2018, 12:41:06 PM »
Hi Stuart,

I built this Roll-around, adjustable height chair to use in my shop. It relieves your back and legs no matter what you are working on. The seat goes down to 10-inches and up to 35-inches. This might be of help to you.

Have a great day,
Thomas
Thomas

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #17 on: July 15, 2018, 01:25:54 PM »
That is an excellent device - ingenious!
« Last Edit: July 15, 2018, 07:26:04 PM by propforward »
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline Sleddog

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #18 on: July 15, 2018, 01:44:15 PM »
Prop, hope to possibly see you at the Blackhills show.


http://www.blackhillsmodelengineeringshow.net

Offline Ian S C

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #19 on: July 15, 2018, 02:44:01 PM »
We are closing in, there is a election advert on the wall for James Stuart for Sheriff, Sheriff Stuart is the Sheriff in Anoka County Minnesota, in 2015 he was national Sheriff of the year, he is still the Sheriff around those parts.
  Wish I had even a fraction of that shed.
Ian S C

Offline Ye-Ole Steam Dude

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #20 on: July 15, 2018, 03:36:28 PM »
Hey again Stuart,

I found my original drawings to build the chair and have posted them in the "Plans and Drawings" section here in the Forum.

Thomas
Thomas

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #21 on: July 15, 2018, 11:50:50 PM »
Prop, hope to possibly see you at the Blackhills show.


http://www.blackhillsmodelengineeringshow.net

I'll put that on the calendar - could be good to make a weekend of it.

I got some more sorting done today, and now the area by the lathe and mill is clear again.





I used to have a tire changing tool in this part - but I have now relocated it to the other part of the shoppe. I'm going to build another piece of bench to put here, which will be for my other hobby, and most specifically for the airbrush spraybooths I have. Will be useful for painting flywheels and engine bases and columns as well.



The air conditioner surround is a mess. I had to pull it out last weekend because it turns out it was poorly installed and leaking water. I think I have that fixed, so I'll trim around that and tidy it up.

But really, now it's time to stop with putting up shelves and moving stuff around (oh sure, there will be more of that, it never really stops) and get on to the machine tools again. Next episode - adventures in tramming a square column mill, and levelling a lathe.  :ThumbsUp:

I refuse to cut any of my castings until I make sure everything is square and aligned properly.

 :thinking:
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #22 on: July 16, 2018, 12:24:19 AM »
Looking comfy.  :ThumbsUp:

What's the machine to the right of the lathe?

And I carefully ask...do you have another fire extinguisher near a door?
I would worry about getting to the one on the wall in case of an issue.

I see what looks to be an emergency stop to the left of the lathe. If it is...what's it for?
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #23 on: July 16, 2018, 12:32:22 AM »
Looking comfy.  :ThumbsUp:

What's the machine to the right of the lathe?

It's a cnc router - it's capable of cutting metal as well - small parts, light cuts. I keep thinking about using to engrave things, maybe make some small fancy flywheels or something. I just set up a new computer next to it today (well, not new, inherited from a previous job when I moved on, but better than the computer that was attached to the router).

Quote
And I carefully ask...do you have another fire extinguisher near a door?
I would worry about getting to the one on the wall in case of an issue.

Yes - and this one will be relocated soon. I keep flammables in a special cabinet out in the other part of the shop, and take a lot of care with that stuff - but it seemed prudent to have a few of these about. To be honest, if a fire ever starts and I can't get to the extinguisher then I'll just abandon shoppe and call the fire brigade. Hope it never comes to that, and I work the ounce of prevention vs pound of cure approach as much as possible. Nothing gets left plugged in - just as a small example.

Quote
I see what looks to be an emergency stop to the left of the lathe. If it is...what's it for?

It's actually just a lockable power switch, and I have absolutely no idea why I installed it, since all I have to do is pull the plug out of the wall to make the lathe "dead" safe. A throwback from having to consider lockout/tagout procedures at work I think.
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #24 on: August 11, 2018, 01:10:45 PM »
So I spent a bit of time rearranging that corner of the shed, and built a new bench





I did put crossbars and a top on it



Decided I didn't like the layout, and last weekend rearranged some things to make it more useable. Had to cut two holes in the wall for my little hobby spray booths to vent through, and added dryer vents to the outside so that they can breathe without letting bugs, varmints, critters and old man winter in. New arrangement I am pretty happy with.





This area of the shed is primarily for another hobby I picked up when I wasn't mobile. Ended up enjoying it a lot, so I'm sticking with it. Not as interesting as machining, but I enjoy it anyway, and the paint booths will certainly be handy for painting up steam engines.



The other part of the shed is progressing nicely - got some more junk to get rid of over coming weeks, and then I'll show that area off again.

Still have to put some trim around the A/C unit, should do that today.
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #25 on: August 11, 2018, 01:19:01 PM »
Next project is tramming the mill, (I said that before, but got distracted) and setting up the coolant dispenser on the lathe and mill. Properly this time. I did it once before but wasn't happy with it.

Gradually getting back to metalwork.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2018, 01:56:14 PM by propforward »
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #26 on: August 11, 2018, 02:27:07 PM »
Looks like a fun place!

Tell me about that paint booth. I've been considering one for some time now.

Is it necessary to vent if all you use is acrylic?
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #27 on: August 11, 2018, 03:03:08 PM »
Thanks Zee.

The booths are an amazon purchase, and about 100 bucks each. I am absolutely pleased as punch with them. What I have here is two paint booths next to each other, because one wasn't quite big enough. They come with LED lights, and they really light up the interior of the booth. For a cheapo solution I am really impressed. The fans are quite loud, but not enough to be safety hazard.

In terms of acrylics I use those too - I didn't buy these booths until I started using solvent based lacquer paints, where venting outside is essential. Nevertheless, breathing in acrylic paint is certainly not a good idea, but I think you can just use a decent inexpensive respirator to deal with that.

Here is the link to the spray booth

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NLQ019A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They come with lengths of flexible air conditioner hose and a rectangular outlet nozzle that is designed to wedge in a window opening. When I had my scale model setup in the last house I lived in, I made a piece of PVC trim into a window insert, and put the two vents into that. You can just see it behind the spray booths in this pic.



That was actually a fun little space, but my shed is much, much better. I do enjoy spending time in there.
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #28 on: August 11, 2018, 05:37:19 PM »
Thanks. I had been looking at that.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline propforward

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Re: Workshop adjustments
« Reply #29 on: August 25, 2018, 06:30:27 PM »
Well, today I made progress in the hobby we're more interested in, that of machining.

I have had a bad habit in the past, of pressing forwards and not paying enough attention to set up of my machine tools, then being frustrated with inaccuracies. I have vowed to pay more attention to set up, especially before starting my next engine - which is to be from castings.

So today, I made an effort to tram my mill. I already knew from previous measurements that the column was not square to the table. One direction is easily adjusted, because the head is rotatable. But for the other direction (Y direction) you really can only use shims, inserted under the column where it attaches to the base.

A couple of years ago I bought one of these:



Not essential for tramming, because these tools are easily made, or you can use a single dial gauge on an arm of course - but for the price this was rather nice.

Basically, to use it you zero one gauge using a little magnet supplied with the tool



Then rotate the gauge 180 degrees and zero the other dial



Then you lower the head and place both gauges on to the table. As you can see, a little off in the X direction.



I adjusted that in (the angle of the camera shows an error, but I was closer than this when observing each gauge up close and personal).



That was the easy direction. The one I was really concerned about was the Y direction. Using the same calibration procedure, I discovered this amount of error:



Not very satisfactory.

It took me a few goes (during which I made the problem WAY worse before it got better), but by inserting different thickness shims under the edge of the column, I got the error down a lot (getting quite close in this pic):



I'll likely take a look at this periodically and see if it changes over time.

So now I can think about actually machining something.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2018, 07:05:40 PM by propforward »
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

 

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