Machinists Corner

[BigSki]

I got a little time on the mill last night, I had to make some nut plates to mount an OEM hitch on my '99 4runner. The rear of the chassis on the 'runner is fully boxed so there's no way to reach in and hold a nut with a wrench. These nut plates are basically how Toyota mounted the hitches. I didn't even bother with calling the parts dept to inquire about availability/pricing based on previous experience trying to get the "correct" hardware for certain things on this old SUV.

Mill time was fun at the maker space, I had the same engineer genius hover over my shoulder trying to watch/manage what I was doing. When she saw my hand drawing for the layout and noticed that I had the dimensions in metric, she started to tell me how I'd never get anything located correctly because of errors in converting metric to decimal. After I zeroed the X and Y using an edge finder, I ran it in on X to the location of the first hole ( with the DRO in decimal inch) stopped at the position, then pressed the button for the display to show in metric. I told her that she should come back to bug people after she got enough experience to earn a paycheck running a mill.

Anyway, once that PIA was gone I made my holes, did some crude bends using a vice because they have no brake there that can handle anything thicker than 22 gauge sheet metal. Then I burned on the nuts with MIG.
The parts are good enough. My welds were pretty sloppy but I wasn't going to do it over again because these nut plates are hidden inside of the chassis, no one will even know how ugly they really are !

[BigSki]

Lets keep this thread going, I always like seeing how folks are getting things done. Here's my contribution- I need a longer than average 14 mm wrench to get at the u-joint flange mounting hardware on the '99 4Runner. Being the cheap skate that I am, plus needing more practice w/ TIG, I figured that I could take care of 2 things at once.

I got (2) 14 mm wrenches from sears and hacked them apart, re-arranged them in the configuration that I needed and hot-glued them together w/ 3/32 filler rod and 180 amps of power.

I sand blasted the nickle plating off of the areas that were going to be getting hot trying to avoid poisonous heavy metal off gassing, got them aligned and started tacking. The metal flowed very easily and the filler rod melted quickly, I was pretty happy at how the job turned out. The following day I annealed the welded areas w/ a MAPP cylinder, it just barely got to the dull cherry red color so I'm hoping that I got it good enough. I tested the long wrench by clamping it in the vise and twisting it back and forth, it stayed together w/o any cracking and flexed nicely.





I didn't get a finished pic of the big wrench, I went back and filled in the divot and flap wheeled the welds smooth.



This little guy has no realistic use, I just used the pieces for TIG practice. It's shorter than any stubby wrench that I have ( and never use )

[Brian5582]

New member, just got back into RC after about 10 years and the addiction picked up right where it left off only now I am older and have better tools to build stuff. Just figured I would post up a pick of my RF31 and Heavy 10 I am on the home stretch of rebuilding. Learning as I go, my father was a machinist but unfortunately died too young and before I could learn much from him.
I know the mill is sideways but everyone knows what a RF31 looks like... I think

[Rattzo1]

Nice thread guys. My question/s is/are , I purchased ti rod to make my own links . I purchased the rods because a good friend of mine has brother that is a machinist and has the equipment he also said he would thread my links. That being said one thing lead to another and now I have a pile of ti rod and no one to thread it . What should I do?

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by Rattzo1

What should I do?

Spend a couple grand on a lathe and learn how to thread them yourself. I really see no other choice.


Have you tried talking to one of our vendors that make links? They might be willing to do the deed if you send them the material.

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by Rattzo1

Nice thread guys. My question/s is/are , I purchased ti rod to make my own links . I purchased the rods because a good friend of mine has brother that is a machinist and has the equipment he also said he would thread my links. That being said one thing lead to another and now I have a pile of ti rod and no one to thread it . What should I do?

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Spend a couple grand on a lathe and learn how to thread them yourself. I really see no other choice.


Have you tried talking to one of our vendors that make links? They might be willing to do the deed if you send them the material.

Duuude is basically right. Your options are get a a lathe and the tooling required to be able to turn them down on the lathe and either thread them on the lathe or maybe try using a die to thread them. Either way, needs a lathe to do it.

Or, hire a fab shop to do it. This will require that you produce technical drawings for them to work from though.


Are you planning to thread the rod or drill into it and tap threads?

[Rattzo1]

Originally Posted by QuesoDelDiablo

Duuude is basically right. Your options are get a a lathe and the tooling required to be able to turn them down on the lathe and either thread them on the lathe or maybe try using a die to thread them. Either way, needs a lathe to do it.

Or, hire a fab shop to do it. This will require that you produce technical drawings for them to work from though.


Are you planning to thread the rod or drill into it and tap threads?

Threading them, as for buying a lathe F That I don’t have enough time to learn that with everything else I have going on. Plus it would be cheaper to buy someone else’s links made up , relabel them then resale for more. Just not cost effective for all I want to do. I didn’t ask any vendors on here figured ide get the same kind of reply that I got here so no sense in that. Thanx for your time

[celticsun33]

Hey-yo. Fairly new member been skulking around a bit. I found this thread and it's perfect for me. I'm a journeyman machinist for almost 25 years in Ohio. I run both CNC and manual machines. I hope I can be a help to anyone in need.

[CREEPERBOB]

Did all the machinists retire?
Has anyone picked up a machine?

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by Brian5582

New member, just got back into RC after about 10 years and the addiction picked up right where it left off only now I am older and have better tools to build stuff. Just figured I would post up a pick of my RF31 and Heavy 10 I am on the home stretch of rebuilding. Learning as I go, my father was a machinist but unfortunately died too young and before I could learn much from him.
I know the mill is sideways but everyone knows what a RF31 looks like... I think



Attachment 378528

Attachment 378529

Very nice restoration.
I have a Logan back geared lathe ive been tinckering with. It has a broken bull gear and ihave been looking at involute cutters to tackle that.

[micro racer]

Originally Posted by CREEPERBOB

Did all the machinists retire?
Has anyone picked up a machine?

Not a machinist, but I found an old, beat up Craftsman 101.21400 lathe in a hangar down the way a few weeks ago. It turns on and runs smoothly, but probably hasn't been used this century, and anything else that is supposed to move was frozen. I sprayed it down with LPS for a few days until I got everything loose, but whoever used it last left chips everywhere that there shouldn't be chips; I was going to tear it down and give it a good clean and wipe down, but the sharp chip-sludge is kinda annoying. I found a manual online and it appears that I'm missing the change-gear set and any tooling (but I figured I should just buy some new tools anyway).

I also found an old drill press, but I didn't write down the model.

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by micro racer

Not a machinist, but I found an old, beat up Craftsman 101.21400 lathe in a hangar down the way a few weeks ago. It turns on and runs smoothly, but probably hasn't been used this century, and anything else that is supposed to move was frozen. I sprayed it down with LPS for a few days until I got everything loose, but whoever used it last left chips everywhere that there shouldn't be chips; I was going to tear it down and give it a good clean and wipe down, but the sharp chip-sludge is kinda annoying. I found a manual online and it appears that I'm missing the change-gear set and any tooling (but I figured I should just buy some new tools anyway).

I also found an old drill press, but I didn't write down the model.

Those old Craftsman lathes were as good as the Atlas lathes at the time.
I have an old Logan im working on.
Those gears for the craftsman are available.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by CREEPERBOB

Did all the machinists retire?
Has anyone picked up a machine?

I hardly stop in here anymore. New job with a nice Haas super minimill in the shop, I've learned basic CAM programming with Seimens NX , it's just about impossible to slip in a "side job" in the shop. I can now design in Solidworks, program in NX, setup and run the Haas but I can't make any 1/6th scale jeep parts...

A new house purchase has given me a large area in the lower level, I've been keeping an eye out for some sort of bench top mill.. The smaller Tormach machines are almost within reach now, so maybe within a year I'll have CNC in the basement.

How are you doing?

[CREEPERBOB]

Originally Posted by BigSki

I hardly stop in here anymore. New job with a nice Haas super minimill in the shop, I've learned basic CAM programming with Seimens NX , it's just about impossible to slip in a "side job" in the shop. I can now design in Solidworks, program in NX, setup and run the Haas but I can't make any 1/6th scale jeep parts...

A new house purchase has given me a large area in the lower level, I've been keeping an eye out for some sort of bench top mill.. The smaller Tormach machines are almost within reach now, so maybe within a year I'll have CNC in the basement.

How are you doing?

Thats great to be able to learn on the job.
Im cruzin along, been doing side jobs regularly.
Hope ya get ypur machine soon.