Eyeball Engineering

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by ROCKEDUP RICKY

I'll go with

That'll cost you more than tacos.

Originally Posted by CREEPERBOB

Nice work on that motor plate Chris , it's a blast ain't it .

Meh, its alright. Looks good, sadly its not very square though. Luckily that won't hurt anything.

It is a blast, but I've got to change my mindset just a bit and maybe think about planning these things out on paper first. I'm still working off of what I've got in my noodle. Sometimes it works....sometimes, not so much.

[ROCKEDUP RICKY]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

That'll cost you more than tacos.



Meh, its alright. Looks good, sadly its not very square though. Luckily that won't hurt anything.

It is a blast, but I've got to change my mindset just a bit and maybe think about planning these things out on paper first. I'm still working off of what I've got in my noodle. Sometimes it works....sometimes, not so much.

Flakis Flaka.

Paper, I thought this was the eyeball Engineering

[BigSki]

Good job on that motor plate! Just a question w/ the eye-ballin', are you doing any kind of layout on the part before you start? If not, get a big azz Sharpie and use it like layout fluid, ( it dries quicker and doesn't stink to high hell and back) and layout everything on the part, this is how I got my mind to start comprehending comp values, edge distances and general 3d visualation years ago.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Good job on that motor plate! Just a question w/ the eye-ballin', are you doing any kind of layout on the part before you start? If not, get a big azz Sharpie and use it like layout fluid, ( it dries quicker and doesn't stink to high hell and back) and layout everything on the part, this is how I got my mind to start comprehending comp values, edge distances and general 3d visualation years ago.

I do do a little bit of layout, just some lines and centers of holes and whatnot, but that is about as far as I plan ahead. I use the Sharpie method as well...bought the big ass Magnum with the 1" tip.

[rockhugger]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Good job on that motor plate! Just a question w/ the eye-ballin', are you doing any kind of layout on the part before you start? If not, get a big azz Sharpie and use it like layout fluid, ( it dries quicker and doesn't stink to high hell and back) and layout everything on the part, this is how I got my mind to start comprehending comp values, edge distances and general 3d visualation years ago.

I use this method also and it works very well for to taking all the ideas out of your head so you can focus on the accuracy and visualization... not to mention if you have to leave it for a day or two..

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by rockhugger

I use this method also and it works very well for to taking all the ideas out of your head so you can focus on the accuracy and visualization... not to mention if you have to leave it for a day or two..

Oh I don't mark it all out at once, just for what bit I'm doing at the moment. Most of the time I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing until I'm ready to do it.

Kinda like the cooling fins...they were an after thought.

[bob1961]

well that way does fits your name ........bob

"Eyeball Engineering"

....

[Duuuuuuuude]

As I had mentioned earlier, things were getting wonky. The table has always been tight when you ran it out to the ends, and the gib would never stay put. I let my keyboard do the walking and found out what all I'd have to do to take things apart, then stepped outside and proceeded to do so.

Table is off. Fawk me that thing was heavy. Heavier than I expected, anyway. Witness the years of nastyness. I also noticed it has a backlash adjustment. Didn't seem to do much though, so it was either turned way, way out, or its worn out. I put several turns on it and still have about .01" of movement.



A closeup of the gunked up ways. No wonder it wasn't moving very smoothly.



Wiped it down with acetone, then got after it with the WD40 and scotchbrite pad.



Once both sides were done I went back to the mill and got the ways good and clean there too. Also did a cleanup on the screw as it was gunked up pretty badly. Put it all back together, lubed it up, adjusted the gib, and its 1000% better from one end to the other. I can now max the travel out either direction and it works just as nice there as it does in the center. Yeehaa.

Now I'm going to get the DRO scale moved to the back of the table so that A) its out of my way, and B) so I can reattach the stop plate in the front...now that I've figured out what it was. The only thing I don't have are the dovetail nuts for the stop bolts. I bet I can make something useable though...

[Charlie-III]

Nice job Duuuude.
On a manual machine, I always "0'd" the dial on the feed going in a direction (cranking in or out) and kept using it. This makes sure the lash is sorta consistent.

DRO's take some of the guess work out, but sticking to a direction of travel can help accuracy.

WD-40 can help get it clean, but way-lube or a nice hydraulic oil can help keep things nicer longer.
I've even used Mobil-1 in a high weight.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Hey Charlie, were you ever in the Boy Scouts?

[Duuuuuuuude]

Its been a while since I posted anything new here, so here's some new stuff that has been happening over the past couple of months...

First, I HAD to replace the nuts. After I cleaned them they got so sloppy it was ridiculous. I poked around and found a writeup on DIY delrin nuts, which turned out to work really well. I didn't end up with zero slop, but came damn close. All it needs for lube is a shot of Moo-slick every once in a while and its good to go. It should never need replaced.



I was in desperate need of a z-axis DRO, so I picked up a cheap set of digital calipers from Lowes. A couple holes, a couple 3mm bolts, some shims, and I'm good to go.



Next up are a couple of simple jigs to hold 3/16 tubing for my latest project...crt5-exo-clone. I wanted to be able to hold the tubing square with the chassis plate, so I dug through the scrap bin and drilled a hole.



The second jig got an extra hole drilled and tapped for a 3mm bolt to help hold the tubing in place for a couple of different reasons...the first was to hold it in the mill without squishing it in the vice and to keep it square.



The second reason was to hold bent tubing at a specific angle without it rolling over.

Here are the pair in action, clamped to the chassis plate.



I've also made a slew of parts for my build. The fun never ends!

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Hey Charlie, were you ever in the Boy Scouts?

Ummm....yes I was....why??

[sorry, I missed your post a couple months ago.....]

I like your "Z-axis DRO mod"......cheap and looks like it'll work out!

[Duuuuuuuude]

On tonights episode of "WTF is Duuuuuuuude Doing Now?" I will be merging...


A motor and gear reduction from a paper shredder...



And an Ofna spur gear...

[Duuuuuuuude]

Installed!

Engaged...



Disengaged...




Does it work? Yes!

Its just a wee bit fast IMO using its fwd/rev switch, but I think a bit of 110v wizardry should take care of that.


I've got video...just need to figure out how to get it to load onto the computer...

[Duuuuuuuude]

Vid.

DIY Power feed test - YouTube

[JohnRobHolmes]

Sweet!! Great use of old stuff there

[JohnRobHolmes]

question on the reverse switch, it just reverses the field coil in relation to the armature doesn't it?

If you want to slow down the motor and it uses brushes for the armature ( I would assume so in a shredder for torque reasons) you can just use a rheostat or other method to knock the voltage down. For 1/2 speed you could put a diode on one power leg and knock down the peak to peak voltage by 1/2. You have to keep an element of AC in the system for the field coil to work properly. I would suggest against using a digital regulator because the laminations are designed for 60hz switching and will heat up greatly with most digital controls. Rheostat is probably the cheapest method, a common lamp dimmer.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Yeah it appears to be a plain ol' dpdt switch.

[Duuuuuuuude]

So I've been needing a fly cutter, and after a couple hopeful searches this week, I came home empty handed. After a bit of poking around on the web I decided to make one.

The body is a chunk of brass that came from an old faucet I replaced...its the weight for the pull out wand. The shaft is an old broken end mill. The cutter is well...a hss cutter.





It does the job, but I'm still messing around with feeds, speeds, and cutting edges.

[snail78]

That came out good dude