Is it another technology? Yes? Good!

[Aarknoid]

Although I know of yak shaving from ren and stimpy I have read it was coined at MIT

Yak Shaving Defined - I'll get that done, as soon as I shave this yak.

I've used the term Yak Shaving for years. You're probably shaving yaks at work ...

www.hanselman.com

 

[LenVW]

Hmmmm. I'm a seedy infestation now.... <GRIN>.
I'm Comp.Sci. with minor in EE. However I come from an age where Grade 8 still had a shop class that included wood working, metal working, printing, pottery and plastics. Still have the meat tenderizing hammer made using lathe, shaper, drill press and even hand tapping and die threading. But then it was a novel Jr. High School built as a round building with the Gym in the center.

Hey @jcdammeyer,
We made that exact ‘meat tenderizer’ in ‘my‘ high school shop class.
Did you bore out the handle to use as a blood tank ?
Our machine shop instructor was a bit of a character.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Hey @jcdammeyer,
We made that exact ‘meat tenderizer’ in ‘my‘ high school shop class.
Did you bore out the handle to use as a blood tank ?
Our machine shop instructor was a bit of a character.

Nothing too fancy for grade 8 class. But it was that experience that had me buy my little Unimat DB-200 decades later and then build the foundry and the Gingery Lathe (along with the slip roll, power hack saw). A friend took my Sears Drill press spindle and bored a hole through it so I could attach a draw bar to the MT3 tooling. An XY vise served quite well for a lot of the first projects. The key thing about the drill press is it was possible to clamp and also adjust the clearance on the quill.

 

[Susquatch]

An XY vise served quite well for a lot of the first projects. The key thing about the drill press is it was possible to clamp and also adjust the clearance on the quill.

That's exactly what I did to make my first basic milling machine out of a drill press. No boring or R8 though. Just a screw collar retainer on a Jacobs chuck. Served me well for many many many years.

 

[LenVW]

We have to be creative to modify units. My KING Mini-Mill does have a drawbar and a 3/4 hp motor.

@jcdammeyer
My DP should have the spindle bored to allow for a drawbar, the Jacobs chuck has popped out with even small amounts of drill chatter.

@Susquatch can you post a photo of your collar retainer ?
I may take that route.

 

[Susquatch]

@Susquatch can you post a photo of your collar retainer ?
I may take that route.

Here you are Len. I think your ability to do this depends on your quill dimensions more than anything else. Even if you can find a 33C Taper Chuck, you still need to thread the quill to accept the collar. The number on the chuck is "633", but I remember it being called a 33C. My memory is fading though.

Note the C-Clip down inside the collar to hold it to the chuck. Also note the downright horrible threading job on the inside of the chuck......

If your quill accomodates it, maybe you can modify an existing chuck to take a collar......

One HUGE advantage of the chuck collar besides being a way to retain it, is that the collar can be used to easily remove and or install the chuck too.

The reflector tape on the chuck is for measuring RPM.

 

[LenVW]

Thanks @Susquatch .
I will work on measuring the spindle and mating components.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Thanks @Susquatch .
I will work on measuring the spindle and mating components.

The only down side I can think of is that you'd have to do that to each piece of tooling right? I had a bunch of MT3 mill holders etc that I bought at Busy Bee.

This was the way the Sears Drill Press clamped the quill.

 

[LenVW]

Thanks John,
I am going to look into it and maybe design a QC arbour.
I did design industrial drivetrains for process equipment about 20 years ago.
There maybe a few ways to achieve the retainer.

 

[Susquatch]

The only down side I can think of is that you'd have to do that to each piece of tooling right? I had a bunch of MT3 mill holders etc that I bought at Busy Bee.

This was the way the Sears Drill Press clamped the quill.
View attachment 25089

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought @LenVW was concerned about keeping the drill chuck in the quill not clamping the quill.

But I've been out in the sun and humidity all day so I'm not sure what I think about anything right now!

 

[jcdammeyer]

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought @LenVW was concerned about keeping the drill chuck in the quill not clamping the quill.

But I've been out in the sun and humidity all day so I'm not sure what I think about anything right now!

Both I think... Or maybe I mentioned clamping the quill. The issue is more to do with milling with a drill press. Can't use MT tooling because it falls out and could really hurt someone. Unless you have a drawbar. Similarly, if you can't tightly hold the Z the tool can pull into the work, jam or even break and that could be shrapnel also dangerous.

But then I've been mowing the lawn and after 45 minutes, half done, dripping wet and can barely breath. So my head is also not on straight...

 

[Susquatch]

Both I think... Or maybe I mentioned clamping the quill. The issue is more to do with milling with a drill press. Can't use MT tooling because it falls out and could really hurt someone. Unless you have a drawbar. Similarly, if you can't tightly hold the Z the tool can pull into the work, jam or even break and that could be shrapnel also dangerous.

But then I've been mowing the lawn and after 45 minutes, half done, dripping wet and can barely breath. So my head is also not on straight...

Gotcha. Ya, I used my Beaver Drill press to do light duty milling for something like 30 years before I got my round column drill/mill about 10 years ago. Last year I finally got a BP clone. Its been a very long journey.

The collar stops the chuck from coming off when you are milling and I have exactly the same Z-lock with a beefier handle to stop the cutter from pulling into the work.

What we didn't talk about though is the bearings. My beaver also had side thrust bearings to hold the quill under high milling side loads. I'm sure I would have destroyed it 30 years ago without those bearings. If you don't have those side thrust bearings in your drill press, you might want to rethink the whole idea.

 

[jcdammeyer]

What we didn't talk about though is the bearings. My beaver also had side thrust bearings to hold the quill under high milling side loads. I'm sure I would have destroyed it 30 years ago without those bearings. If you don't have those side thrust bearings in your drill press, you might want to rethink the whole idea.

Good point. No idea what is in my Sears Drill Press. I don't use it for milling anymore as I have my House of Tools mill equivalent to the Grizzly G3616. In hindsight I wish I'd bought the slightly larger G3617 version with the horizontal milling feature, longer table and longer head. But space and money was an issue.
This photo was taken when I bought it and got it into the carport. http://www.autoartisans.com/milton.htm
Now is fully CNC.

 

[Susquatch]

N

Good point. No idea what is in my Sears Drill Press. I don't use it for milling anymore as I have my House of Tools mill equivalent to the Grizzly G3616. In hindsight I wish I'd bought the slightly larger G3617 version with the horizontal milling feature, longer table and longer head. But space and money was an issue.
This photo was taken when I bought it and got it into the carport. http://www.autoartisans.com/milton.htm
Now is fully CNC.

Nice machine!

But I'm lost again. Why are you beefing up a drill press to mill with if you have a mill already?

 

[jcdammeyer]

N


Nice machine!

But I'm lost again. Why are you beefing up a drill press to mill with if you have a mill already?

Travel back in time to around 2000 to 2005. Building the Gingery Hacksaw, Slip Roll and Gas Fired Foundry all to build the Gingery Lathe. I converted the drill press to be what I called my mill-press. Also used it to make things for my sailboat like an alternator and pulley bracket and dual belt pulley. These two are from 2003.



So the mill-press got a lot of use. But once I could afford it I bought a real mill. But the mill-press still has a draw bar and I have occasionally used it when there's something set up on the mill that I don't want to change.

 

[Tecnico]

Professionally I'm software engineer ..............
But after moving electrons all day I like to get the rest of the atom going.

I was going through the earlier parts of this thread and had some thoughts....

I think you (@PaulL ) hit the bullseye there and it doesn't just apply to the software/electronics discipline. I think it is the contrast from what the day job is, usually in front of a glowing screen or in a meeting room vs. hands on creating something tangible & useful, sometimes even using skills of the day job. Putting the creative side together with the hands on is satisfying/relaxing after a day's work!

In my case the machine tools are yak shaving for the end product which has been race cars, airplanes, motorcycles or just fixing things (better than new) after they break. My day job has been Mechanical Engineer on things like military ocean sensing/automotive electronics/hand held electronics/food service equipment/oil patch slip rings etc. etc. etc.

From young, I always had the interest in making things which probably led me in the direction of the day job. Growing up I always had the influence from people doing hands on things so it was natural.

/<ramble>

D

 

[jcdammeyer]

I was going through the earlier parts of this thread and had some thoughts....

I think you (@PaulL ) hit the bullseye there and it doesn't just apply to the software/electronics discipline. I think it is the contrast from what the day job is, usually in front of a glowing screen or in a meeting room vs. hands on creating something tangible & useful, sometimes even using skills of the day job. Putting the creative side together with the hands on is satisfying/relaxing after a day's work!

In my case the machine tools are yak shaving for the end product which has been race cars, airplanes, motorcycles or just fixing things (better than new) after they break. My day job has been Mechanical Engineer on things like military ocean sensing/automotive electronics/hand held electronics/food service equipment/oil patch slip rings etc. etc. etc.

From young, I always had the interest in making things which probably led me in the direction of the day job. Growing up I always had the influence from people doing hands on things so it was natural.

/<ramble>

D

<ramble>
It is possible to use more than just the software tools even if the normal day is a lot of software. For example this project used Protel 99SE for the schematic and PC board design.

The first prototype was done with ALibre CAD sheet metal and I used my sheet metal tools to make the holder. These LEDs and been done with a single strip alignment jig and hand soldered.


We decided we wanted more LEDs. The chip design was changed to run more LED and run off 110VAC. Again Protel 99SE to design and lay out the boards.
The LEDs are dropped into the holes.

It used Alibre CAD for this mechanical design too. A friend took the drawing and on his manual mill cut a plate with the angled slots. This is laid on top of the rows of LEDs so they all angle out rather than sit straight.

These are then run through the wave solder tank and come out the other end perfectly aligned.

After the metal one, the first three prototype holders for the longer strips were done by me on my mill in plastic each fixture about 15W. The case on the left is the target enclosure donated by Seagrams during Expo86 originally holding Mercury Vapour lamps.

The final fixture used all SMD parts, machine assembled with pick and place and then the LEDs inserted and wave soldered with the alignment jig.

There are six strips covering 180 degrees. Each of the columns is 15 degrees off center with a beam angle of 20 degrees so the light from the LEDs covers the entire 190 degrees . These were installed summer of 2009. No software written. No microprocessor used. Which was odd for me.y
To my knowledge, they have not yet been replaced.

/<ramble>