Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Always glad to spend others money 
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Welcome to Westwood Metalworks, What is he building in there?
- Thread starter Dan Dubeau
- Start date
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Have not felt like doing much out in the shop all weekend, couch gravity has been too strong and overpowered my weak motivation to work on the grinder. This time of year always gets to me too, and I just drag my ass through it until spring until the longer days and sunshine perk me up...... Got a call last night for a breakdown, so that kicked me into gear a bit, but it (I) was cancelled just as I was on the way out the door......Not wanting to waste that momentum I headed straight out to the shop, turned the heater up and instead of chipping away at the unlimited # of small parts and tasks to make and do for the grinder, I started a completely new project
First grabbed an off cut of 3/8" plate sitting on the welding table, cleaned it up, cut 2" off for the face mount, and drilled some holes.
Drilled and tapped some 1/4"-20 holes in the saw casting. Then clamped up some spacers from the table and tightened it down.
Took the rest of the plate, and cut the corners off, and clearance for the blade guides. The corners will be my gussets for underneath.
That was last night, and not wanting to take chances welding over an oily chip pan at 20:00....I called it a night on this.
Earlier today, It was a quick task to clamp up the table to some other flat stock to keep it co planer with the saw, and hit it with a couple of tacks. I then held the gussets in there, and tacked them too before removing the entire thing from the saw and welding it up a bit more solid. Not completely, but just made sure everything was secure.
Mounted back on the saw, it fits great, and is dead flat across the saw table.
This is just another one of those little things I've always wanted to make, but never get around to. I have a lot of these projects.....Losing motivation to slog through the grinder build, so this was a nice pallet cleanser with a sense of accomplishment, and should be a useful addition to the saw. The one good thing about building my own design of a grinder so far is that it's forcing me to complete so many other side projects because I don't feel like working on it all the time lol.
First grabbed an off cut of 3/8" plate sitting on the welding table, cleaned it up, cut 2" off for the face mount, and drilled some holes.
Drilled and tapped some 1/4"-20 holes in the saw casting. Then clamped up some spacers from the table and tightened it down.
Took the rest of the plate, and cut the corners off, and clearance for the blade guides. The corners will be my gussets for underneath.
That was last night, and not wanting to take chances welding over an oily chip pan at 20:00....I called it a night on this.
Earlier today, It was a quick task to clamp up the table to some other flat stock to keep it co planer with the saw, and hit it with a couple of tacks. I then held the gussets in there, and tacked them too before removing the entire thing from the saw and welding it up a bit more solid. Not completely, but just made sure everything was secure.
Mounted back on the saw, it fits great, and is dead flat across the saw table.
This is just another one of those little things I've always wanted to make, but never get around to. I have a lot of these projects.....Losing motivation to slog through the grinder build, so this was a nice pallet cleanser with a sense of accomplishment, and should be a useful addition to the saw. The one good thing about building my own design of a grinder so far is that it's forcing me to complete so many other side projects because I don't feel like working on it all the time lol.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I also was playing around with some hardware for the grinder last night. I ordered these steel adjustable clamp levers because I really liked the look of them, but I couldn't get them in all the sizes and m/f threads I needed. Bummed about the mismatch in hardware I decided to take them apart to see how they worked, and discovered that they are interchangeable. Jackpot. I just have to order a few more, and I'll have the entire grinder with matching hardware now. Little things like that bug me, and I was almost at the point of machining my own mold so I could pour my own Al handles and have them all matching lol. I was intially going to pour my own thumbscrews for the entire build with the mould I made a while back, but I like these adjustable ones way better than thumbscrews. I will use one of my screws for the tracking knob though.
How they came.
The insides. The retention screws are different, One is Phillips, one is hex socket. Different thread sizes. But the splines match, and interchange fine in either handle.
and how I need them
Initially I could only find them in m8x25, and m10x20. I needed one to be at least 1.5" (40mm) so I ordered an orange handle m10x40, and was disappointed to find that those splines are different and they won't interchange with either lol. Searched the internet again, and google turned up an amazon link (yet searching from amazon did not for some reason) for an m12x40 with the chrome steel handle, so I made a slight design change to accommodate that. Which is funny, because that was the part I procrastinated on the other night, and I would have had to rework it had I went ahead and made it........Premonition? No idea.....But it was a rare occurrence when something actually works out in my favour.....
How they came.
The insides. The retention screws are different, One is Phillips, one is hex socket. Different thread sizes. But the splines match, and interchange fine in either handle.
and how I need them
Initially I could only find them in m8x25, and m10x20. I needed one to be at least 1.5" (40mm) so I ordered an orange handle m10x40, and was disappointed to find that those splines are different and they won't interchange with either lol. Searched the internet again, and google turned up an amazon link (yet searching from amazon did not for some reason) for an m12x40 with the chrome steel handle, so I made a slight design change to accommodate that. Which is funny, because that was the part I procrastinated on the other night, and I would have had to rework it had I went ahead and made it........Premonition? No idea.....But it was a rare occurrence when something actually works out in my favour.....
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Thanks. Still want to make a small fence (just angle iron scrap) for the outfeed side eventually. But this will be handy to clamp those parts that don't quite fit in the vise.
skippyelwell
Ultra Member
Dan, where did you find those steel adjustable handles? I've been using the black cast aluminum handles from McMaster-Carr but they are very expensive and I'm always afraid I'm going to crack them.
Thanks
Thanks
historicalarms
Ultra Member
I have used a make-shift platform like that a couple times for my saw. I just use a 8 inch wide piece of heavy web 6" angle iron C-clamped to the same spot on the saw as Dan's is
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Wife opened the door the other day, and then yelled at me about it being warmer out there than in the houseCrocs, bare feet, and shorts in the winter.How bloody warn is the shop?
. I keep it about 4/5* baseline, then will kick it up to 10* if I'm working out there. It doesn't take long to heat up.Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I got these from amazon. The Uxell black handle ones, the chrome ones. They're much cheaper than anywhere else I found.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I almost went that route too, but there's a few degrees draft on the saw casting, so I figured by the time I bent that down to level, it would be just as easy to make an ugly weldment.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Wireless adapter arrived, and was plug and play (thankfully). Currently downloading pathpilot update 2.6.0 to 2.12.0, then hopefully I can easily talk to it via my laptop using map network drive.
All was going good until....
Dammit
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
NBD, open up the case, find the battery and
Dammit....
Soldered tab with plug....12 years old is a pretty good run IMO...
Not wanting to solder tabs/wires to a button cell, I figured I can whip up a battery holder from an old car keyfob, and be back in business.....Took it outside to massage it into it's new form, and then went back downstairs to solder the old wires onto it.
Dammit.....Now I cant find the old battery anywhere. I have no idea where it got to. I was only gone for less than 5 minutes, kids are in bed, wife wasn't home yet either. The only possible "thing" that could have moved it is the cat lol. I cleaned up the workbench quite a bit (loooooong overdue) trying to find it to no avail. Ugh.....
I have a couple ideas to move forward, but those are for tomorrow. I'll figure something out. I have tomorrow off, so I want to get a bunch of parts cut in the CNC, and maybe get to welding some of the grinder frame up. Ain't nobody got time for this......
Dammit....
Soldered tab with plug....12 years old is a pretty good run IMO...
Not wanting to solder tabs/wires to a button cell, I figured I can whip up a battery holder from an old car keyfob, and be back in business.....Took it outside to massage it into it's new form, and then went back downstairs to solder the old wires onto it.
Dammit.....Now I cant find the old battery anywhere. I have no idea where it got to. I was only gone for less than 5 minutes, kids are in bed, wife wasn't home yet either. The only possible "thing" that could have moved it is the cat lol. I cleaned up the workbench quite a bit (loooooong overdue) trying to find it to no avail. Ugh.....
I have a couple ideas to move forward, but those are for tomorrow. I'll figure something out. I have tomorrow off, so I want to get a bunch of parts cut in the CNC, and maybe get to welding some of the grinder frame up. Ain't nobody got time for this......
LOL I can so relate to this.
Normally when I misplace (lose) something I'll call the OH to help me look for what ever it is that's been misplaced. About 30 seconds later I hear "Is this what you're looking for!",,,,,,, sigh,,,,Yes dear, thank you for your help. mumble mumble grumble grumble...
Yes I suck it up but at least I can move on with what ever it is I'm working at.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
My Wife is so much better finding stuff than me. It's usually because she's the one that moves it from where I last set it down though.....
Not wanting to admit defeat tonight, I mixed a drink, went back downstairs and start tidying up again hoping to find it. Or at least end up with a clean workbench....SO much crap just gets piled on and around my workbench down there, Things like an old empty coffee can I saved to store stuff in......For some reason, I looked down at that can on the floor, picked it up to move it somewhere else, and the battery was UNDERNEATH it. How, why? I really don't know....Must have been the cat........but I have my battery back, and will solder up the holder with the old leads and hopefully be back in business tomorrow morning.
I also found an old usb memory stick buried on the bench from about 5 years ago, that contains a few cad files of projects I thought were lost. Like a version of my belt grinder I started back in 2017. And the cut files for the Yarn winder I built for the Wife in 2019. I must have used it for the Resin printer and forgot about it, as it had a couple print files from around that time. Finding that was a nice bonus.
Not wanting to admit defeat tonight, I mixed a drink, went back downstairs and start tidying up again hoping to find it. Or at least end up with a clean workbench....SO much crap just gets piled on and around my workbench down there, Things like an old empty coffee can I saved to store stuff in......For some reason, I looked down at that can on the floor, picked it up to move it somewhere else, and the battery was UNDERNEATH it. How, why? I really don't know....Must have been the cat........but I have my battery back, and will solder up the holder with the old leads and hopefully be back in business tomorrow morning.
I also found an old usb memory stick buried on the bench from about 5 years ago, that contains a few cad files of projects I thought were lost. Like a version of my belt grinder I started back in 2017. And the cut files for the Yarn winder I built for the Wife in 2019. I must have used it for the Resin printer and forgot about it, as it had a couple print files from around that time. Finding that was a nice bonus.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Finally a check in the win column. Soldered "new" battery holder to old wires, checked with a meter, wrapped in tape because I didn't have heat shrink big enough (add to cart....), hooked everything back up and voila. Path pilot upgraded to latest version, and it was quick and painless to map the drive to my laptop. I just need to figure it out on the linux end, so that when that computer is off I can still post my files to the laptop, then when I turn it on, I can simply grab them from there, instead of having to move them from the laptop. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice to connect both ways. I just don't know how to do it from the linux/pathpilot side of things or if it's even possible.
Everything I did today went perfect the first time, with no hiccups. Computer, installed new battery and battery tray in the car, chicken coop mending, Ice dam removing. This is a strange feeling.....This never happens.....There's a gotcha coming I know it.....This isn't how my life works lol.
Should be out running programs after dinner tonight.
Everything I did today went perfect the first time, with no hiccups. Computer, installed new battery and battery tray in the car, chicken coop mending, Ice dam removing. This is a strange feeling.....This never happens.....There's a gotcha coming I know it.....This isn't how my life works lol.
Should be out running programs after dinner tonight.
If I understand what you want to do, (read and write data to your drives from various sources) it isn't going to work. It will always have to be read and written to the drive from the same computer that's because the file and data allocation tables are stored on the control computer. They are usually also stored on the storage itself, but only for backup and restore purposes. If all your machines have to read that first, they will make a jumbled up mess of things.
Your best option is a file server. The file server does all the reads and writes to your drives and the rest of your network asks the file server to get them what they need.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
Not sure we're talking about the same thing. I can read and write TO my control computer FROM my laptop just fine right now, thanks to the wireless adapter. What I'm hoping to also do is the opposite, but I'm not sure how to "map network drive" (or equivalent function) from the pathpilot/linux side of things. I.e. Make a shared folder on my linux directory that points to a shared folder on my laptop. I'll have to look up how to do that, I'm not at all familiar with how linux does things, or how to even get TO linux things from the pathpilot program that autoboots. I'll poke around later tonight and hopefully not screw things up
I agree a file server as the intermediary would be best, and I would eventually like to get there someday, for many reasons just not CNC file sharing, but for now just having the two talk to each other wirelessly is a step in the right direction. No more thumb drive file loading. Even when I'm programming side by side out there the constant thumbdrive swapping it a pita...
I agree a file server as the intermediary would be best, and I would eventually like to get there someday, for many reasons just not CNC file sharing, but for now just having the two talk to each other wirelessly is a step in the right direction. No more thumb drive file loading. Even when I'm programming side by side out there the constant thumbdrive swapping it a pita...
Maybe not. When you read and write the disk from your laptop, you are doing that THROUGH the desktop and the desktop is managing where all the data sectors go on the drive. The same is possible through other network devices.
What you can't do (at least not with any software I am aware of) is write directly to the disk drive from the laptop and the desktop.
There is a special case for USB connected hard drives and NAS drives. These drives have the disk drive controller in the drive enclosure itself. They manage and control the data themselves instead of needing an operating system to do it for them.