Shop What's Happening in Chazz's Shop?

[ChazzC]

Fix One Issue & Create a New One!

Was very pleased with how the adapter turned out, and it fits on the rotary table much more securely. However, I created another problem opportunity: in reducing the unthreaded portion of the 3/4"-16 hole, I also reduced the width of the wrench flats. I knew that was going to happen, but thought I had a thin open-end or adjustable wrench – wrong. I can get my thin-ish adjustable in just enough to break the adapter free, but it's not good.

I figured I'd have to buy a thin open-end wrench, but like everyone one on the Forum I dislike acquiring tools. I checked and found that I have a pin C-Wrench that would work, so over to the Mini-Mill, clamping the adapter by its flats and placing an adjustable parallel on the other side of the vise to balance the pressure. Then put a jack under the 1"-8 end to provide support during machining:

Centered the adapter using a 10mm edge finder:

This edge finder has a ceramic tip and is the only one I have that would reach; I could have centered using the jaws, but didn't trust that the slots were equal (and ended up just rotating the adapter to do the other hole without checking that it was still centered – sometimes I overthink things).


After moving back 15mm from the end of the adapter, I milled a flat using a 2-flute 3/16" end mill:

Then drilled 3/16" x 4mm deep to accept the pin wrench (I spot drilled the first hole, then realized that my 3/16" stubby drill bit was shorter than the 3/16" spotting bit, so just drilled the second hole – see, I said I overthink):

I rotated the adapter in the vise and repeated the milling & drilling. Deburred and cleaned the adapter up, and now it's done:

 

[ChazzC]

Rescue Materials (kind of like rescue dogs)

It was trash day yesterday and I was out for my morning walk (too hot to wait too long to start) and came across these (clean, look new; parts from something):

88mm x 13.5mm OD x 12.5mm ID (-ish) steel tubes with a smooth matte powder coat (maybe):

I'll use them for something (yeah, sure).

 

[ChazzC]

Odds & Ends: A Little Chore and Some Issues

First the chore: I'm getting things set up for a video and so that I don't need to worry about battery power I use a "Battery Replacement" with my Nikon D5100. However, I also have a power adapter for my little Panasonic HDC-TM41 video camera and don't want to plug the wrong coaxial plug into the battery adapter so I labelled (of course I did) the Ferrite Bead on the D5100 cord. Unfortunately, the surface of the bead is "low energy" so the label didn't stick very well; I put a short piece of clear heat shrink over it and problem solved:

Onto the issue. I'm "assembling" a small copy stand (photos to follow once it is complete) to make taking photos of small items easier and rather than using a large base I'm just going to clamp the base to the workbench or a table. I figured I'd use a 4-1/2" Kant-Twist clamp like I have on one of my NOGA Big-Boys:

[I'm still editing the video for this project which involved modifying the Kant-Twist clamp, saving about $50 over buying a special clamp]

I bought the clamp for the Big-Boy back in March from MSC on eBay:

But the price has gone up:

Shopping around, I found this version on ZORO, which is actually better suited for my purposes:

Price was $55.12 last week, so in oder to get free shipping after my 10% coupon I got some M6-1.0 Brass-Tipped set screws. BTW, Industrial Magnetics (the people who brought you Mag-Mate) now own Kant-Twist; I found this out from the FedEx Ground tracking info. I just checked to see what they want for this clamp, and I'm not buying direct from them:

Received my clamp from ZORO (from Industrial Magnetics with a Grainger packing list) Friday, but one of the jaws didn't swivel smoothly and I found this:

The flat plate is spot welded to the jaw (copper-plated steel) but there must have been something between the plate & jaw (the other plate weld is clean). You can see were they tried to fix this but they didn't get deep enough so the jaw/plate only swivels part way. ZORO has emailed me a label and will send a replacement. I offered to fix it myself for a partial refund, but it was either return for full refund or do the swap.

 

[ChazzC]

Replacement Kant-Twist Clamp

Zoro processed the replacement the morning after FedEx had the return and the new one arrived this afternoon (extended delivery item as it was coming from a 3rd party):

This one works properly and has decent welds on the plates/jaws, but they didn't spend much time cleaning the plates & jaws after welding. I'll do a better job before I put it into service (whenever I have full use of my left arm).

 

[ChazzC]

Out of the Shop Until Early Next Year

Managed to mangle my left shoulder last week (not in the Shop: had disagreement with the stairs leading down to the Office & Shop) and while feeling a lot better the news from the Orthopedic doctor is not good - given the choice of a plate & screws and a replacement I’m going with the replacement. Between additional scans, scheduling, surgery, recovery and PT, I probably will not be attending Cabin Fever and won’t have full use of both arms until mid-January at the earliest.

All is not bad as I plan to post updates at major milestone's (for example, they will use the CT Scan I will be getting to both plan the surgery and model the “replacement parts”).

Please don’t bother with well-wishes, I know everyone will be cheering me on (and I will continue to put my nose in where it’s not needed and to be a thorn in everyone’s butt.


Charlie

 

[Susquatch]

Please don’t bother with well-wishes, I know everyone will be cheering me on (and I will continue to put my nose in where it’s not needed and to be a thorn in everyone’s butt.

You are not the boss of us!

You can keep doing all your machining on line here. We will all laugh at your stupid ideas and dumb ass mistakes just as though you were actually in the shop.

Hoping your recovery is fast and wishing you well!

 

[ChazzC]

You are not the boss of us!

You can keep doing all your machining on line here. We will all laugh at your stupid ideas and dumb ass mistakes just as though you were actually in the shop.

Hoping your recovery is fast and wishing you well!

"A host of friends, I have a host of friends!" James Caan in the film Eldorado