Micro Machinist Association
I know there are a number of Taig Tool owners in the Dallas, “North Texas” area. I have been contacted by about a half dozen in the past few years. Some close to Dallas and all within what we would call the metro and suburb area.
I believe there is an existing hobby machinist group in the area and I assume the members are more into general machine shop work (as I am) and perhaps less involved with the small (Micro) machinery like Taig (or Sherline). I haven’t pursued more information or membership as my time until recently has been at a premium. But I do run a fair number of web sites.
So what I am wondering is if there is an interest by a few local folks for an online low profile member only (private) meeting room for micro machining? No travel involved. (Maybe later?) I am open to all suggestions, but I envision a local club type BBS group where members get to know and help each other. Not a wide open “my tool is bigger than yours” brag forum.
I believe many home machinists may not want to participate in a wide open public forum. However, a private group of like-minded local folks (an association) may be just what is desired. I have had a request many times on how to “join my club” when in fact I never had one. I don’t want to own one either. I don’t intend to be the “main voice”. Just provide a communication service if I can.
The design for this registered member site is wide open for discussion. My offer is to provide whatever online service the members’ desire. New members join by asking. It could be a simple Taig or Micro Tool owners list, a forum… Continue reading
A Learning Experience
I struggled for some time getting the vacuum assisted lost wax casting system to perform properly. I thought it was mostly my fault and I almost believed the technique was beyond my ability. I was considering jumping over to the centripetal casting system. I decided I needed to keep trying as I knew the equipment I had was working perfectly and the only weakness was myself. It has turned out that the vacuum process is not beyond my skill and ability, but was something I just needed to practice to develop the proper skill.
Now my vacuum assisted casting is going very smoothly and I am not in the least intimidated by the process. There is a lesson to be learned here which is to pay close attention to what is going wrong. My lesson was to have faith in myself and work past the early failures.
I didn’t just find out about this little secret of success called “keep trying”. I have practiced it all my life. It is the very reason I am now confident with vacuum assist. Quitters are never successful people as they find failure as something to fear and don’t want to risk appearing weak or unable to perform, even to themselves. The usual “out” is to blame the equipment.
It’s not the equipment.
I have discovered I can learn from my mistakes when I accept the responsibility. If you have been reading my blogs for any length of time you have seen when I admit getting something wrong. I usually call it “a learning experience” and will describe what went wrong. I believe learning experiences should be shared so that someone else doesn’t have to make the same error to receive the lesson.
In my major occupation where I ran multimillion dollar projects, we… Continue reading
Tiny but Mighty Project
Mighty Mouse
I haven’t posted here for some time. I have been busy doing a ton of work on other projects and the “machining of steel” part of my shop has been a bit idle. I have been machining wax so that counts for something.
But I made up for the slack a very tiny bit last night by machining a small locating pin for my wife’s sewing machine from a steel rod. Hardly worth mentioning actually, but like I said, its been a long time and no posts here.
What I started with was about a two inch length of 3/16 (0.1875) inch steel rod. The pin finished out at about 5/8 (0.625) inches long. The ends needed to be different diameters for half the length each. I took no measurements and just turned the pin to fit the existing holes. This was a repair/replacement for an existing plastic pin that broke. I replace one several years ago that is along side of this current one. The pins are used for locating a removable platform or deck around the sewing head. The steel pins are of course much more durable than the original.
The fat end of the pin is a press fit into the plastic platform base and the small end slides into a locating hole on the machine base.
OK, so the point is — this pin is not something you can just go somewhere and purchase, and it is far better than the existing plastic part it replaces. It is a better invention. (That’s my favorite new word, invention.)
It was super easy to make. The lathe (I used the PD400) is always set up. Total time even with finding the steel rod, was about 30 minutes. I also used the cutoff saw to cut… Continue reading
Lighting Efficiency
I am a professional Certified Energy Manager (CEM) with a few other credentials (BEP) (CSDP). So let me say my real occupation is in energy management and conservation. I am not one of the radical “save the planet” phreaks, but I do take a very practical sustainable approach to energy management.
So anything that can be done with reasonable expectations and return on investment is on my todo list. Many things being promoted today are more political fodder than a practical solution.
One great advance today is in LED lighting. Where there is a need for good lighting, very low heat and a huge reduction in power, the LED lamp has come into it own. Here is what I have begun in my own shop.
This is my X3 small mill. I have two task lights, one mounted on each side. Each fixture is rated for 100 watts but I always used 50 watt PAR20 bulbs. You can see one illuminated in this picture. Using both fixtures, it is 100 watts and most of that power is radiated as heat rather than light.
You can see how “warm” the color tone of the light is. This is typical of incandescent bulbs, especially as they age.
Here is a closeup of the same picture as above. On the left is the incandescent 50 watt bulb next to the 9.5 watt LED PAR20 bulb. On the right is how the LED bulb is packaged. You can see on the package it is a PAR20 FLOOD, lasts 30,000 hours and is 500 lumens. I chose the 5000°K bulb which is a very white “outdoor” natural daylight color. So it uses more than 5 times less power and will last 15 times longer than the old bulbs. The LED lamp is built far more rugged… Continue reading
Preview Taig CNC Lathe
Taig CNC Lathe
Update! Article Published!
Click on text above…
Here is another one of my “Sneak Previews”. You can read the previous posts that hinted at this concept. The post before this showed where I was going.
You can see assembly is not complete but this reveals the complete design. The only part I had to make was the conversion mounting plate between the Taig lathe and the Taig mill table. The base plate of the mill is 3/8 thick and so is the adapter plate. A 3/4 inch 10-30 bolt works perfectly with the existing holes and doesn’t extend through the adapter plate. I am thinking of epoxy (and bolts) in the final assembly of the mill base to the adapter to prevent any possible shifting.
The adapter still has the Dykem from the very careful layout of the holes. The base plate was also squared very accurately (on my X3) and this precision is used for squaring the lathe on the mill table. I am aware the lathe bed must be accurately aligned with the mill table.
The pulleys and a chuck will be installed next. One cannot help but notice that honking motor hanging out there. That is the standard 1/5 hp PSC mill motor. 1750 rpm (only $30!) The power is a simple plug in to the existing switch.
In this view it can be seen that even with the full lathe mounted there is plenty of travel in the Z axis to handle any width of material that will fit the chuck and bed clearance. I will experiment to determine if the stock Taig tool holder needs to be mounted farther to the right. I think it does for wide facing cuts. A quick change or turret tool post could certainly be used. The base of the… Continue reading