Whaaat! The A3?
Yeah, OK. It’s been awhile. Almost three years! Don’t look too close, There is a enough grime on those parts to confirm the passing years. I have a little write-up in the works about the re-start. Yep, I am planning that. A lot has been going on and I’ll make a few excuses.
The photo’s here are just to make me feel committed. Stay tuned…
Chairman of the Boards
I spent last weekend first cutting the grass in nearly 100 degree outside temperature. Then my daughter’s boy friend Doug wanted to build a chair that he saw in a magazine using 2×4’s and 1×4’s . Since I have the tools, benches, etc. I provided the guidance and moral support. Shop temps in the afternoon hit 100 degrees inside.
Chair turned out cooler (looking) than the air temp! Doug kind of gets in the way here for looking at the chair. 🙂
Since last weekend I wrote a few pages I posted in the Pages section. They are so long I thought they were too much to just post. Check “Thoughts on…” and “What will…”.
Taig Spindle
I had an inquiry about how the Taig Spindle could be taken apart and the cartridge used elsewhere. I had to be honest and admit I had never taken one apart to investigate. Taig products are so well built there was never a need to disassemble the spindle.
The new spindles are different than the older versions. The new ones have the cartridge insert from the end. It slides into a machined bore. The old heads have a split case. The pictures here are the old head. Both hold the cartridge in place with a recessed screw into the center portion of the cartridge.
I wasn’t and still not interested in pushing apart one of my ER spindles to view the cartridge. There may be no harm, but if it isn’t broke now, why look for a problem? The old split case is no problem. The side will almost fall off when the bolts are loose. Probably the reason for the change to the new style.
At first look it appears to be four bearings. The center section is not bearings (as far as I can tell). The end bearings are compressed against the center core providing proper bearing pre-load. The pre-load nuts are on the outside against the bearing case. The center section is under compression.
To me it looks like a very elegant design and has been trouble free. First class machining, not like the cheap imports. It HAS to be to run at 10,000 rpm. That doesn’t imply all imports are cheap but few are rated for that kind of speed.
So I suppose you could make your own spindle case if required. I run the spindle at 10,000+ rpm all day with no heat buildup (after… Continue reading
Some Like It Hot.
Zowee! It’s 95 degrees F. in the shop this afternoon. I have been working in and out of the shop most of the day. Mostly drawing things in Vectric Software then running out to run them on the HB2. My biggest concern is proper cooling for the computer but it seems to be doing fine. They are short runs from 10 to 45 minutes. I am stopping now that we’ve hit the 95 temp in the shade. I don’t even want to think about working in the sun. The front porch also in the shade is showing 98. We have had over 3 weeks of near and over 100 degree days.
I grabbed some pictures with the cell phone so quality isn’t too great. The pictures are showing about 93 degrees at 3:15 in the afternoon. I also got the main bench cleared and am doing some surface work on it. Getting ready for new projects! You can see the new (old) computer under the HB2.
I have been doing some engravings in Corian and just basically getting the feel (yes hot) of how long I and the equipment can hold up in this weather.
A Change at THMStore
The change is THMS is going to manufacturer many of the products it sells. The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop will be refined and improved as necessary into a higher volume work shop in order to enable production runs of some finely crafted products we have long considered making. These products will then be offered for sale through our e-commerce store or perhaps regional sales representatives.
The Hobbyist Machine Store (THMS) is an Internet e-business. The initial mission statement of the business was to provide replacement steel gears for the popular Asian made mini lathe and mini mills. THMS next expanded its mission statement to include supplying small machine tools, accessories and powered hand tools to any hobbyist constructing precision projects in their personal workshops. THMS does not cater to just the machinist hobby, but to any kind of hobbyist who requires small high quality machine tools for their workshops.
The original plan put THMS into limited competition with other Internet and catalog based small tool providers. I have stated on these pages, it is not the intention of THMS to be yet another supplier of lookalike goods. We never intend to become a large discount supplier of common brand tools and machines, just competing on price.
I have been considering making this THMS mission statement “adjustment” for more than a year. I can’t call it a change of mission as this direction has always been a part of my long range strategy. A change in emphasis may be a better description. The emphasis to produce and market my own products.
THM Store will continue to offer, as long as there are orders, the high quality products that are not readily available through other channels. One example is the excellent Proxxon PD400 metric mini lathe and accessories, imported from Germany. We will… Continue reading