Merry Christmas
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all though the shop, Not a machine was turning, Not even grand pop’s…
Dirty Lathe
Here is a picture I snapped of the Lathemaster just after I finished the Harley axle cap boring I described earlier. I keep my machines clean most of the time when they are not in use. I get a little gentle kidding from time to time from readers that I don’t keep my tools dirty enough.
They do when in use become a mess as you see. But I have a garage shop with a walk directly through the door into the main house. I am “permitted” by the house boss to make any mess necessary, but I know without spousal reminder that I need to clean up as soon as possible.
You may think that is the only reason but it is not. I actually LIKE to keep my tools and workspace clean. Cluttered, yes “guilty” but always clean within reason. 🙂
Silver Dust
I just finished heat sink #3 for the HB2, which is the forth one I have machined counting the initial test block. I wondered how much aluminum I was removing from each 4x4x1 block.
I don’t have a full size un-machined block left but I do have the scrap end which is nearly a full block. It measures 4 x 3 11/16 x 1 which is 4 x 3.6875 x 1 or 15.75 cubic inches.
I have a postage scale that measures to 0.1 ounce. That is going to determine my overall accuracy. The undersized solid block weighed 23.2 ounces. Doing the math to figure what a cubic inch of aluminum weighs and bringing it back up to the 16 cubic inch start block ( 4 x 4 x 1), my figures say the start block should weigh 25.2 ounces.
The fully machined heat sink weighs 14.4 ounces, a 10.8 ounce loss. That is 43% machined away!
Pushing the fun with math a bit further, when I finish my 5th block, I will have made 54 ounces or 3.375 pounds of aluminum flakes.
I bet Gloria thinks about half of that has already tracked into the house, Oops!
A Boring Weekend
I had a good weekend in the shop. I bored out some axle caps for use on a Harley motorcycle. I didn’t create them, but the owner updated his ride to a new machine and the caps would not fit the new bike. All I had to do was use the Lathemaster and bore the stainless steel caps to the correct I.D. Each was a different size.
Next I set up another HB2 heat sink on the Taig CNC and let it run for four hours. That got the motor side done on one blank. Then on Sunday I did the other side (another 3 hours) and I have a full heat sink complete. That’s three so far counting the test one. I actually have 3 and ½ finished at the moment, heading for five.
While the Taig was running and buzzing happily away over in the corner, I used the Wonderful little Proxxon PD400 to make 16 identical aluminum leg extensions for mount the HB2 heat sinks to the machine frame. I am going a lot fancier than the stock motor mounts.
The legs are ½ inch round aluminum 6061-T6 bar stock I cut to about 1.750 inches. I faced both ends to exact length; spot drilled both ends, drilled #24 holes for tapping, tapped both ends 10-24, and then chamfered the tapped holes. Repeat 16 times. Of course I had an assembly line type process for each step. The tapping was the most work.
I also did some computer work and filled a couple of orders and questions from the store. In all it kept me out of the bars this weekend! (As if I ever go to such places 🙂 )
North Texas Open Invitation
I made a plea over in the TEDEX forum for local North Texas home workshop enthusiasts (hobbyists) to rise from the chips and identify. I receive inquiries from usually beginners who are seaking a place to go to associate and learn about their new interest.
Yes, I have been in many such organizations and the new folks can sometimes be a pain to the old curmudgeons. But the new folks bring life to these organizations. The fear is sometimes, “I am not good enough to teach the new folks.” Well, that’s not really true. I do my best with this web site and I always claim not to be the expert. A few locals sometimes get invited to my shop.
There are many forums out on the Internet. I don’t intend to compete with them for good information. I also don’t get a prize for number of members. 🙂 If you can drive to or are within the North Texas area (and if you are from here, you know what means) go visit TEDEX and sign in. Thanks!