The Home Machinist!

Stevec and JackF thanks for the compliments on my parts. That is a neat idea Steve, may have to make one someday.

Progress today.
I got the trip mechanism for the upward movement of the mill working today! The problem ended up being the little dumbbell looking piece was not installed in its proper place. So now all the functions are working as they should on the mill. I also ordered a new draw bar, to replace the welded unit it came with.

Now it is onto bike building.
More to come!

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Pat P in the Great NW.

Saturday I should be going to a friends home to assemble the lower end of my 73 sportster. I am putting in a new crank pin, rod bearings and rings. We will hone the cylinders as they are in good shape and not tapered.

Before I do this I need to replace the shifter shaft bushings and shaft. The bushings will be pressed in on my (new to me) press and reamed on the mill, with a chucking ream, borrowed from a friend. To get my engine cases secured to the mill table I need to make a t-nut with a smaller rod, so it can go through one of the engine mounting holes.

I started on the t-nuts tonight. I am working from the top down and do not intend on removing any metal from the bottom of the plate. This is one of those times where speed is more important than accuracy. I must get this all done tomorrow. So I am not worried about stresses in the material, they are just t-nuts. I will spend my time on getting the bushings installed properly and the hole aligned properly, for reaming. I will take some pictures of the process.

Roughing.

The material is an old the exercise machine weight.
Sure is nice having a mill. Way faster than moving metal with the shaper!
More to come.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

Pat,

How did we ever fix, work on or make anything before we got machine tools? I guess we didn't very well.

Jack.

Jack
I can tell you that things are a lot easier and more precise than how I use to fix things.
Here is my early milling machine. I would hold the vise with my hands and move it under the carbide burr.
In this picture I am making a spacer for my back axle on my 74 Sportster Chopper. The right side of the picture is the backstop for my buffer. (6"grinder with a buffing wheel). I wore out one buffing wheel polishing parts for my bike. :O

My other shop, when it was my only shop. With the 74 in the early stages of getting redone.

Finished.

Things got done, just the tools dictate what I can do, verses what others had to do for me.
This bike is now in pieces, as it needs some work to seal up the motor. I need to split the cases to do the repair.

I bought a basket case 73 Sportster a couple of years ago, for parts for the 74. I figured I would rebuild the 73 and learn to do the motor work, so I could do the work on the 74 with the knowledge I got doing the 73, with out messing my chopper up. Every time I got ready to rebuild the 73's motor I ended up buying machine tools, starting with the lathe, and would have to wait to get more funds. This has been going on for the last year and a half. Now I have a lathe,shaper and a mill with tooling. The mill I did not intend on getting untill I built the 73, and sold it for the funds, to buy the mill, but the deal was to good to pass up, when it came.

Sanford and Sons is closed for now, I am not buying anymore machines for awhile.

I am now starting to build the motor for the 73. I am going to a friends tomorrow and am going to learn how to put the lower end together. I do not have the tools, or knowledge for this, so I am paying him to teach me how to do mine. The motor, will get a new main shaft, rod bearings, and rings. The jugs are in good shape and will just get honed. The heads have come back from the motor shop with a new valve job, and are ready.

Tonight I installed, and reamed the bushings for the shifter shaft. I made a bushing installation tool, from some scrap. I used it and the mill to press the old ones out, and the new ones in. Pressing the old ones out was quite easy. Pressing the new ones in was a little more exiting. The tool I made for doing the pressing, worked real well pressing the old ones out, as the bushings were well worn. Pressing the new ones in, the tool got hung up in the part, as I had made it just a nice slip fit in the bushings, not leaving enough room for the compression of the bushing. I got it all apart with out damaging any thing. I turned the diameter of the tool down just a bit more, and every thing went well.

Here are the pictures.

I started with a short socket for support, but had to use a deep well for clearance of bushing lenght, but this it the way it was done, just holding the cover by hand.

New bushing in the cover.

New bushing in the engine case. The cases are put together, mounted to the mill table and indicated with a coaxial indicator, so as to press the bushing in straight.

A picture of the setup, with the cam cover installed, ready to ream.

Both bushings line reamed, and ready to go.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

My friend, that is going to teach me to put my lower end together, has the flu! It will get done in time

So I drilled and tapped holes, in the caps, of a pair of handle bar risers, for a friends bike today.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

That's the first time I ever heard of anyone using a mill for a press. It seems like a good way to keep everything in alignment but, to me, the down feed on a Bridgport type mill seems pretty weak for that purpose. If I recall correctly, Bridgeport recommended a maximum of a 3/8" drill in steel for the power down feed and 3/4" for the manual feed. I think the power/fine feed clutch is supposed to slip at 200 pounds but there is no safety clutch for the coarse manual feed.

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Don Young

I did not use the power down feed. I used the quill handle. I figured I would give it a go, and see how much force it took. By using the quill I would be able to feel that. I have a 12 ton press that I have not used yet, but had some concerns about lack of feel. They pressed out relatively easily. I have read somewhere about someone else using their mill for a press.
I am not saying that this is a good idea, it just worked at the time. I wonder how bad of an idea is it really?
Ignorance is costly, so sometimes it is best learned on less expensive equipment. Kind of like being thankful that I am running a belt drive lathe.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

What I would fear most is that the rack cut into the back of the quill would be damaged. The small pinion that engages the rack, the shaft, and keys that lock the pinion and handle to the shaft would be fairly easy to replace if damaged. They just don't look rugged enough for me to put much pressure on the down feed. I am not sure if it is possible but try to run the quill down and look at the size of the rack teeth, remembering that the pinion only engages a portion of the teeth.

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Don Young

Making parts is getting easier. I made two parts, on Sunday, and it only took one try for each part. The parts are very simple in design, and I am sure are considered beginner projects. I will take pictures later and post them here. I just had to share as it is a joyful event for me!
More to come.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

Here is a picture of, the bar, for an indicator holder, I made to replace the rusted one. I have plenty of rusty things.



I am in need of another dovetail holder, so I am going to see if I can make the parts in the right side of the picture, as a future project.

The other part I made today, I have made before, to fix the handle of a cooking pot we have. This one was for a friends cooking pot. I did not know what the name of these parts were when I started to write this, so I looked them up. They are "Also known as sex bolts and architectural bolts".
http://www.mcmaster.com/#binding-posts/=gq3zvh
I did not take a picture of the one I made today. It used a 6-32X1" screw.

This is a picture of the first one I made. It took me three tries, to make it.

More to come.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

More fun the last couple of days in the shop.
I started on making the dovetail indicator holder. I have a Logan 7" shaper that needs some loving (rebuild), so it is not accurate enough to cut the small dovetail I need. With a thousand way to skin a cat, I needed to figure out one that would work with what I had. So I made a tool holder for the mill and used it to make the dovetail.

Here are the pictures.

The tool holder, with tool, still in the mill after drilling and tapping, for the grub screws.


The holder is made for 12L14 turned and drilled on the lathe. I used an edge finder to find center, milled a flat, used the edge finder again against the end and the lip to find the length. Divide that by four, one unit to the first hole, two units from there to the second hole and they are evenly spaced. The large diameter is 3/4" and the small is 1/2". I used 1/2" cause that is my most used collet.
Chuck the tool holder up in the collet, flat bar in the vise, use the Y axis to cut the dovetail.

Tool, the flat bar with dovetail cut in the end, and the part I am coping.


Made the screw out of SS.


The knurl did not come out to well. I need to purchase a proper set of knurls and make a holder for them.
Drill some holes, mill to size, make a spring, to finish.

Dinner is ready!
More to come.

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Pat P in the Great NW.

This arrived today, as did a LMS, HSS boring bar set. So now I am learning to bore. This is a first for me.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390404302981?ss ... 2230wt_902
That was the "Buy it now" price. Shipping was $12.03
Pictures and more to come later!

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Pat P in the Great NW.