The Home Machinist!

Conrad_R_Hoffman wrote:Nice! I had to do some class 3 threads recently and was surprised at how narrow the window was and how hard it was to stay there.

I can't seem to escape the small stuff. The last parts I made had M1 tapped holes in steel and the taps were horrible little 3-flute things that instantly jammed with chips.

Conrad, if use the right taps and lubrication there's less chance they'll jam up. Only problem is with holes that small, good taps tend to get real expensive.

So true. Unfortunately for some of the less popular sizes I'm often supplied with taps rather than buying 'em myself. It's amazing how some people think all brands and styles are equal and price is the only consideration. My experience is that in the small sizes style, brand and quality are everything and price is the last thing anybody should think about. That seems to hold true for drill bits down under #60 too. The difference between a well ground point on good material and "the other kind" can be the difference between doing the job or destroying the job.

Finally got the wire EDM running tonight after a year. I tinkered with it last fall then decided I needed to upgrade my electric service to my garage. Wife and I went to Florida for 5 weeks after Xmas. When we returned from Florida I aquired a new shop account that has kept me very busy. I finally got the electric service upgraded June 1st. Since then I have been either to busy or the weather to hot to tinker with the wire EDM. Yesterday, I finally got around to starting the wire EDM and it was still a NO GO.

I called the Hansvedt service technician in Rantoul Illinois and was told he was going to be near O'hare air port today. Since I'm only 50 miles West of O'hare I called the technician to see if he would stop by on his way back to Rantoul to look at my wire EDM. He stopped by and we tinkered with the wire EDM for 4 hours. The technician went over the machine and found some minor problems. The major problem was a simple fix by switching wires from my new rotary phase converter.

We got it going just now. I can hardly wait to start burning some experimental parts and learning this new process.

Jim

Neat! Everybody seems to be magnetically attracted to certain things and it's probably good that it's different for everybody. Seems to change over time as well. Make something cool that couldn't be made any other way

I spent most of today making a new quill for the spindle of my Dumore grinder. I could easily buy one, but that would cost actual money, which is in short supply at the moment. Anyway, the thing has a Jarno taper that really worried me as I've never cut a fussy taper before. I ended up offsetting the lathe tailstock and it turned out perfectly. IMO, the real secret to having that work well is the use of a "bell center drill". I have just one, left over from my grinding days at a previous job. It gives a curved ring seat for the centers, and runs offset a lot better than a conventional straight 60 degree hole. Tomorrow I'll finish the other side of the quill that accepts the wheel and see if I can get to the actual job that needs to be ground.

Thanks Conrad I've oft wondered what the "Bell" centre drill's claim to fame was.
Makes perfect sense.
Jim, good news on the EDM I hate to think what the 4 Hrs. from the tech set you back . Get burnin'

Jim, good news on the EDM I hate to think what the 4 Hrs. from the tech set you back . Get burnin'

I know, I hope I saved some money having him in the neighborhood. Otherwise I would need to pay him for driving 3 hrs each way from here to Rantoul IL. I also figure I got by cheap with only 4 hours of service. I could not have got the machine running any other way than having the service tech look at the machine.

I bought the machine right to begin with and paid cash for it.

I moved the machine from Cleveland Ohio to Genoa IL (about 900 miles round trip) for
toll fees and diesel fuel with my Son-in-Laws dually.

A local shop owner drove his fork lift to my home and unloaded the machine and set it in my garage and would not accept one penny for his service.

I ran the 100 amp electric service to my garage myself and bought the wire used from another buddy. Built the 10hp rotary phase converter myself.

I also went over the machine testing things and learning about the machine. If the machine would have started up in the beginning I would not have learned as much as I have.

What ever the service call costs, I'll write out the check and smile at the same time.

Now I need some .012 brass EDM wire to practice with. Anybody got some....cheap

Jim

JimGlass wrote:Now I need some .012 brass EDM wire to practice with. Anybody got some....cheap

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_ ... Categories

its good to hear that all is up and running. you have a learning curve on this whole process and learned alot.

now its time to make stuff. good luck

Finished the quill today and my old Logan did, as usual, a fine job. The taper is a Jarno #4 to match the 5T-200 spindle on my Dumore internal/external TP grinder. It pulls in with the 3/8-24 thread on the end. The other end is a 3/8-24 shaft for small grinding wheels. I need to make some washers to go with it. Everything was done between centers so it runs nice and true. Most of the dimensions were copied from an existing quill that wasn't the style I needed.

That's some very pretty work, Conrad.

Harold

Nice work Conrad!

quite impressive actually.....