Tanker Progress

[JohnHudak]

Here's a pic of the tender bottom being cut out from a piece of .250 brass. The CNC mill makes this an easy job! I'm going to try and have the tender finished before the end of the month, and I'll post progress pictures. John

[JohnHudak]

Also, before anyone asks, I stop the program halfway around the piece and move the clamp to the other side......John

[Bill Shields]

If you are quick like a bunny, you can do the clamp change on the fly....

Hard on the fingers though if you miss.....

No guts.....10 fingers.... more fun...

Have you ever tried cutting all but through and clamping on the periphery. When finished, peel the outside off and clean up with a deburring tool?

[Kimball McGinley]

A tank locomotive does not have a tender!

[srrl5]

A tank locomotive does not have a tender!

That sounds like something I would have said had you not beat me to it!

David

[Jim_Nolan]

John

Can you post a pic of the set up for quill depth gauge you have. It looks like a good way to set up one of them digital scales. I have been toying with the idea of fitting one but am always nervous about drill the machine.

Jim

[JohnHudak]

Jim, I bought mine from Ebay a while back. Do a search for "Quill Readout" There are usually two kinds for sale there, the kind that I have with the entire mounting bracket ready to go for a Bridgeport, and the generic kind that needs a bracket made specially for your machine. I just did a quick search for them and didn't see any with the entire mounting bracket, which just bolts on to existing screw holes...no drilling or tapping needed. I looked for about 2-3 months before I found one, as all they had were the generic ones. Here's a pic.....John

[Bill Shields]

I have seen these things made from digital calipers....actually, wasn't there an article in LS a while back?

B

[ccvstmr]

There's a guy out in Washington state that sells DRO kits for mill/drills on ebay. He uses the Buy-it-Now and charges about $385 for a 3 axis kit. His hardware should be equally applicable for bridgeports and other mills, but you will have to do some drilling and tapping. Materials are provided for brackets, but will need to be machined before mounting.

He basically uses electronic calliper scales without the jaws. Neat adapation for someone looking to install an "economical" DRO on a mill...or lathe even. In fact, if you have scales on a lathe and mill, you can unplug the display and move it to the other. After all, it's difficult to run two machines at the same time. The hardware savings for display alone will get you about $185 if you consider fitting two machines.

He goes by the ebay name of Hymotive, but I believe his real name is Ken. He's an interesting guy to talk to and willing to help any way he can. He also (or used to) include a computer disk for helping with machine calculations like determine round hole pattern x-y coordinates. Take and look and check it out even if you already have a DRO. Hope this helps. cb

[Guest]

Bill, I've tried that method of not cutting all the way through, but I hate using those deburring tools....I have many scars on my hands and fingers from those things, if the blade breaks while you're "leaning" on it you're in trouble..... As far as the clamping method, I'm not that fast..I thought I was pretty fast 25 years ago when I tried to mike a piece with a new set of Starrett 2-3's in between strokes on a shaper, but that's when I realized I wasn't fast at all!!! (yea you know what happened)....the boss wasn't happy, they were his mics!.....John

[JohnHudak]

Sorry, I wasn't logged in.....Kimball some Tankers do have tenders here's a pic of the B&A

[Bill Shields]

Yeah...that's the one.....citified Hudson!

Sit down before you get the floor jerked out from under your feet...when this baby starts to roll, you better have your butt planted!