Thread: Your latest project

RC, I'll put that on my list.

Aaron, it occurred to me you might mean the holders in the holders. I did make those, but not all at once. Here's a better view:



I think the only one that needs explanation is the little threading tool in the middle.



It holds the bit at 2 angles - up and left.



This gives it a little rake and provides clearance on the right flank. It also means you only have to sharpen one face. Of course it's only suitable for angular cutting (compound method). Seems to produce nice smooth threads.

The story in brief.
The better half wanted a bird bath for the back yard. Simple you would think, go to the landscape supply buy one come home and plant it. No not that simple as we egg each other onwards we end up with me casting a 120kg of concrete (plus 10 brick for fill) she laying 25 x 200mm tiles saved from a bin witch she then smash them, a tub of tile adhesive and grout.
This know is not a bird bath but a POOL.
So you are asking where does the metal work come in?
Like any good public pool there are important parts that a pool must have
A diving board and a life guard tower!
Got my hands on some anodised aluminium 1.6mm sheeting off cuts for the life guard tower and used some 25 x 3 aluminium for the diving board gave this a quick polish, done.
The tower I cnc out and folded up and glue together as the photos show.
The only change was the roof went from a box shape to a flat sheet as this looked better to me.
Photos
177 cut in cnc
180 parts- roof folded up
186 engraving This did not come out well when plastic was removed
201 tower completed a little more clean up needed
1000377 Whole pool complex

Russell

For some time I have been looking for a better lighting set up on my mill with no luck. I deceided to "bite the bullet" and make my own.
I needed smaller sized lights but with plenty of brightness for my old eyes, with plenty of flexability and range in the linkage, also not be cooked by them. I also required the lights to be set up and be able to move them out of the way when you wanted to change tooling and then just swivel them back into their original position.
All wiring had to run internally and power be supplied by the existing transformer and have individual on/off switches.
I selected some 5watt LED bulbs from Dealextreme in both warm white and bright white to see which one suited, they both do the job OK. In the photos the bright white bulbs are in the end mill shot and the warm white in the 45 degree cutter. They look a bit brighter in the photos than in real life.I have only used the mill a couple of times since fitting the lights and they are a great improvement.
Bob

Hi Bob,
They look to be doing the job nicely. I have a couple of super bright truck reversing led lights here I am going to mount on mine.
What are your table covers? I have some the same colour that are kids play mats bought for a few dollars each.

Dave

Hi Bob,

They look pretty good, nice and bright, do you have any details on the construction?

I'm planning something similar.

Regards
Ray

Dave,
My way covers are made out of some left over heavy vinyl I had laying about, I find it pretty good as you can fold it up and make a splash guard out of it as well. You would not want to drop anything heavy on it though, I usually put a piece of plywood on top of for heavy work.

RayG,
I made the lights out of material I had in stock. The light housings are made out of 60mm dia aluminium tubing that I cut an internal 1mm pitch thread into and the made a matching male thread to fit it. I made two pieces of this for each light and cut a rebate into the inner piece to locate the bulb into and then screwed the outer piece in to clamp it all together. The square tube is 25mm light wall aluminium tube. The base mounts are made out of 50mm square aluminium.The rest of the parts are made out of steel and I fitted them together and welded them up. The tricky bit is deceiding on the lengths for parts of the arms as you have to work out how far and where you want it to reach and how much you need to compact it up. The 60mm light heads I made to be able to rotate around 350 degrees, I could have made it 360 but then you could end up winding your electric leads into a mess. If I can help with anything just post.
Bob

Here is my latest achievement...

The removal of all 8 teeth from this UK made dovetail cutter in 1/4 of a second... :'(

Hi .RC,

That'll be cheap carbide cutting dovetails in HSS... yes?

Impressive effort..

Regards
Ray

Think positive RC, at least you have the shank to use as a lathe tool of some kind. LOL
How did you do that?

Dave

Hi RC,
Is that 1 3/8"? Must have made a bang, or should I say 8 bangs

Stuart

Operator error or cutter failure.

Never actually made a bang..... More of a crunch..Machine did not even quiver.. Mainly operator error not having the machine screws adjusted up properly... It was not that expensive a cutter when I bought it but it was a damn good quality one... Presto brand coHSS.

Looks like I might be able to get a replacement out of Israel...

Originally Posted by .RC.

Here is my latest achievement...

The removal of all 8 teeth from this UK made dovetail cutter in 1/4 of a second... :'(

Now...can you come over to my place and clean my screen....when I read the email I laughed and it now has coffee (used) all over it....hahahahahahahahahaha

(apologies for the continual laughing RC....it definitely reads more humorous than what it is....hahahahahaha)

Things are moving along rather swimmingly at the moment with "my latest project"

20mm endmill project...

Hi RC,

Is it a good thing you've started 2012 in the same way as you ended 2011?
Remind me not you lend you any cutters
Still at least it means you were out in your shed today, I certainly wasn't!

Stuart