Thread: Mystery Project. What is this???

Most ingenious answer: hand-pump piston. It certainly is that shape...



but no, it is much more mundane –
the holder for a cheap diamond dresser, for a surface grinder.
IMG_2377.jpg IMG_2366.jpg


The dressing rod was about $3 shipped:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000340991244.html

and someone convinced me to have a solid holder - nearly as tall as the rod. I found a slug of cast iron the right size, but it was quite heavy, so I needed to machine some weight off it for safe handling.


The web page said the diamond should be trailing by 15°, so I made the top slope away at that angle, to help me line up the tangent of the wheel for the trailing position on it.

There's no way I would have guessed that and got it right. That's a good idea , basically a good size weight that will stay on the magnetic chuck and hold the diamond dresser to dress the wheel.

It's hard to see in the photo but is the shank of the diamond tilted to 15 degrees also?

Originally Posted by steran50

There's no way I would have guessed that and got it right.

Can't make them too easy

Originally Posted by Techo1

It's hard to see in the photo but is the shank of the diamond tilted to 15 degrees also?

No. I thought about it, but in the end machining simplicity won out:

surface grinder dresser.jpg

Toolmaker neighbour needed some help churning some thingies out.
He claims to be too busy to set up a CNC programme and machine!


Load some UHMW (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) round rods,
drill out to 9.2mm, and machine a step:
IMG_2482.jpg IMG_2484.jpg

(It was very hard to turn an accurate OD. A big cut works OK, but a small cut fuses the plastic together, and a tiny cut just pushes the plastic away from the tip and polishes a few thou off. Maybe I should have used HSS?)




Machine a chamfer, and part off:
IMG_2485.jpg IMG_2486.jpg

Then turn around in the chuck, and clean up the parted face:
IMG_2487.jpg IMG_2489.jpg




These little Holman hose thingies fit in them:
IMG_2490.jpg IMG_2491.jpg
so they have something to do with fluids.



What are they for?

They look like a type of hose clamp, maybe for higher pressures???
Kryn

They look like Type92 rack insulators.. but I’m going to suggest they are to stop coolant pipes chafing in a housing or something similar

Components for a multi point machine oiling system, maybe.

Grahame

Grahame is sort of close.


They are fluid transfer hose couplings, for power steering racks:
IMG_2488.jpg


I think on these racks, there are 4 hoses. Two pressure hoses that move the ram+rack,
and two sort of drain/balance hoses, that collect any fluid that leaks past the main seals,
and balance the air pressure so the dust boots don't blow out.
I suspect fluid goes back to the reservoir.


These were just prototypes for testing, before the toolmaker gets around to the CNC job.

I didn't machine these, but they are an interesting shape:
IMG_2607.jpg IMG_2611.jpg

(the brass things, not the home made spanner, or old mic.)


Most of the things have a curved chamfer on one side, and the through hole is offset from the middle of the rod and the straight side of the chamfer.



Anyone want to guess their purpose?

My guess would be clamping something to something else that is round. Shallow disk is fits into a recess and a bolt passes through it to the longer part with the semicircular cutout, bolt tightens and draws the larger part against something with a matching radius to clamp the two objects together. Obviously, there is a fixture (cast, forged or machined) that completes the system and has a round opening to accommodate the circular material that the unit is clamping to.

I know it is about as descriptive as the wording in a patent, pure gibberish but the best I can do after midnight without breaking out the CAD and doing a drawing.

Originally Posted by nigelpearson

I didn't machine these, but they are an interesting shape:
IMG_2607.jpg IMG_2611.jpg

(the brass things, not the home made spanner, or old mic.)


Most of the things have a curved chamfer on one side, and the through hole is offset from the middle of the rod and the straight side of the chamfer.



Anyone want to guess their purpose?

Hi Nigel,

They look like split collets ! Used for clamping something to a round column.
I use split collets any time that I need to clamp a bracket to a round post. My Norman tool post uses one to clamp the tool holder to the tool post.

Baron is sort of close - they are for clamping something round !


I can't find a photo for the machine they are off, but it is a big old spot welder. They are the electrode clamps.

Grab a mystery plastic(*) disc in the Hercus, to machine a step on one side:
IMG_2741.jpg
using an assortment of spacers and a threaded rod through the spindle.


Then, bore out to the required 5/8":
IMG_2742.jpg


and carefully grab on the step, to machine the other side:
IMG_2743.jpg



* The shavings came off as light grey, and even the Aluminium cutting carbide left a matt finish. Its almost like glass-filled Nylon, but it doesn't seem that tough.

I actually made a second one from black Delrin. Much easier to machine than whatever the first one was made out of, and a lovely shiny finish.



Anyway, what are these for?

(hint - it is to repair something on a compressor)