Story Time

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Ashe Juniper - Juniperus ashei - mountain cedar

Snot Locker is Open!

It's snot season in south Texas.  That green weed up in the picture is the reason.  When the cold front blows in, it brings the pollen.  And freely shoves it up your nose.

After a day of work, I come home with my head in a vise.  Apologies to AvE.

In the mid 90's, I worked for a wealthy man.  He owned a couple sections out near Utopia, TX.  He had spent considerable time and effort to make his paradise resemble the Texas of the late 1800's.  It was a pampas, a rolling plain of waving grass sprinkled with oak motts.  He had audad sheep, and some exotic deer as I remember.  It was a beautiful place, and it had very little juniper on it.

There was a rumor floating around then that the juniper was about to be classed as protected.  It supposedly harbors some little bird or something.  And the .gov was going to forbid it's removal.  Dozer's were running in high gear to dig out as much of that stuff as possible.  As a result of all this horticulture, springs that were mentioned by the old timers started flowing again.  It grows like weeds up in the hill country / Edwards Plateau.  And it appears to be a water sponge. 

That nasty plant is a bane on civilization.  And if you look it up, you'll find folks saying it got a bad rap.  It's really not that bad, or evil, or.....  I think it should be burned with fire.  I fantasize about funeral pyres in every field, and never seeing this plant again...  If it had feelings, I chop it down to hear it holler....  (fret not, it's an old saying)

I'm holding my own n the snot wars so far, but it sure has been a drain on my blog posts. Ha, drain... how appropriate.

More to follow....

Turning the corner?

Moving on to the rest of the project.

I'm moving on down the road, with a bookmark on the acme hole.  Turning down the acme all thread was pretty easy.  It cut smoothly, but it took quite a while on the little Logan.  I had a tapered cut that took lots of spring passes to clean up.  Any big cuts chattered, so I had to take it slow and easy.  The tool pressure pushed the center around a bit if I was too aggressive.

Tiny cuts => tiny chips

Super zoom on the cutter bit.

 Somewhere in the shop, is a 2 morse taper live center, and it's better hiding than I am at finding.  So I pulled out the old wannabe turret tail stock.  If it's not just perfectly timed, it'll wobble.

Old Wiggly

But it fits perfectly in the hole, and is ready for the handle I haven't made yet.

Fits nice, no slop.

I have 3 acme nuts and turned one into an insert.  I figure some locktight will hold it securely.  It's not gonna be torqued on too hard.  At least by me.  I may still try again with another Acme tap.  I'm not in a hurry.

After and before.  Home made nutsert.

Again,  this is fun stuff.  I'm learning some new things, and able to apply a lot of things I'd learned in the past.

Back to Square 6

Okay, let's try a left turn at Albequerque

I was asked why I didn't show the broken tap in the work.  I'm not a practiced bloggerator, so I just went to work, and didn't think to take a picture.  I apologize...  

I stepped back and took a deep breath for a day or two.  I didn't want to abandon the tap in the work, and just redo that jaw.  Seems there was edumacation to be had.  I dug up this tutorial on broken tap removal.  This guy's palaver reminds me of Cockney rhyming.  But he seems to be a sharp cookie.

I was covering for a coworker last week, and didn't feel like running around a new town to find some tools so Am---zoned these:

I ran this around 2000 rpm

I dulled number 1 and 3 getting a dish in the middle of the HSS disaster, and switched to a masonry bit.  That ate it down to the point where a punch would break it out.  This is what's left of the tap and tools.

Toasty

 

Now, I can start over!  Every bit of education has a cost.   

Oh no!  Did I run the tap into the bottom of the vise???????????

This blog is about budget machining, not specifically about projects....  But why own this stuff if you aren't gonna use it!!  So if you'll indulge me, I'll finish this up and then head on back to what I've learned about the subject.

Stock

Have you SEEN the price of little bitty steel bits at HD or L-wes or TSC??  WOW....  I found a place in Corpus Christi named American Steel and Supply, Inc.  I got some 1/2 inch cold rolled round for 14 clams and tax.  That was about the price of 36 inches of something metallic at HD.  I was allowed to go to the warehouse and poke around the saw area to find some drops.  The full stick (20') came home with me, cutting charge was zip and they even deliver twice a week to SA for nothing extra!!   My last goto for drops is a bit more expensive than that, and there are cutting charges if you want it shorter.  But it's closer than CC.  Knowing that American is sorta close by with decent policies is good to know.   Now I have the rod I need to finish this project and it's straight to boot.  

Next up:  Making that newly opened hole into an ACME threaded hole.

For the love of pete....

Float Lock Vise 2

Making Chips is fun

I got back to making chips the other evening.  Adding the holes in the exact spot needed this time.

Finding the edge

center drill

1D10T check:  0.625" = 5/8" = Go 

Mr. Pete stacked them and did them together.  I did NOT do it that way, so there will be some error.  I checked the lengths, and they need to be adjusted, so that'll happen post-holes.  heh..

I found some no name parallels at a pawn shop a few years back.  10 bucks as I recall, and the money jumped out of my pocket and met my hand in midair.

Very inexpensive but good

Sizing the hole accurately

Got part one clamped down, and both holes run through.  I found a set of reamers some time back, barely used.  I have a lot more, but they are all odd sizes, that I haven't cataloged very well.  Another project for a rainy day.

After getting the holes in, time for deburring.  I found a great set of deburring cutters on the auction site we all know about, and they work very well.  I remember them being extremely cheap.  Another lucky hog moment on 'bay.

Weldon - quality

Deals can be had if you are patient.  I have always paid more than I wanted if I get impatient.  Make your list, keep it close and save some searches so you get notified if something comes up.  And you won't wind up with 5 of the same thing because you forgot if you already had 4...

Ready to tap

Now where is that Acme tap?

Is my face clean?

Good Grief...

 

I gotta go to work??  Really?

Going back to work, my face was dragging in the dirt.  It was very hard to go back after several weeks being "semi-retired".  I got a carpal tunnel open release done, and I slept 11 hours a night for 2 weeks.  It was amazing. 

Do you know why all those old codgers were so mean when we were kids?  They were being burned alive all night with nerve pain, and then running into us without any sleep.  I know it.  I did it.  I was not a happy man.

Every one over 25 when I was a kid

After resting up, and getting healed up enough to go back to "able to lift 75 lbs", I wasn't feeling it.  It was rough getting back in the swing of things.  My brain had rusted up a bit, so I didn't remember some of my goto fixes.  I managed to muddle through, and finally remember how to do my job.

I got some shop time in today, and as soon as I get the pictures out of the phone, I'll have another update on the float lock vise build.  Stay tuned, that'll be tomorrow if all goes well.

It was good while it lasted!!

Back to work?

Carpal tunnel surgery took a while to heal up.  I've been rubbing the scar and using the hand for a while now, and boy, it's still tender.

Doctor's appointment today, and most probably back to work tomorrow.

I really got used to being my own master.

So, hopefully, I'll be able to keep getting the projects done, and the blog up to date.

Thanks for stopping by to keep track of the shop.