Mr. Sheldon, FRONT AND CENTER!!

 It's a usable lathe now.  Thankfully!  

I ordered an enclosure to put the vfd in (20 bills from a known supplier of horrifically used and abused equipment).  It wasn't in bad shape at all, but the switch was damaged after the sale pictures were taken.  I've got one on order.  I also need to add the contactor so the new switch has a purpose.

Programming this thing was fun.  I just had to read through the manual a bit.  But you do have to infer a lot for the interesting bits.  

Fer instance:

If you have a remote keypad, you don't need to set a switch or even make a software change.  It's automatic.  That tidbit isn't explained.

 

If you use a normally open switch that is momentary, it won't keep the vfd running.  That is set by the 3-wire setting.  And then you have to change the start stop to terminal not keypad.  BUT, not really clear where those changes are made.  YT rescued me with that one.  E01 set to 7 seems like the proper function (stop button = coast to stop), BUT.....  that has to be 6 (3-wire operation)  Oh, I forgot to update the cheatsheet.  Yipes!

And it's a runner!!!

I even found some legends for the buttons.  Profeshinous!*

The lathe is fine, but my shot was crooked.  Does that look a little straighter?

Ford gray panel (Majic spray paint from TSC) on a machine gray lathe.  I guess that lathe paint doesn't looks so blue now.  I wonder if I have cool white lights in the shop?  Been so long, I don't rightly know.

It was another 100 degree day and it was stupid hot.  Yesterday wasn't blistering hot, there was a bit of a cool breeze blowing all day, even though it was 100 or so.  Two days, similar temps, perceived temps waaaaay different.

I'm wasted...  Off to ye olde bedstead...

*Apologies to this dude.  I try to type professional and I hear his spiel instantly in my mind.

 

EDIT:  This is something I just found.  If you use the Fuji Frenic Mini, these application notes are very important to a successful implementation of your VFD.

Fuji Application Notes

Mr. Sheldon, Please report for duty

Shop Time:

Well, it's alive!  Programming this VFD wasn't too daunting.  First time for everything....  Some things I get into are way past my experience and become overwhelming!!  But this just took time and working in the cool of the morning.  It's been over a 100 F nearly every day this month.  Coupled with the humidity, I'm stuck in the puddle of cool air right in front of the ac during the heat of the day (1100 to 1900).  

Side note:  did you notice that they report the heat index now, instead of the actual temperature?  They started that sometime before last year.  I guess since the temps aren't reflecting the current "thing", they have to inflate the numbers to justify what they want to do.

Pushing through the mornings into early afternoons, I got it running.  Yay me!  Now to finish the controls and extend the control panel.  Woohoooo!!  Looking for some flags (proper term is legends) for the buttons (Reverse and Forward).  I dug around and found the proper contacts for them.  Normally open momentary.  They are Square D 9001 switches, the buttons themselves are called operators.  Learning the proper names is part of the deal I reckon.  You can swap out the contacts on the back.  NO, NC  and you can stack them up for multiple poles.  Really kinda cool.  I got some new button covers coming.  The black spots in the push buttons will be different colors eventually.

I cut this out on the plasma table, then used a 30mm hole saw for the three buttons.  The pot was 5/16".

Color is off.  The Sheldon is blue gray.  But this'll work for now.  May be a nice contrasty part.

 

I have some 14 gauge wire for this, but darned if I know where.  Gotta dig. I also decided on the contactor, so that needs inserting into the controller box.  And I need to fab up a mount for the extended vfd face plate.  Saving up for a braking resistor.  They have one for this unit, 15 ohm 1KW for a 10% duty cycle.  I will probably mount it under the controller box with forced air.  It's just over a C note*, kinda spendy, but it'll slow the lathe way quicker than the normal vfd can.  This thing will spin a buffalo without even noticing.  *EDIT:  It's over 200 bills now.  I found a firm that makes them to order for about 40 bucks. 

Kitchen Update:

Managed to not ruin the kraut.  I added some carrots and asian red pepper to this batch.  Got about a gallon out of it.  It's tasty stuff!!  I really do like to ferment.  Kinda of addicting actually.  It so blasted warm here that a root cellar and a pressure cooker are similar.  Might as well ferment and put in the fridge.  I haven't pressure canned any yet.  I can do that anytime really.

I got a pretty good deal on a tiny wood stove.  It's missing quite a few parts, but that's no hill for a climber.  I found a pro wok burner so i can dual fuel it.  Wood or gas.  Being able to can in the shade of a tree is appealing.  Heating up the house in summer isn't much fun.  Just boiling the jars for the kraut was crazy hot.  On the bright side, I steamed out all my wrinkles...  

 I'll edit the post with pictures in a bit.  Right now, gotta get ready for a parts run.  See you in a bit. If I can ever figure out how to edit a video, I'll get some of those up as well.  I've got a few.

Multiple Fronts

I'm trying to fight on multiple fronts.  Got stuff inside and outside that need attention, each is a Priority 1.  It's hard enough trying to meet my own deadlines.  And then I get this cool letter on the door:  "The city will be milling your street in preparation for resurfacing.  Please move all vehicles......"  Took an afternoon to get stuff moved around to make room.    

I slept like a dead man that night.

Shop Update:

Working on the VFD and enclosure during hot afternoons.  That has been a long, stringy project.  Too many other things getting in the way.  Hopefully today will see everything mounted and a test out.  But that'll be later this evening.  After the 102° F fades into the 90's.  Blistering hot this June so far.  Takes about an hour or so to dry a pair of jeans on the clothesline.  I thought I had some solid #10 for the VFD, but I only have stranded.  And it was a "hey, don't throw that away!" score.  I never get stranded wire to look right when I try and route wires.  It has a mind of it's own.  Makes pretty swept curves, but not right angle bends that my head wants to see.  I need to find some tie wrap bases.

 I have a couple holes to punch into the cabinet for motor wiring and control wiring going up to the head stock. But that's no hill for a climber.... I hope. I need to add a contactor after the breaker, but that's gonna wait for a day or three.  When it shows up, it'll be installed, and we should be done.  I need to put the junction box for the L16-30 receptacle on the wall, and that needs a 60mm hole punched in it as well as the three #8 clearance holes for mounting screws.

Kitchen Work:

Got the bacon smoked today.  One good thing about brining meat is a day or two extra soak won't hurt it.

Smoked with apple wood chips for about 45 minutes, then left at 150° F for about an hour.  Its cooling off now and will hit the freezer this afternoon.  Ready and waiting.... The kitchen smells so rich right now.

Next up will be some Polish style pork loin.  Back when they were cheap I bought one every time I went shopping.

Smoke is antibacterial I found out.  So it kills the germs that cause bad breath.  Or maybe rot.  I don't put pink salt in this stuff as it's easy enough to freeze.  But I did order some for sausage.  Eventually, that'll be on the agenda.  That'll be the real deal: cured smoked sausage.

Of Sourkraut and Plasma Tables

I bought five heads of cabbage the other day to make some sourkraut.  They were less than 8 inches in diameter.  I've never seen them that small in my life, unless they were on the ground.  Did they pull them before they were done growing?  Wasn't enough fertilizer?  I'm at a loss.  They grow those down here during the winter and they are basketball size usually.  Fields of them!  Thankfully these were still whatever per pound, not per piece.  

The Kitchen Magician® really did a good job shredding, then into the Korean Tupperware with some pepper and caraway seeds.  They spent a week fermenting, and I bottled them today for the fridge.  No heat other than disinfecting the jars, rings and lids, so not sealed. Remember, this is five heads of cabbage, not much waste.  Gore blimey.

One gallon and a quart of juice

I checked Amazon and about 20 bucks would buy the same amount, roughly.  So, $7.00 of cabbage, a few cents worth of spices, a little effort and a week of time.  Saved $12.00.  Not too bad.  It did all the work of fermenting without my help.  I already had all the tools, so I didn't count that.  

Not too hard to do.  I used this "recipe".

I didn't have any good carrots, but I will next time...  Which is today BTW.  I have a smaller fermenter, so that's on the list for this afternoon.  

Shop Question:

I did some plasma cuts on one inch hot rolled, and it came out beveled.  I checked the torch head and put in new consumables, and it's trammed in.  Program numbers at the end were 80 psi air, 15 ipm, about 0.1" torch height, 100 Amp.  It's a Hypertherm 1650.  Oh, no air dryer, but it wasn't too humid that day.

From an 1/8 to a 1/4 inch flare in 1 inch material = not okay

I thought it might be related to cutting along the Y axis, so I moved the materiel and cut along the X axis.  Same deal.  There is a pronounced angle to the cut.  I learned about slow speed dross, so I will be ramping up the speed a bit.  But my inexperience as a plasma operator is showing here.  I can make the hardware run, but I'm on the steep curve of making good parts in thick material.  The consumables showed no wear.

Any ideas would be appreciated.  The software uses a lookup table to run the defaults.  I can override any I want or all of them.  Cut speed I can change on the fly.  To those whose finger nails are dirtier than mine, what think ye?

Oh crap...  I gotta smoke the bacon.  CRS syndrome is a cast iron b....

Was Ist Kurz?

Well, sir I'll tell you.....

The 9mm round has a very interesting history.  When you say 9mm, everyone thinks about the military round.  The Germans used it in WW2, police and militaries all over use it now.  It's pretty common.  Ubiquitous.  

There are several flavors of 9mm though and this is no where near comprehensive.  Not even close.

9mm Largo is 9x23 mm is a tapered rimless cartridge.  Used in the 1901 Bergmann.  Low pressure round. 

9x23mm Winchester is a tapered, rimless cartridge, and was developed in the 1990's.  It's a high pressure round.  

9x19mm is the 9mm Luger or Parabellum.   It was developed for the P08 Luger in 1901.  Continued development and used to this day.  I read that it is used by 60% of the world's police.  The NATO round runs at a higher pressure than the civilian rounds.

9x17mm is commonly referred to as the 380 Auto.  It is a rimless straight walled cartridge.  It's a popular chambering for smaller concealed carry pistols.  It has a different name in German.  It's the.....

9mm Kurz.

Kurz means short

 There is a governing body for all this called SAAMI:  Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, Inc.

Check out the SAMII specifications on just about any cartridge you can think of. I got lost in there....

Great, so what.

 Ford Update:

Well ye olde Ford F150 with the short tail is officially the F 150 Kurz.  It was a short bed to begin with, and now it is a shorter bed.  I dunno, I thought it was kinda funny in an overly specific, hoplophile, nerdy way.

Got the striker bushings in.  I can recommend these from ebay.  They aligned the trim lines on the doors and cab.  The new pins on the passenger door took most of the sag out.  Ford door no more.  Heh.  And the rattles are now loose door panels that need fastening down.  But the striker rattle is gone.

Looks like the a/c compressor is blowing oil.  So, I gotta save up for that.  Parts alone are about 500 samolians.  Twice what I paid for the for the 99 Suburban parts.  Thanks O'Brandon.

Old Project:

I bought an old bench top drill press almost ten years ago.  It's been sitting forlornly out in the shop.  Yesterday, I tore some of it down to start a cleanup and see if I can get it to run better.  Brass bushings, no bearings.  Jacobs 33 chuck that is sticky and tight, probably worn out.  I think I have a replacement out in the shop...  No belt guard, so I better watch my..... pate (or fivehead, I passed up forehead a while ago).  No use getting rub marks on it.  Oh, snap!  I could catch one of those eyebrow hairs now!  Those things are like a magic beanstalk.  I don't know how fast they grow but they rival bamboo.

So far, usual wear for a nearly 90 year old tool.  The previous stewards did oil it on occasion, which is nice.  Filthy as a pig's hoof.  Some slop in the fit, but there may be some end play I can dial out with the  JD-17 Collar and the.... No JD-48.... interesting top hat on this one.  Pictures and details to follow.

Bonus round

Hoplophile - I use it as tool-lover, others may say gun nut.

Hoplo - from the Greek hoplon meaning shield or tool

phile - Greek philo: lover of.  

New word of the day:  oenophile - wine lover