A West Texas Christmas Story

 Anyone that grew up on the high plains of West Texas will remember the colors of Christmas:  tan, yellow, brown and bright blue skies.  The wind was always blowing, and it was usually very cold or quite warm.  

View across the county road from October to January: cotton modules

If we were very lucky, we avoided this at Christmas

Magical winter neighborhood scenery

We were visiting my suegra (mother in law), and I was out on an errand on Christmas day.  I heard the craziest story from a couple of radio personalities.

One of the guys was talking about Christmas day in the 1930's when he was a little guy.  He and his brother woke up at the butt crack of dawn.  it was really cold in the clapboard house and still dark.  They ran into the front room and looked under the Christmas stick tree.  There were two presents.  They couldn't wait, so they ripped them open.  He got a pack of fire crackers, and his brother got a rubber kick ball.  He said he went to the kitchen and got some matches, and they both went out the front door in a run.  He lit the firecrackers and they were crazy loud.  It scared his brother and he took off running and tripped on something.  He fell on the ball and it popped.  Christmas day wasn't even 10 minutes old and they had shot off and broken everything.  He remembered being pretty glum the rest of the day.

My dad told me few stories of his youth, but never a thing about a Christmas.  I figured his were a lot like that radio guy's.  Dad lived on a farm that looked really similar to this.

I saw a pic of my dad when he was a boy in a place just like this. No green at all, just dirt.

Happy Christmas.

Busy Busy

Personal issues popping up lately.  

Please stand by

Interference

 I mentioned before the chuck had a tight feel.  It took effort to turn the key to tighten the jaws.  That's shouldn't happen.  All my others are easy to move, so that tells me this one has some issues.

blued

 

I marked the inner and outer part of the scroll plate with blue Sharpie, and tapped it lightly, as if I were installing it.  Turned the chuck body over and tapped it back out.  There is a nice blue line showing where the rub is.  Tomorrow, I'll work on the fit.  I'll have to go to my "ask a friend" card and see what he says is the best way to approach this.  It's not a rocket surgeon's part, but I don't want to make scrap either.

right below the threaded hole

Bath Time

Time to clean the chuck.  It was dirty and nasty.  Lots of grit and grease. I pulled down the new ultrasonic cleaner.  Didn't find any Zep505, so I used Dawn dish washing liquid.  A bit of hot water, too.  After pulling them out of the hot water, and wiping them down, I shot some oil on them.

Two uh oh's:

The chuck came out with some stains.  I figure I soaked out some grease or oil, and it took root in the polished part of the chuck.  I can live with stains, but that is some strange stuff.  Weirdness...

Second uh oh was a bit of surprise.

Right along the unmachined circumference, there is a wire edge.

Looks like a hair, but it's as sharp as a razor.

I guess this is one of the reasons you want / need to take these things apart.  You never know how the QA department is getting along at the manufacturer.  That thing would eventually get loose, and might work itself out... or with my luck, into mischief or my finger.

The file just skated off the scroll.  It's hard.  Just like it should be.  I used a diamond hone on it.  

The third uh oh was the middle spigot of the chuck body isn't concentric.  The middle of the scroll binds when you try and reassemble. This explains the tight operation of the chuck.  I will have to fix that too. 

 It's a kit, all the parts are here, it needs work to be a complete tool.  But we knew that....

Or, you can buy one of these from Logan Actuator Company:

No doubt about it's quality at all!

 

😲

Thread Gauge?

 I decided to make a little "thread gauge" out of the back plate "handle" I made yesterday.  It looks pretty cool doesn't it?

No chatter on the threads, some tearing on the face cut

I really do like that lathe.  And those knurls are sharp.  They really grip right back.  I need to work it over a little with a file.  I does have a few spots that might get a little too close to you.

What do you think?

Shop Made Tools

 The back plate on the new dividing head is stated as 1 1//2" - 8 thread.  I decided I needed to make a stub to hold it.  My stub thread is 1.484" in diameter, the thread on the head is 1.494"  I missed the pitch diameter for a 2B thread by -0.002".  I figure that's pretty good, since I haven't single point threaded anything for quite some time.  This shaft threads into the chuck back plate about three threads deep.  I was going to use it as a way to remove the chuck off the plate.  It's pretty tightly on there.  The raised boss on the plate is a press fit on the chuck body I guess.

 

Instead of striking the stub, I'll unscrew the three cap screws a quarter turn and tap on them to release the chuck.  Then, I'll thread some holes in the back plate to push the chuck off next time.

I left the screws a little loose, then tapped them with the brass hammer.  it popped the chuck off quickly and easily. Now to disassemble and clean it.  It seems very tight compared to my other ones.

 

That Sheldon lathe is rigid and powerful.  It walked through that 1 5/8" steel rod like it was nothing.  Only took slightly more than an hour to make that part.  I'm impressed with it yet again.  And the lard based cutting oil leaves such a nice finish, it's worth the added mess.  Smells weird when it smokes, but I can live with that (I hope).

 

no chatter

 

I was starting to believe I was just a piker at best.  But you can buy better accuracy and finish.  I was past using the LeBlond, I need the Sheldon to make quality parts.  Graduation present?  Not tooting my own tooter, but I think I have gained some skill since I first started.  I envied the work that Spartan, Mr. Pete and others can do.  A quality tool makes the difference.  I don't have the experience to fix a really bad machine to make quality yet.  Maybe there is time to learn that too.

Observation: Society

I had to go to the Beg City two days in a row this week.  We are doomed.  I used to drive there every day.  I either have gotten waaaay out of practice or drivers are worse now.  There is wholesale "me-first" on the highways.  Multiple accidents kept me in town for nearly an hour more than needed as I navigated to get O-U-T.  

Cutting into slow exit lines was always a thing, but the reckless abandon now is a bit frightening, and new to me.

The swerving into and out of traffic only happened occasionally, but it was every where this last week.

I didn't get there too early either time so it wasn't the rush hour.  Crazy times.  Should I make a ram for the front of the truck, maybe hang some old tires around the sides like a tug boat, and put a long spike on the back??  Maybe folks would stay away if I looked like a horned caterpillar.

Stuck Chuck

I started making the little pins I'd figured on, and they didn't work out too well.  So, scratch that and *hmmm, why not use something you already have?  Like a dull drill bit for the pin?* 

 Hardly any digging and I had what I needed. pinned the two holes, added some paper scratch protection to the sides of the head.  Mounted to the mill table, and it popped off with a little effort.

It's getting lighter...

 

Next up is to strip it of the parts and pieces, clean, oil and reassemble.  The old super maxi  ultrasonic cleaner will be put to work, if only to justify it's existence.  One thing that is really important is the depthing adjustment of the worm gear.  On the right side of the above picture is this "screw".

Depth adjustment on the right, lock screw in the hole on the left

I have to get that back right, so now I have a documented position to return to.  Internet can be helpful.

Next up is pulling the spindle-bearing pack.  I'll need a pin spanner for that.  This is the nut that has to be removed from the back in order to drive the pack out the front.

the nut has two holes for pins, and the screw locks it in place

I've seen pin spanners that look like dividers.  Super neat.  But in a pinch, you can use a modified All-16ths wrench.  Drill two holes, add pins, and Viola, instant adjustable pin spanner.  I think I have a cheap-o that would be a prime candidate for this.  That's the next step.

drill two holes add pins

 

One other thing I need to do is get a project pan for it.  They sell blems at the restaurant supply for $4.00.  Probably more now, but they are available locally really cheap.  Heavy duty for industrial baking.

sandwich bags keep assemblies together

And I remembered to mark the chuck, jaws and back plate so I can reassemble it like it came to me.

I should make an etcher

So far so good.  I usually go too far too fast.  I'm taking this little cleaning project slow and steady.