Unapologetically Anachronistic

 

 

 

Well, I have no qualms about updating the three loyal readers of this blog.  But I'm a bit hesitant to just raise my skirt in public so to speak.  So, I plan to dust off the mimeograph and crank out a newsletter...

Can't you smell that smell?

If you are interested, and have posted here before, I'll send it to you.  Just include a SASE.  Or you can send me an email and I'll fwd it back.  Strictly an offline / online email kind of thing.  Email will come from budgetmachining at proton mail dot somesuch.

Comments to this post will be a poll of sorts.  If any one wants it, it'll happen.  

Thanks for stopping by.

PS  I used two 50 cent words up top to trip up the sensors....

PPS Someone said they were up for it.  I need to tighten it up, but it'll be ready in a day or three.  Thanks for the interest.

Argh, Etc.

Harsh news on the home front.  It has been keeping my mind preoccupied.  Sorry about the lack of new stuffuss.  Preparing my mind for the next steps.  Steps I've never even considered or wanted.  On this, I had no plan B.  May God be merciful to me. 

Didja see this???   

 

Me, too 

I have been busy.....  honest....

• Working on a biz plan for the side work I've been doing, so I can keep doing it.
• Finishing up a project that has broken all desire to ever see a similar device.
• A few new responsibilities at the day job and a dawning realization that I may never get to retire from it.
• Rekindling a friendship after a buddy's return from decades overseas.
• Educating myself about a new diagnosis.  One that I have had since the spark of life.  One that has flavored everything I've ever done.  And is incredibly frustrating to work through.  Oh, there's a pill for that, too? 
  
• Working on cleaning up clutter (like my patron saint, Saint Phil the Hoplophile). 
  

A bit maudlin perhaps?

I surround myself with pictures of men that I remember reading about, men that lived lives worth emulating.  

 Here's one:

 

 

He did the best he knew how.  He didn't quit until he was done.  I aspire to that.  I take courage from men like this.  Men that stuck it out.  Men that didn't quit when they were tired. Men that didn't stop until they were finished.  Men that gracefully moved on when it was called for.

Some of you guys that come by to visit, I read what you write on the webz, and I take courage from it.  Know this, that if no one else cares about what you say, I do.  Most of you are brothers, friends I've never met.  Men that live lives that, at least parts of if not most of, are worth emulating.  Folks that I wouldn't mind meeting.... well, once anyway!  Don't want to promise too much...

Last year was a tough one.  This one has a looming shadow that I can't seem to shake loose from.  I understand the image of the hammerfall now.  Waiting....

Working on hope for the future.  Preparing for major changes in my orbit.  

Thanks for caring enough to come by and visit.  I have a tonne of stuff to edit and put up....  Finding the umph has been... difficult.

Side note:  did you know that this was prayed for you?   I did.  I needed to hear it again, too.

John 17

Soggy Sweltering Muggy

 For you guys that live way up north I thought I'd send you a warm, sultry greeting from down here in south Texas.  I pass this spot a few times every week.

It sure is a pretty place.

 

Down here, it feels like working in the Jolly Green Giant's armpit.  Or a nice, wet, wool blanket on hot asphalt in direct sunlight in Death Valley in August with some joker steam cleaning you...

I think every wrinkle I've ever had has been steamed out.  I probably look younger than ever.

I may send a note asking when I can come visit.  This is getting ridonkulous.

Life....

 Working on it...

How do you check spark on a blog?

I have been busy....  Didn't realize how busy until I saw it's been a couple months since posting.

Quick tips on marking out

I bought some real marking out dye, red and blue.  Blue in a spray can that lost pressure and put out 20 times too much.  And some red in a bottle.  That seems to get all over me when I use it.

Years ago, I found out that blue Sharpie markers make pretty decent marking out dye.  I bought a box of 10 or so...  I still have a few left.  And 5 years hasn't been kind to them....

I got this all on my hand. I tried some turpentine, and smeared it all over my palm and two fingers.  I found some IPA, isopropal alcohol to you and me, and it cut most of it off.  Oh, hey! I found a cut I didn't know I had!  Noice.

The blue seems to build up when you go over it a few times.  The black seems to strip off what is down already.  I like blue better anyway. 

I have some cutting to do, so here is the kit.

Not shown are the leak-o-matic marker and a Professor Pete approved visor.  

I used the firm joint for a scribe, it's was sitting right there asking to help.

 

Don't fight with the part you are trying to hold.  Especially if you are trying to be accurate.  I didn't and I was.  That Stanley vise was a great score on 'bay.  I was shocked at how cheap I got it.  Paid about the same for the swing jaw and grooved jaw.  Got impatient, so paid a premium.

The profile wasn't tapered, but it didn't like the smooth jaws, so a scrap paper liner firmed up the grip.  I like to use what's handy, and the bit of cloth in the paper helps, it seems.

That green paper used to fill up my tank with gas.  Something changed though.  The gas didn't get better, or bigger.  The tank on my truck didn't get bigger, but the paper doesn't seem to fill it up anymore.  I measure the paper, and it didn't get smaller.  Plus, it still has the same number on it.  I guess it just doesn't pull as much weight as it used to.    Might as well use it for something constructive.  The folks that made it seem to want to take that away from it...

Those marks are within 1/64th of where I wanted them.  And that is good enough.  Now, I need to find a hatchet to cut it, a hammer to fit it and a maybe some self-tapping screws to hold it down....

Unknowable Inscrutible Mechanical / Electronic Marvels

Comment:

Toirdhealbheach Beucail

A lot of wisdom there, John.

STxAR, I love reading these. I only understand about 20% of it, but it is fun trying to figure it out.

==================================================

 Thanks, TB.  You made me think....

I find myself drawn to things.  Mechanical things.  Electronic things.  I can't really help it.  I cannot begin to compile the amount of stuff I worked on over the years.  Things I tore into as a kid.  Things that I reduced to scrap and was unable to reassemble.  Things I fixed for others, or myself.  It's called "The Knack".

Not me, but a reasonable cartoon representation

I was undiagnosed as a kid.  But everyone knew I had it.  Dad was not impressed.  I can't  really blame him though.  He had to fix what I couldn't or didn't.  (We won't talk about the stuff he couldn't fix and how he vented his frustrations.  He got some aerobic exercise, and I learned some things shouldn't be fooled with.)

There was an old hardware store in downtown Lubbock.  High on a wall was a sign that said "Knowledge can take it apart, Wisdom can put it back together again."  Dad pointed at it once, and said, "You are very knowledgeable."  That wasn't his only backhanded compliment.  But it prompted me to go farther, and get "wisdom".

I have this curiosity that compels me to investigate.  The best thing I can do is try and direct it.  I haven't been able to stop it.  And I don't want to.

 

99 Suburban update

Did you know that a 5.7 Vortec likes about 60 psi of fuel pressure to start reliably?  It'll run on 50, but starting is 60.  And that injector I replaced worked great.  Until the fuel pump began to really have problems.  Also, if you run one dry, it'll kill the pump.  One and done.  And this one appears to have had that happen some time in the past.  I killed a 98 GMC Savanna pump once just like that.  I learned to keep it full.  But this one went dry once too often some time in the past.  Even if it was only once.  New parts on the waaaay....

Guest Post, part 2

 

Next project 

Spray gun nozzles.

I'd bought one of these 15 dollar spray guns a while ago to try it out and spray some latex. 

 

 

 

Spray Gun

 

But the instructions advised against spraying latex. The gun sat on a shelf for some time and I got interested again when we did a medium facelift in our bathroom and decided to paint the two pine doors when the weather turns nice enough to do it outside this year.

 

The internet says that you can drill out the nozzle on the cheap gun, thin the latex a bit, and get good results. The internet also says that instead of drilling out the nozzle from 1.4 mm to 2.0 mm I could buy replacement nozzles that would fit the gun. 

 

I ordered a 1.7 mm and a 2.0 mm nozzle from China. When they arrived they didn't fit because the thread number was the same, but the threads were a bit larger than the original. They are some sort of stainless steel.  

The internet told me how to change the gear train to cut metric, and I followed the chart numbers. But the threads were close to the shoulder of the nozzle, and my external threading bit  just wouldn't fit. I bought this set because I wanted an internal threading bar because the tool my dad had ground only allowed me to thread a short distance. 

 

Threading tools

 

The design of this tool let me cut very close to the shoulder, and the carbide insert worked great to cut the stainless. I used a HSS parting tool to deepen the thread relief groove next to the shoulder, then I turned down the OD before the threads and used the same tool to cut off the existing threads. Then I locked the half nuts, and threaded the nozzle by turning the chuck by hand. 

 

On the second nozzle I used power. I also changed my technique a bit. I found that my right hand wants to turn the lathe's power switch in the right hand direction and whether that's muscle memory or habit I don't know. I do know that that habit caused a minor crash against the shoulder of the second nozzle when I went forward instead of reversing as I had intended. I then changed to using my left hand to reverse, and that seemed to work out very well. 

 

It went this way:

 

Skim cut by hand rotation of the chuck. 

Reverse until the tool is clear.

Zero the dial.

Advance the feed a couple of thou.

Cut the threads and stop the feed. 

Power reverse. 

Repeat until the threads will fit where they have to go. 

I learned a lot about metric threading, and I found out as expected that using a HSS parting tool to cut stainless was a bit tough because it took a bit of extra pressure before the bit dug in and started cutting.

Something we don't ever seem to talk about. What did it cost?

The HVLP gun cost 15 dollars. 

The two replacement nozzles cost around 30 dollars but each nozzle was a complete set of the long part, the nozzle and the nozzle cover.

The carbide threading set cost 41 dollars. 

And maybe two hours total standing at the lathe.

 

I was talking to a friend who asked whether the additional investment in the 15 dollar tool was worth it. Hmm. After thinking about it, I returned to Harbor Freight and bought a 75dollar HVLP spray gun. It was an easy rationalization. :)

 

And much like the old saying that if you only have a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail, if you have machine tools, then every problem can be solved by using them. Except that every problem really can be solved by using machine tools. 

Disclaimer.  I am not a real machinist, and I rarely figure out what speed and feed I should be using. It is very satisfying to create something that does what you need it to do by using machine tools and your skills. 

Take care, 

John

 

STxAR addendum:  If you machine you are a machinist.  You may not be a pro, but you aren't a button pusher either.  Us "figure it out on our own" guys are just like the fellows that did the same thing in the past.   Eating trig tables and squirting out parts....