SHED MATTERS 2

[Stanley]

I had to decide what to do next. The sensible option is to make the shaft for the3 winch drum. I found a piece of silver steel that will do nicely.....



Next a good clean up to get the cast iron dust off the lathe and swap the big 4 Jaw for the Polish 3 Jaw. Remember me saying that when I replaced the cross wheel handle and tightened the nut I took the backlash out of the slide? I decided the action was a bit tight so I slacked the nut back slightly. That's better, easier to twine and I am still free of backlash.



A bit of a smokescreen as I turn the tough silver steel down to the right size.



Nice tight fit. The drawings call for a 1/4" grub screw to hold the drum on the shaft. No need for that, shaft grade Loctite will do nicely when the time comes.



Here's roughly where the drum sits so it makes sense to address these supports and the bearings next.



I spent a while getting my measurements straight and doing a fag packet drawing to keep me on track. Then the phone rang..... Never mind, there's always tomorrow!

[PanBiker]

That would be Kev no doubt, your big AV buddy.

[Stanley]

No, Daniel Meadows and his wife Georgie ringing to check on me..... There are some very caring people in this world!

[PanBiker]

Only a guess Stanley based on other threads, both friends so no worries.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Today I'm ready to start on the castings that support the winch drum. I did all my measuring yesterday and if you remember I sharpened my cutters the other day.....



Some of the measurements on the drawings aren't critical but some are and it was nice to have the 9" dial calliper gauge that Mick and John gave me as the overall length of the base is 7.5". It's good metal, the cutter's working well.



Here's the comparison. I'm not going to mill the faces as they aren't critical apart from the faces either side of the seats I will have to cut for the bearings but I'll bother about them when I get round to that.



I started on the second one....



At closing time I was getting on nicely with the twin. I shall soon finish this tomorrow!

[Big Kev]

Only a guess Stanley based on other threads, both friends so no worries.

I phoned after 1pm

[Stanley]

When Mick visited yesterday he was surprised by how small the engine is in relation to the winch. I can see what he means but being so close to it I am used to it now.

[Stanley]

I started where I left off yesterday, getting the second support casting to size and square.



When I had that one cut I mounted both brackets together and gang milled them to make sure they were identical.



Here's where I got to. Two castings milled to size and matching. Time for a good study of the drawings!



I said earlier that I didn't want to machine the castings all over but possibly just the area round the bearing where I needed a good accurate face. After a study of the drawings I decided that this was not going to work and would be almost as much machining as biting the bullet and cutting both sides down to the 5/8" specified. So I set the first side up in the VM.



The cutter has done a lot of work and cut a lot of casting skin so I dressed the wheel and gave it a careful touch up before starting.



Well worth the effort! I started the process by taking a good cut under the skin. I have a clean start for tomorrow....

[Stanley]

If you are interested in how Mick's carving is doing, have a look at THIS

[Stanley]

I checked the setup on the first cross member that was in the mill. (Always check everything before you start, saves having nasty surprises!) Then I milled it down to 5/8" and set the second one up.



Here's the first one finished to size. I'm glad I was forced into doing this, they will look a lot better when they are finished and painted.



Before I started on the second I touched the cutter up, cutting through the skin of a casting can dull an HS cutter in no time.



One heavy cut each side and we had it down to size. When I say 'heavy', it is a strong 16th of an inch. That's a heavy cut on a light mill like this and even that is only possible if your cutter is really sharp. (I spit feathers when I see John or Adam Booth taking heroic cuts that are far beyond my El Cheapo Taiwan mill....)



Then I went in the drawing office and worked out my version of the bearing. The one in the drawing is a representation of the original of course and to my mind is a bit too light. (Arrogant bugger.....) I had a look in the treasure chest and God bless us, what did I find but a nice short piece of inch square brass. Just the job!



Mrs McMaster came out to play and it didn't take long to get these two blanks knocked off. I just love the sound of it chunking away as I lean on the bench having a smoke..... That's enough for this morning. Good progress and no cock-ups, that's the way I like it!

[Stanley]

We finished up last night with two blanks of cast brass cut out of a 1" bar from my non-ferocious treasure chest. Like a lot of this stock it could be over 100 years old and is lovely, cuts like butter. The first job was to make two identical blanks milled square on all faces.





I'm not going to bore you with all the stages..... once I had them square I could do some measuring and marking and get the overall dimensions right.



Both bearings have to have cheeks on them to locate them in the housing I shall cut in the bearer. These cheeks will eventually act not only as locators but as the thrust bearings to locate the shaft of the winch drum longitudinally. So the next job was to cut the recesses on three sides, the top face will be plain.



Once I had the blanks milled out the next job was to cut the recess in the bearers into which they slot. Both cut at once to ensure perfect alignment.



I had to do a bit of dressing with a file to get a perfect snug fit but here's the result.



Then I offered the drum up to the finished blanks to get an idea of the height of the bore in the bearing blocks. I haven't actually done the measurement here, that's for tomorrow. I just wanted to be sure I had the positioning of the blanks correct. They are slightly lower than I intended but that is no matter, I can adjust for that tomorrow. Knocking off time, a good morning again!

[Stanley]

The aim this morning is to finish the split bearings for the axle of the winch drum. I set it up first with shims under the drum to give clearance over the bed plate and marked to level of the centre of the shaft. This gives me the line where the bearing has to be spit across the centre of the bore.



Here's the set up for splitting the bearings after bluing and marking. Note that I have both bearings in the jaws to equalise the pressure on both bearings. I started with this saw but soon realised it was blunt and swapped it for another one. That one wasn't a lot better. I am going to have to have a saw sharpening session! However, big does and little does I split them.



Here's the sharper saw.



I broke all the edges with a small flat file and re-fitted the bearings in their respective housings. I put witness marks on the CI bearers and the bearings and on both halves of each bearing so they stay in their proper relationships. They are ready for boring.



First job was to put an oil hole in each of the top halves so that when I bore the bearings I have a clean finish.



Then the usual method of three increasing sizes of drill all on the same setting to give me a half inch bore in both bearings. Note that I have them in their housings.



Here's where we were at closing time. The winch drum sat in its bearings in the bearers with the cheeks of the bearings acting as thrust/locating surfaces.... Nice fit, they won't need anything further doing to them. Tomorrow I'll make the retaining caps......

[Bodger]

Some interesting gizmos in their catalogue
http://www.banggood.com/collection-2815 ... l-sli-0112

[PanBiker]

That is the same site that's been plaguing me since before Christmas when I happened to Google "embroidery foot". Sally said she would like one for her sewing machine. Every Google or Facebook page I visit now is full of their range of products as well as the said sewing machine accessory.

[Stanley]

The use of our data history to target us after we have dealt with a site is getting to be a menace! Marking them as junk in Thunderbird seems to stop them sending.....
Apologies to the congregation, no shed yesterday. A combination of shopping, writing articles and IT issues ate my day and even my afternoon sleep! I have another article to write but will try to do better!
Later..... The bad news is that once again a tide of other matters has intervened and there will be no shed today. (Remember I have to do everything for myself.....!)

[Stanley]

I had some more cooking to do this morning but I was in the shed for an hour and a half! The task is to make the caps for the bearings of the winch drum so the first job was to go into the drawing office and make sure that I knew exactly what I was making, I always find that's a good place to start and the drawings are useless because I've made the bearings my way not his! I had a look in the treasure chest because I knew I had this lump of very good cast iron. I'm sure I've told you before but this is a very good example of what I am always telling you, keep your eyes open and never miss a bit of good material. In this case it was a smashed up CI cistern in a scrap yard. The bloke who owned the yard was so surprised that he gave me as much as I could carry away. It's very old and very high quality and has been very useful over the years. So, the first thing to do was cut out a suitable piece to make two caps.



Mrs McMaster came out to play.....



I had to move the compressor to use the saw easily so while it was out of the way I got my angle grinder out and wile Mrs McMaster did her stuff I cleaned up the edges and polished the face of the winch bed plate. Lovely to hear the chunking of the saw while I was doing it!



Here's where we finished up.... A nice clean bed plate and a piece of CI that will make two caps....



Then the usual drill, get the blank to the right thickness and square.



While I was making the first cut I noticed that the vise wasn't square. It must have moved recently while I was milling. Not to worry, I got the clock on it and adjusted it until it was within half a thou of square.



Then I got on with getting my stock done. I got the thickness right and got set up for the next cut, making the other dimensions right before splitting it in two. It was knocking off time but I'm pleased with the morning.....

[Stanley]

The next stage in making the bearing caps is to get two identical blanks. The first job was to get the stock to the correct thickness and square the two ends.



I'm going to cut the blanks to size in the HM with my new sharp slitting saw thanks to John and Mick. Bleeding obvious tip, always check that the vise is correctly set at right angles and this is the easiest way to do it.



No problem cutting the blocks on auto feed. Using this saw reminds me that soon I must get set up and sharpen all my other slitting saws!



We have our blanks, note the lovely clean finish on the left over piece from the saw.....



Both pieces mounted in the vise and gang milled to make them identical. A minimum of fitting needed as they are very close tolerances. Here they are with their witness marks and marked for the centres of the 2BA set screws and the central oil hole.



I drilled all the holes 4mm which is the tapping size for 2BA.



Then I transferred the holes in the cap to the bearers and drilled them 4mm.



All the holes in the bearer tapped out under the pillar drill.



Here we are at closing time, all the set screws entered, they all line up perfectly. I haven't screwed them down because tomorrow we need to break all the edges on bearers and caps and drill the bearers for mounting on the base plate and for the pillars which will support the superstructure. Nice morning, good progress and I enjoyed it!

[Stanley]

I had a bit of a think this morning and decided it would be a good thing if I fitted the bull gear on the winch drum before I started to think about fitting it to the bed plate. So I went into the front room and picked a suitable gear from the stack on the 1927 lathe. As it happens the 70 tooth gear is just right. Problem was that I dropped a small pinion behind the lathe and it rolled under the sideboard it sits on. I can't move the sideboard, it's too heavy so I had to get at it from the side and get into lights and cobwebs and all sorts of stuff! Problem was that I couldn't see and a subsidiary problem was that I was convinced one of Jack's balls was under there so I decided to get that out as well. I took flash pics of the underside and soon found where the pinion was but no sign of the ball! All this took time and it was 08:30 before I got into the shed with the gear in my hand. (I shall have to have a think about that ball. It's intriguing me, it's there somewhere!)





I had a good measure up and did a drawing and then got stuck in drilling and boring....



This where it sits, looks just right! Now we need to fasten it to the winch drum.



Here's where I finished up. I decided on 3/16" Whit socket head screws. Here we are, drilled and counter-bored, tomorrow I'll transfer the the holes to the winch drum and then fit it.

[Stanley]

On with fastening the gear to the winch drum. Not easy to deal with but I got it set up in the Progress drill and levelled. Not a lot of clearance but luckily this chuck has a good deep space inside it and as my 3.7mm tapping drill for 2BA has seen a lot of use it's a bit shorter than a brand new drill. I drilled and tapped the first hole.....



I usually tap CI dry but as this was a heavy interference I used a bit of Trefolex and was very careful, the last thing we want is a broken tap! I decided to use 3.8mm for the other two.



Once I had the first hole done and the gear held firm it was easy to drill the other two in the correct place. I had to take a 1/4" off the end of this drill to get clearance. I just spotted the the holes and then took the gear off to drill to full depth.



No rush, quietly and carefully and it wasn't long before I had a gear fastened tidily to the winch drum. I checked the shaft protrusion to make sure it was equal at both ends and installed it with some Loctite shaft lock. The original design specifies a grub screw but that isn't needed, the shaft will never move!



Then I went into the drawing office and did some careful measuring and a fag packet drawing. Once I was sure what I was doing I set to to drill the bearers for the 2BA holding down bolts, 3/16" clearance. I know I keep saying it but this compound vice is the best thing I ever did to make work on the pillar drill easy.....



I also drilled and tapped the stud holes which will eventually take the long studs for the pillars which support the entablature over the winch drum. Here we are ready for a bit of tidying up and edge breaking.



In case you're wondering why I am suddenly wood-turning it's all down to that bugger P. He tuts at me every time I use the small half round file without a handle so I decided to make one....



Here we are, legal again. But I made the handle in a rush and when I drove it onto the file I split it so that's why it has insulting tape binding it. Never mind, it's doing the job. I spent the rest of the time until closing time wiping the first bearer down. Not looking for a perfect finish as the bearers will be painted.



I've finished the back one. First thing tomorrow I shall give the other the same treatment and then set about mounting them on the bed plate. I've worked out where they go already. Nice morning with good work done, I am quite pleased with progress.

[plaques]

it's all down to that bugger P. He tuts at me every time I use the small half round file without a handle so I decided to make one....

Stanley I think you only said that to make sure I was still watching you. I get round the problem by using champagne bottle corks. Nothing down market in my shed!

[Stanley]

Every time I picked up that file with no handle I could hear you tutting away! Champagne corks split too easily......

[Stanley]

I decided I had to clean up the sloping sections of the bearers. You've heard me talk about extreme milling, well this is a case in point. I tried at first without the clamps but got too much vibration so I clamped the bearers together and that solved the problem. This is stretching my El Cheapo VM to the limit and the only way I got away with it was by taking very light, slow cuts but in the end I succeeded with no nasty moments!



Well worth it, they look a lot better! Then I did some research of the drawings for the holes I need to drill for the cross pieces and the brake pedal pivot.... Some careful marking and measuring was needed!



Then into the Progress drill.... I drilled the 1/4" hole for the brake mechanism first and then popped the drill into the hole to ensure the location stayed stable as the bearers are slightly different heights after finishing and the bottom one wasn't held dead tight. This will cure it while I drill the other four holes No. 10 drill.



Here's where I finished up at closing time. Doesn't look a lot but good progress with no mistakes. That's the way this job will go on! I'm pleased with the morning.

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley, More fine progress being made and its all looking good, the gear looks just right too. The slitting saw blade did a nice job Did you ever find Jacks ball in the end ?
Cheers Mick

[Stanley]

Thanks Mick. I'm pleased with it so far. Jacks ball.... no, and it's still nattering me I was certain it was under there. I'll have to have another shufti!