Collecting dust

For a while now I got by with using a small cyclonic separator in the form of a DustDeputy clone. This is built to sit between the vacuum cleaner and the nozzle hose separating dust from the airflow and collecting into a container. A plastic bucket in this case. It is simple yet very efficient. Even collecting fine plaster and fibreglass sanding dust without clogging the filter on the shopvac. Meaning I can sand in the house without making a mess or messing up the shopvac.

It has some limitations though. Shopvacs are not intended to run continuously. The extra bucket fitted with the cyclonic separator makes for a bit of a clumsy setup and is a little tippy until it has enough in it to weigh it down. I like the general portability and I will keep it for doing small jobs elsewhere. However I am considering stepping up the design and making it more permanent.

Most basic/smaller commercial cyclonic dust collectors are separate units having to be plumbed into an existing dust collector. Other actually come as separate units. They are also often 2hp and upwards meaning that they put a decent load on the home workshop power supply before even running another tool. The really basic units are just a blower and a dust filter bag with a motor in the 1hp range displacing around 500-750cfm which is more than adequate. The 100mm ports are also easily suited to ducting for the home workshop. This forms the basic unit for a home setup than can run continuously. Steel drums are readily available for ~$5 and will make a great bin for collecting into. Which leaves the cyclone… a basic sheetmetal construction and a few lids to make it all fit together in a modular fashion so it is easy to service or clean. The blowers can be a little noisy so one consideration is to build it into a soundproof enclosure, outside the workshop. This will free up space and make it easy to get to in order to empty it making plumbing a 100mm tube through the wall the only remaining obstacle.

Dipping my toes in electronics again

A few months ago I picked up a Vertex BS-0 dividing head during a relocation sale. It was heavily marked down as it was missing the faceplate, drive centre, dividing plates other than the #1 fitted and the tailstock. The spindle nose appears to be threaded for 1.125" x 12tpi Whitworth similar to Myford lathes which makes obtaining a faceplate or making one fairly simple. Spindle taper is MT2 and my existing rotary table tailstock may suffice for the dividing head.

This leaves the dividing plates. Which happens to be the problem facing me making my first set of gears for a bead roller and needing one of the other plates for the size I’m contemplating. I could change the pitch and diameter to suit the plate I have. However I will just run into this problem next time I need to build something and then there may not be room to adjust the design.

A replacement set is available. They are not cheap either and in thinking about it the age old method of indexing can be very tedious and easy to make a mistake. This is one area where technology is still catching up. Luckily many people out there have caught on to the simplicity of indexing and motion control using servos and basic electronics. There are not many commercial solutions and the better ones are only available internationally. All requiring some retrofitting and modification to suit the particular device. Research revealed many published solutions based on common PIC and Arduino stepper controllers.

The basics are this:

·         Stepper motors generally have something like 200 steps per revolution

·         The BS-0 dividing head worm gear feeds 4 revolutions per degree of spindle rotation

·         This allows for 800 steps per degree or 288000 steps over 360 degrees

This is a fairly high resolution for indexing and even mathematical rounding shouldn’t have too much of an impact for diameter that would fit the dividing head or under the spindle of most milling machines. Even with the stepper directly coupled to the feed drive on the indexing head. As it turns out the electronic solutions are not only simpler and more process fault tolerant but make indexing as simple as entering the number of divisions and stepping through them one by one. Building the control into a pendant style enclosure would also allow it to be swapped between rotary table and the indexing head. This would also allow the steppers to be integrated as a 4^th axis for later CNC conversion.

Now to come back to my Tom Senior mill power feed. I had a choice between stepper and servo with servo being a better choice for constant feed and simpler speed control. However consider the possibilities of synchronising the indexing head feed with a stepper controlled table feed and being able to cut helix or spirals!

Going sideways with a horisontal

Decided I have tripped over the old mill for the last time. So after months of sitting around in pieces I started cleaning and cleaning and cleaning… and more cleaning. The old swarf tray had been patched and welded and bumped and bent so much that it looked a little tired. It was also the one thing that looked a little out of place given all the nice round curves on this machine. So I welded up a new one and used the old to transfer all the holes I planned to re-use. The base also had a section used as a sump for flood coolant and as I don’t use full flood coolant in the home workshop decided to leave out the drain holes. This also reduced the machines footprint by a lot.

After that there was a lot more cleaning and taking everything apart for cleaning. Stripping paint and painting and slowly reassembling. Cleaning the spindle revealed that the original was a little battered and worn and bearings needed replacement. As luck would have it I found a spare spindle on a local trade site which I bought some time ago. Sourced new spindle bearings. Installed new oilers. Replaced some thrust bearings and straightened the knee screw. Welded up some castings. Ordered new v-belts. Rewired a new single phase motor with a magnetic contactor switch and finally all up and running

Here is a photo before fitting the motor:

With the gib adjusted in the centre the table binds a little with it reaching the end of travel to the right. That was expected given most work is done on the right hand side of the table feeding to the right. I will need to source a surface plate, long enough straight edge and some marking fluid so I can scrape it in.

One thing I have not addressed is the table feed mechanism. This mill was heavily modified to use a sprocket chain to power the feed gearbox. Some parts were since lost or broken and what was there was horribly cobbled up. One sprocket was crudely welded to the end of a drive shaft which I ended parting off on the lathe. The drive worm that feeds the worm gear on the leadscrew is missing along with part of the telescoping drive shaft and the bracket allowing for it to be disengaged. Research revealed the specifications for a replacement worm though the remaining missing parts complicate the rebuild. At this point the machine is not original and later models replaced this mechanism with a servo powered solution allowing ease of change in direction and finer speed control. I am tempted to give the table feed an independent drive motor. This allows the feed to be disengaged and the feed motor turned off when not needed, reducing wear. However it requires most missing parts to be built.

Alternative is a more compact stepper or servo driven solution fitted directly to the table with a basic control panel off the side of the machine. This may end up being more elegant without detracting from the machines appearance. One benefit of the original setup was that it was driven off the spindle making it in tune with the spindle speed. That means feed would adjust with the spindle allowing for 3 basic adjustments on that speed. An independent drive mechanism would not offer that without adding some feedback from the spindle. Which would mean a little guesswork to get the feed ration dialled in. However this can be achieved by adding a sensor to the spindle and using a stepper driver to control step speed in relation to spindle speed. This all warrants a little thinking. In the meantime the machine can be operated manually.

The classics

There is one thing that older horisontal milling machines do better than many modern vertical mills. That is heavy material removal on the one axis that leaves vertical mills too flexible. Usually meaning light cuts and slow going. Also tooling for that setup is expensive and often hard to find. They still make horizontal and now the more common universal mills but means you have to do a lot to prepare it for horizontal cutting mode. Universal mills are also mostly available in the larger more expensive models putting them out of reach for home shops.

Instead you can opt for an older classic if you can afford some loving care. They are often cheap, dirty and sometimes incomplete or badly broken so the usual checks for wear and tear. Given they are predominantly used to cut in the X axis most of the wear may be limited to the table ways. As the cutters are of the larger type relying on lower spindle speeds something to look for in the bearings is asymmetrical or load point wear as well as general wear.

This Tom Senior M1 #262 manufactured between 1947 and 1948 has been relisted several times. It was close by, mostly complete and used MT3 tooling. I would have to replace the motor with a single phase unit after stripping it down, cleaning and painting it.

A daunting task but well worth the cost and effort to supplement the milling machine and other machining operations. Next on the list to recondition after the band saw. I've already collected a spare spindle and some brass to replace the overarm support bearing.

Oh Tigger

When I got my first inverter I loved the step up from my old transformer weld supply. Size, weight and capability aside, my weld quality and capability definitely became more consistent and easier to maintain. Also did some arc welding with it and really enjoyed the quiet compared to my usual buzz box. But being DC it is limited and while the HF autostart was great I felt I could start using a pedal so it was sold to make way for something else I had my eye on.

Birthday and bonus time came around along with a sale at a local machinery supplier so I took the opportunity to get this unit. First indications of using it on steel and stainless was an even greater consistency in the weld supply and while I have not had to crank it to 11 yet I will in time enjoy the additional range. When time permits I may get around to some aluminium too.

For now I’m back to making stands and shelves as my weld supplies don’t fit the stand I first built. As I also inherited a MIG unit it is a good time to review how I organise them all. More later…

About space and organising

I have been making do for a very long time and while room to work is one thing making the most of where you store and organise is definitely something you need to invest in. Anybody that keeps a few fasteners, marine fittings, mill and lathe tooling and other general tooling will tell you a few tins and bottles will only get you so far. I used to keep a few plastic small parts organisers which are great when you start. Then they get heavy and you only have to drop and shatter one to feel the overwhelming rage of a 1000 monkeys! Local budget autoparts stockist listed these on special.

More importantly also the shelving unit they fit in to save unpacking them all to get to the one I want. The parts trays sit on a shelf with decent drawer-slides so can easily take the weight when filled with fasteners as long as it is secured so it won’t tip. Ended up buying two of these units.

Still need to make something so I can slide the remaining plastic trays in a similar fashion. My old dentist tool cabinet also became too small for all my hand tools so my eye turned to getting a rolling tool cabinet. Local Bunnings plays host to a TV renovation show and had the full unit below on sale for pretty much the price of the bottom cabinet which is a deal considering the quality compared to some of the other units above the price level.

That left me building some new shelves and stands which I will cover off in another entry.

Coming in from the cold

Home renovation and other commitments meant that I had to focus on the smaller of my projects for the last year. Though the now kids play nicely by themselves and due to unseasonably good weather I got going on the shaper and the Vernon style milling machine. I stripped the shaper down to parts and bare metal and repainted and assembled most of it. The will get a blog entry of its’ own.

While I had all the tools out and room to strip clean and assemble I took care of the mill. I was concerned the bearings may need work but they looked good and after setting pre-load and running it for a while it seemed good. Wear in the ways is minimal and just need the leadscrew nuts tightened to reduce the minimal play.  I did not feel the urge to strip and repaint it. This is a working mill and other than the few chips in the paintwork still looks reasonable. Sadly the replacement bright yellow 2hp single phase electric motor stands out a bit but not worth trying to find matching paint for.

Incidentally the Tanner 14” band-saw is currently in stages of being rebuilt and painted too. Have a nice green hammer finish paint selected for it.

I also cleaned my old Rong-Fu RF-30 style mill ready for sale. I had mixed feelings about selling it as it is still a sturdy machine compared to other versions of it – note the column casting at the back. Still a better drill press than anything else I have. After a few tyre kickers came to look at it someone put down a deposit with intent to pick it up after the new year holidays.

It went with the old flexible angle vice that I picked up for cheap somewhere. Kept the 4” k-type vice that originally came with the RF-30 to use on the shaper.