Welcome to Westwood Metalworks, What is he building in there?

[jorogi]

It's more memorable when the doc cracks one.
I was 18 and doing an MOT medical. Stormy November day. Sitting in a little concrete cubicle in the center of the medical office, we're suddenly plunged into complete darkness as the power goes out. Seconds later a Bic flicks and the doc says "back in a sec". Moments later he returns and melts a dob of wax onto each corner of the official medical form and mounts birthday cake candles. Barely any brighter he ask "okay, where were we ?"
The eye test says I.
"Hmmm, right. Can you read the bottom line on the eye chart on the far wall ?" he asks.
Is there an eye chart on the far wall I ask him.
"Yes, can you read the bottom line ?"
No.
"Well I guess that's perfectly normal" he opines and proceeds to check of all the boxes.

 

[Stuart Samuel]

after a nice visit from @Stuart Samuel (Thanks again Stu, My Stew Loved it, and can't wait to set it up and use it!)

My pleasure Dan, and thanks for the tour!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

You're welcome back anytime you're out this way again Stu.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Productive day. First one in the last few where I've actually felt somewhat back to normal, and could leave the couch for any great length of time. No pics, sorry..... Tore my laptop apart, and gave it a deep clean that I should have done a couple years ago after some recent overheating problems. Ordered some parts for another project hanging around too long.... Snowblowed the driveway then built snow tunnels with the kids all over the front yard, and lastly I finally broke down and cleaned the Tormach so I can refill the coolant with trimsol, and get to cutting stuff. That'll probably happen tomorrow afternoon, or this weekend at some point.

Been putting it off for too long, because I can't think of a shop job I hate worse than cleaning machines. Took a couple hours, and I can't really get it all without complete disassembly, but got enough that I'm not too worried about the old coolant contaminating the new trimsol too bad now. Still going to run the old pump/sump setup for now while I brainstorm a new better system. I'm leaning pretty heavy to some enclosure modifications so I can fit a bigger sump under the machine, and if I'm going that far I'll chop the enclosure down width wise, and gain another 8". While that doesn't sound like much, 8" is a lot of space in my shop, especially along that back wall. That'll be a warm weather problem when I can wheel a bunch of stuff outside though. Until then, I'll be happy to have the Tormach back up and running as is. It's been a while....... Should help out finishing the grinder build too.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Another big dumping of snow overnight meant play day and more tunnel making.

It's goes about 20' down to where the kids are, and then it splits into two tunnels with a vertical "mario" tube to the surface on the right. The left one goes another 8', and the right another 10'. Snow is still not the greatest packing snow, but today's was better than a couple days ago. It'll settle overnight and strengthen up a lot hopefully.

Tunnel making is done by digging down in the yard, then laying an empty garbage can on the side and piling snow on top. Packing it down as you go. Once you get enough all around it, about 20-24" in this case because it wasn't great packing snow, you can pull the can forward about 15-20", and repeat the process. Once you get going it goes pretty quick if the snow cooperates. The hardest part was digging down to the ground, as it was pretty hard packed in spots. We got both bottom tunnels done the other day, and today made the 20' up to the house from Y. We have probably 100' more path hollowed out on the other side of the split going in a few different directions across the rest of the yard, but that's all I'm doing today. I cheated and used the snowblower for some of it . We'll see how much we get done before the thaw, but I'm pretty confident with a couple solid days of work we can get it all done. Kids are pretty excited about the progress so far, so that's all that matters.

I figured that method out 2 years ago just at the end of the year by accident and only had enough snow left for a couple small tunnels, and then barely got any snow last year to do it again. This year we've been hammered. There is a at least a solid 20-24" across the front yard, and 3'+ drifts across the back yard, so it's given us lots of building material, but it's mostly been pretty powdery granular snow so far, until now. Doing the tunnels the other day required spraying it down with water and doing it in lifts, a pretty slow process. Today was a lot quicker.

I'm just starting to get a lot physical strength and stamina back again, so its time to go play in the shop now. A bunch of parts came in today to finish a long term project that's been back burnered for too long, so I'm looking forward to that, although one part won't get here till tomorrow, I should be able to knock out almost all of it out today.

 

[Stuart Samuel]

Another big dumping of snow overnight meant play day and more tunnel making.

View attachment 59918
View attachment 59919

It's goes about 20' down to where the kids are, and then it splits into two tunnels with a vertical "mario" tube to the surface on the right. The left one goes another 8', and the right another 10'. Snow is still not the greatest packing snow, but today's was better than a couple days ago. It'll settle overnight and strengthen up a lot hopefully.

Tunnel making is done by digging down in the yard, then laying an empty garbage can on the side and piling snow on top. Packing it down as you go. Once you get enough all around it, about 20-24" in this case because it wasn't great packing snow, you can pull the can forward about 15-20", and repeat the process. Once you get going it goes pretty quick if the snow cooperates. The hardest part was digging down to the ground, as it was pretty hard packed in spots. We got both bottom tunnels done the other day, and today made the 20' up to the house from Y. We have probably 100' more path hollowed out on the other side of the split going in a few different directions across the rest of the yard, but that's all I'm doing today. I cheated and used the snowblower for some of it . We'll see how much we get done before the thaw, but I'm pretty confident with a couple solid days of work we can get it all done. Kids are pretty excited about the progress so far, so that's all that matters.

I figured that method out 2 years ago just at the end of the year by accident and only had enough snow left for a couple small tunnels, and then barely got any snow last year to do it again. This year we've been hammered. There is a at least a solid 20-24" across the front yard, and 3'+ drifts across the back yard, so it's given us lots of building material, but it's mostly been pretty powdery granular snow so far, until now. Doing the tunnels the other day required spraying it down with water and doing it in lifts, a pretty slow process. Today was a lot quicker.

I'm just starting to get a lot physical strength and stamina back again, so its time to go play in the shop now. A bunch of parts came in today to finish a long term project that's been back burnered for too long, so I'm looking forward to that, although one part won't get here till tomorrow, I should be able to knock out almost all of it out today.

That's fantastic, Dan!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks. It's been a lot of fun. Just wish the cans were bigger so I could actually fit lol.

 

[David]

A shop made TBM!

 

[Dan Dubeau]

This post has been a long time coming. It was all the way back in June when the axis stepper on the Tormach shit the bed, and for a variety of reasons (mostly money) I've only been able to chip away at it here and there to get it back up and running, the coolant system all flushed, fixed and refilled with new. But it's now done and working again as it should. My initial impression of the Trimsol is very good. Time will tell, but I like it so far, compared to what was in it before, and the old Cimcool stuff we used to use at work. I am curious to see how it does with rusting, as the old stuff was terrible. As you can see......

I've never been a big fan of the stock Tormach coolant system, It's undersized for a bandsaw, let alone a VMC, even a baby one like the this, but it'll work for now until I can build a much better system. Started imagineering something while watching it run these cutouts, and think I have a pretty good plan of what I want, but it'll have to wait until the warmer weather as I need to pull it out from the corner, and chop up the enclosure a bunch.

Got as far as I could tonight on the splitter box until parts come tomorrow. Should be able to wrap it up quick once they get here, and then post what it is actually for...... Until then, I'm going to start cutting parts for the belt grinder now .

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Oh, and one other thing I was able to whittle down over the past week with all this couch time is, I got my Browser tabs of youtube vids to watch, and sites to visit down to ZERO. Some might laugh at that, and some might understand completely........I'm in uncharted territory right now, and don't know what to do with myself.....lol

 

[JustaDB]

Relax. Have a beer. Treat yourself. The SWHTF again soon.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Parts took a bit of a interesting journey on the way here today. Amazon guy got stuck backing out of a driveway down the road. Waited 3 hours for tow truck. I was his next and last stop for the day...

Had this idea a couple of years ago when I built the welding cart. Bought the receptacles, ordered the din rail terminal blocks, (too small) ground bars, and (too small) black plastic box. When they got here and I started to lay stuff out it was apparent that it was way too tight of a squeeze. I also didn't like the terminal blocks. They're rated for the wire and current, but they just felt too janky for the application. Not sure why, but this got shelved and put on the back burner and stuffed in a drawer until a few days ago when I needed to do some tig welding, and had to pull the cart out, swap plugs and push it back in.... It's a major pain in the fat belly.... So I thought, Hey, why don't I finish that splitter box so I never have to do this again....So I ordered a new (bigger and metal) box, some 3 port polaris connectors, and a proper sized ground bar. When they got here, I had a bright idea to also use the cut off female end of the 8awg extension cord I was using for incoming power, as another plug I can use with my plasma, or spot welder so I had to order more cable glands, and 4 port polaris connectors. The part I was waiting on today.

This is where I got to last night waiting for the polaris connectors. Box is fastened to the cart with 4x#10-24 button heads.

Quick job to torque them down when they got here.

https://imgur.com/D0lDrlU

Now there's enough cord that I can wheel the cart out to either the front or back doors of the garage and use either welder, plus my spot, or plasma at any time without having to pull it out from the wall and squeeze in there to swap plugs everytime. I know these are a polarizing topic on the web with regards to legality and safety but in single user shop I'm not worried. This is a much better way to do it than adding extra receptacles on the same circuit in my opinion. And also provides a bit more utility in my shop. The polaris connectors feel WAY more solid than those din rail terminal blocks.

Didn't get to machining anything on the grinder today either. Snowblower repairs......But that's two long term projects crossed off my list this weekend. Back to work this week so I probably wont get much done on the grinder for a while

 

[Stuart Samuel]

Those Polaris connectors look great! I'll have to remember that.
I despise working in too-small electrical enclosures, typically with wiring cut too short to help it fit. Guaranteed swearing fest.

 

[Susquatch]

The polaris connectors feel WAY more solid than those din rail terminal blocks.

I like the Polaris Connectors too. Ya, as far as I know, they are not approved. But they can be a great space saver and they are quite reliable if they are used correctly. Some people don't like them because they can be very fussy. This is one application where a torque wrench is a good idea. Too little torque can lead to a poor connection and overheating, and too much torque can damage the wire and/or connector. You also need to use the right size for your wire gauge and the right kind to be used without stripping the wire back or that require wire stripping. I prefer the ones you don't strip the insulation.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Those Polaris connectors look great! I'll have to remember that.
I despise working in too-small electrical enclosures, typically with wiring cut too short to help it fit. Guaranteed swearing fest.

Having room to work in a box is always a nice luxury. Polaris connectors are great and make a nice and solid connection for larger gauge wires.

Looking at these pics now I wish I would have taken the time to trim the wire to get them to lay in there nicer, but I was in a get it done mood by the time they arrived.....

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I like the Polaris Connectors too. Ya, as far as I know, they are not approved. But they can be a great space saver and they are quite reliable if they are used correctly. Some people don't like them because they can be very fussy. This is one application where a torque wrench is a good idea. Too little torque can lead to a poor connection and overheating, and too much torque can damage the wire and/or connector. You also need to use the right size for your wire gauge and the right kind to be used without stripping the wire back or that require wire stripping. I prefer the ones you don't strip the insulation.

This is only the second time I've ever used them, but I've never heard of ones that don't require stripping? What application are those used for?

I will give these a double check in a couple weeks after using both welders a bit.

 

[Susquatch]

This is only the second time I've ever used them, but I've never heard of ones that don't require stripping? What application are those used for?

It's a standard application. The packaging should describe which type you have as well as the required torque.

I will give these a double check in a couple weeks after using both welders a bit.

Sounds good.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Side project #...oh I forget already, on the belt grinder built....Won't be the last one either....

A fixture plate to hold flat stuff that is mountable in a mill vise. Build thread here

 

[Dan Dubeau]

While browsing around the rainforest yesterday, I stumbled on this chuck. Seemed like too good of a deal to be true. $149 with a %20 off coupon? Always wanting a collet chuck for the myford I took a gamble on it.

I've watched reviews on these import 5c chucks before, and they're a mixed bag. Some good, some bad, but I always view this stuff from a "kit" mentality. Until I make a back plate for it, and get it mounted I really have no way of evaluating it for runout, or dimensional accuracy, but I gotta say the fit and finish is really nice. There is a bit of a tight spot/eccentricity when tightening a collet so I will have to investigate that. Not terrible, but enough to annoy. Whether that eccentricity affects accuracy or not remains to be seen but for $135 delivered I think it's workable. Now I just need to find time to make a backplate for it. Thinking about making a set tru style, but will mull it over for a while. Too much other stuff on my plate right now to touch this for a while, so I stuffed it back in the box for another day.

 

[Hruul]

Well damn, there goes some more money. sure hope the tax return is good this year.