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Wish List and Future Big Projects
The best hobbies are impossible to "finish". There is always something more you'd like to beg, buy, borrow, build, or steal! Here is a list of projects and products I'd like to someday add to my shop. These are the "big" projects, meaning they are more ambitious, harder to do, and will take longer. There is also a page of smaller projects and a page for Engine Projects.
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Souping Up a Drill Press
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The lowly drill press is a handy gadget, but mine could use some help. Here is a whole page of ideas for souping it up.
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Tapping Arm
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I was reminded recently of this idea when I was messing around with a Harbor Freight tapping head I bought. I love the idea of mounting a tapping arm to a bench and having it ready to go at all times. A set of taps on some kind of quick change chuck system would make it particularly nice. It doesn't look hard to build a parallelogram linkage, so maybe I'll try one some time.
These gadgets are designed for production shops so that someone can rapidly tap a whole bunch of holes. They look extremely handy and easy to use, and I've heard lots of good about them on Practical Machinist (the owner of the site seems to have invented the darned things!). I sure could have used one for my project! The subject comes up on Practical Machinist usually because someone can't do rigid tapping in their CNC. Someone else usually suggests they buy a tapping arm rather than a new CNC. This is relevant to amateurs because Mach 3 doesn't support rigid tapping at the moment. The only bad news is that they seem to cost $1200 to $5000 and up. Wow! Postscript: Milacron (who built the Procyon arms) says he used Aro, Sioux, and Desouter straight shank air drills for his tapping arms.
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Custom Mauser Rifle
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It's my plan in the relatively near future to build a pair of custom Mauser actioned rifles. A friend of the family got interested in doing this, and we decided to all work together. I'm going to build two and give one to my son. In fact, I'm hoping he'll help out. I haven't gotten far, so the project is still on the Wish List page. However, I did try my hand at designing a gun stock for the rifles in Rhino 3D:
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Model Engine Tubing Bender
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Model steam engines and the like benefit from nice symmetrical tubing bends, so a tubing bender is essential to helping that along. I recently came across this gorgeous bender that McGyver showed over on the HSM boards. I really like the blued finish and old school charm of this very well made tool:
Really professional looking, eh? Complete set...
Tangential cutter used to make the round grooves... Because small OD tubing comes in coils, McGyver built a matching tubing "straightener" to make nice straight lengths to work with:
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Collet Chuck Made from Automatic Transmission Planetary Gear Set
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From the category of Amazing Stuff, I present this 5C collet chuck that a fellow from Practical Machinist named "j king" made. It uses a planetary gearset from a transmission to gear down the handwheel in a compact way and tighten the thread on the collet. The handwheel is nicer than the keyed 5C chuck I've got (and which I still need to make a backplate for!). Other detail notes: there is an O-ring to keep the handwheel from rattling, and there is a sleeve pressed into the small gear. Since the transmission gears are hardened, the sleeve was necessary to allow threading for the 5C collet. It is brazed into place. The workmanship and sheer beauty of it is amazing:
The component parts. Note there is a gear barely visible in the righthand part, and the little gear in the middle is threaded for the 5C collet...
Here is a better view of the gear mounted in the chuck...
The D1-3 backplate, also a beauty...
Handwheel looks CNC'd, but was done manually...
Threaded for the 5C collet...
Thrust bearing inside to keep from over tightening...
Here it is assembled and ready for use... Looks like he's using that thing on a Monarch 10EE lathe, another really nice piece of work. I purchased a gearset on eBay and am awaiting a time to get my own chuck made.
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High Speed NMTB 30 Spindle for the IH Mill
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As part of Industrial Hobbies going out of business sale, I had the opportunity to purchase a #30 taper spindle that fits the mill for $65. The recommended angular contact bearings to go with the spindle were another $100 from McMaster-Carr. I like the idea of the #30 taper for a variety of reasons including: - Greater Rigidity than R8 - Faster tool changes due to better ejection and less fooling around to line up the drive pin of the R8. The #30 taper uses a couple of big dogs to drive the toolholder that are real easy to see and line up compared to the hidden and fairly small drive pin of an R8. - Greater potential to create an automatic toolchanger for the mill. A #30 taper and a powered drawbar can act as a toolchanger under CNC control if you simply provide a tray of tools in fixed positions on the table. Perhaps the biggest reason, however, was my desire to convert my mill spindle to run at higher speeds using a belt drive. Out of the box it maxes out at 1600 rpm. With a bigger motor, you can run it to 3200 rpm. That's still pretty slow when you're trying to cut aluminum. My copy of ME Pro wants to see 3900 rpm on a 1/2" end mill with aluminum, and this jumps to 9200 rpm with a 1/8" end mill that I might use for fine profiling. I don't even want to talk about what's need to do engraving! Given how slowly most of my projects proceed, I decided that buying one of these spindles from IH and building a whole new belt driven mill head around it was likely to be a better approach than trying to modify the gear head. Taking the latter course would very likely leave me stranded without a working mill for a long time, with much assembly/disassembly back and forthing until I got it right. Building a separate head just requires me to build a box that is rigid and allows me to properly mount the spindle bearings and the motor, with a timing belt from one to the other. I would dispense with a quill altogether as this head is intended for CNC use and dropping the quill would allow me to make everything that much more rigid and accurate as well as simpler. At least that's the theory!
Comparison of a #30 taper holder and an R8...
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Antikythera Mechanism
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I've always had a great interest in Astronomy, and I read with great interest recent articles about the Antikythera Mechanism, which was apparently an ancient orrery or simulator of motions of the heavenly bodies. The machine, which was constructed circa 80 BC, could represent the motions of most heavenly bodies known in its time using a clockwork consisting of 37 gears. Such a device seems far more intriguing to me than simply making a clock. Here is one fairly fanciful 3D representation of a modern equivalent to the Antikythera Mechanism:
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I've been keeping my nose to the ground looking for ideas on a tool and cutter grinder. It's ridiculously easy to dull a cutter, and while they're reasonably cheap on eBay (say $10 for a nice US Made 1/2" endmill), it's even cheaper to sharpen them. Not to mention drill bits need constant sharpening, and custom cutters are easily made with the right grinder. I've looked a little bit at the Deckel's and their clones that come up on eBay, but they want an awful lot of money for one. Then there are a variety of cutter grinders that various HSM's have made over the years. These look like fascinating projects that would be great fun to undertake! Here is my take on how to create a Deckel clone from an inexpensive Harbor Freight Tool Grinder and a "Universal Vise" acquired on eBay:
I call it the "Beijing Deckel"... |
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Sheet Metal Fabrication Tools
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In fact, the whole sheet metal tool arsenal would be handy to have at hand. An English wheel, slip rolls, etc., etc.. I did come across some photos of this beautiful pan and box brake, which was built based on an article in "Projects in Metal." I ordered their book so that I would have these plans available when I'm ready to jump in. The article in the book is excellent, and there are a number of other projects to covet there as well (like the precision cutter grinder and tilting table for milling). Order "Metalworking, Book Two, The Best of Projects in Metal." This particular brake was designed by Glenn Wilson.
Very nice, eh? There's a fellow on one of the boards who has an interesting wrinkle on this stuff. He's built a hydraulic press with a tubing bending attachment that is CNC controlled. Basically, you enter an angle, step on the pedal, and the machine bends the tubing to that angle. You could imagine that the electronics involved must be simple. A PIC controller, an encoder for shaft position (to measure how many degrees we have gone), and some sort of solenoid valve for the hydraulic cylinder. It's interesting to consider whether some of these other bending tools could be so equipped in order to make it easy to produce repeatable operations to a particular design spec. I'd have to think it is very possible. The same fellow suggests that the expensive part in all of this is the hydraulic pump, and that if one were to build such tools one should use quick disconnects to share that pump with several machines and thereby lower the overall costs. Good idea! Update: I have no purchased a 45 ton air-over-hydraullic press, so I'll likely look to make a press brake attachment. |
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Warning: Heavy lifting is inherently a very dangerous business. Injuries and property damage are common. Make sure you know exactly what you're doing before attempting something like this! This one seems endlessly useful around the shop. There's always something big and heavy to be moved or repositioned. By making it out of aluminum, it becomes much easier for one person to assemble and disassemble or move around:
Using an aluminum gantry crane to move a mill into position...
Close-up of the I-Beam Support...
Travelling gantry would be very helpful building my Texas Smoker! Related Links Bushman: Commerical cranes of many types. JRouche's Gantry Crane Plans on Home Shop Machinist Practical Machinist Thread on Gantry Cranes Spanco: Commercial cranes of all descriptions. Synthesis Engineering: Plans for building gantry cranes in the home shop. Wallace Cranes: Commercial cranes of all types recommended by Forest Addy. Their aluminum tri-adjustable cranes are unusually clever. |
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Machinery Dollys
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An alternative to the Gantry Crane would be a machinery dolly system like this one. Slide the toe under and jack it up and you are ready to move. I could envision making it so that one could attach a platform between two dollies as well. Those pictured are very similar to a product called "Rol-A-Lift" that one could buy or rent if you didn't want to invest in making a dolly system.
Moving in a Shaper...
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Lathe Shaper Attachment
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Cutting keyways is painful if your only approach is racking the cross slide back and forth by hand. It would be awesome to build a shaper attachment that fits a QCTP for doing lightweight keyway cutting under power. Here is a pneumatic unit one fellow (Evan Williams from HSM board) is designing for the purpose:
And here is his hand powered slotter:
I did order a "left-handed Veeblefetzer" off the web that I think could serve as a component for a shaper attachment:
The left-handed Veeblefetzer... I'm thinking I'll build a manual shaper attachment first, and worry about a power unit later. Here is a clever design for a slotter that just moves the compound on its dovetail:
The round "faceplate" is being used as a dividing head to allow broaching an internal gear on a Wankel motor project...
Dividing head is indexed via the pin that is on the follower rest mounts... Related Links: http://www.lathes.co.uk/adeptshaper/index.html: They used to make these! http://www.duwaynesplace.com/hand_shaper_project.html
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4th CNC Axis for the Mill
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As I write this, I do not yet have my mill converted to CNC, but the ambition quickly gets ahead of the means to deliver. The photo shows the components of a stepper motor conversion of a rotary table. Lots of clever ideas there: The cylinder has a "tophat flange" that catches on a groove cut in the square NEMA plate for the motor. In effect, the motor's flange sandwiches the square flange with the cylinder bringing it all together neatly. The other clever move was to machine the shaft adapter so it can serve as one half of an Oldham-style coupler. This was a really nicely done conversion.
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Toolpost Grinder
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There have been several times when I've wished for a toolpost grinder to finish a shaft just right and to close tolerances. I debate whether to buy a used Dumore or Themac on eBay or try to fabricate one as a project. Simple ones are really easy to make and just involve lashing a suitable Dremel or hand grinder to the post in some way. More complex versions involve fabricating a spindle and replicating the style of the commercial TP grinders. I am really tempted to work on a spindle for one. It would be a good warmup should I ever choose to make a more ambitious spindle, perhaps for a lathe or a mill. Toolpost Grinder Project Page (Just More Ideas and Pictures for Now)!
Router-based TP Grinder: A Bit Heavier Duty! |
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Welding Table Delusions of Grandeur
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I need some kind of welding table in my shop so I'm not just sitting on floor trying to manage. This is a really nifty example, though I'd be afraid I'd mar it up given the state of my welding skills:
It goes up and down on hydraulic struts and has lots of fixturing holes. Very cool! On the other hand, how about building a welding shop on a car lift so it can rise up out of the way?
I also designed an intermediate form that would be a rolling table with shelf space for the equipment underneath:
My concern for this solution is that the cart will be extremely heavy. More thought needed on which path I will choose! |
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I've wanted to build a disc sander with one of the motors I have laying around, and I can't see why I wouldn't also put one of these nifty belt sanders on the other side of the arbor. There are lots of commercial specimens available to study, and some even sell parts to build your own: There are also some articles scattered around the web telling of folks who built their own: http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=4436
Another similar grinder made with lots of heavy steel plate...
And one made of aluminum. Note the handle for belt changing! http://groups.msn.com/HomeorshopmadeGrinders: An MSN group dedicated to these machines.
A cute small version... |
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Shop air is one of those things that is so convenient to have you'll wonder how you ever got by without it. presently, I have a larger Sears vertical compressor that has a connection to a nice self-retracting air hose reel. It's a decent setup, but I have to drag that hose all over my shop to do whatever I'm doing. It would be so much nicer to run pipe around the shop and have connections everywhere. Some would be permanent, such as a connection for the powered drawbar at the mill, or a connection by each machine for shop air to blow chips away (yeah, I know, a lot of folks frown on this but it works great if you're careful not to blow chips into the guts of the machine). A good system will incorporate filters, water taps, and regulators so different needs can run different pressures. Ideally, I would also be upgrading my compressor to a two-stage unit that is more efficient and produces more output.There are a number of choices to make setting up such a system. First would be choice of pipe. Either copper or the "black" threaded pipe used for plumbing works, you just have to decide what's easier. Orchard supply will cut black pipe to length and thread it at no extra charge, so if you are good at getting the measurements right and planning, you could go that route. It's pretty easy to solder copper pipe, so that's another possibility. Once you've got the pipe, you need to think about the basic things you want in your plumbing. At the least, you want to be sure there are plenty of low points with taps where any water will collect and can be blown out. You may want filters at every outlet station, and for some stations you will want oilers as well to keep the tools oiled and happy. You need to slope any horizontal runs of pipe to keep water moving towards the extremeties, make sure it can't pool, and have it wind up ultimately in a low section with a tap so you can periodically flush the water out of the system. In my case, I also hope to move the noisy compressor out of my immediate shop so I don't have to listen to it when it runs. Lastly, think about what your stations will be where compressed air is needed. I am envisioning the following stations:- Blast Cabinet- 2 air hose reels at opposite ends of the shop so that one is always closer and I can get the hose to go anywhere.- At each machine tool, a couple outlets. One with a coily hose and a hand blowgun on it. One to be used for coolant misting, power drawbars, and other similar accessories.- Pneumatic tool station: In my small shop room, it would be convenient to have a station where several of the most common tools stay hooked up and ready to be grabbed and instantly put into action. I envision a couple of die grinders, and possibly a pneumatic drill with hole deburring bit in it.
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Heat Treating Oven
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I have been interested in heat treating metals for a long time, and finally sat down to do a little web research on how to build a heat treat furnace. Industrial PID controllers are readily available on eBay cheap, and the rest of the materials required are not expensive either. Here is one example of a shop made oven:
It's also possible to convert a ceramic kiln to this purpose. The ovens are typically lined with fire brick, although I have also heard of some people using thermal ceramic fiber blocks from a company called Vesuvius, and also a material that comes in board form called "Marinite". Other useful materials to know about include high temp sodium silicate firebrick cement and refractory mortar (found by yours truly while reading about pizza ovens). Links about making your own furnace: The Home-built Heat Treat Oven Pictured Above: A nice project with lots of photos. http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/752668/post/775813/hl//: Not much on pix, but some good tips and techniques. For example, there is a high temperature mortar/calk available at Home Depot to seal the bricks that is good to 2000 degrees. You want a "K" type thermocouple for this kind of project. HSM Thread on Materials: OhioDeere has built some commercial heat treating ovens and has some sage remarks there as well.
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