In article , Harold & Susan Vordos says...


"Robin S." wrote in message
m...
I have to work on Chinese/Taiwanese lathes at work. For some reason, they
decided to have every single clamping screw, that didn't have a handle
attached, a cap screw.

Hard to say if it would be a solution in your case, but I've often silver
soldered a small handle on the tops of bolts so I didn't have to reach for a
wrench constantly. This, of course, works only when you don't have to
tighten them real tight. For example, I have a little Wells A-7 cut off
saw. The speed change is made by moving the belt, so the bolt on the motor
clamp received one of the handles. Saves a lot of time and effort, and is
adequate to the task at hand.

I've done this too. We have a bunch of hoseclamps at work that
we use for shortstopping cryostat shafts, to keep them from
sliding up or down when the o-rings get frozen up. I got
aggrivated enough to take them down to the shop and spot weld
a large stainless washer to the flat operating shaft.

Another way I like to customize machinery is making special
purpose fasteners, which are cross-drilled and have a sliding
tommy bar going crosswised, held in place by a ball at each end,
pressed onto the bar. I did the hex head screw that adjusts
the pulley on the milling machine's power feed, and also the
tiny screw that clamps my saddle travel indicator on the
lathe.

I honestly think it's custom stuff like that which sets machinery
apart as belong to somebody in particular, that the tool is
being looked after and cared for. I love seeing stuff like this
in cars and motorbikes as well.

If this were his personal machine, Grant could consider doing this,
but because it's for work, he might simply turn up a thick plug
to fill the counterbore in the castings, and replace the allen
head screws with regular hex screws, slightly longer.

Jim

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