Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

Monday December 26
8 AM
The Clausing is pretty simple, and the design is such you can pull a
front plate to get to the guts of the apron. First thing to tackle was
that bent handwheel shaft. Pulled the plate..then changed shoes when I
realized Id forgotten to dump the oil out of the apron. About a quart
down the old tennies...sigh

Pulling the shaft required removing the front plate, driving out a few
pins etc. Pretty simple. The shaft is .5, with a gear pinned on the
far end, two snap ring grooves, threaded 1/2-20 on the far end, and
two woodruff keyways. About 8" long.

So I dug out a chunk of Mystery Metal (probably Stressproof from a
previous project), and cut it to length, cut the snap ring grooves and
the woodruff keyways, then threaded the end. I fitted the gear, which
is retained by a woodruff key and a cross pin. Cool! I think..no
problems. Then I start hunting for a proper pin. All the roll pins in
my assortment are the wrong size. The hardware store doesnt have the
right size. Neither does the other hardware store, or any of the 3
autoparts stores. The hole is straight, not tapered. Ok...time to
make a pin. All the proper sized stock I have is D2. Not a good
idea.. So I finally turn a pin out of a 16p nail. Double headed
concrete form nail, having searched everywhere for a standard one..no
go..all out.

1pm

There I am, standing in front of a Hardinge HLV-H, turning a ****ing
16p coated sinker between centers...sigh...

Then I try to fit it. Too small. Falls through. Seems there was a
burr on the end I measured. Some filing with a round swiss file fixed
the burr. Make a nail..er pin. Perfect fit..well..a bit too small
again by about .0005. Pin presses in..then falls out the other side.
Very slight taper after all. Sigh....

Make another pin, cover it with red loctite, press it in, and then
wack both ends with a center punch to swell it up.

2pm

Putting the beasty back together..I realize the bronze bushings are
worn. I hate a carraige handwheel thats "floppy". Ok..time to make
new bushings. Scrounging around my Stuff..I find a 12" stick of 3/4"
Mystery Bronze. Using my clearly marked pin gages..I determing the
proper od, and turn a new set of bushings. I press them in
properly..then determine my calculations were not quite right...time
to get out the .5 reamer. Find that my calculatons were WAY off..and
the pilot stud on the reamer wont go into the bushings. Press out the
bushings, put them into a collet, and rebore..after having to remove
the collet at least twice because the bushings pushed back into the
collet and fell into the spindle bore...sigh.

So I bored the bushings, and pressed them back in, then using the
reamer, reamed them to .4985 (marked on the reamer), then tried to fit
the shaft, which was .498. Oh oh....looks like somebody ground the
reamer. Its a 5 flute..so took a bit to measure accurately....4970

****.

3:30pm

Hunting around for another reamer, then measuring it to make sure it
was the right size took another 20 minutes. Then reamed and fitted
the shaft. PERFECT!! Ok..now we are cooking!

The shaft is held in the apron with a snapring, which bears on the
back of the cover plate, which prevents the shaft and gear from
pulling out of the apron, if you pull on the handwheel. The snap
rings seemed ok..so I resued them. I have a snap ring assortment..but
they are all ID snaprings..shrug.


Cleaning the mating surfaces, I put a thin layer of red RTV on, then
assembled everything. This part is a bit tricky, as you have to also
align the carraige/crossfeed selector lever, lock and detents. After
making about 8 attempts, I got it all together properly.

4:30 pm

YAY!!!

I put in all the screws , the woodruff key that prevents the handwheel
from turning, slide on the handwheel, installed the washers and
started tightening the self locking nut that holds the handwheel to
the shaft. As it was nearly tight..I feel a very slight "TINK" as the
snap ring on the inside of the cover breaks in half.

Put head down on side of lathe and ponder life and how much I enjoy
fixing machines.

5:01
Discover the hardware store had closed 5 minutes early.

Put head on steering wheel, and ponder how much I like fixing ****ing
machines.

Tuesday December 27

9am

Purchase new snap rings.

10am

Start to assemble machine, putting cover plate on apron, and it sticks
a bit, so with gentle thump, I tap cover home..and it wont go the last
1/8th inch.

Removing cover plate..I discover that the detent that prevents the
apron from being placed into feed AND cross feed, had jumped out of
its socket, and had snapped into two pieces when I Thumped the cover.
Its made from cast iron, looking like a round nosed 38 special round,
with a 5/32 shaft on the primer end, .83 long.

****

Decide to bore a hole in end where shaft had broken off, and silver
solder in a new one, then cut to length.

12pm

Pressed in new shaft, and the body of the cast iron detent crumbled
like rotten cracker.

Put head on side of press, and ponder how much I like fixing these
****ing god damned ****ing machines. ****!

12:30pm

Select proper piece of Mystery Metal and turn to .375, use a form tool
and put proper round nose on proper end, in collet.
Reverse work piece, and turn shaft on end to 5/32. Looking pretty
good! Polish up nice, then compare to original..and discover its 1/8"
too short.

1:30.pm

Polish up new piece, after determing that it was the right dimensions.
Install in cover plate, and install cover after 4-6 attempts. Then
remember that I was supposed to use RTV sealent.

Remove cover, clean off all old RTV..old being relatively speaking,
and artisticly lay on another thin bead

Reinstall cover after 3-5 attempts. No hammer!
Install all screws.
Start to install handwheel..and woodruff key slips out of my fingers
(1/8x1/2), enters a worm hole and was last seen headed for Trotter
Indiana as worm hole closes with a small bang of vacuum.

Stand bemused as I ponder how much I like fixing ****ing godamned
****ing ****ing godamned ****ing machines! ****!!!!

2:45pm

Purchase 2 (two) proper woodruff keys at 2nd hardware store. The first
having given me a blank look when I spoke the magic word.."woodruff"

3:00pm

Discover woodruff key had been stamped from Mystery metal and needed
some serious work on oil stone to get to 1/8 thickness.

3:30 pm

Install key, install handwheel, gingerly snug nut on
handwheel...Voila..snap ring held!!

Spin handle..and carriage grinds its way down ways. Grinds????
Discover carraige lub is dry. Discover cheap assed ball detent
lurication thingys were in various shades of disrepair. Fill best
oiler with Vactra #2, and force oil into lubers. Then pressure them
up with rubber tip on air blow gun, until oil spurted out from under
ways, along with rust, mange, spooge and Stuff. Refill lubers with
Kroil, repeat high pressure air treatment until Gunk stopped coming
out. Refilled with Vactra #2.

4:30

Spun wheel..and carraige silently and smoothly floated down ways
nearly 2 feet. Wheee!
Decided that wheel crank(bent from the drop) needed to be replaced. It
unscrewed, but outside handle was too damaged to be reused. Simple
bolt with plastic body that spins on bolt.

Rummaged around though Stuff..until found the proper 5/16th x 4"
socket head bolt. Selected a piece of delrin from Plastics bin.
Bored hole in delrin blank, finished ends with form tool for
cosmetics, and counter bored with counterbore tool to fit bolt head.
Discovered delrin had gotten hot, and counter bore was too small for
bolt head.
Dug out tiny boring bar and bored to fit.

5:30.

Fitted handle with lock nut to handwheel. Looking good!!
Filled apron with ATF.
Changed shoes and socks when I discovered Id not replaced the drain
plug in bottom of apron.
Refilled apron with ATF.
Adjusted all detents, gibs, and effortlessly traveled the carraige
back and forth down the pristine ways, pondering how much fun it is
fixing up fine old machines.

Too bad the main drive belt ($80 from Clausing..variable speed belt)
is busted. I might have actually fired it up and turned something with
it.

Now all I have to do is weld up the 3 busted (aluminum) handles, and
wait till I hit the Lotto to order the belt.

Sigh

Gunner, with lots more projects to look forwards to this week.

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

Gunner Asch wrote:
snip a *Great* narrative

Thanks for that, Gunner!

About that TINK as the snap ring broke: isn't it amazing how the
particular timbre of a little noise like that can instantly identify
what part broke and just how it broke, remind you how easy it would have
been to change it earlier, and offer a side comment on how you had
previously vowed to Always replace those?

I hate it when that happens!

--
Fred R
________________
Drop TROU to email.

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

Monday December 26
8 AM
The Clausing is pretty simple, and the design is such you can pull a
front plate to get to the guts of the apron. First thing to tackle was
that bent handwheel shaft. Pulled the plate..then changed shoes when I
realized Id forgotten to dump the oil out of the apron. About a quart
down the old tennies...sigh

See- you should have stopped right there becuase at that point you
just knew deep in your soul that everything was going to go downhill
at an increasing rate of speed.
It seems we all have days when the best thing to do is stop working
before any more damage occurs, sweep up, maybe straighten out the junk
drawer, and then go fishing.

-Carl

Good story.
Reminds me why I like messing with old F&*%#@!g machines

Thanks for sharing
- -
Rex Burkheimer
Fort Worth TX

Gunner Asch wrote:
Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

Monday December 26
8 AM
The Clausing is pretty simple, and the design is such you can pull a
front plate to get to the guts of the apron. First thing to tackle was
that bent handwheel shaft. Pulled the plate..then changed shoes when I
realized Id forgotten to dump the oil out of the apron. About a quart
down the old tennies...sigh

Pulling the shaft required removing the front plate, driving out a few
pins etc. Pretty simple. The shaft is .5, with a gear pinned on the
far end, two snap ring grooves, threaded 1/2-20 on the far end, and
two woodruff keyways. About 8" long.

So I dug out a chunk of Mystery Metal (probably Stressproof from a
previous project), and cut it to length, cut the snap ring grooves and
the woodruff keyways, then threaded the end. I fitted the gear, which
is retained by a woodruff key and a cross pin. Cool! I think..no
problems. Then I start hunting for a proper pin. All the roll pins in
my assortment are the wrong size. The hardware store doesnt have the
right size. Neither does the other hardware store, or any of the 3
autoparts stores. The hole is straight, not tapered. Ok...time to
make a pin. All the proper sized stock I have is D2. Not a good
idea.. So I finally turn a pin out of a 16p nail. Double headed
concrete form nail, having searched everywhere for a standard one..no
go..all out.

1pm

There I am, standing in front of a Hardinge HLV-H, turning a ****ing
16p coated sinker between centers...sigh...

Then I try to fit it. Too small. Falls through. Seems there was a
burr on the end I measured. Some filing with a round swiss file fixed
the burr. Make a nail..er pin. Perfect fit..well..a bit too small
again by about .0005. Pin presses in..then falls out the other side.
Very slight taper after all. Sigh....

Make another pin, cover it with red loctite, press it in, and then
wack both ends with a center punch to swell it up.

2pm

Putting the beasty back together..I realize the bronze bushings are
worn. I hate a carraige handwheel thats "floppy". Ok..time to make
new bushings. Scrounging around my Stuff..I find a 12" stick of 3/4"
Mystery Bronze. Using my clearly marked pin gages..I determing the
proper od, and turn a new set of bushings. I press them in
properly..then determine my calculations were not quite right...time
to get out the .5 reamer. Find that my calculatons were WAY off..and
the pilot stud on the reamer wont go into the bushings. Press out the
bushings, put them into a collet, and rebore..after having to remove
the collet at least twice because the bushings pushed back into the
collet and fell into the spindle bore...sigh.

So I bored the bushings, and pressed them back in, then using the
reamer, reamed them to .4985 (marked on the reamer), then tried to fit
the shaft, which was .498. Oh oh....looks like somebody ground the
reamer. Its a 5 flute..so took a bit to measure accurately....4970

****.

3:30pm

Hunting around for another reamer, then measuring it to make sure it
was the right size took another 20 minutes. Then reamed and fitted
the shaft. PERFECT!! Ok..now we are cooking!

The shaft is held in the apron with a snapring, which bears on the
back of the cover plate, which prevents the shaft and gear from
pulling out of the apron, if you pull on the handwheel. The snap
rings seemed ok..so I resued them. I have a snap ring assortment..but
they are all ID snaprings..shrug.


Cleaning the mating surfaces, I put a thin layer of red RTV on, then
assembled everything. This part is a bit tricky, as you have to also
align the carraige/crossfeed selector lever, lock and detents. After
making about 8 attempts, I got it all together properly.

4:30 pm

YAY!!!

I put in all the screws , the woodruff key that prevents the handwheel
from turning, slide on the handwheel, installed the washers and
started tightening the self locking nut that holds the handwheel to
the shaft. As it was nearly tight..I feel a very slight "TINK" as the
snap ring on the inside of the cover breaks in half.

Put head down on side of lathe and ponder life and how much I enjoy
fixing machines.

5:01
Discover the hardware store had closed 5 minutes early.

Put head on steering wheel, and ponder how much I like fixing ****ing
machines.

Tuesday December 27

9am

Purchase new snap rings.

10am

Start to assemble machine, putting cover plate on apron, and it sticks
a bit, so with gentle thump, I tap cover home..and it wont go the last
1/8th inch.

Removing cover plate..I discover that the detent that prevents the
apron from being placed into feed AND cross feed, had jumped out of
its socket, and had snapped into two pieces when I Thumped the cover.
Its made from cast iron, looking like a round nosed 38 special round,
with a 5/32 shaft on the primer end, .83 long.

****

Decide to bore a hole in end where shaft had broken off, and silver
solder in a new one, then cut to length.

12pm

Pressed in new shaft, and the body of the cast iron detent crumbled
like rotten cracker.

Put head on side of press, and ponder how much I like fixing these
****ing god damned ****ing machines. ****!

12:30pm

Select proper piece of Mystery Metal and turn to .375, use a form tool
and put proper round nose on proper end, in collet.
Reverse work piece, and turn shaft on end to 5/32. Looking pretty
good! Polish up nice, then compare to original..and discover its 1/8"
too short.

1:30.pm

Polish up new piece, after determing that it was the right dimensions.
Install in cover plate, and install cover after 4-6 attempts. Then
remember that I was supposed to use RTV sealent.

Remove cover, clean off all old RTV..old being relatively speaking,
and artisticly lay on another thin bead

Reinstall cover after 3-5 attempts. No hammer!
Install all screws.
Start to install handwheel..and woodruff key slips out of my fingers
(1/8x1/2), enters a worm hole and was last seen headed for Trotter
Indiana as worm hole closes with a small bang of vacuum.

Stand bemused as I ponder how much I like fixing ****ing godamned
****ing ****ing godamned ****ing machines! ****!!!!

2:45pm

Purchase 2 (two) proper woodruff keys at 2nd hardware store. The first
having given me a blank look when I spoke the magic word.."woodruff"

3:00pm

Discover woodruff key had been stamped from Mystery metal and needed
some serious work on oil stone to get to 1/8 thickness.

3:30 pm

Install key, install handwheel, gingerly snug nut on
handwheel...Voila..snap ring held!!

Spin handle..and carriage grinds its way down ways. Grinds????
Discover carraige lub is dry. Discover cheap assed ball detent
lurication thingys were in various shades of disrepair. Fill best
oiler with Vactra #2, and force oil into lubers. Then pressure them
up with rubber tip on air blow gun, until oil spurted out from under
ways, along with rust, mange, spooge and Stuff. Refill lubers with
Kroil, repeat high pressure air treatment until Gunk stopped coming
out. Refilled with Vactra #2.

4:30

Spun wheel..and carraige silently and smoothly floated down ways
nearly 2 feet. Wheee!
Decided that wheel crank(bent from the drop) needed to be replaced. It
unscrewed, but outside handle was too damaged to be reused. Simple
bolt with plastic body that spins on bolt.

Rummaged around though Stuff..until found the proper 5/16th x 4"
socket head bolt. Selected a piece of delrin from Plastics bin.
Bored hole in delrin blank, finished ends with form tool for
cosmetics, and counter bored with counterbore tool to fit bolt head.
Discovered delrin had gotten hot, and counter bore was too small for
bolt head.
Dug out tiny boring bar and bored to fit.

5:30.

Fitted handle with lock nut to handwheel. Looking good!!
Filled apron with ATF.
Changed shoes and socks when I discovered Id not replaced the drain
plug in bottom of apron.
Refilled apron with ATF.
Adjusted all detents, gibs, and effortlessly traveled the carraige
back and forth down the pristine ways, pondering how much fun it is
fixing up fine old machines.

Too bad the main drive belt ($80 from Clausing..variable speed belt)
is busted. I might have actually fired it up and turned something with
it.

Now all I have to do is weld up the 3 busted (aluminum) handles, and
wait till I hit the Lotto to order the belt.

Sigh

Gunner, with lots more projects to look forwards to this week.

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

Gunner Asch wrote:

Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.


snip


Now all I have to do is weld up the 3 busted (aluminum) handles, and
wait till I hit the Lotto to order the belt.

Sigh


Where it gets old quickly is when A) there's no one anywhere who cares
or understands about this, or that you can show it to/share it with
and/or B) you never make a dime off the thing anyway... the state of
perpetual cabin fever sux as far as I am concerned.

If you didn't have a local buddy before the internet came along, you'd
likely be sitting there with ur proverbial hand up your proverbial tail
end going, WTF am I doing this for??

The usual scenario, as you drag somebody over to some project or machine
and then proceed with a scenario like Gunner's great story is that oddly
'glazed over' facial expression and/or the "this guys is NUTZ, how am I
going to get OUT OF HERE!!" look, as he edges gingerly backwards toward
the exit...

;_)

_-_-bear

BEAR wrote:
Gunner Asch wrote:

Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.


etc. etc.

.. . . and I thought that these things only happened to me due to bad
karma!

Mb-A

Spooge??? Maybe if you weren't watching the clock so much...... Thanks for
the encouragement on fixing THOSE old machines. As I remember, I lost more
knuckle covering on an old Clausing var-speed problem than on any other I've
tackled.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore
Happy New Year, All!

"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

Monday December 26
8 AM

. . . and I thought that these things only happened to me due to bad
karma!

Mb-A

Look up "Bad Karma" in the dictionary, there's Gunner's picture!

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch wrote:

Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

snip

I weep with you for the grief and I toast you for the success (Glenfiddich
Ancient Reserve 18yo, if it matters...)


Mark Rand
RTFM

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

Some time ago, I posted about having dropped my Clausing 1501 (15x52)
lathe when moving it. Bent the carraige hand wheel shaft, busted a
couple aluminum levers..minor damage all things considered.

This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.

Monday December 26
8 AM
The Clausing is pretty simple, and the design is such you can pull a
front plate to get to the guts of the apron. First thing to tackle was
that bent handwheel shaft. Pulled the plate..then changed shoes when I
realized Id forgotten to dump the oil out of the apron. About a quart
down the old tennies...sigh

Pulling the shaft required removing the front plate, driving out a few
pins etc. Pretty simple. The shaft is .5, with a gear pinned on the
far end, two snap ring grooves, threaded 1/2-20 on the far end, and
two woodruff keyways. About 8" long.

So I dug out a chunk of Mystery Metal (probably Stressproof from a
previous project), and cut it to length, cut the snap ring grooves and
the woodruff keyways, then threaded the end. I fitted the gear, which
is retained by a woodruff key and a cross pin. Cool! I think..no
problems. Then I start hunting for a proper pin. All the roll pins in
my assortment are the wrong size. The hardware store doesnt have the
right size. Neither does the other hardware store, or any of the 3
autoparts stores. The hole is straight, not tapered. Ok...time to
make a pin. All the proper sized stock I have is D2. Not a good
idea.. So I finally turn a pin out of a 16p nail. Double headed
concrete form nail, having searched everywhere for a standard one..no
go..all out.

1pm

There I am, standing in front of a Hardinge HLV-H, turning a ****ing
16p coated sinker between centers...sigh...

Then I try to fit it. Too small. Falls through. Seems there was a
burr on the end I measured. Some filing with a round swiss file fixed
the burr. Make a nail..er pin. Perfect fit..well..a bit too small
again by about .0005. Pin presses in..then falls out the other side.
Very slight taper after all. Sigh....

Make another pin, cover it with red loctite, press it in, and then
wack both ends with a center punch to swell it up.

2pm

Putting the beasty back together..I realize the bronze bushings are
worn. I hate a carraige handwheel thats "floppy". Ok..time to make
new bushings. Scrounging around my Stuff..I find a 12" stick of 3/4"
Mystery Bronze. Using my clearly marked pin gages..I determing the
proper od, and turn a new set of bushings. I press them in
properly..then determine my calculations were not quite right...time
to get out the .5 reamer. Find that my calculatons were WAY off..and
the pilot stud on the reamer wont go into the bushings. Press out the
bushings, put them into a collet, and rebore..after having to remove
the collet at least twice because the bushings pushed back into the
collet and fell into the spindle bore...sigh.

So I bored the bushings, and pressed them back in, then using the
reamer, reamed them to .4985 (marked on the reamer), then tried to fit
the shaft, which was .498. Oh oh....looks like somebody ground the
reamer. Its a 5 flute..so took a bit to measure accurately....4970

****.

3:30pm

Hunting around for another reamer, then measuring it to make sure it
was the right size took another 20 minutes. Then reamed and fitted
the shaft. PERFECT!! Ok..now we are cooking!

The shaft is held in the apron with a snapring, which bears on the
back of the cover plate, which prevents the shaft and gear from
pulling out of the apron, if you pull on the handwheel. The snap
rings seemed ok..so I resued them. I have a snap ring assortment..but
they are all ID snaprings..shrug.


Cleaning the mating surfaces, I put a thin layer of red RTV on, then
assembled everything. This part is a bit tricky, as you have to also
align the carraige/crossfeed selector lever, lock and detents. After
making about 8 attempts, I got it all together properly.

4:30 pm

YAY!!!

I put in all the screws , the woodruff key that prevents the handwheel
from turning, slide on the handwheel, installed the washers and
started tightening the self locking nut that holds the handwheel to
the shaft. As it was nearly tight..I feel a very slight "TINK" as the
snap ring on the inside of the cover breaks in half.

Put head down on side of lathe and ponder life and how much I enjoy
fixing machines.

5:01
Discover the hardware store had closed 5 minutes early.

Put head on steering wheel, and ponder how much I like fixing ****ing
machines.

Tuesday December 27

9am

Purchase new snap rings.

10am

Start to assemble machine, putting cover plate on apron, and it sticks
a bit, so with gentle thump, I tap cover home..and it wont go the last
1/8th inch.

Removing cover plate..I discover that the detent that prevents the
apron from being placed into feed AND cross feed, had jumped out of
its socket, and had snapped into two pieces when I Thumped the cover.
Its made from cast iron, looking like a round nosed 38 special round,
with a 5/32 shaft on the primer end, .83 long.

****

Decide to bore a hole in end where shaft had broken off, and silver
solder in a new one, then cut to length.

12pm

Pressed in new shaft, and the body of the cast iron detent crumbled
like rotten cracker.

Put head on side of press, and ponder how much I like fixing these
****ing god damned ****ing machines. ****!

12:30pm

Select proper piece of Mystery Metal and turn to .375, use a form tool
and put proper round nose on proper end, in collet.
Reverse work piece, and turn shaft on end to 5/32. Looking pretty
good! Polish up nice, then compare to original..and discover its 1/8"
too short.

1:30.pm

Polish up new piece, after determing that it was the right dimensions.
Install in cover plate, and install cover after 4-6 attempts. Then
remember that I was supposed to use RTV sealent.

Remove cover, clean off all old RTV..old being relatively speaking,
and artisticly lay on another thin bead

Reinstall cover after 3-5 attempts. No hammer!
Install all screws.
Start to install handwheel..and woodruff key slips out of my fingers
(1/8x1/2), enters a worm hole and was last seen headed for Trotter
Indiana as worm hole closes with a small bang of vacuum.

Stand bemused as I ponder how much I like fixing ****ing godamned
****ing ****ing godamned ****ing machines! ****!!!!

2:45pm

Purchase 2 (two) proper woodruff keys at 2nd hardware store. The first
having given me a blank look when I spoke the magic word.."woodruff"

3:00pm

Discover woodruff key had been stamped from Mystery metal and needed
some serious work on oil stone to get to 1/8 thickness.

3:30 pm

Install key, install handwheel, gingerly snug nut on
handwheel...Voila..snap ring held!!

Spin handle..and carriage grinds its way down ways. Grinds????
Discover carraige lub is dry. Discover cheap assed ball detent
lurication thingys were in various shades of disrepair. Fill best
oiler with Vactra #2, and force oil into lubers. Then pressure them
up with rubber tip on air blow gun, until oil spurted out from under
ways, along with rust, mange, spooge and Stuff. Refill lubers with
Kroil, repeat high pressure air treatment until Gunk stopped coming
out. Refilled with Vactra #2.

4:30

Spun wheel..and carraige silently and smoothly floated down ways
nearly 2 feet. Wheee!
Decided that wheel crank(bent from the drop) needed to be replaced. It
unscrewed, but outside handle was too damaged to be reused. Simple
bolt with plastic body that spins on bolt.

Rummaged around though Stuff..until found the proper 5/16th x 4"
socket head bolt. Selected a piece of delrin from Plastics bin.
Bored hole in delrin blank, finished ends with form tool for
cosmetics, and counter bored with counterbore tool to fit bolt head.
Discovered delrin had gotten hot, and counter bore was too small for
bolt head.
Dug out tiny boring bar and bored to fit.

5:30.

Fitted handle with lock nut to handwheel. Looking good!!
Filled apron with ATF.
Changed shoes and socks when I discovered Id not replaced the drain
plug in bottom of apron.
Refilled apron with ATF.
Adjusted all detents, gibs, and effortlessly traveled the carraige
back and forth down the pristine ways, pondering how much fun it is
fixing up fine old machines.

Too bad the main drive belt ($80 from Clausing..variable speed belt)
is busted. I might have actually fired it up and turned something with
it.

Now all I have to do is weld up the 3 busted (aluminum) handles, and
wait till I hit the Lotto to order the belt.

Sigh

Gunner, with lots more projects to look forwards to this week.

That was especially entertaining cause I've personally witnessed your
cussing and you can put a real sincerity to it.

Sounds just like when I work on machines. During the 8th assembly I'm
obviously concentrating on the last 3 parts that are real tricky and
forget the easy 2nd part that I successfully inserted 8 times before.

Gunner, you have my sympathy, but I must admit to
just the faintest,tiniest touch of Shardenfreud ,
the German word meaning to take pleasure in others
problems. The reason is, that I thought I was the
only one who had days like that. I sometimes think
my motto should be ".002 undersize and 10 seconds
late"
There must be some scientific principle which
relates to the fact that hardware stores close
five minutes before a piece of metal fractures.
Any explanation would be appreciated.

Anyway Gunner, chin up, have a glass of good
whisky and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Tom

"Mark Rand" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

snip--------

I weep with you for the grief and I toast you for the success (Glenfiddich
Ancient Reserve 18yo, if it matters...)


Mark Rand
RTFM

I guess you don't live near me, ehh, Mark? g

Harold

Tom Miller wrote:
There must be some scientific principle which
relates to the fact that hardware stores close
five minutes before a piece of metal fractures.
Any explanation would be appreciated.

Same thing works for auto supply stores.

Back when I had stores, I typically closed up around 8:00, then had a
beer or two to wind down, knowing that within a few minutes someone
would show up to rattle the door, frantically hoping I would be be still
around to bail them out of their last-minute automotive crisis, big or
small. They usually needed a beer too, and sometimes some advice or
sympathy.

GOD BLESS YOU

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 13:51:47 -0600, Rex B
wrote:
Tom Miller wrote:

There must be some scientific principle which
relates to the fact that hardware stores close
five minutes before a piece of metal fractures.
Any explanation would be appreciated.

Same thing works for auto supply stores.

Back when I had stores, I typically closed up around 8:00, then had a
beer or two to wind down, knowing that within a few minutes someone
would show up to rattle the door, frantically hoping I would be be still
around to bail them out of their last-minute automotive crisis, big or
small. They usually needed a beer too, and sometimes some advice or
sympathy.

A hearty "Thank You" from all us Evening People who could never get
into that 'Start work at 6 AM bright and eager with a smile on your
face and a song in your heart' crap.

6 AM? If nobody's dying, it can wait. Call back at 9.

You think you have everything you'll need with you on the truck
already, and at 4:50 you find out someone used the last mumble
without telling you, or put a bad breaker back in the drawer - even
after you marked a big X on it as "Condemned Bad" and tossed it in the
trash bucket...

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

BEAR wrote:
Gunner Asch wrote:


This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.



Where it gets old quickly is when A) there's no one anywhere who cares
or understands about this, or that you can show it to/share it with
and/or B) you never make a dime off the thing anyway... the state of
perpetual cabin fever sux as far as I am concerned.

If you didn't have a local buddy before the internet came along, you'd
likely be sitting there with ur proverbial hand up your proverbial tail
end going, WTF am I doing this for??

The usual scenario, as you drag somebody over to some project or machine
and then proceed with a scenario like Gunner's great story is that oddly
'glazed over' facial expression and/or the "this guys is NUTZ, how am I
going to get OUT OF HERE!!" look, as he edges gingerly backwards toward
the exit...

;_)

_-_-bear

hey Bear,
thats SO true - I doubt I will ever get to work at the skill level of
Mr Gunner, but its similar here - I have spent most of the week (no
jobs in) doing what should have been a simple project - a 250vdc
supply and audio amp (all valve) for a WW2 Command receiver thats been
sitting in the junkpiile for eons. its finished - who gives a stuff -
no one, except me. Hours of primitive metal bashing, hole cutting,
drilling, soldering, research, blind ends, burnt fingers, inexplicable
oscillations - but it finally works.

I wander inside , tell the dog about it - hes pleased for me (but then,
thats the joy of dogs- they are always pleased with ya) - my wife hasnt
a clue what it is, and why cant I put more effort into household jobs
- and your right - even if the person you drag into the shack glazes
over and makes "here be nutters" noises, it doesnt matter - ya gotta
tell someone.

So well done Gunner - I congratulate you - I dont really understand
what you have done, but I can see the sweat and effort and just plain
cussedness and dogged determination that went into it. A worthy effort.

Now, I have to try and machine adaptors to operate the tuning dial
gears on the radio in question - being Xmas, everyone is shut, so no
half inch brass bar available...... sorta like your toothed belt
Gunner......

Andrew VK3BFA.

On 30 Dec 2005 05:40:52 -0800, "Andrew VK3BFA"
wrote:


BEAR wrote:
Gunner Asch wrote:


This week, Im playing hookie, no urgent service calls, so Im playing
catchup on the machine shop Round Tuit list.



Where it gets old quickly is when A) there's no one anywhere who cares
or understands about this, or that you can show it to/share it with
and/or B) you never make a dime off the thing anyway... the state of
perpetual cabin fever sux as far as I am concerned.

If you didn't have a local buddy before the internet came along, you'd
likely be sitting there with ur proverbial hand up your proverbial tail
end going, WTF am I doing this for??

The usual scenario, as you drag somebody over to some project or machine
and then proceed with a scenario like Gunner's great story is that oddly
'glazed over' facial expression and/or the "this guys is NUTZ, how am I
going to get OUT OF HERE!!" look, as he edges gingerly backwards toward
the exit...

;_)

_-_-bear

hey Bear,
thats SO true - I doubt I will ever get to work at the skill level of
Mr Gunner, but its similar here - I have spent most of the week (no
jobs in) doing what should have been a simple project - a 250vdc
supply and audio amp (all valve) for a WW2 Command receiver thats been
sitting in the junkpiile for eons. its finished - who gives a stuff -
no one, except me. Hours of primitive metal bashing, hole cutting,
drilling, soldering, research, blind ends, burnt fingers, inexplicable
oscillations - but it finally works.

I wander inside , tell the dog about it - hes pleased for me (but then,
thats the joy of dogs- they are always pleased with ya) - my wife hasnt
a clue what it is, and why cant I put more effort into household jobs
- and your right - even if the person you drag into the shack glazes
over and makes "here be nutters" noises, it doesnt matter - ya gotta
tell someone.

So well done Gunner - I congratulate you - I dont really understand
what you have done, but I can see the sweat and effort and just plain
cussedness and dogged determination that went into it. A worthy effort.

Now, I have to try and machine adaptors to operate the tuning dial
gears on the radio in question - being Xmas, everyone is shut, so no
half inch brass bar available...... sorta like your toothed belt
Gunner......

Andrew VK3BFA.

Chuckle..we each have our own bits of "expertise". Mine is NOT in
machining..I tend to fumble around and eventually come close to what I
wanted. Your bit with the radio..now thats expertise. And kudos for
restoring it. I know just enough about the subject to dimly realize
that you did something very special.

Respects

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:02:43 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"Mark Rand" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

snip--------

I weep with you for the grief and I toast you for the success (Glenfiddich
Ancient Reserve 18yo, if it matters...)


Mark Rand
RTFM

I guess you don't live near me, ehh, Mark? g

Harold



I'm afraid that the bottle ran dry. I'll just have to start on the brandy now.
I'm working on my drinking problem but I haven't got it perfected yet. More
practice is needed ;-)



Mark Rand
RTFM

"Mark Rand" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:02:43 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"

wrote:


"Mark Rand" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:36:40 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

snip--------

I weep with you for the grief and I toast you for the success
(Glenfiddich
Ancient Reserve 18yo, if it matters...)


Mark Rand
RTFM

I guess you don't live near me, ehh, Mark? g

Harold



I'm afraid that the bottle ran dry. I'll just have to start on the brandy
now.
I'm working on my drinking problem but I haven't got it perfected yet.
More
practice is needed ;-)


Sigh! Still no indication that you live near?

I've been known to taste brandy. And gin. Even vodka, tequila, Irish
whiskey, and rum. And Scotch whisky.

Just a taste, mind you!

Harold

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 20:50:14 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"
wrote:



Sigh! Still no indication that you live near?

I've been known to taste brandy. And gin. Even vodka, tequila, Irish
whiskey, and rum. And Scotch whisky.

Just a taste, mind you!

Harold



Rugby
Warwickshire
England


You're welcome over to help with the cause at any time :-)



Mark Rand
RTFM

"Mark Rand" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 20:50:14 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"

wrote:



Sigh! Still no indication that you live near?

I've been known to taste brandy. And gin. Even vodka, tequila, Irish
whiskey, and rum. And Scotch whisky.

Just a taste, mind you!

Harold



Rugby
Warwickshire
England


You're welcome over to help with the cause at any time :-)



Mark Rand
RTFM

Damn! I was afraid of that!

Thanks for the kind invite, though. The door swings both ways, you know.

Harold