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Post by Harlock on Oct 19, 2008 23:07:34 GMT -5
The new shop-in-a-spare-room is coming together. This room is known as the '70s room', it was not remodeled when the other rooms were, so it makes a good place to make a mess:     Today I bolted down the mini mill to the workbench. There's an aluminum plate, a wood plate, and then the bench, the bolts go through all three. The bench is anchored to the wall, so the whole thing is extremely sturdy and also earthquake proof. I made some test slots, first with brass then with mild steel and the thing does a pretty good job with small parts. Should be sufficient for much of the A3 project. littlemachineshop.com has been invaluable outfitting the mini-mill, plus they wrote a great third party manual for it. The next upgrades are to convert to the belt drive, and build a schumatec DRO setup to replace the awful .0625 per-revolution hand dials. Now I am ready to start the journal boxes, at long last. I have cleared out my weekends for the next month or so, I hope to get a head start on some real progress this winter. --mike |
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Post by pkastagehand on Oct 20, 2008 11:14:43 GMT -5
Excellent. Looks like a nicer place to work than my basement which doesn't stay very warm in the winter and is dirty with sand and crud sloughing off the walls. (100 year old house) Except for my mill which I have at work since I didn't want to try to get it in the basement. It is warm but takes 20 minutes to walk over or 5 to drive over to it.
Not fun having the tools spread out like this.
Paul
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Post by steamingspud on Dec 26, 2008 13:26:13 GMT -5
Haha,
I never though of putting a rug in my shop. Do you get problems with metal shavings in the rug? I might put one in my barn, might reduce the sound a teensy bit.
Nice shop anyway!
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Post by Harlock on Dec 27, 2008 1:59:42 GMT -5
It keeps from tracking the metal shavings elsewhere in the house - it's a throwaway cheap rug. every once in a while you can shake it outside and then vacuum up what falls out.
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Post by waumbek09 on Jan 3, 2009 16:22:26 GMT -5
Harlock, where did you get that nice milling vice? I need one about that size quite badly. Looks like a nice cozy shop.
Cheers, Charles Morrill
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Post by Harlock on Jan 3, 2009 21:52:33 GMT -5
Cozy is right! If I add one more thing, something else will have to go!  The mill vice is from Littlemachineshop.com. www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3487&category=3They're having a deal on it right now as well. It's a Kurt style anglelock vice, 3". When you get it, take the rotary base off of it and put it away until you need it, heh. No sense in making it less rigid if you're just using it at right angles. Little Machine Shop seems to always have the best products at the best prices when it comes to the mini-mill and mini lathes. Not to mention excellent customer service and helpful tip sheets and instructions. Here's a picture of the new lathe table - I built a workbench instead of using the lathe stand setup. That way it's fastened to the wall directly under the top of the table - providing more rigidity where it is needed. Note the large aluminum plate, like the mill setup.  |
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Post by Bill Holland on Jan 5, 2009 0:00:37 GMT -5
Harlock, for my 8x14 Lathemaster, I am going to get some rectangle steel tubing, have some bolt studs sticking up, and fill the d**n thing with concrete. If that is not sturdy enough, nothing will be. I just went to Lowes today to buy lumber and bolts for two workbenches, one for the lathe and one for my X3 mill for when it arrives. Anyhow, I copied some one elses workbench, Dan's from the hobbyist machine shop. I made some solid works drawings of it, well actually just the model, here is the screen shot.  |
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Post by Harlock on Jan 5, 2009 2:27:13 GMT -5
Ah yes, the classic "American garage-craftsman" style workbench, exactly like all of mine, cept mine are all wood. Today I finished up the lathe stand by adding a 3/4" high border around the edges to contain the chips. The left edge is hinged for easy brushing out of the chips. Also added a shelf above it with a light mounted to the bottom of the shelf. I tiled the bench top inside the sand box around the metal with self-stick linoleum squares, which won't absorb cutting oil and is very hardy and easy to clean.  |
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Post by Bill Holland on Jan 5, 2009 23:49:01 GMT -5
Ah yes, the classic "American garage-craftsman" style workbench, exactly like all of mine, cept mine are all wood. Oh and mine are not? Yeh I know, solid works does not count unless you build it! Which I did today!! Two of them, so there!   |
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Post by Harlock on Jan 6, 2009 2:20:18 GMT -5
Oh and mine are not? Yeh I know, solid works does not count unless you build it! Which I did today!! Two of them, so there! You had mentioned something about rectangle steel tubing and cement and I got confused not a reference the the 3D model, which I am also fond of making as I used to be a 3D animator for a living. Nice looking bench. The 4X4s will make it sturdier than mine... |
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Post by Bill Holland on Jan 6, 2009 10:36:42 GMT -5
The cement and rectangle tube is what I am going to use in place of your Aluminum plate for the same purpose.
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