Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT CNCs and Hot Rods, a Sydney Garage

[Beelzeboss]

It's together! I tried getting the ring gear on at room temperature but there was no chance, so 20 minutes at 250c in the oven and it slipped right on.



I'll still put a few tig welds around the edge to make sure it stays put but I'm pretty happy with the fit. The centre bore is also measuring 42.02mm which is spot on what I was aiming for to fit over the 42mm crank spigot.

 

[Geoff289]

Wow! Just Wow!

 

[Coolabah]

Wow! Just Wow!

I know, right ? Pure talent is as pure talent does !!

 

[hewey]

Yeh that's a great piece of work right there.

 

[Beelzeboss]

Thanks everyone, I'm really happy with how it came out

The more I play with my 3D printer the more I'm wondering how I ever got away without it! I've started to design the remote oil filter adapter in CAD, first step was to take an impression of the original with a ruler for scale.



Then, from that picture, model the pattern in CAD and print out a test piece.





Amazing how quick that can come together, I'll finish it when the CNC is up and running.

I've also been tinkering and adjusting the CNC which is a tedious and fiddly process. Access isn't great for many of the bolts.



But I've managed to get the air assist and oiling lines installed on the Z and X axes.





I also picked up this lincoln compressor for $50 to run the Z assist. Once I changed the quick connect fitting for a push connect it seems to work really well, though there is a leak somewhere as it won't hold pressure overnight. At least the regulator does a good job of keeping a constant pressure.



After initial shimming and alignment I cut a test piece.



This made it clear I needed to tram the spindle more accurately, so I bent up some 12mm bar and welded a bolt to the end to create this tramming tool.



Now it's just about ready to flatten the table which appears to be out by 0,25mm in places. I'm honestly quite surprised that a 32mm solid plate of aluminium is that far out, but no matter.



Once it's flat I'll look at the clamp down holes. I think I want a 50mm grid of M12 holes so I can use the clamp down kit from the milling machine, but I also want to add a shallow 16mm counterbore to each so I can repeatably install fixtures into the grid.

 

[Beelzeboss]

The plate appears to be bowed in the middle along the X axis. I machined a 200mm strip down this side but really should have done both sides before doing the final pass.







The finish was pretty good





Not perfect but good enough to use until my 32mm carbide insert cutter arrives and I can do a really light skim to finish it off.

Next up is the grid of M12 holes; I'll need to do some test cuts to work out the thread milling cutter and settings, but after that I should be off to the races.

I have no idea why I made the table bigger than the travel of the machine, in hindsight I should have ordered it ~50mm narrower and saved some money.

 

[Coolabah]

The plate appears to be bowed in the middle along the X axis. I machined a 200mm strip down this side but really should have done both sides before doing the final pass.







The finish was pretty good





Not perfect but good enough to use until my 32mm carbide insert cutter arrives and I can do a really light skim to finish it off.

Next up is the grid of M12 holes; I'll need to do some test cuts to work out the thread milling cutter and settings, but after that I should be off to the races.

I have no idea why I made the table bigger than the travel of the machine, in hindsight I should have ordered it ~50mm narrower and saved some money.

I know, right ? A can of beer is around ~60mm diameter, pretty sure you could have cut 10 mm off that table and still be OK for balance. No idea where that 50mm idea came from- did you measure twice ?

 

[Terrick down Under]

Love the work and detail on your car and great work on the table, do you have a single tooth fly cutter to skim over the entire surface in a few passes?

 

[Beelzeboss]

I know, right ? A can of beer is around ~60mm diameter, pretty sure you could have cut 10 mm off that table and still be OK for balance. No idea where that 50mm idea came from- did you measure twice ?

Love the work and detail on your car and great work on the table, do you have a single tooth fly cutter to skim over the entire surface in a few passes?

Thanks mate, unfortunately I don't have a fly cutter but I've ordered a 35mm diameter face mill which should do the trick.

The test thread milling went OK but the machine seems to have significant vibration when cutting.





I've narrowed the issue down to this Y axis ballscrew mount, which I always knew was on the flimsy side but measuring with a dial indicator really highlighted how bad it is.



I'm making some brackets to reinforce it and tie it back into the frame in a much more rigid way.

I also bought 2 catch cans for much cheaper than I can make them. I think with a little modification they'll be perfect.

 

[Beelzeboss]

These should help with the flex in the mount. It's still only 2mm wall where the ballscrew attaches but it's a very short distance to flex that I'm hoping this will work out.

The backup plan is to get a piece of 32mm aluminium and make a solid one with the additional brackets.

 

[Beelzeboss]

I started milling the table holes out with a carbide cutter but still it was incredibly noisy so I decided to pre-drill all the holes with a 6mm drill. This will decrease the load on the milling cutter when it comes down in a spiral and hopefully make it go a bit smoother.



After this I ran out of WD40 for cutting fluid and my aquarium pump spindle cooling pump packed up, so I decided to move on to the hot rod. First up: fixing a slight interference between the rear guards and the new roll bar position.







Much better, I'll trim the aluminium cover closer so it looks alright.

Next I made and bent up the rear lights from 2mm aluminium.



They sit on the angled portion of the rear guards.





And all welded up!

 

[Beelzeboss]

I think I have the CNC back to being useful, I cut the remaining clamp down holes out to 10.2mm



Thread milling the M12 threads was quick and easy



I chamfered all the mounting holes (no photo) and then used my new 35mm insert cutter with aluminium specific inserts to take a final skim off the table.



The gantry must have a very slight twist to it which I've been unable to shim out, so it's ever so slightly out of tram on on end of the X axis travel, but it's something I'm going to have to live with. The gantry tube is far too stiff to try to pull the twist out of it with shims and I don't have the equipment to machine it flat again. Ah well, it's very close, definitely close enough for what I'll be using the machine for.

 

[Beelzeboss]

So, the short list for CNC'd hot rod bits is mostly various adapters:
- Idle air valve, as I can't drive the 1UZ one with my current ECU
- Remote oil filter, which I can machine when my 2.5mm end mill arrives
- Turbo oil drain, which replaces the oil level sensor with a 10AN fitting

I started with the idle valve adapter



As soon as the cutter hit the material I realised that stick out wasn't going to work, so I cut 40mm off the back of the tool to allow it to seat further into the collet chuck and started again.





I was pretty scared of marking up my new table so I left too much material at the base, but a quick hacksaw and file got rid of it.



I chucked it in the lathe to finish the barb shape as I don't have any sort of undercut cutter to machine it from the top, but yeah, first hot rod part done!

 

[zanyad]

first hot rod part done!

 

[Terrick down Under]

hey, look up "Shrupenfrasser" end mills, I used to use them on the cnc mills back in the early 90's, very clean rapid removal with very low vibration.

 

[zanyad]

hey, look up "Shrupenfrasser" end mills, I used to use them on the cnc mills back in the early 90's, very clean rapid removal with very low vibration.

Not sure what those are. Never heard of 'em, and Google isn't much help, either.

Did you maybe mean a "corncob" roughing end mill? Those are great in low-power/low-rigidity situations where surface finish isn't that important, or if you can go clean up afterwards with a regular end mill.



Roughing/Finishing end mills are a good compromise. The chipbreaker allows quick material removal and prevents the needle-like chips from a regular endmill while leaving an acceptable finish.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Not sure what those are. Never heard of 'em, and Google isn't much help, either.

Did you maybe mean a "corncob" roughing end mill? Those are great in low-power/low-rigidity situations where surface finish isn't that important, or if you can go clean up afterwards with a regular end mill.



Roughing/Finishing end mills are a good compromise. The chipbreaker allows quick material removal and prevents the needle-like chips from a regular endmill while leaving an acceptable finish.

yes, corn cob is a generic term for them, schruppen frasser is the german ones we used at the Royal Australian Mint (1985-1993) on the cnc milling machine. They were fast...e.g. 10mm cobolt end mill running at 4500 rpm and 10m/min. The coolant had to flood the work surface to keep cool and to wash the swarf away....or it bogged! They worked on Lexan ( bullet proof grade) and then straight into mild steel. It took a bit of getting used to the speed and accuracy they held.

 

[Beelzeboss]

Thanks guys, I need to get some of those, I've heard of them referred to as roughing end mills or corncobs, I'll see if I can find some for a reasonable price.

Nothing massive to report on the hot rod but I did manage to manhandle the body frame off the chassis and onto the truck so I can finish the fuel/vent lines, make new gearbox mounts and driveshaft, and then disassemble to go over the welds on the frame.





It's very exciting that after that I'll be able to paint and do final assembly! Still lots of little bits to do but they can be done after paint.

 

[Beelzeboss]

After a hellish week at work I've had the morning off in the garage. First up I tried to make the main fuel feed line, but it quickly got to a point where I couldn't install it with the gearbox in place.



I've never removed an auto gearbox before but a quick google revealed that undoing the torque converter from the flex plate via a tiny access hole at the bottom of the bellhousing was the way to go.



What a pain. I then took out the driveshaft and measured the angle of the engine so once I get to making the new gearbox mounts I can maintain the same angle.



4 gearbox mount bolts and 10 bellhousing bolts later and it's apart.





Very heavy to move around but it's now on a dolly next to the car. At this point I tried a test fit of the flywheel and I'm happy to say the fit on the central spigot is perfect and the ring gear alignment/clearance is spot on as well.



Finally I was able to finish off the fuel line that started it all





What a mission! Next I think I'll plod along with the fuel tank vent lines. I'm just waiting on a few little bits and pieces to get the CNC probe wiring done so I can spot out the flywheel holes and get that finished off.

I really hope I can get some time on Sunday to work on the car, otherwise I've got a full day of leave planned for the 29th to make some more real progress.

 

[Geoff289]

Great work. A few thoughts.

Usually best to drain the converter before separating the engine and trans, but maybe it was already empty.

You'll need a pilot bearing for the back of the crank.

So the engine is 4.5 degrees down front to rear? You'll need to consider the actual driveshaft angle too and unis need about 3 degrees of working angle to operate properly. If there is a material difference in the length of the manual trans compared to the auto this angle will change.

 

[Beelzeboss]

Great work. A few thoughts.

Usually best to drain the converter before separating the engine and trans, but maybe it was already empty.

You'll need a pilot bearing for the back of the crank.

So the engine is 4.5 degrees down front to rear? You'll need to consider the actual driveshaft angle too and unis need about 3 degrees of working angle to operate properly. If there is a material difference in the length of the manual trans compared to the auto this angle will change.

I didn't realise you could drain the converter when it's still on the engine, that's really good to know. I've got the pilot bearing ready and yes the engine is 4.5 degrees, though I'm sure my floor isn't level, the car has different size tyres front to back and some of them are flat, so really it's just a reference dimension haha. The driveshaft angle should be correct as the new box is only ~50mm longer than the auto, but I'll double check

 

[Beelzeboss]

I did get a little time on Sunday to continue on the car. I finished off all the hardlines including the two fuel tank filling vents and the charcoal canister purge line to the engine.



Then I cut off the terrible gearbox mount. I've never been happy with this so it felt good to remove it to replace it with something neater.



And I finished off modifying the rear left guard for some exhaust clearance.



The sheet metal will still need trimming but that can happen at final assembly.

 

[Beelzeboss]

I got the gearbox attached with no flywheel inside to sort out the gearbox mount and the driveshaft.



Then I got out the Colorado driveshaft that I got with the gearbox.



It looks like I'll be able to cut the driveshaft about 50mm before the centre bearing, then attach the rear universal joint, and I'll end up with a single piece driveshaft the right length! I've drawn up an adapter to go from the Soarer tripod guibo diff arrangement to the Colorado 4-bolt universal and I think I can make it work.

 

[Beelzeboss]

Well I only managed half a day on the hot rod today but ticked off two big items.



These 6mm plates form the attachment for the new gearbox mount. Two are welded to the chassis and the other 2 are for the mount itself.



Then for the crossmember I used a piece of 4mm stainless channel that I've had for probably 15 years - I knew I'd find a use for it one day!



A couple of 30x30 SHS droppers with a 15 degree angle at each end form the rest of the gearbox mount



Next I started on the propshaft. First I cut off the rear universal joint



After some careful measuring and calculating I then used a hose clamp to mark around where I needed to cut the front shaft down to length. This helps to make a straight cut.



I'm not sure why, but the propshaft had this rolled up cardboard(?) in it?



Maybe to absorb moisture and stop rust? Anyway, to make sure the end cut of the propshaft is square I put it vertically on a flat surface and checked with a square all the way around.



Some careful filing gets it perfect, though it was really close just after the angle grinder cut thanks to the hose clamp trick.



The shaft is put in a vice and the universal joint set square. This allows the other universal joint to be marked with a sharpie in perfect alignment. The two universals need to be aligned to minimise vibration.

Finally it's set up vertically for tacking



And done!



With the gearbox yoke fully seated the shaft clears the spigot on the diff, and then will come back around 10-15mm to seat on the (yet to be made) adapter.



I've also started disassembling everything to TIG over the welds on the chassis. So far I've removed the fuel tank, brake & fuel lines, exhaust, turbo, and exhaust manifolds, so now it's just the radiator/intercooler, engine, and both subframes to go. I'm going to have to put all the panels and hopefully one of the subframes onto the truck to free up some space, or I'll have no chance of being able to get all around the chassis to weld it.

 

[Beelzeboss]

I added to the stuff on the truck to give more room to store the subframes and engine while I work on the chassis



Then the engine came out



And finally the subframes were disconnected and wheeled out of the way to reveal the bare chassis.



I feel like I'm starting the final marathon in a series of about 10 marathons