One year later 40'x80'

[fnieto]

I also used a magnetic base test indicator to verify the carriage, cross feed, compound and tailstock dials and movement.
The carriage movement was spot on.1 TIC MARK =.010"

Next was the compound. 1 TIC MARK= .001"

Spot on as well.

The cross feed. 1 TICK MARK= .0005" (.010"= .005")

Exactly 1/2 of what dial reads. So far so good.

Very pleased with these results. The tailstock is next.

 

[fnieto]

The tailstock movement verification setup. I also double checked the compound since the setup allowed for this.

Tailstock dial, 1TIC MARK=.001"

Pretty damn good fora tailstock.

Double checked the compound, results where the same as first setup. G-to-G.

The DRO arrived yesterday at some point while I was out in the shop. Found it outside after dark sitting by the front door. EL700 3-axsis LCD touch screen.

Will install this tomorrow and taper attachment while the splashguard is removed.
More to come later.
Thanks for the visit.
Paco

 

[zmotorsports]

Awesome Paco. I'll bet your excited to get her up and running.

Looks like a nice quality machine.

 

[Finallygotit]

I have some real machine envy going on here!

NICE!!

 

[fnieto]

Awesome Paco. I'll bet your excited to get her up and running.

Looks like a nice quality machine.

Hey Mike,
Yeah, chomping at the bit man. Milled a mounting bracket for the DRO head unit, need to make one last cut drill and tap some holes. then onto the magnetic scales.

Have a great weekend amigo.

Paco

 

[fnieto]

I have some real machine envy going on here!

NICE!!

Thanks man!

 

[fnieto]

Picked up a 52" low profile LED strip light for the backsplash.
Its held in with snap in magnet clips and tucks up under the top return going unnoticed when off. Puts out hella light with the right temp.

Overhead lights off in the shop.

More to come later.
Paco

 

[LXCam]

That's a seriously nice piece of equipment paco, very impressive my friend. I have an acra hydraulic press I absolutely luv and my lathe is a duplicate to the 13/40 on their website. Until seeing how your dials were set up for SAE / metric readings it never occurred to me to see if mine is the same deal. Now I'm chomping st the bit to find out, that's gonna be the second thing I do in the morning now...lol

 

[cajunrebel`]

Yeah, I thought I'm met my match on that one. It is amazing the force those bolts can take. We had large wing bolts (spline heads and nuts) on F-16's that connected the finger brace to the fuselage that required a 6' torque wrench and two guys to torque.

I see you've been around F-16's a bit. Where did you have the pleasure of working on them? Also, what AFSC were you? I spent 8 years on them as a crew chief. Nellis, Kunsan, and Eglin. Mostly test and eval work. I changed 3 wings at Nellis and know how fun it is cleaning away the B 1/2 from those fuselage attach bolts for the finger braces. We did a torque check once on the fleet and I remember seeing a 3/8" drive spline socket split in half violently before it got to torque for the finger braces to wing bolts.

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

Nevermind my original questions. I read futher back and saw you were fuels. I was wondering how you managed to learn as much machining and also got your hands into the wing root areas. Not many guys get as much skilled training as you have had. I would love to cross train to fabrication flight, but it's not in the cards for me to go back off to tech school right now.

 

[fnieto]

That's a seriously nice piece of equipment paco, very impressive my friend. I have an acra hydraulic press I absolutely luv and my lathe is a duplicate to the 13/40 on their website. Until seeing how your dials were set up for SAE / metric readings it never occurred to me to see if mine is the same deal. Now I'm chomping st the bit to find out, that's gonna be the second thing I do in the morning now...lol

Morning Cam,
If you only have a viewing window showing decimal graduations on your cross feed chances are pretty darn good you have a rotating collar. There should be a detent ball visible from the top view and to the left. Give it a squirt with WD and work it in/out with a small blunt tip tool. It resembles a chrome ball oiler.
They usually only rotate 180º so don't crank too much in the wrong direction.

Enjoy your weekend brother.

Paco

 

[fnieto]

I see you've been around F-16's a bit. Where did you have the pleasure of working on them? Also, what AFSC were you? I spent 8 years on them as a crew chief. Nellis, Kunsan, and Eglin. Mostly test and eval work. I changed 3 wings at Nellis and know how fun it is cleaning away the B 1/2 from those fuselage attach bolts for the finger braces. We did a torque check once on the fleet and I remember seeing a 3/8" drive spline socket split in half violently before it got to torque for the finger braces to wing bolts.

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

Nevermind my original questions. I read futher back and saw you were fuels. I was wondering how you managed to learn as much machining and also got your hands into the wing root areas. Not many guys get as much skilled training as you have had. I would love to cross train to fabrication flight, but it's not in the cards for me to go back off to tech school right now.

First off, Thank you for your service brother.
I was fortunate enough to be stationed at 162nd fighter wing here in Tucson. Employed full time as a WG-10 and active reserves status. All the same training as active duty and wore the uniform everyday. When you say "fuels", I was a fuel systems Technician AFSC 2A674 not POL. We used the POL guys to re-fuel/refuel during troubleshooting fuel imbalance issues and such. I also had to work in the "tank farm" (wing tanks/centerline tanks) as well as servicing Hydrazine (H-70) tanks. Working as a civil service employee during the week (still in uniform and with rank) we had the flexibility to design and make a lot of specialty tooling enhancing many different aspects of different tasks. I invented several jigs and tooling while working requiring time at the machine/welding shop. I worked as a machinist in HS and took a lot of shop classes as a youngster. The rest has been learned on my own using he fundamentals from the sum of all experiences. I call it common sense shop work really. The other benefit of modern-day living is the internet. A person can find out anything they want to learn by searching at any hour of the day. This has been so beneficial and is why I like to share as much online with tons of photos for others to possibly benefit. Unfortunately, many hacks now post and can also be watched on reality shows so pick your poison carefully.


I never saw a crew chief scrape sealant haha, yeah, that **** was a PITA but I've used it on personal projects (expired date and was headed for the garbage). Best sealant I've ever used.
Later,
Paco

Paco

 

[Finallygotit]

Paco,

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that LED strip light? If they make something smaller I have a couple of ideas for my machines.

Thanks!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That's an impressive lathe. Damn.

 

[LXCam]

Good afternoon Paco, welp I checked my lathe and as luck would have it, I didn't have such badassesness of that particular built in feature. But fortunately all my dials are marked in thou's so my pea brain isn't required to do much thunking......that's a good thing


Have fun with that beauty and with how well you take care of your equipment she'll last your lifetime easy.

 

[fnieto]

Paco,

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that LED strip light? If they make something smaller I have a couple of ideas for my machines.

Thanks!

Here's a link where I got the LED strip. He offers different lengths. I didn't need the power supply. Also make sure you tell him you need a lens if you use it on a machine. He offers both clear and frosted lenses that snap on the aluminum track.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Brig...var=481315932862&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Paco

 

[fnieto]

That's an impressive lathe. Damn.

She's is a beast.

 

[fnieto]

Good afternoon Paco, welp I checked my lathe and as luck would have it, I didn't have such badassesness of that particular built in feature. But fortunately all my dials are marked in thou's so my pea brain isn't required to do much thunking......that's a good thing


Have fun with that beauty and with how well you take care of your equipment she'll last your lifetime easy.

Thanks Cam,
FYI, I convert to decimal when I machine metric. I share the same brain hahah.
You won't miss the dial.

 

[Finallygotit]

Here's a link where I got the LED strip. He offers different lengths. I didn't need the power supply. Also make sure you tell him you need a lens if you use it on a machine. He offers both clear and frosted lenses that snap on the aluminum track.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Brig...var=481315932862&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Paco

Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for. Just ordered one.

Thank you !

 

[fnieto]

Yesterday we worked on the modifications from dawn to well after dark. I began with placing the machine on the floor. The heave pallet made it difficult to take accurate measurements with the machine 8" higher and I'm not tall. I had to make a custom mount/arm for the DRO as the kit's display head was not square and was driving me nuts. The rest of the DRO is super nice quality but the brackets, well they sucked. My Friend Mark arrived after 9 am and brought along the entire new control system and front upgraded switches. I had provided him with an aluminum sheet cut to fit the electrical panel last week. This allowed him to fully assemble the components and bench test prior to install. He had the upgraded panel in place in no time and ran upgraded shielded cabling. The front switch panel got fancy new switches and cabling as well. His work is impeccable and super detailed. His color coded schematics are equally impressive and the easiest to follow.

Befor:

After: The reason it looks lacking of components is because this is a 12/24 vdc system and the rest of the goodies are mounted on a wall enclosure where the lathe will be set. The wall enclosure houses the VFD, brake resistor, power supply, fuses, power disconnect and cooling fans.

The upgraded front switches. The far right Joy stick will jog fwd/rvs programed to 20htz on VFD allowing to power tap and general jogging. E-stop will utilize motor braking (1.2 or so) seconds via VFD. The green push button is dual role. when lit is indicates power (pilot light) and when pushed it bi-passes the carriage micro stop proximity sensor. The blue (lit) switch is two stage flood control, off, constant flooding and flooding when spindle/motor is running.
The last far left micro toggle is two stage motor braking. up (position 1) will provide motor braking like the E-stop just over a second. Position 2 (awn) will brake in 3-5 seconds and controlled by programming the VFD. The foot brake also triggers the same braking as E-stop but will mostly be used for large manual tapping.

Mark modified the micro carriage stop to fit a proximity sensor and a back up two stage micro switch in case of proximity failure. The proximity kicks in at 3mm air gap and the dial turns silky smooth. I will make some thumb screw to eliminate the need for an Allen. I also need to make a trigger plate that will be installed on the leading carriage. I really like how he profiled the stop to follow the V-ways angle. The trigger stop profile will match his work.
This feature allows for blind boring, boring to a shoulder, blind threading or any other application requiring repeatability without crashing or over cutting. I have the same on the 1440 and luv it.

Mark also built a custom Tack/sfpm and modified the voltage required to operate with the new control system. Every component was soldered by him and he also milled the box to fit a lexan window flush to the outside. The box also had the speed control pot.

Close up of front. Notice the cover is to the rear for a clean face.

We also installed an hour meter to assist in maintenance service intervals.It will only record motor run time and idle when machine is powered up. I run hour meters on the compressor and plate roller never over/under servicing the machines. I still need one on the iron worker

More to come as I'm at the photos limit.
Paco

 

[fnieto]

The last thing we did was remove the backsplash and installed the heavy taper attachment.
The instructions indicate 1 hour but we managed to get it in about 40-45 minutes. The adjustments have to be exact or the cross feed lead screw will not turn smoothly throughout the travel. I also need the backsplash removed to install the long magnetic scale.

Here you can see the quick clamp mocking up the thin mag scale for the cross feed.

The DRO and Tachometer/speed control box

The naked machine as its sits on the floor.

Thanks for viewing.

Paco

 

[LXCam]

Holy smoly Paco, it looks like your next step is a cnc controller and call it a day

The lathe was already impressive in its self, now it's just flat out badass. It does get very tiring / stressful boring blind holes manually, that set up is very slick.

 

[fnieto]

Holy smoly Paco, it looks like your next step is a cnc controller and call it a day

The lathe was already impressive in its self, now it's just flat out badass. It does get very tiring / stressful boring blind holes manually, that set up is very slick.

Thanks Cam. I new makeover makes it sort of a smart lathe without a computer.
Threading or boring a blind hole without a proximity stop just takes too long. The third axis scale on the compound will come in hand for final dimensions.

Take it easy Cam and have a great week.
Paco

 

[fnieto]

only got a few hours in the shop today. I had to play Mr. Maytag after walking the hounds.
Trouble shot a code (PE) the washing machine was throwing. Took the two water solenoid valves out and cleaned the sand rubies occluding the strainers. The wife is back in the game.
Anyway, on to some real fun.

I got the X axis scale (cross feed) mounted and working. The brackets supplied required custom milling to fit my liking. drilled and tapped seven holes. Broke one tap (1/4-20) on the Meehanite casting. I must be living right, cuz it broke leaving enough to grab with a mini needlenose vice grip. Man I was bummed when it snapped, but realized how lucky I got.
The tailstock was removed and the carriage was moved as far back as possible. Drilling was done with a cordless drill and tapping required a 3/8" drive extension and ratchet.

The reader head bolts where drilled 3/4" deep for a good hold. I used SAE SS hardware. I don't care for the metric hardware supplied with the kit.

The lathe came machined for the use of scales and saved me time as mounting surfaces where flat and true. Tapping was done using two 2x4 blocks (stacked). This provided the correct hight to keep things lined up.

The scales where drilled/tapped for 8-32 SS button head Allen screws. The magnetic scales can be cut to size unlike glass scales. They are low profile keeping things tight.

Once mounted, the reader head is adjusted using four jack screws to achieve the required .020" air gap. A plastic shim is included to assist.

 

[fnieto]

The reader head cable was secured using supplied clamp. The carriage is grooved to nest the shielded cable (very nice touch). The taper attachment was drilled and tapped 8-32 to secure the said clamp.
The scale cover was drilled and mounted to the scale ends. These too where drilled and re-tapped to 8-32 keeping all hardware matching.

The machined groove really helps securing the cable.

Some shots of the finished X scale install.

Tested the instal and all was good. I really like the DRO LCD display. The touch screen is slick too.

Back on shift tomorrow so progress will slow down as I work 24 hour shifts. More on Tuesday.
Thanks for stopping by.

Turn and Burn,
Paco

 

[cajunrebel`]

First off, Thank you for your service brother.
I was fortunate enough to be stationed at 162nd fighter wing here in Tucson. Employed full time as a WG-10 and active reserves status. All the same training as active duty and wore the uniform everyday. When you say "fuels", I was a fuel systems Technician AFSC 2A674 not POL. We used the POL guys to re-fuel/refuel during troubleshooting fuel imbalance issues and such. I also had to work in the "tank farm" (wing tanks/centerline tanks) as well as servicing Hydrazine (H-70) tanks. Working as a civil service employee during the week (still in uniform and with rank) we had the flexibility to design and make a lot of specialty tooling enhancing many different aspects of different tasks.

I never saw a crew chief scrape sealant haha, yeah, that **** was a PITA but I've used it on personal projects (expired date and was headed for the garbage). Best sealant I've ever used.
Later,
Paco

Paco

You and I were referring to the same AFSC. I was a 2A373. I'm going back in to work for the Louisiana ANG in Belle Chase soon under the same ASFC, but I'll be working on F-15's. I am going to be working as a federal technician as well.
At Nellis and Eglin back shop jobs are performed by civilians and they are very short staffed. We helped out where we could. I have to forklift my aircrafts wing (had corrosion internally around the fitting where the wing tank mounting stud passes through) to the fuel barn from supply and even had to help remove the old wing. It was a great learning experience as a SrA.
Anyways thank you also for your service and I'll quit jumbling up your thread now.

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

 

[fnieto]

You and I were referring to the same AFSC. I was a 2A373. I'm going back in to work for the Louisiana ANG in Belle Chase soon under the same ASFC, but I'll be working on F-15's. I am going to be working as a federal technician as well.
At Nellis and Eglin back shop jobs are performed by civilians and they are very short staffed. We helped out where we could. I have to forklift my aircrafts wing (had corrosion internally around the fitting where the wing tank mounting stud passes through) to the fuel barn from supply and even had to help remove the old wing. It was a great learning experience as a SrA.
Anyways thank you also for your service and I'll quit jumbling up your thread now.

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

Congrats, on the civil service gig.
I fist worked on A-7 Vought Corsair II for several years before the VN era birds wings developed cracks. We used up all the wings DEPOT had and eventually converted over to the Falcons.
The wings where flown in by a Guppy, What a odd looking aircraft that was. The A-7 where a nightmare to work on with button and laced in fuel bladders.

Jump in anytime man, Thats why I keep this in "The Gallery" and not a specific thread.
Always good to chat about jobs. Jobs are what make us into well rounded craftsmen.

Take care,
Paco

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice Paco. I keep telling myself one of these days when I have some spare $$$ I'm going to add a DRO to my lathe. Just haven't ran across that day yet.

 

[fnieto]

Nice Paco. I keep telling myself one of these days when I have some spare $$$ I'm going to add a DRO to my lathe. Just haven't ran across that day yet.

Hey Mike,

I ran my 1440 for seven years before adding a DRO. Remember that that overwhelming feeling you got when you added the 5C scroll chuck? Well its the same deal. It speeds things up and prevents errors during over zealous cuts. The DRO I just added has cool features like Zero Approach,Job timer, Shrinkage factor (no not that shrinkage) Vectoring and Summing among other standard features. Bottom line, your eyes will thank you.

Oh, did you notice the new tap wrench? my neighbor is a Matco dealer and sold me the little brother to the Snappy you, Mac and I own. Its identical (only smaller) in all aspects but it's made in China. His cost $33. I gave him two Andrew Jacksons.

Get a DRO and thank me later but don't curse me during the install ; )

Paco

 

[zmotorsports]

Hey Mike,

I ran my 1440 for seven years before adding a DRO. Remember that that overwhelming feeling you got when you added the 5C scroll chuck? Well its the same deal. It speeds things up and prevents errors during over zealous cuts. The DRO I just added has cool features like Zero Approach,Job timer, Shrinkage factor (no not that shrinkage) Vectoring and Summing among other standard features. Bottom line, your eyes will thank you.

Oh, did you notice the new tap wrench? my neighbor is a Matco dealer and sold me the little brother to the Snappy you, Mac and I own. Its identical (only smaller) in all aspects but it's made in China. His cost $33. I gave him two Andrew Jacksons.

Get a DRO and thank me later but don't curse me during the install ; )

Paco

I did notice the smaller tap handle and was going to comment on it. I also noticed it said Matco on it. I did't realize they carry them as I bought mine from Snap On many moons ago. I have had a couple people ask me about mine so I will have to direct them to a Matco truck near them.

One of these days I am sure I will get a DRO setup but after building the shop this past year, painting the coach, reupholstering the coach and now purchasing a new PSC steering box for the Jeep getting her ready for off-roading this summer, I may have to wait a bit and let my savings recover a bit.

I'll just have to live vicariously through you for a while my friend.

 

[fnieto]

Yesterday, I got the Y/Z axis installed. The 5 micron magnetic scale is 46" long end to end. I used two sided 3M tape to hold it in place for mock up and hole transfer punch. The machined has a large machined flat surface for scale mounting. I was able to direct mount the scale without the use of secondary brackets.

Laid-out the scale and measured the end to end carriage travel and stuck the scale on with the 3M trick. Working alone, this worked very well, so well that I used dental floss to cut the two sided tape to remove the scale for drilling. The profile of the magnetic scale is compact with only protruding .375". The long scale kit came with two center support mounts that index into the center groove of the extruded aluminum housing. I only needed the bottom to correct the .0015" sag. The center top clamp was not needed since the scale remained flat against the machine surface. The use of the top clamp would also hinder the cover/shield from sitting flat on the top of the scale.

A target reference line was transferred onto the lathe after end to end travel of the carriage.
The goal is to use all the traverse travel without crashing the read head into the end brackets of the scale.

The scale is secured using the 3M double side tape.

The read head bracket was mocked up and end to end travel double checked prior to drilling and tapping.

Transfer punched keeping the punch at the bottom of the slot for maximum downward adjustment. I did this to allow clearance for the cover shield.

Removed the scale drilled/tapped for the end mounts (8-32). Once mounted with two SS button head allen screws the top of the scale was swept and adjusted for parallelism. The middle (22.5") had a slight sag if .0015" and a single center clamp was drilled/tapped. The test indicator assisted in brining the center true.

The test indicator was then setup for verifying the face or flatness. The end mounts have five grub screws to adjust if necessary. The machine surface yielded only .0015 variance (probably paint), well below the tolerances indicated for a 46" scale.

More to follow....

 

[fnieto]

Once the scale was installed the read head bracket was cut and drilled. The drilled holes where slotted .100" up and .200" downward. Before any slotting was done, the holes where used to transfer punch the hole locations on the rear of the carriage, drilled/tapped two 1/4-20.

Here the reader bracket is snugged and reader head gap set (.020") using the supplied shim.
Here you can also see the lower scale support clamp.

Last check was to verify the extreme travers clearance between the read head and scale mounting bars. The clearance at the headstock end was 3/16" between the read head wiper and said block.

Then the carriage was traversed toward the tailstock stop and clearance checked. Same results.

An overall view of the rear scale. The cover/shield still needs to be installed.

The display now has two of three working axis. The compound install looks to be more challenging, my goal for this is to achieve the most compact install as possible.

That all, I'm back on shift today.

Thanks for looking and anyone who has a scale on their compound, please share photos or any suggestions would be appreciated.

Paco

 

[Finallygotit]

That is going to be so nice when complete.

Damn you!

 

[fnieto]

That is going to be so nice when complete.

Damn you!

I can't wait to make chips but still have a few things to tidy up.
Damn me!

 

[zmotorsports]

Lookin' great Paco. You are taking your time and doing it right my friend. I salute you.

 

[GRN96WS6]

I have no idea what any of what I'm reading is but it looks fine!

 

[Finallygotit]

I have no idea what any of what I'm reading is but it looks fine!

For those of us that have cranked handles for a living, this is sorta ****.

Yeah, I know, we're odd.

 

[fnieto]

Lookin' great Paco. You are taking your time and doing it right my friend. I salute you.

Thank you Mike, investing some time on the front end will be worth it in the end.

Take care my friend.
Paco

 

[fnieto]

I have no idea what any of what I'm reading is but it looks fine!

The DRO allows for precise measurements via scales, readers and display. The smaller the micron scales the higher degree of measurement is accomplished. The more precise the installation the better results. Machining with dials is fine but then one must "sneak up" on the final measurement.

Paco

 

[fnieto]

For those of us that have cranked handles for a living, this is sorta ****.

Yeah, I know, we're odd.

Haha,
It will be **** once I'm making chips.

 

[fnieto]

Got the compound scale cut to size. I needed to mount it on the RHS because the gib and lock are on the LHS. Total compound travel is 5" and two major considerations where the t-slot and 14mm bolt. The cover, once installed needs to just below the t-slot for the tool post allowing full rotation and side to side adjustment. Just as important is access to the RHS compound nut allowing for use of a box wrench.

The magnetic scale was disassembled to be cut to size. The end cap is 25/32" so the scale was cut short by this amount.

The cut end required tapping for reassembly, The SS strip was cut to fit using HD scissors.

The scale is mocked up using 3M double side tape and the clearances mentioned are checked.

The next two photos posted upside-down for unknown reasons, but you can see the clearance on the shield/cover and t-nut.

Here you can see the cover is just high enough to access the 24mm nut with a box wrench.

The reahead bracket will be made from a block of aluminum once the scale is mounted.

I knew this scale would be a PITA but I only want to fuss with it once.

Paco