Sunday 26 January 2014

Well even with a weeks worth of lousy weather, especially over the last two days, we have success. Having said that my electricity bill will be a bit higher after having to use my 4800watt Construction heater to bring the garage up to a usable temperature for working. When I had the house built I had the garage insulated however forgot to specify 2 by 6 construction for the garage so it only has 4in walls as well the bottom foot or so is exposed concrete. (Note to self, next house needs a better shop for working in). Even so does not take too much to warm it up a few degrees. Only when painting do you need to leave the heater going for some time. However this week with it's minus 25-30C temps occasionally strains the heater.

Ok on to the work that was done. Well at the beginning of the week I picked up some new metal pieces for the plates as well as some 9/16" rod for the studs I was going to make. Essentially most of the work was the same as last week, make the two plates to size, drill out the mounting holes, countersink these holes and ensure it fits on the lathe. At least this time I had the plates I already made to use as templates. This allowed me to drill the holes with more accuracy than last time. Only problem was I was not going to use one of the holes I used last time and I completely forgot about that until after it was drilled. So filled it in with a steel slug and welded it shut.


The picture above shows the two new plates installed along with the first two studs. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of making the studs but I essentially cut the rod down into 3" long pieces faced both ends and then single pointed a thread on the one end for 1.25" for the nuts to go on. Used a nut as my go/nogo gauge. I definitely will need to practice on the threading. The Hardinge Cataract that I have makes the mechanics of threading go well but I think I need to work on the cutter grinding and the placement against the cutting face. As well my first lathe goes a little too fast for cutting speed. Eventually will need to fix this. 
Eventually got all four studs made and installed them one at a time. Trial fitting after each one. Till finally we had success. The picture below shows the Overhead drive casting mounted on the lathe on all four studs. It even installs and comes off relatively easily. Did not need a hammer to install or remove. However having the chain hoist was a big big help. If you zoom in you can see some of the bolts holding the bracket on.


One last thing I plan to do before I mount the plates for one last time is drill a hole through the casting and into the upper plate between the two studs. I'll then tap this hole for one final bolt. Even when this bracket was installed I did not find the lathe all that more unstable. Yes it moved a little if you moved the casting but not overly so. Will just need to see how it reacts once all the guts are in and the motor is installed on top. I will admit I've done this to be relatively original to the Hardinge system however I think if I ever did this again I would make up a drive system similar to two other owners where the motor sits on the ground behind the lathe and the three step pulley is on a bracket above the motor and behind the headstock. Oh well that will be for lathe number three if another one drops into my lap.

Once I had the all the fitting done I removed the casting from the lathe, removed the plates cleaned them up and will prime and paint them this week. As well left the heat on in the garage and gave the casting a cover of final paint as well. Probably took at least half a spray can of paint. Here's a picture of the casting hanging in place after being sprayed.

Well what with the weather and work issues this weekend that's where we ended this Sunday afternoon. I'll be going on some vacation back home this coming week so there will not be an update until most likely second week in February. Until then stay warm and enjoy the snowy views outside the window.
All the best

Harold



Saturday 18 January 2014

Well this weekend was one of those 1 step forward and 2 steps backward weeks.
I had picked up the material I was going to use for making studs for the mounting plates. I even got three quarters of the way through when the problem arose. Having said that I did have some indication early on that I used the wrong material for my studs. So two problems occurred.
First problem. I had bought some 9/16" grade 8 bolts 3" long. This would give me a shank long enough for the mounting hole before the thread started. I carefully cut them up and tapered the ends to accept the weld bead. Here is a picture of the the process showing 4 bolts in various stages of the the work. I thought we were going so well.


Then the problems started. When I went to Tig weld the bolts to the back of the plate I noticed I was getting a lot of porosity. Now I am not an expert welder and I have not welded a lot however last time I welded I did not have this problem. So checked everything over checked on the internet for issues and really could not find anything initially that seemed to indicate the reasons. I had plenty of Argon the area was clean however the porosity continued. Eventually I managed to get enough clean weld to make it workable. However in later searching on the internet I noticed that welding grade 8 bolts was not recommended, one due altering the heat treating to make them grade 8, as well some people stated that the composition of some of the bolts would cause porosity issues. Although I will admit this was fifty/fifty from the stuff I found. So that was problem #1. At the same time that I found this out I also came across problem #2.
Second Problem. I had the first two studs mounted and the plate secured. I then mounted the overhead bracket and proceeded to drill out the hole required for the third stud. First picture below shows the bracket mounted prior to drill the third stud hole. Second picture is a close up of the plates after the top bolts are snugged down. There is a little gap between the bracket and the plate. However this is compensated for by the thread in insert in the overhead bracket. All 4 holes had a threaded insert with 9/16" dia hole that was screwed into the bracket and could compensate for the roughness of the lathe casting.


 So drilled out the third hole and went over to do the fourth hole when I noticed that the fourth hole was being interfered by one of the mounting screws holding the plate to the lathe. On the picture below you can see the three studs inserted and if you look to the bottom left on the bottom plate i've put a mark where the hole would need to be drilled to accept the 4th stud. Essentially 1/4 of the stud hole would be in the hole from the mounting screw. When I initially laid out the marks I did not notice this.


So Monday afternoon down the road I go after work to pick up another 24 inches of 4" by 1/2" plate and I'm also going to pick up some 9/16 round stock to make new studs. So I guess next week I'll be doing things I did last week and making new plates and studs. This time when I go to mount the bracket I will move the mounting holes for the stud up 1/2". Since I do not have the belting for the lathe this should not be a problem. Moving the stud holes up 1/2" will clear the bolt hole on the bottom plate and on the top plate there were two holes inside the four shown that could also be used. So i'll use the same bottom two holes and then drill out the middle two holes so that I don't use the upper two holes. The hole on the upper right would clear the new stud hole however the hole on the upper left would be to close to the stud hole to be useable. 

Until next week when hopefully I'll have better news enjoy the weather and enjoy life. And if you drink have a beer or scotch to commiserate with with me. I think tonight is a night for a Guinness.

Harold

Sunday 12 January 2014

Sorry I'm a little late posting this however had to spend some time in the shop doing things so I could talk about them.
First thanks to Doozer and his comment I checked the "stretchiness" of my silent chain. With the chain on the sprocket all the way around I can pull the chain approx 3/16" of an inch away from the sprocket at the opposite side from where the break in the chain is. So not as worn as Doozer's however not pristine as well. I will most likely just install them as is and see how noisy or sloppy they end up being before I try and locate some replacement chain. I believe I can find this chain since I've seen a couple of companies mention leaf chain with 3/8" pitch. Just will need to find out cost and how to procure this chain.
Last week I mentioned that I was waiting for a new 3/4" drill chuck to be able to mount the countersink and drill out the plates. Well the chuck arrived on Thursday. So out with the old and in with the new chuck and drill away. Here are a couple of pictures of the process.



First picture shows me working on the lower plate. On this plate there were two holes that were pristine so I could just countersink them directly. The third hole was slightly elongated so I mounted the plate with the two countersinks and carefully marked where the countersunk bolt touched the plate so that when it was mounted back in the drill press I could ensure that I was drilling the countersink in the correct location. Once this plate was done, as you can see in the second picture, I went on to the upper plate. On this one only one hole was pristine the other three had some elongation. With this in mind each hole had to be countersunk plate mounted check where the bolt hole hit the plate and then drill out the next countersink. On the whole it went quite well and all seven holes were countersunk in the correct location. In the third photo you can see both plates mounted with countersinking complete. Only issue that I came across was the bottom right hole on the upper plate. Whenever the hole was drilled in the lathe and tapped, the person drilled the hole at a slight angle and therefore the countersink is just a little out of alignment. Once this was done I cleaned the plates and primed them on the front face. I then remounted the top plate and carefully scratched in the primer where the horizontal plane of the mounting holes will be and then scratched the vertical line on the right side of the plate where the upper right stud will be mounted. These lines were based on measurements provided by two other QC owners and their measurements were within thousands of each other. I then removed the plate and drilled a 1/4" hole before I drill it out for the stud size. Initially I bought 1/2" bolts for the studs however after measuring the hole in the overhead bracket I notice I should have bought 9/16" bolts. So on Monday off to Fastenal to buy the correct size bolts and a 35/64" drill bit to force fit the studs into the plate prior to welding. Below is a picture of the pilot hole drilled for the first stud.


During the week I was also thinking about how I was going to lift this Overhead bracket while I am trying to drill out the stud holes and mount the bracket. This is a cast Iron bracket and probably weighs close to 100lbs. At first I thought about buying an engine hoist and using it, and once finished selling the hoist. However on looking at them I did not think they would give me enough height to mount the bracket. Since I am moving in the next 6 months I did not want to start fiddling around with installing a bracket on the roof trusses and hoist it up that way. So decided to buy some lumber and make a temporary gantry. Bought some 4 by 4's and some other dimensional lumber and made up a gantry. Here is a picture of the gantry and the new chain hoist I bought to lift the overhead bracket. This contraption will work great for what I need to do and once I'm finished I can just disassemble it as it is screwed together.


I've since laid the overhead drive back on the ground until I am ready to lift it into place. The last picture I'll show you is the 3 step pulley section of the overhead drive. I initially put it back together but have decided to install some oilite thrust washers on the shaft between the bracket and the two sprockets. The original fibre washers were still here but they are not in the best condition. Once these washers show up later this week I can put this assembly back together. 


Well that's all for this week. I look forward to "talking" to you again next week. Until then have a great week and hopefully enjoy some nice weather.

Harold


Saturday 4 January 2014

Well welcome to the New Year. 2014 is now officially here and we are not enjoying the start of this New Year. Lousy weather all over the place. Bitterly cold weather here. Some people might say I have nothing to complain about considering their location and temperatures but -25deg C is really cold for our area. Now they're talking about another snowstorm tomorrow as well. Oh well at least I have a heater for the garage although I'm sure the hydro company loves it when I turn it on.
Anyway on to the continuing story. So I contacted my friend with the drill press however his chuck only goes to 1/2" as well. He suggested I could come buy and use the mill with collets as he has collets that will fit the 3/4" shank on the countersink. However by the time we had discussed this I had decided to buy a new chuck for my drill press that will accept 3/4" shanks. I should have this chuck by the middle of next week and then I will be able to drill the countersinks required in the mounting plate.
Now I know I said I didn't want to start on something fresh as I already have lots of parts laying around waiting to be reassembled. However I could not just sit around especially with all this free time around the holidays. So I decided it was time to take the section apart that held the 3 step pulley in the overhead drive assembly. This section takes the driving motion from the "transmission section" above and translates it down to the headstock by way of a 3 step pulley. The transmission has a high and low setting and using this with the 3 step pulley gives you 6 different speeds at the chuck face. Once  the entire lathe is assembled and the electric motor installed with appropriate pullies I will be able to chart the 6 speeds. Here is a picture of this section of the overhead drive. You can see the 3 step pulley as well as the two sprockets which accept the chain drive from the transmission shaft.


Just a little side trip here. The two sprockets above are for a "leaf chain" that comes from the transmission shaft above. These two chains each have a connecting link. However the one chain was missing the closing plate that completes the link. I cleaned up the link and found out the manufacturer was Whitney chain which was bought out by Renold in the mid 1940's. I emailed the company as well as a few other leaf chain manufacturing companies to see if I could obtain an appropriate connecting link plate. Below is the picture of the link I sent some companies as well as a picture of the leaf chain.


The picture of the link shows the details of the link with sizes. Although a .375" pitch chain is still made the pins on the links are now .140" in dia not the .100" dia pins that I had. So, so far nobody has been able to help me with finding a premade plate. So I decided to make one up myself. I took a piece of steel from a tie down strap that had broken and cut out enough to make the plate. First thing I did was carefully file it down to the thickness required. Then we carefully filed out the profile like the original link plate. Once we had something that was close I drilled out the two holes and made sure it fit on the connecting link as needed. Here are some pictures showing the different stages of work.




Once we proved it fit I heated the part up cherry red and quenched it in some water. Then we heated it again to a lower temperature and let it cool down naturally. It wasn't a precise heat treating job but based on what i've read and seen it should do the trick. The last picture above shows the two links, one with original plate attached and the other with the new made plate after heat treating lying beside it. So at least the chain will be secured properly. All that is left is to buy some really small cotter pins to pin the plate to the other half of the link.
I then went back to working on the previous piece. I disassembled the speed change lever and cleaned an painted this section as well as polished on part of the lever. Only thing left on the handle is to give the wooden end a few coats of Tung Oil. Here are some pictures of these pieces. Looks like the previous user of this drive painted this handle and another one read probably to make them a little easier to see.




Next was to take the parts that held the shaft with the 3 step pulley and the sprockets apart and clean all the pieces. Once they were all clean they were primed and painted. No real issues with any of this other than the mess when wire wheeling all the parts. There was a little paint left on the metal as well as a base coat of some material that basically came of as a black dust. Some form of metal filler is my guess. By the way the original paint looks like it was a "lime green" tint. Here are some pictures of the parts getting cleaned and painted.







A couple things that came up. In the first picture above you see there is a bolt missing, not sure what happened there as I'm not even sure how they bolted them in. Could not use a socket or a wrench. Could use screwdriver since there is a slot in the head of the bolt however it does not look like it would turn around without hitting the centre shaft section. I did not try and unbolt them to prove this however it is the only way I see they could have done this. Along with this one of the two bolts installed had a lower profile head to allow an Allen set screw to be used. This set screw had to be inserted prior to the bolt being inserted. You can insert an Allen key to tighten and loosen however you cannot take out the set screw. Another interesting thing was there were Allen set/cap screws used to secure the pulley and the sprocket to the the shafting. At first I thought they must be an after market repair as I thought Allen screws were not around when these lathes were built. However after doing some research I found out that accepted knowledge says the first manufactured Allen screws occurred around 1910 although some patents go back into the 1860's.
I started to put this assembly back together today, Saturday, however I wanted to freshen up a couple of the Allen set/cap screws. Unfortunately the local hardware stores did not have my sizes in stock so will have to wait till Monday when the local Fastenal store is open and we can pick them up there. As well I can also order the small cotter pins I will need.

So that's where we sit at this time. Hopefully by next week the new drill chuck arrive and I will have bored out the countersinks. Then we can really work at putting this entire overhead assembly back together. On a little side note for those who might be interested. I was talking to an individual in Chicago who was interested in my Van Norman #10 Dividing head. According to this fellow he used to own one of these Cataracts and sold it to another person in the area. I have asked him if he remembered the Serial number but he did not. However he did say he still is in contact with the person who purchased the machine so hopefully over the next few weeks he has a chance to talk to this fellow and I hope he contacts me to see if his is a new serial number or one we already have on the charts.

Well until next week have a great time enjoying this cold and white weather.

Harold