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Dr.Al
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Nope. But that probably would have been a good idea - thanks! I did have it resting on a block of aluminium, but only because it was a convenient conductive flat surface.
Dr.Al
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Cut a window in the old plate you took off to place over the Perspex, it will clamp the gasket better.
Good idea. I'll see if it leaks as is and then if not I'll do what you say. Not sure it's **quite** enough justification to go and buy a plasma cutter though!
roofman
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Dr.Al
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I did see that post @roofman. The thing I particularly liked about @Wallace's idea was that it avoided the need for any epoxy/other glue: just using the plate as a clamp. The oil level when the bandsaw is at rest is right at the bottom of the window, so the glue joint would be about where the rubber gasket is. Having worked in a high-volume but high reliability product design environment for a lot of years, I also do everything I can to avoid glue joints anywhere where a joint failure would cause a big problem...
roofman
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A window above the oil level would work and you could peer in with a torch to check level...also another idea would be to keep the metal cover intact and before you remove clear cover why don't you drill a small 6mm hole in the top of box and use measure a dip stick to keep an eye on oil and the hole could be bunged back up with a bolt and PTFE tape
Dr.Al
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At the moment it doesn't seem to be leaking with just the acrylic and the rubber gasket. I'll keep an eye on it and if it starts to leak I'll add a clamp plate cut/milled from the old cover. I really like being able to see the oil at a glance and, although it adds no value whatsoever, I quite like watching the gears go round!
Dr.Al
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Big landmark today, but more on that later.
I've spent the last couple of evenings making screws. Here are all the bits that make up the screws:
All the screws are made from 20 mm EN8; I'd planned to make the tommy bars out of EN1A, but it turns out I haven't got any in 8 mm diameter but I had 5 bars of silver steel, so I cut one of those up. The tommy bar length was chosen as 1/5th the length of a bar of silver steel!
Knurled screws are used to fix the tommy bars in place to stop them rattling around under vibration. They're 20 mm brass, knurled (as one long bar) and then reduced to M6 for 6 mm. They go into an M6 tapped hole in the end of each screw (you can just about see the hole in the middle screw in the picture). The balls for the tommy-bar ends are drilled 8 mm diameter and accept the tommy bars with some Loctite 603.
Here they are assembled:
I've got three spare brass locking screws - I knurled a long section of brass bar and made as many screws as I could until the knurled bit ran out. Long ones are for the fixed vice jaw (as there isn't enough clearance for the balls to pass the upright part of the vice jaw). I decided to make the moving jaw one shorter as there was slightly more clearance. To compensate for that, the "counterbore thing" (which was cut with a ball end mill to match the ball size) is a bit deeper on the moving jaw screw:
Here are all the vice screws in place:
and here are the blade guide screws in place:
(and yes, I did spend a lot of time making sure the cross-drilled holes were at the right angle so that they would look good when tightened!)
With those screws in place, all of the "essentials" (apart from the vice handle) were fitted so I decided it would be a good time to try the bandsaw out. I lined up the fixed jaw of the vice and the blade angle adjusters with a square and put a bit of 40 × 10 mm aluminium flat bar (because it came to hand) into the vice (using the old vice handle for now) and did two cuts, one in each orientation (so that I could test squareness in each axis across the 40 mm dimension). Unbelievably, it cut straight in both planes on first attempt. I didn't expect that!
So that's a really big step: I can use the bandsaw (carefully given that the blade wheel guard is still absent) for making any other bits I want/need.
I'm a happy Dr Al!
Oh, and here's an inaugural photo of the swarf tray after the two cuts - it works!
I've spent the last couple of evenings making screws. Here are all the bits that make up the screws:
All the screws are made from 20 mm EN8; I'd planned to make the tommy bars out of EN1A, but it turns out I haven't got any in 8 mm diameter but I had 5 bars of silver steel, so I cut one of those up. The tommy bar length was chosen as 1/5th the length of a bar of silver steel!
Knurled screws are used to fix the tommy bars in place to stop them rattling around under vibration. They're 20 mm brass, knurled (as one long bar) and then reduced to M6 for 6 mm. They go into an M6 tapped hole in the end of each screw (you can just about see the hole in the middle screw in the picture). The balls for the tommy-bar ends are drilled 8 mm diameter and accept the tommy bars with some Loctite 603.
Here they are assembled:
I've got three spare brass locking screws - I knurled a long section of brass bar and made as many screws as I could until the knurled bit ran out. Long ones are for the fixed vice jaw (as there isn't enough clearance for the balls to pass the upright part of the vice jaw). I decided to make the moving jaw one shorter as there was slightly more clearance. To compensate for that, the "counterbore thing" (which was cut with a ball end mill to match the ball size) is a bit deeper on the moving jaw screw:
Here are all the vice screws in place:
and here are the blade guide screws in place:
(and yes, I did spend a lot of time making sure the cross-drilled holes were at the right angle so that they would look good when tightened!)
With those screws in place, all of the "essentials" (apart from the vice handle) were fitted so I decided it would be a good time to try the bandsaw out. I lined up the fixed jaw of the vice and the blade angle adjusters with a square and put a bit of 40 × 10 mm aluminium flat bar (because it came to hand) into the vice (using the old vice handle for now) and did two cuts, one in each orientation (so that I could test squareness in each axis across the 40 mm dimension). Unbelievably, it cut straight in both planes on first attempt. I didn't expect that!
So that's a really big step: I can use the bandsaw (carefully given that the blade wheel guard is still absent) for making any other bits I want/need.
I'm a happy Dr Al!
Oh, and here's an inaugural photo of the swarf tray after the two cuts - it works!
Dr.Al
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Thanks Mike. Coming from the source of inspiration for a lot of the metalworking things I've done over the years, that means a lot!
Dr.Al
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I've been doing lots of stuff in parallel over the last few days. I'll report more on that when I've made a bit more progress.
In the meantime, I did a very small and simple modification this evening. I've been finding that I've been accidentally kicking the swarf tray so that it slides underneath the base frame and stops being in the line of fire of swarf. Simple fix:
A couple of holes in the "wings":
Add screws:
Sorted:
In the meantime, I did a very small and simple modification this evening. I've been finding that I've been accidentally kicking the swarf tray so that it slides underneath the base frame and stops being in the line of fire of swarf. Simple fix:
A couple of holes in the "wings":
Add screws:
Sorted:
Dr.Al
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Okay, don't try this at home kids... electrickery is dangerous and all that.
Today I added a light to the bandsaw. I bought one of these from Lidl:
I would have preferred cool white rather than warm white (easier to see details by), but it was cheap and beggars can't be choosers.
The lamp itself was easy to get apart (three screws in the base and a fine thread 8 mm nut). I dismantled that and then attacked the power supply:
Got another little aluminium die cast box and made some holes in it. Bit of an odd assortment of screws as they're designed to fit into holes that are already in the casting (designed for the blade cover interlock) so I worked with what was there:
I also made a custom nut from some 8 mm thick aluminium to replace the one that came with a conduit entry:
Then I started wiring it up:
Then I put the heatshrink over the switch contacts and applied heat. Then I realised I'd forgotten to thread the custom nut onto the wires.
So off came the wires again and I did it again. The screw in the top-left of the picture above is an earth connection.
I wrapped the power supply in about 8 layers of electrical insulation tape to isolate it from the earthed box and then soldered and protected the connections to the light itself:
The switch box housing then got mounted on the upper arm of the saw:
and here it is closed up:
It's alive!
The power is fed from the existing connection box I described back in post 88. I didn't take any photos of the new connection as it really isn't that interesting! I need to add a bit of extra cable restraint (using the other interlock restraint connection holes), but that's a job for another day.
I think this will be really useful for reading scales on rulers when measuring out for a cut. The light's icky and yellow (or "warm" as they call it), more suited for reading in front of a fire than doing metalwork, but I think I can live with that on a bandsaw.
Today I added a light to the bandsaw. I bought one of these from Lidl:
I would have preferred cool white rather than warm white (easier to see details by), but it was cheap and beggars can't be choosers.
The lamp itself was easy to get apart (three screws in the base and a fine thread 8 mm nut). I dismantled that and then attacked the power supply:
Got another little aluminium die cast box and made some holes in it. Bit of an odd assortment of screws as they're designed to fit into holes that are already in the casting (designed for the blade cover interlock) so I worked with what was there:
I also made a custom nut from some 8 mm thick aluminium to replace the one that came with a conduit entry:
Then I started wiring it up:
Then I put the heatshrink over the switch contacts and applied heat. Then I realised I'd forgotten to thread the custom nut onto the wires.
So off came the wires again and I did it again. The screw in the top-left of the picture above is an earth connection.
I wrapped the power supply in about 8 layers of electrical insulation tape to isolate it from the earthed box and then soldered and protected the connections to the light itself:
The switch box housing then got mounted on the upper arm of the saw:
and here it is closed up:
It's alive!
The power is fed from the existing connection box I described back in post 88. I didn't take any photos of the new connection as it really isn't that interesting! I need to add a bit of extra cable restraint (using the other interlock restraint connection holes), but that's a job for another day.
I think this will be really useful for reading scales on rulers when measuring out for a cut. The light's icky and yellow (or "warm" as they call it), more suited for reading in front of a fire than doing metalwork, but I think I can live with that on a bandsaw.
Screwdriver
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Don’t forget the cup holder. 
Seriously though, making up some lever locking clamps is definitely on my list. Currently mine has a variety of odd size hex bolts!
It’s horrible to adjust!
Really need to get a round toit but I have been meaning to make one of those for ages...
Seriously though, making up some lever locking clamps is definitely on my list. Currently mine has a variety of odd size hex bolts!
It’s horrible to adjust!
Really need to get a round toit but I have been meaning to make one of those for ages...
Okay, don't try this at home kids... electrickery is dangerous and all that.
Today I added a light to the bandsaw. I bought one of these from Lidl:
View attachment 210831
I would have preferred cool white rather than warm white (easier to see details by), but it was cheap and beggars can't be choosers.
The lamp itself was easy to get apart (three screws in the base and a fine thread 8 mm nut). I dismantled that and then attacked the power supply:
View attachment 210836
Got another little aluminium die cast box and made some holes in it. Bit of an odd assortment of screws as they're designed to fit into holes that are already in the casting (designed for the blade cover interlock) so I worked with what was there:
View attachment 210837
I also made a custom nut from some 8 mm thick aluminium to replace the one that came with a conduit entry:
View attachment 210838
Then I started wiring it up:
View attachment 210839
Then I put the heatshrink over the switch contacts and applied heat. Then I realised I'd forgotten to thread the custom nut onto the wires.
So off came the wires again and I did it again. The screw in the top-left of the picture above is an earth connection.
I wrapped the power supply in about 8 layers of electrical insulation tape to isolate it from the earthed box and then soldered and protected the connections to the light itself:
View attachment 210841
The switch box housing then got mounted on the upper arm of the saw:
View attachment 210842
and here it is closed up:
View attachment 210844
It's alive!
View attachment 210845
The power is fed from the existing connection box I described back in post 88. I didn't take any photos of the new connection as it really isn't that interesting! I need to add a bit of extra cable restraint (using the other interlock restraint connection holes), but that's a job for another day.
I think this will be really useful for reading scales on rulers when measuring out for a cut. The light's icky and yellow (or "warm" as they call it), more suited for reading in front of a fire than doing metalwork, but I think I can live with that on a bandsaw.
I bought one of those lamps from the bargain bin in Lidl & I was wondering what to use it for - now I know!
Dr.Al
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Don’t forget the cup holder.
Believe it or not, I made one of those a few years ago (a present for the tea-obsessive other-half who bought a Smart car and it didn't have a cup holder). It won't surprise you to hear it was a seriously over-engineered cup holder!
Dr.Al
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I've used quite a few different techniques over the years. In rough order of (increasing) goodness:
- 3-Jaw chuck - they sit in the gaps in the teeth quite nicely, but the balls inevitably end up with jaw marks, so not ideal.
- ER collet - Okay, but you really need a second ball (or a little top-hat washer) in the back of the collet to be sure the collet grips properly. Can be a bit of a pain to get the ball back out depending on what features you're adding. Also a pain when you put a fresh ball in and it keeps going to the back of the collet or when the top-hat washer falls out the back.
- A simple jig on the mill: use the tip of a 90° spotting drill to cut a tapered hole in a flat bit of aluminium and zero the DRO or handwheel dials. Then drill/tap some other features for mounting a clamping bar. Clamp the bar directly to the aluminium and drill through in the place where the DRO is zeroed (then take it off and deburr). Lift the clamping bar up, bung a ball under it (using the spotting drill hole as a 2D v-block type locator), drop the clamping bar over, clamp, drill. This ones really good if you've got lots to do as you can switch balls in about 5 seconds. Disadvantage is it relies on your mill being rigid, which mine isn't especially. It works well and is very quick, but the holes can come out slightly oversize.
- Home-made hex soft jaws: clamp them closed around three shims (so they're nearly, but not quite touching but the chuck is tight). Make a hole with a ball-end end-mill, a bit deeper than the radius of the ball (I usually start with a drill bit and just do a final cut with a ball-end end-mill). Take the shim stock out and you have a very, very good way of holding balls for machining. You can probably get away with a square-bottom hole, but I have got a 12 mm ball-end end-mill, so it seems to make sense to use it.
Dr.Al
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There were two things that have bugged me more about the little 6×4 bandsaw than anything else:
This week has mostly been about doing something about this, in my usual massively over-complicated way...
I started by making these bits:
They go together like this:
and form a flexible coupling. The (probably optimistic) theory is that it can cope with angular misalignment in two planes and a bit of axial misalignment in one. Unfortunately, it can't really cope perfectly with the fact that the vice screw wobbles all over the place (I suspect it's a bit bent), but making something like an Oldham Coupling felt too much like hard work. As it is, it works surprisingly well and there are only a couple of slightly stiff points along the travel of the vice jaw (interestingly, they're not at the same angle of the new handle, so that probably confirms the bent leadscrew theory).
Here's how the coupling body fits to the bandsaw (I added a 3 mm thick washer after wondering why it was really tight in some orientations: it was rubbing against the casting!)
I got an 16 mm-ish thick offcut of aluminium that had been salvaged from a skip. Mounted it in the three-jaw chuck and faced one side, then reamed a 10 mm hole in the middle. A bit of 12 mm silver steel was cut to the right length, a flat was filed on one end and I reduced the other end to 10.032 mm for 16 mm length.
The aluminium went in the oven when it was heating up to cook smoked haddock one day (probably more information than you needed); the shaft when in the freezer at the same time. Once the oven and aluminium were up to temperature, they came out and were quickly persuaded together with a few taps of a soft-jaw hammer.
Then back to the lathe with the shaft mounted in a collet. I faced the outer surface and reduced the thickness of the wheel to 15 mm. I then used a 6 mm radius corner-rounding end-mill and a bucket load of WD40 to round the corners (one side with the lathe running backwards) and then got it closer to 7.5 mm radius with a file.
Not shown in this photo, but I then dropped the shaft through the hole in the drill-press table and drilled and tapped an M6 hole about 10 mm deep.
I had a short length of 18 mm EN1A in the drawer, so I drilled it through 10 mm and then counterbored 12 mm to a depth of 8 mm. I carefully measured the length that was still 10 mm ID. I then got a bit of 12 mm EN1A Leaded and made a shoulder screw with the 10 mm section being about 0.1 mm longer than the measurement of the handle's 10 mm ID section.
Et voila:
View of the other side (with a custom washer on the shaft as well):
- The base and how difficult it was to move around (now sorted with my new base frame with four castors).
- The vice handle and how it was really awkward to turn it when the arm is down:
This week has mostly been about doing something about this, in my usual massively over-complicated way...
I started by making these bits:
They go together like this:
and form a flexible coupling. The (probably optimistic) theory is that it can cope with angular misalignment in two planes and a bit of axial misalignment in one. Unfortunately, it can't really cope perfectly with the fact that the vice screw wobbles all over the place (I suspect it's a bit bent), but making something like an Oldham Coupling felt too much like hard work. As it is, it works surprisingly well and there are only a couple of slightly stiff points along the travel of the vice jaw (interestingly, they're not at the same angle of the new handle, so that probably confirms the bent leadscrew theory).
Here's how the coupling body fits to the bandsaw (I added a 3 mm thick washer after wondering why it was really tight in some orientations: it was rubbing against the casting!)
I got an 16 mm-ish thick offcut of aluminium that had been salvaged from a skip. Mounted it in the three-jaw chuck and faced one side, then reamed a 10 mm hole in the middle. A bit of 12 mm silver steel was cut to the right length, a flat was filed on one end and I reduced the other end to 10.032 mm for 16 mm length.
The aluminium went in the oven when it was heating up to cook smoked haddock one day (probably more information than you needed); the shaft when in the freezer at the same time. Once the oven and aluminium were up to temperature, they came out and were quickly persuaded together with a few taps of a soft-jaw hammer.
Then back to the lathe with the shaft mounted in a collet. I faced the outer surface and reduced the thickness of the wheel to 15 mm. I then used a 6 mm radius corner-rounding end-mill and a bucket load of WD40 to round the corners (one side with the lathe running backwards) and then got it closer to 7.5 mm radius with a file.
Not shown in this photo, but I then dropped the shaft through the hole in the drill-press table and drilled and tapped an M6 hole about 10 mm deep.
I had a short length of 18 mm EN1A in the drawer, so I drilled it through 10 mm and then counterbored 12 mm to a depth of 8 mm. I carefully measured the length that was still 10 mm ID. I then got a bit of 12 mm EN1A Leaded and made a shoulder screw with the 10 mm section being about 0.1 mm longer than the measurement of the handle's 10 mm ID section.
Et voila:
View of the other side (with a custom washer on the shaft as well):
