09-29-2018, 08:04 AM
I've decided I need to improve my pattern-making setup, I don't do much woodwork at all but I'm going to need a couple of decent castings for the frankenmill project and a disc sander should be a useful tool. The frankenmill has spawned more spinoffs than Happy Days and this is the latest one.
I used the same pattern that I made for the potter's wheel head for my daughter, 12" diameter is smaller than I would have liked to make but I would have had to make a new pattern, bigger flasks etc so 12" it is. Another spinoff of this spinoff was a crucible lifting hoist and pouring trolley, my big steel crucible must weigh about 12kg empty and when I filled it up for the potter's wheel components it became clear I needed to make a crucible handling system for safety's sake. I haven't taken any photos of the hoist and trolley, take my word for it they are ugly as sin, made entirely from the scrap bin. Worked a treat though and I got the mould poured- then this happened about 5 seconds after I filled the mould:
So that's why you're supposed to put weights on top of the flask
Stuffed the flask and spalled the concrete
Pretty sure I'll be able to sand the two halves of the flask back to smooth surfaces without losing too much depth.
To my utter astonishment, the casting was still full when I broke it out.
Made that ugly casting round and flat, bored it to suit a spare motor from under the bench (actually the original motor from my lathe- 3hp 3ph motor- overkill for a 12" sander I'm sure) then I turned the end of an offcut of mild steel shaft to use as a balancing arbor. Used the balancing jig from the surface grinder, I had to remove a fair bit of aluminium from the heavy side to get it balanced.
Off to the shaper to cut the keyway- a blind bore so a hole drilled at an angle to intersect the bottom of the bore gives the slotting tool somewhere to run out into.
I cut the frame members from some RHS. A piece of machined .600 thick unknownium plate, that my shaper vice was bolted to when I bought it, will serve as the table for the disc sander. I mocked the parts up on the bench before heading in for dinner.
I used the same pattern that I made for the potter's wheel head for my daughter, 12" diameter is smaller than I would have liked to make but I would have had to make a new pattern, bigger flasks etc so 12" it is. Another spinoff of this spinoff was a crucible lifting hoist and pouring trolley, my big steel crucible must weigh about 12kg empty and when I filled it up for the potter's wheel components it became clear I needed to make a crucible handling system for safety's sake. I haven't taken any photos of the hoist and trolley, take my word for it they are ugly as sin, made entirely from the scrap bin. Worked a treat though and I got the mould poured- then this happened about 5 seconds after I filled the mould:
So that's why you're supposed to put weights on top of the flask
Stuffed the flask and spalled the concrete
Pretty sure I'll be able to sand the two halves of the flask back to smooth surfaces without losing too much depth.
To my utter astonishment, the casting was still full when I broke it out.
Made that ugly casting round and flat, bored it to suit a spare motor from under the bench (actually the original motor from my lathe- 3hp 3ph motor- overkill for a 12" sander I'm sure) then I turned the end of an offcut of mild steel shaft to use as a balancing arbor. Used the balancing jig from the surface grinder, I had to remove a fair bit of aluminium from the heavy side to get it balanced.
Off to the shaper to cut the keyway- a blind bore so a hole drilled at an angle to intersect the bottom of the bore gives the slotting tool somewhere to run out into.
I cut the frame members from some RHS. A piece of machined .600 thick unknownium plate, that my shaper vice was bolted to when I bought it, will serve as the table for the disc sander. I mocked the parts up on the bench before heading in for dinner.
Lathe (n); a machine tool used in the production of milling machine components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.