Todays Project - What did you do today?

[johnnyc14]

I needed to drill some holes at an angle and was struggling to find a way to hold the part securely. I made a vise pallet some time ago that allows mounting parts at an angle but I had no easy way of clamping these parts to the pallet. Here is the pallet and some of the clamps I have used in the past. It can be mounted in the vise in either direction. When I made it I only had a 4” vise so I wish I had made it larger now.







I have a small drill press vise that can be used for light milling and I wanted to be able to attach it to the pallet in both directions so I came up with these mounting solutions.
I remove one of the 3 bolts holding the flat plate to the round part and installed a stud on its place.



I made up some sleeve/spacers to hold the small vise to the pallet.













To mount the vise in the other direction I made up  a cross brace to go under the pallet and used a couple of old big/block Chevy rod bolts as fasteners. Then I mad up some more spacer/sleeves.

















It’s amazing how I can blow a whole day making tools to complete a 30 minute drilling job but these tools will come in handy in the future I’m sure.

[Highpower]

(01-02-2016, 03:26 PM)johnnyc14 Wrote: It’s amazing how I can blow a whole day making tools to complete a 30 minute drilling job....

Isn't that the truth! Been there done that.

Is that a green widow-maker I see there? (500cc triple?)

[Highpower]

The toothpick came out clean, so I guess it's done.  

   

   

I can finally cross off another one from the 2014 'to-do' list.

[Vinny]

It's purdy!

[Mayhem]

Nice work Johnny - you may want to place a length of stock into the left-hand side of the vice to even things out when you have the pallet mounted over on the right-hand side.

[TomG]

You should also throw a clamp on the supported end of the pallet. It wouldn't take much to lift it off the jacks.

Thanks for sharing your set-up.

Tom

[TomG]

So Willie. What was the process you used to heat treat the ratchet wheel? Was it 4140?

Tom

[Highpower]

(01-02-2016, 08:00 PM)TomG Wrote: ....Was it 4140?

Tom

Yes Tom. 4140 annealed. I used 4140 HT as-is for making the arbor/broach bushing. The process I used was to put the part in the (cold) oven and pre-heat to 1200° F then soak for 15 minutes to let the material get fully saturated. Then set the oven to 1575° F and again let it soak for another 15 minutes after the oven reached that temperature. The thickness of the ring is only 3/8" roughly.

I pre-heated the quench oil to 130° F before I did the quench. Kept it stirring around in the oil watching the red ring turn black, and a few seconds later the crust exploded off of the ring (in slow motion... ) and sank to the bottom of the pot. The ring came out of the pot about 95% clean. Very little black scale remaining and came off quickly and easily with a stainless toothbrush.

No engineers here and I couldn't really decide how much to draw it back, and I just tempered it at 575° F for 30 minutes. According to my highly calibrated Japanese hardness testing files I'm estimating about 53 - 54 HRC after the tempering.

Now this is the point where an engineer is going to come along and tell me that is too hard for that part, right?
And that would be fine with me. I could always do a second tempering later...

[TomG]

Unfortunately if it is too hard, it'll show up as a crack in the corner of the keyway. I'm sure that would ruin your day.

Tom

[Highpower]

Nah, I enjoyed making it and learned a few more things in the process. Always a good thing, and would make the next one even easier. (I'm hanging on the the arbor/bushing I made - just in case.)