Todays Project - What did you do today?

[Mayhem]

I'm not sure if I showed this before but I just found the pics on my phone.  Whilst I was 'away' I decided to make an oil pan for use under my hoist.  When my Dad had his mechanic shop, he had a pan that sat on a stand, with a spring-loaded valve on the base.  When on the stand under the vehicle, the valve was closed.  When placed onto the adaptor, which screwed onto a 44 gal drum, the valve opened.

I decided that I would use a ballcock valve instead and a 9kg propane bottle as the drain pan.  The valve screws directly into the neck and the shroud/handle allows the pan to stand on a shelf without tipping over.  A slot milled into a section of exhaust tube allows the pan to sit flat on the top of an old speaker tripod.  The pan will easily hold 10L which will cover just about anything that I am going to work on.

   
   

The handles were bent up form 5mm rod using the bender that I made.

[Highpower]

Awesome job Darren!

Just have some "pig pads" or "oil-dri" on hand to clean up the spills, because some day you WILL miss hitting the bucket after pulling the drain plug. It's the law. Written by Murphy I believe..

Either that, or the oil stream will hit the far side of the bowl - then do a "half-pipe" and come flying out of the bowl on the near side. The "near side" being the side closest to where you are standing at the time.

Ask me how I know.....

[Mayhem]

I have a bucket of sawdust on hand

[rleete]

(01-12-2016, 03:23 PM)Highpower Wrote: These were supposed to be a couple of "Turners Cubes" by now, but it's taken me a week already trying to figure out the math and then trying to figure out how to draw 3 simple squares and a handful of circles using CAD software. (DraftSite)  

Now you know how I feel when I see someone whip out a project looking like it was made by a robot in a single day (I'm looking at you, Rob W).  For me, that CAD work is about 2 hours in 3D, tops.

I could teach you to be more proficient in CAD in less than a day.  It really isn't that hard, once you can wrap your mind around how it works.  It's overcoming that initial unfamiliarity that's the biggest hurdle. 

BTW, Draftsight is only used for 2D plant layouts around here.  3D is quicker and easier, but unfortunately much too expensive for most casual users.  That I could teach in half a day.

[Dr Stan]

I use Draftsight as the price is excellent (free) and it works with AutoCAD files. The first time I tried to use a CAD program the computer did not have a mouse, one had to key in coordinates or use the cursor keys. Didn't even have a library for extension line arrow heads. Tha'st got to date me.

I almost gave the computer the drop test, but waded though and could produce some very simple 2D drawings.

Later I taught myself CAD and do OK with 2D files. Never had the opportunity to use 3D very much (Inventor) so really didn't get to learn it.

There are plenty of on-line tutorials for CAD and have been quite helpful.

[Highpower]

(01-13-2016, 12:18 PM)rleete Wrote:

(01-12-2016, 03:23 PM)Highpower Wrote: These were supposed to be a couple of "Turners Cubes" by now, but it's taken me a week already trying to figure out the math and then trying to figure out how to draw 3 simple squares and a handful of circles using CAD software. (DraftSite)  

Now you know how I feel when I see someone whip out a project looking like it was made by a robot in a single day (I'm looking at you, Rob W).  For me, that CAD work is about 2 hours in 3D, tops.

I know exactly how you feel. Me too! It took me several hours to just drill and ream a dozen holes today!  
I hate doing repetitive work like that - unless I can do it all in one shot (set-up). It drives me nuts to drill a hole, clean up the chips and oil, remove the part from the vice and de-burr it, clean up the vice, re-install the part into a new position, drill another hole, clean up the chips and oil..... ad nauseam, then rinse and repeat with the reamer. I don't know how the model builders keep their sanity making the same parts over and over and over. (Multi cylinder engines and such.)

   

And yes, I'm sure that some one on one time with someone that knew what they are doing would make things go a lot quicker in learning to do CAD for the first time. Reading about it works (eventually) if you have the time to put into it. But just trying to cherry pick the info you need to know in order to do a quick "simple" drawing is frustrating because you don't know what it is you are looking for. Trying to do everything with the mouse alone was getting me nowhere. THEN I discovered the command line...

Makes me wish I had a drafting machine and table again. THAT I could work with!
Then again, trying to measure out to 4 decimals on paper.....

[Dr Stan]

THEN I discovered the command line...      

Yes very useful as I still do not use the drop down menus. Much easier to type in "line" instead of searching for the command at the top of the screen.

[TomG]

There is a 3D CAD program available that is free as well. It's called OnShape. It's cloud based, meaning that you don't have to install the program on your computer, just go to the website and start designing. The only limitation for the free version is that you can only have 10 files in the cloud at once, although "a" file consists of all assemblies, sub assemblies, parts and drawings associated with one project. Other than that, it's a full featured 3D CAD program, complete with assemblies and animations, and it even works on a phone or tablet. I'm looking into it to replace SolidWorks at work. The $100/month for the unlimited version is what we pay for the SolidWorks annual maintenance contract alone and that's after shelling out $4K for the seat.

Tom

[Pete O]

(01-13-2016, 08:29 AM)Mayhem Wrote: When my Dad had his mechanic shop, he had a pan that sat on a stand, with a spring-loaded valve on the base.  When on the stand under the vehicle, the valve was closed.  When placed onto the adaptor, which screwed onto a 44 gal drum, the valve opened.

That takes me back...the place where I worked when I first left school near the middle of last century had one of those oil drain pans. Every now and then, a bit of gasket, or an o-ring off an oil filter, would find it's way into the pan and get stuck under the rubber seal while it was draining. The first you would know of this was when a pool of oil grew around the base of the stand next time it was used. Given that the base was about 20" diameter, by the time you saw the oil, you already had about a gallon on the floor under the stand. I'm liking the ball valve idea much better!

[Highpower]

Yeah, that takes me w-a-y back...

The last shop I was in had a huge furnace oil tank for storing the waste oil. Connected to one end was a large pneumatic dual-action fluid pump with a 1-1/2" hose and a quick coupler. All of the oil drain buckets/drums were fitted with couplers and dip tubes that went to the bottom of the drums. The pump would transfer the oil from the oil drains (40 gallons) into the large tank in about 30 seconds.

During the winter the oil tank pressure fed the two shop waste oil furnaces hanging from the ceiling. The rest of the year they had an oil company truck that picked up the used oil once a month.

Still had a similar problem though when the transfer pump would suck a drain plug washer out of the bottom of a drum and get wedged in the hose or the pump. Had to tear the whole thing apart to get it cleaned out.

That Mayhem guy - he's a pretty fart smeller...