Todays Project - What did you do today?

[Vinny]

Looks good!

[TomG]

Thanks Vinny, it's nice to have the time to try new things. How is retirement going for you?

Tom

[Vinny]

Goin good so far. I've got a couple of projects I'm in the middle of, one should see completion this week, or at least 99.999% completion. I still need to work on a latch for it. I'll post more about it later in the week. We've been doing work on one of our rentals, I installed the kitchen counters yesterday, did the cabinets a couple of weeks ago. This week Home Depot is coming to measure for carpet so I hope to finish up the kitchen stuff (a couple of spacers between walls and cabinets). Then some other odds and ends like moldings and it'll be ready to go. Also playin radio. Oh yeah, also bought a pop up camper a couple weeks ago (3). Need to replace some wood at the top but for the most part it's ready to go now.

[TomG]

That sounds about right. Not sure how we had time to work.

Tom

[Vinny]

Exactly! As everyone said I'd be, I'm busier now than when I was working.

[Dr Stan]

(03-16-2018, 07:34 PM)TomG Wrote: I finished up the fence for my bandsaw today. It's been a while since I've done any extensive machining on steel and it seemed to take FOREVER. Definitely followed some of my own advice and plunge milled as much as I could. The design is basically a copy (from memory) of a fence on a DoAll saw that I used to use. It's short enough that it can be used close to the blade and rock solid, even though it only clamps on one end. Can't wait to try it out.

Tom

I have the exact same model, purchased used of course.  Plan to build a fence for it, but that's one of the many jobs somewhere after getting the shop roof raised.

[f350ca]

This has been an on off project for some time. Building a grinder to sharpen the band saw blades for the saw mill.
The grinder head was from a chain saw sharpener, the gear head motor for advancing the blade and controlling the grinder head was from some sort of golf bag mover thingy. You know pasture pool.
The cam needs some refinement. The lift works well, follows the tooth profile nice but need to ramp the down stroke where its grinding the face of the tooth, Revision 46b.

https://youtu.be/2JZEWm0JPrY

[Vinny]

I've been working on this for a few weeks.  Finally have the main part complete.  I designed the boards and had them made, bought the connectors only to find out the connectors fit the board but on the wrong side!  So I had to order more connectors, got it right this time - sort of.  Pin spacing is too close on the connectors but they can be convinced to fit so all is well.

What this does is takes a radio with a detachable faceplate and lets you mount the radio in one place (like the trunk of the car, etc.) and have the faceplate where the operator can access it.  You can also detached the faceplate from this.

This pic shows the side that attaches to the faceplate (left) and the radio (right).  In the pic they look a bit warped and crooked, the connector sticks out the back and it's not sitting straight.  I also had to hold the camera at an odd angle to get rid of the glare from the flash.


This pic shows the connectors I had the problems with.  I'm not the slightest bit happy with the finish on this.  I think I'm going to try flat black paint instead.  The two white connectors are for the speaker so you don't have to run another cable just for that.


Here's an uncolored set attached to the radio and working so you get an idea of how it actually works.


Now you may have noticed there's nothing to also separate the mic.  That's the next part - the boards are on order, due next week.

[TomG]

Good idea Vinny. Is this a prototype for a product?

The backwards connector thing happens in industry as well. On the last product I worked on, we received a limited production run of boards and the connectors were all backwards. Luckily it was their fault, not ours.

SEM makes a line of spray paint called Color Coat for use on automotive interiors. It comes in multiple colors, has a nice satin sheen and works well on pretty much any substrate. Amazon, TCPGlobal, and Eastwood all carry it.

Tom

[Vinny]

I'm headed to Meijer in a bit to swap out the gloss stuff for flat. The 2X paint from rustoleum works great on this plastic. Perhaps I should paint before I do the post cure bake. That's what I did in the past.

Anyway, yeah. after the new boards show up I plan on going into production with them. The white one was the final test unit. The black ones were supposed to be the beginning of production. The new boards share the same screws that hold the boards currently in place, so no new machining is needed.