Shonda Log

aug 24 2011

I have been looking through the documentation for the new multimachine lathe and have been trying to up-size it and increase the robustness of the design.

the basic idea is to build a lathe from concrete and round pipe, aligning everything with setscrews and non-shrinking grout. In places without machine shops the lathe can boot strap itself with car parts scroungable from a junk yard.

as we are trying to increase production speed of the prototype I am looking at sourcing major components from outside machiniest, namely the rails (which we could harden and grind with a centerless grinder and induction furnace), and components for the cross slide and tailstock, which will probably be farmed out to sweiger if they have the equipment or a shop in st Josephs. All alignment and casting of the machine will be done onsite however.

currently using L Yoeman's style of concrete and round way machine tools the only imperative tooling is a centerless grinder for making the rails round and strait.

tolerences of industrial equipment

"Lengths up to 55'

Diameter tolerances to .0002 in

Surface finishes to 4 micro inch." source http://www.centerlessgrind.com

description of centerless grinder setup [[1]]

link dump for multimachine meta-project.

taper dimension links [[2]]

pipe schedule chart [[3]]

bearing suppliers in st Joseph [[4]][[5]]

VersaMil attachment for milling on a lathe [[6]][[7]]

Ohio source for hardened and ground shafting plain or predrilled (quote for 2X 8' long 3" O.D. 60RC rails $1500)[[8]]

spirit level accurate to 5 ten thousandths over 10" costing $61.25 [[9]]

original patent for concrete machine tools by Lucien yeoman (I think) [[10]]

main site for the graphic designer for the yahoo lathe multimachine group, Tyler Disney [[11]]

yahoo groups for the multimachine [[12]][[13]]

aug 23

got up at 8 so only 4 hours sleep.

tightened wheels on new millermatic.

wood gasifier open source kit [[14]]

horizontal milling machine in previous post not going to work machine is built for facing pieces not tool room work the z axis has about 2 1/2in of travel rather then 12 or more inches that would be useful, also most of the controls are hydraulic with dogs rather then hand cranks.

multimachine groups lathe animation[[15]] shaft fitting bearing plates still need to weld set screw nut on will mark location on.

before

after

going to be helping Briana with punching CEB piston holder holes.

promise: 6 month plan for the Multimachine project by 8/25/11

Looked through yahoo Multimachine groups lathe documentation[[16]]. 2 hours. I think they are still missing documentation on lots of theings but they have an open review where people will be asking questions and filling that stuff in ... I'm going to use this as the basis for our lathe project. using hardened and ground shafting rather then scrap pipe, and using a half round slides, that can be bored on a lathe, on the round ways rather then angle Iron and brass wear strips.

other thoughts: add mounting bolts for quick change gearbox (to be added after the lathe is running). bolt down second cross slide plate to first from the bottom. move z axis hand wheel from between ways to side of cross slide using sprocket and chain. flip hub on threading attachment so that sprockets could be quickly changed(maybe, might be more trouble then its worth..

aug 22

internet was out in the morining, it apears that mice use the power switch as a foot hold for getting to the ceiling

revived message from multimachine group (log in Multimachine/Research Development)

worked on lathe motor mounting plate holes were offset. still need to weld 4by4 pipe and motor quick attach plate on. possible difficulty, coupler for motor and 1 7/8 shaft.

helped adam with box blading new workshops site. boxblade quick attach plate started breaking apart and we had to torch bolts off since they were bent then weld a new plate with smaller hole so that the blade wont rip out of the quick attach holder.

spent a 3 hours box blading the site then the second bolt plate ripped out and we brought the tractor back.

my power cord for my computer should be at the post office as of this morning

put up eves on shed roof with adam

found this horizontal milling machine [[17]]

picture from Adam_Log and Tom_Log

put up roofing with Marcin and Briana until 3:30 AM

aug 21

researched concrete machine tools - result - multimachine group is closer then I origenaly thought to releasing designs for a lathe design

helped Adam unstick tractor from second entry way and then moved wood from the chestnut tree to chip pile and wood pile. put up one level line for the workshop.