22-12-2013, 11:33 AM
Hi,
Thanks Lawrence; I need to give extraction some serious consideration; at the moment I have a small bag-less vac which I could hook up to the bandsaw but the filters are a constant pain blocking up with fine dust. I also have a big home made chip extractor with 4" inlet this being powered through my home made 3 phase system. Eventually when I start using the Graduate more I'll need extraction for that too especially during sanding operations.
I always get emotional regarding my kit Gary; every new bit of kit I'm like a kid with a new toy and I'll be the same with this soda blaster when I get it home; I'm eager to try it out and hope it comes up to the rave testimonials I've been reading about these blasters? I'm unsure whether to go for the smaller unit which would possibly suit my infrequent use or for a bit extra cash buy the double sized unit which also increases compressor air storage capacity? A lot depends on size because I'll be collecting the blaster and two bags of blasting medium in the Aygo so I'll make the decision when on site tomorrow.
I agree Gary that to spend a tenner to get a chassis blasted is the way to go if the service is available but in my experience people want paying when I do them the favour so I'll be extremely selective as to what I use the blaster for; I've got a feeling that setting up and cleaning up will possibly take longer than the actual blasting because I'll have to set the blaster up each time I use it and I'll need to store the blaster under the bungalow due to lack of space in the garage. One bonus though for those interested in buying a blaster I'll be trying mine out and reporting on it; I regard buying the blaster as a one off payment excluding consumables to finally give me ease of paint stripping and de-rusting. At around £200 kids receive much more expensive toys these days for Christmas which they play with once then discard through boredom? I'm interested not only in the blasters performance but in the blasting medium consumption; I'm starting off with 50kg which should easily strip paint from the bandsaw. I've also got the two home made belt sanders which I could blast then paint; the jobs add up and each job the blaster does it earns its keep and hopefully will soon pay for itself. I hope I'm not expecting too much? One way to get rid of neighbours wanting things doing for nothing is to charge £100 per hour after all our solicitor charges over £200 per hour and doesn't even get off his backside.
You may say so indeed Big Al; the bearing solution took a bit of thinking about because it's so easy to get locked into the original manufacturers design when doing this kind of restoration; I could have bought a cast iron blank and turned this to original specification even using the small Clarke lathe; the Clarke chuck would not initially accept such a sized blank directly but as you know Alan a dummy mandrel could be turned and employed which reminds me; I'd like to expand on this a bit because I didn't fully answer Refugee for his post #23.
Experienced lathe owners get used to their lathes and learn lots of tricks to get around seemingly impossible tasks? My Clarke is very limited by its chuck size this being a tiny 3"; the chuck has both internal and external jaws but installing the external jaws as you kindly suggested Refugee would still not give the capacity to hold a blank in excess of 4" diameter but there is a very simple way around this by turning a "dummy mandrel". Most home workshop owners will have capacity to bore 1/2" diameter holes in cast iron because cast iron is very easy to work with although also very dirty stuff.
Center pop the cast iron blank as accurately as possible then drill completely through on axis; this prepares the blank for mounting in the lathe. Now using the lathe; chuck a suitable length of round bar stock and reduce to 1/2" diameter; make the length slighter shorter than the cast iron blank and drill and tap the end of the dummy mandrel at say 6mm or 8mm to accept a set screw.
Now mount the blank onto the new turned and tapped mandrel; secure with a washer and set screw nipping up tightly. Now the blank can be turned to maximum outer diameter this being the flange in this case then reduce the tail-stock end of the blank to the required size 1.875"?
This completes two diameters and the mandrel has now done its job and can be removed from the chuck; the chuck will now accept 1.875" diameter allowing the rest of the turning to be completed; the 1/2" hole can also now be very accurately opened out to finished size using a boring bar. For a novice a bit of practice is required because once an item is removed from a lathe it seldom goes back running perfectly true so a bit of fiddling around using a DTI (dial test indicator) usually sorts it out; getting used to using a four jaw independent chuck with experience and the DTI is sure to get it running true; never trust just chucking in a three jaw self centering chuck without checking for true? So Refugee; yes larger items can be turned quite simply even when a chuck won't accept the item directly; taking it a step further if a face-plate is available even odd shaped items can be turned if they can be securely attached to the face-plate; lathe work is a huge subject in its own right and after 50 years of using lathes I've still got a lot to learn. Always err on the large size when buying blanks because the blank can be turned down removing material but material cannot be added.
When asked what you want for Christmas say "a lathe".
Kind regards, Col.
Thanks Lawrence; I need to give extraction some serious consideration; at the moment I have a small bag-less vac which I could hook up to the bandsaw but the filters are a constant pain blocking up with fine dust. I also have a big home made chip extractor with 4" inlet this being powered through my home made 3 phase system. Eventually when I start using the Graduate more I'll need extraction for that too especially during sanding operations.
I always get emotional regarding my kit Gary; every new bit of kit I'm like a kid with a new toy and I'll be the same with this soda blaster when I get it home; I'm eager to try it out and hope it comes up to the rave testimonials I've been reading about these blasters? I'm unsure whether to go for the smaller unit which would possibly suit my infrequent use or for a bit extra cash buy the double sized unit which also increases compressor air storage capacity? A lot depends on size because I'll be collecting the blaster and two bags of blasting medium in the Aygo so I'll make the decision when on site tomorrow.
I agree Gary that to spend a tenner to get a chassis blasted is the way to go if the service is available but in my experience people want paying when I do them the favour so I'll be extremely selective as to what I use the blaster for; I've got a feeling that setting up and cleaning up will possibly take longer than the actual blasting because I'll have to set the blaster up each time I use it and I'll need to store the blaster under the bungalow due to lack of space in the garage. One bonus though for those interested in buying a blaster I'll be trying mine out and reporting on it; I regard buying the blaster as a one off payment excluding consumables to finally give me ease of paint stripping and de-rusting. At around £200 kids receive much more expensive toys these days for Christmas which they play with once then discard through boredom? I'm interested not only in the blasters performance but in the blasting medium consumption; I'm starting off with 50kg which should easily strip paint from the bandsaw. I've also got the two home made belt sanders which I could blast then paint; the jobs add up and each job the blaster does it earns its keep and hopefully will soon pay for itself. I hope I'm not expecting too much? One way to get rid of neighbours wanting things doing for nothing is to charge £100 per hour after all our solicitor charges over £200 per hour and doesn't even get off his backside.
You may say so indeed Big Al; the bearing solution took a bit of thinking about because it's so easy to get locked into the original manufacturers design when doing this kind of restoration; I could have bought a cast iron blank and turned this to original specification even using the small Clarke lathe; the Clarke chuck would not initially accept such a sized blank directly but as you know Alan a dummy mandrel could be turned and employed which reminds me; I'd like to expand on this a bit because I didn't fully answer Refugee for his post #23.
Experienced lathe owners get used to their lathes and learn lots of tricks to get around seemingly impossible tasks? My Clarke is very limited by its chuck size this being a tiny 3"; the chuck has both internal and external jaws but installing the external jaws as you kindly suggested Refugee would still not give the capacity to hold a blank in excess of 4" diameter but there is a very simple way around this by turning a "dummy mandrel". Most home workshop owners will have capacity to bore 1/2" diameter holes in cast iron because cast iron is very easy to work with although also very dirty stuff.
Center pop the cast iron blank as accurately as possible then drill completely through on axis; this prepares the blank for mounting in the lathe. Now using the lathe; chuck a suitable length of round bar stock and reduce to 1/2" diameter; make the length slighter shorter than the cast iron blank and drill and tap the end of the dummy mandrel at say 6mm or 8mm to accept a set screw.
Now mount the blank onto the new turned and tapped mandrel; secure with a washer and set screw nipping up tightly. Now the blank can be turned to maximum outer diameter this being the flange in this case then reduce the tail-stock end of the blank to the required size 1.875"?
This completes two diameters and the mandrel has now done its job and can be removed from the chuck; the chuck will now accept 1.875" diameter allowing the rest of the turning to be completed; the 1/2" hole can also now be very accurately opened out to finished size using a boring bar. For a novice a bit of practice is required because once an item is removed from a lathe it seldom goes back running perfectly true so a bit of fiddling around using a DTI (dial test indicator) usually sorts it out; getting used to using a four jaw independent chuck with experience and the DTI is sure to get it running true; never trust just chucking in a three jaw self centering chuck without checking for true? So Refugee; yes larger items can be turned quite simply even when a chuck won't accept the item directly; taking it a step further if a face-plate is available even odd shaped items can be turned if they can be securely attached to the face-plate; lathe work is a huge subject in its own right and after 50 years of using lathes I've still got a lot to learn. Always err on the large size when buying blanks because the blank can be turned down removing material but material cannot be added.
When asked what you want for Christmas say "a lathe".
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
