Putting it all Together

Well, with all the paint now being nice and dry, I started assembling the unit. There are still afew parts I need to make, like the carrage lock. Seems the one I made wont have enough swing to lock it tight, plus I plan on using a different way. So, in the mean time, I used a C clamp to lock the carrage.

With the unit now basically assembled, I figured I will give it a try and grind my Milling attachment base. I had already faced it using the lathe, but boy did the grinder give it a smooth as glass finish. With that done, I figured I would use it to grind the bolt face and swivel face of the milling attachment. To face it on the lathe takes a lot of set up, but here I just stuck it to the 4" magnetic chuck and it worked wonders.





Now that the grinder performs well, I have started doing a bunch of grinding jobs, and will then finish it off. I have a couple of issues to deal with, one being that my shop (yea I know, its only a garage) floor isnt flat or level. So, either I find the perfect spot for the grinder (and you know it will be dead center in the way of everything), or make adjustors for the legs, which I think will also have to be stiffened up.

It starts to come together

Well, now having the lead screw in and standing around waiting for the top plate paint to dry, I looked for something to do to amuse myself. Thinking about who I ground the rails at 60 deg, I decided that I should go ahead and go with the plan to allow the grinder head to rotate. While I have the plate mounting on a 1/2 bolt aleady, I decided to make a "stiffer" way to set and lock an angle. I decided to use a curved slot to allow a second bold to lock the plate tighter than using just one center bolt. Cutting the slot however would be a challenge.

After checking the large angle plate, I found I could do the whole thing on the lathe. Using an angle plate I already have fixed to a T slot cross slide on the lathe, I drilled a seriers of holes in an arc about the center bolt. This was easy, as the center bolt acted as the pivot point. I increased the hole sises until the holes ran into each other, and then made the final hole sizes at 1/2". I then switched to a 1/2" end mill and removed the webbing between the holes with plung cuts. Once most of the material was out, I left the end mill in the hole at one end, and rotated the bracked right through all the holes, leaving a nice clean slot.

As the day was nearing an end, I decided to clean up the plate and spay paint it as well. While I waited between coats, I found another bit to work on. I had bought a 4" round magnetic chuck a while back on Ebay to posibly use on my drill press. Well, I figured it would be a great peice for the grinder, all I had to do was make a plate so I could bolt it to the T slot cross slide. After checking out the mounting (1 hole dead center of the bottom, already threaded), I simply cut a 1/2 plate to 6" x 3" (had some 3" x 1/2 flat bar). Made the center hole and countersunk it for a capscrew, and made a hole in each end for the T bolts.

Finally, the ACME Threaded rod is here

Well, I finally got the ACME threaded rod, and even found a place here to buy them. After checking how much I needed, I found that I could use the whole 36" and not have to bother to trim 4" off. Once I used the lathe to strip about 3" off one end just big enough to pass through the handle I'm going to use (its actually one off the cross slide, but since I will have a motor drive on one end, I don't need a handle there), I made the same size hole in the top plate. I shaved a bit more off the last inch to bring it to 3/8, so I could thread it and use a 3/8 nut.

Since I didn't feel like trying to cut a groove in the rod end for a key way for the handle (OK, I did try and after 15 min and two broken lathe bits I figured I should find a simpler way), I drilled and tapped a hole for a set screw in the handle collar. After using a drill to make an indent on the rod, I put it all together. I was surprised how well it went together and what little effort it took to raise and lower the carriage (I temporarily put the grinder on it to bring it to maximum weight).

Next, its time to get another piece of steel plate and make a new mount for the new grinder, as its a bit large for the plate I made for the "speedway gutless grinder". I guess I shouldn't beet up to much on that poor grinder, as while it lived (and it was a damn short life of 4 days) it did help heat the shop (too bad its summer here, I should have used it to cook a snack on lol). In the mean time, I will have to paint the top plate (Princess auto ran out of the sandable epoxy primer I used, and boy is that some great stuff. Along with the enamel paint, its the best spray paint I have ever used, and by far the toughest. It compares to baked on enamel coatings, and after repeated abuse when climbing on the stand, it still shows no scratches ) one I can get another can.