General Tech What did you work on Today?

[_Auzzy_]

And now I'm finishing up Cory's repair on our buddy Chad's rig.

Helped Chad assemble his shafts then he had to leave and as some are aware around here, if you leave your project here for someone else you get an elephant



Would have it totally assembled right now but we ran into an issue with his super joint o-rings being super flimsy, you can break them in your fingers where a normal ring would just bend etc. So hopefully I can find some in the morning if not it may get the old shaft shoved back in till the new o-rings arrive.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice repair on the inner C.

 

[Tonkaman]

I decided it’s time to insulate and sheet the shop walls. The framer must have left his tape measure home because the stud spacing is all jacked up 17, 15, 14.5, 16.5, 14, etc.... rather than cut down the OSB to match the studs, I decided to just add metal backing to screw off to. This will give me the added benefit of additional backing for future changes like shelving. I made sure to mark the stud layout on the floor with marker and will clear coat them for future reference.

 

[frieed]

I have OSB in my garage walls and can hang anything from just the OSB. I'll offer up an airless sprayer to paint the walls before you put stuff back into the garage ( light painted walls make SO much difference to the amount of light in the shop)

 

[Hickey]

Got the OEM tailgate hinges on and the spare is now inside the tub. I'm gonna have to change the rear springs out for something with less spring rate, but it sure is nice to see out the rear window.

 

[Pile of parts]

Nice looking Jeep, I love those wheels!

 

[_Auzzy_]

Able to finally get my titan in and address some issues. That list included lengthing the wires from amp to subwoofer, bandage broken fender flare, replace head lights, and fix the exhaust leak on the #1cylinder.

So first I did the fender flare and amp wire etc cause it's easy stuff. After that I finally got Chad's buggy off the hoist and got my truck in. Had this issue for awhile and I am both baffled and annoyed by it. Some how, just my head light got scratched up, like gouged deep enough it feels like it got dragged down the road. Nothing around it is scratched!



Anyways got it replaced, adjusted, and a bunch of wires cleaned up/tucked away for a cleaner look. Also installed a inline coolant heater for work and just out of boredom and curiosity I mounted some lights in the tunnel of my ram air hood.

 

[Hickey]

Nice looking Jeep, I love those wheels!

Thanks!

 

[zmotorsports]

One step closer to completing my axle fixture.

I cut the 4” x 1” bar stock then cleaned up the ends in the mill before measuring the bolt centers and drilling the through holes.

Horizontal bandsaw does such a nice job of clean square cuts.

Ends cleaned up and milled to exact same as the bottom.

Mocked into position prior to drilling the holes.

Edges located and measurements plugged into the DRO for the through holes.

One down one to go.

The holes drilled and ready for the next step which will be cutting the V grooves in the upper halves.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Tonkaman]

I have OSB in my garage walls and can hang anything from just the OSB. I'll offer up an airless sprayer to paint the walls before you put stuff back into the garage ( light painted walls make SO much difference to the amount of light in the shop)

thanks Eric, but I have so much crap in the shop that I’m only able to do 3 or 4 sheets at a time. I really appreciate it though

 

[jeeper]

thanks Eric, but I have so much crap in the shop that I’m only able to do 3 or 4 sheets at a time. I really appreciate it though

You are really going to like the insulation. Excited for you.

 

[YROC FAB.]

One step closer to completing my axle fixture.

I cut the 4” x 1” bar stock then cleaned up the ends in the mill before measuring the bolt centers and drilling the through holes.

Horizontal bandsaw does such a nice job of clean square cuts.

Ends cleaned up and milled to exact same as the bottom.

Mocked into position prior to drilling the holes.

Edges located and measurements plugged into the DRO for the through holes.

One down one to go.

The holes drilled and ready for the next step which will be cutting the V grooves in the upper halves.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

Why did you do a weldmet on the bottom dies and solid machined ones on the top? Seems like it would of been more slick to have all of them machined.

 

[zmotorsports]

Why did you do a weldmet on the bottom dies and solid machined ones on the top? Seems like it would of been more slick to have all of them machined.

Agreed. I would have liked to have had machined top and bottom but I didn't have enough of the 1" x 4" bar stock and this was built completely from scrap/drops. I had plenty of tubing and was the next best option for the purpose.

Besides, I hadn't done any welding in a while and I was itching to break out the welder.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

I was able to complete my axle fixture last night.

There are several ways I could have cut the V grooves in the upper halves. The easiest probably would have been to cut along the scribe lines with the vertical bandsaw and then touch up on the belt sander but I wanted to machine the grooves. Besides my mill was already a mess so I may as well add to the chips.

On the mill I could have clamped the plates at a 45-degree angle upright in the vise and cut the V from the end but I didn’t have an end mill long enough to reach the bottom of the V, plus there would have been some deflection in the end mill. I also could have clamped it to my rotary table and indicated in on either the X or Y axis, milled to the bottom then turned the table 90-degrees and milled to the other line. I opted to clamp it directly to the table atop my 1-2-3 blocks and indicate in on one axis and cut using the X and Y travel.

Measurements transferred to the plates. You can see my center punch marks. My plan was to drill a 3/8” hole and have that radius at the bottom of the groove. To accomplish that I offset the hole half of the 3/8” and center punched for drilling.

After snugging the clamps I used my combination square as the reference for indicating in on the X axis.

After using my wiggler to find the center punch I zeroed both X and Y on the DRO. I then moved off of the cut lines by .100” and made the rough cuts before switching over to a 4-flute end mill and snuck up on the measurements.

Final pass completed.

One down one to go.

Mocked up with a smaller diameter tube. This should be the closest the upper and lower clamps should come to one another and still has 3/8” clearance with plenty of surface area contact for secure clamping. This would be even smaller than a Dana 30 or 44 which I will more than likely be working with.

Mocked up with probably the largest tube diameter I will come across. This would be indicative of a Dana 70, 80 or even an AAM or GM 14-bolt axle.

Approximately where they will reside on my fabrication table when in use.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Bart]

It's going to be a sweet stand. Very nice.

 

[zmotorsports]

It's going to be a sweet stand. Very nice.

Thank you.

It should be rigid enough for what I need.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Nothing too major over the past week or so but I had a few small items on my white board that I really wanted to have completed before the end of the year. My son purchased a used older Snapper single-stage snowblower identical to the one we had years ago at our last place and has been going through it and restoring it in his home garage. I told him he could bring it over to the shop that's heated to work on it but he said he wanted to work on it in his own garage and I completely understood. He has gone through the carb, replaced the rubber flaps on the paddles and a couple of bushings but one thing he wasn't able to locate were the two large wing nuts for the diffuser on the discharge chute so he asked me if I could make a couple for him.

Started with 1” round stock.

I machined about a 12-degree taper to weld the 3/8” stock onto after drilling & tapping to 5/16”-18 thread.

Cutting four small lengths of 3/8” round stock. These linear style clamping pliers sure work great to keep round items from turning while cutting.

All of the components.

Wiped with acetone and ready to weld.

Welded.

Bead blasted and painted with some semi-gloss black.

Here they are after he installed them last night.

Thanks for looking and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year in 2020.

Mike

 

[jeeper]

This is something I have wanted to do for a while.

The brick wall will come out as soon as my gates are made. The center post will lift out, and now I can drive a trailer through to the back yard. I’ve been doing it for ever around the other side of the house... but it’s super tight. (I’ve popped tires twice as they rub along the fence) This gives me a 13ft entrance.

 

[YROC FAB.]

I made a brass T handle style shift knob for my neglected tow Cummings.

 

[zmotorsports]

I made a brass T handle style shift knob for my neglected tow Cummings.

View attachment 124207

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Very nice.