Reply with QuoteThanks I appreciate that. Can't wait to get it painted.
I am very impressed. I like how you are enclosing the whole project. Keep up the awesome work.
Thanks I appreciate that. Can't wait to get it painted.
Are you making any provisions for removing the tailstock or carriage for maintainance? I see the sheet metal housing is right up close to the end of the bed.
Thanks for the heads up.Originally Posted by smallblock
Actually I was just looking at that today when I wanted to slide the carriage on to take some measurements. I think I said out loud "brilliant move"!(PG13)
So I'm going to either make a removable panel or door for that end. Still trying to get my head around how I'm going to make the lid or front access doors and still clear the mill. I may just go mill shopping.
On that note just had a guy call me to paint his 65 Dodge Coronet wagon and sounds like it will be some work,plus he said he already spent $10,000 on engine and tranny so sounds like money is good. I will know more this weekend. (visions of a new Tormach in the garage)
Bright side is I will have money to finish lathe project.
Dark side not sure how much time I will have to finish it.
He did say I could have the car for 2 years...sounds like a long time, but for a full restoration time can sure slip by. I just finished a 51 Chevy and it took little over a year.
Also looks like this board is setup to only allow 3 days to edit posts so I won't be able to update "Table of Contents" in the OP anymore.
Got this much done today. I think I will just use some 1/4" lexan to cover openings to allow more light in. Then I will hinge lid off it with some gas struts.
OK Got the end cut off and braced.
Got the front door brace made and put in piece of metal to help coolant flow.
Long strand fiberglass strand to seal up welds.
Here it is all ready for primer. Just need final cleaning and I can start painting. Pretty far along and still not sure what color it will be. Don't have enough here so I will need to get paint in the morning.
Think I may go with white in the coolant area so I can use white silicon on the corners and can use it to touch up any chips later on.
Going to see what they have in mis-match paint and go from there.
I really rushed thru it today,but with the car coming in I need to get it painted and moved out.
I have alot of holes to drill and still need to make a lid...Hope I don't scratch it up to bad.
Lid will be aluminum and Lexan. (I think)
Stay tuned.
Not much to talk about here,but it's in first round of primer. Should be able to sand it in couple hours. My plan right now to paint everything above the doors white.
Bottom I will do in black and silver.
Wow nice job! Can't wait to see the final colors.
Thanks
Just got the white base coat on and will clear it in about an hour. Did little airbrush work on the front panel.
Planning a true fire flaming skull on the bottom if I can find some Intercoat clear in town.
Please note I'm no expert with airbrush but here is what I did. Spent about an hour on this.
Goal: Get done in time for the Superbowl.
Layed down some silver basecoat and added some Aztec gold candy to discolor the the gears a little.
Added black background.
Used white for some lightning bolts.
Covered with blue candy and little red on the ends.
Removed stencil and sprayed the "pop rivets"
sprayed some black shadows on brackets and gears.
Pop rivet shadows.
Here it is all sprayed white with 2 coats clear.
Rust drips were sprayed before clear with little gold and orange candy. Also shadowed the edge around out side of bracket.
WHOO HOOO! One step closer to destroying the paint with chips!
Time to think about a motor. Here is what I have had book marked for a long time now.
1hp Steel series
GS2 VFD drive
Not sure how HP rating cross reference to what I had. Original motor is single phase 3/4 hp and seemed to have plenty of power.
But I just found a Baldor 1 1/2hp cast iron inverter motor (1800 rpm) used for $60 (local pickup)
I know that's a great price although I would need to jump up one model on the drive to a 2 hp unit making price very similar. Any thoughts?
While on the subject I was planning on a 1 to 1 ratio (1800 rpm). Will I have enough control on speed with the VFD to lower RPM's or should I go 2 to 1 (spindle 3600 rpm) or go with a 3600 rpm motor?
Original spindle does have triple pulley so I could just use it for now but it has an incredible amount of runout.
I guess my main question is how well does a VFD control speed?
Can the model listed be controlled with Mach3 with the proper BOB?
Wow that painting is excellent! Way past anything I could come up with. Definitely unique.
I put on a Teco drive and if I remember correctly a 1.5hp motor on my machine.
I have a control box with forward and reverse,on and off,and a speed control pot on it. I have been very happy with it. I can take some pic's if you would like.
Thanks again.
YES I would love to see some pics!
Got the base done today. Black sealer sprayed to help silver cover.
I really really really didn't want to work on it today but weather still holding out so knocked it out.
Definitely not what I had in mind but was quick...should've just painted it all blue.
A hodge pod of colors.
Here's what I came up with to save trip to paint store.
Did this couple yrs ago on an old hood playing around..this is what I was going to do on the far left panel...but man was I exhausted this morning and this would take about 4 hrs.
Ok enough about how old I am. Blue and white ready for parts!
Still have to paint the lathe and the paint on it is crap. I think I will use a urethane single stage white on it and the mill.
Can you spot the screw up on the drawer?
You keep outdoing yourself Fannblade! Looks great and no I can't spot the drawer problem. I am sending you a pm.
I'm so glad to get this part done so I can clean the shop...lost a welding glove two weeks ago and still can't find it.
Ordered 1 hp motor and VFD I listed earlier. Hope it works for my needs. If not I will use it on the mill.
My plan is to get it back together enough that I can use it to make all the steeper mounts.
Since all the old gearing is gone it will be totally manual (no power feeds) till I get drives mounted.
Still contemplating using linear rails on the cross slide, machine work on the ways look like they were machined with angle head grinder and gib is way out.
This will also raise slide height even closer to mill and spindle.
Motor and VFD showed up this morning! Of course so has the freezing cold weather.
Hope to hook it up later today and see how it works.
Hooked up motor and VFD on the bench. It was pretty uneventful.
Hit the breaker and it turn right on and ran!
There is a guy on the Smithy forum looking for a motor- I think its the same as your original motor- he's been waiting months to get one, maybe you 2 could hookup and he could buy your old one.
I watch this thread daily to see your progress- looks great so far. I've had 2 Shoptask machines over the years and made a lot of money with each one, but never thought to build an enclosure like yours. The new Shoptasks come with the VFD drives- how much did you pay for the drive and motor?
I will look for the smithy guy.
Thanks. The main thing I didn't like right off the bat was the original motor location. It was always covered with chips and cutting lube (WD40). So since day one I wanted to move the motor to a more enclosed location...then just kinda snowballed from there.
I picked up the VFD,motor and adj. mount for just over $300 and that included free 2nd day air shipping. If you went with the GS1 would be little cheaper but I really like the idea of removable control panel so I can mount it within easy reach. Plus I needed to hit $300 for free shipping.
My next move is to get it mounted to the floor and level. Stand has around 1/4" twist and I'm not sure it weighs enough to pull it out so I will bolt it to the floor to pull it back square and level and over time it should settle in. That is the main reason I went with overlapping doors so if opening changed they would still work.
Today I will study linear rails and see if I can get that to work on the cross slide table.
Even though it would have been cheaper to just buy a good lathe it will be ton of fun to make a sub-par unit and get to work smooth and accurate.
Have you ever removed your spindle head?
I'm really trying to get my head around how I will tram it back in square with the bed. When I removed it there was a small shim under one corner so I'm sure it will be out during reassembly.
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