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By Rob, on April 20th, 2010
You won’t need a mill to make this nice looking steam engine that was designed to be an easy-to-make project to teach basic machining skills to beginners. The free plans come in both US and metric versions and they include 24 pages of helpful instructions.
It was designed by members of the Home Model Engine Machinist (HMEM) forum, led by “black85vette,” who proposed designing a very basic and easy-to-build engine that could be built by someone without a lot of experience or tooling. What they came up with is an engine that uses tooling you probably already have or you’re going to need someday:
- Lathe with a 3-jaw chuck
- Parting tool
- Hacksaw or band saw
- 4-40 tap
- 1/4-inch reamer
- 1/2-inch reamer
- Some drill bits
- A drill press
You’ll also need some measuring/lay-out tools, a marker or lay-out dye, a center punch, vise and some files. And a live center if you decide to make the flywheel from flat stock using the “special” technique.
The engine was also designed to be inexpensive to build and use materials and fasteners that are easy to obtain and easy to machine.
- 1/4 x 2 x 10-inch aluminum flat bar
- 3/4 square x 4-inch aluminum bar
- 5/8 diameter x 2-inch brass rod
- 1/2 diameter x 2-inch brass rod (you can use 5/8-inch brass rod and turn its diameter down)
- 1/4 diameter x 4-inch rod in mild steel or brass
- 1/4 x 1/16″x 6-inch flat brass
- (15) 4-40 screws x 1-inch long (some of these will be cut to length)
- You’ll also need aluminum or brass to make a 3-inch flywheel. You can either use a 1/4-inch thick disk cut from 3-inch round stock or make it from a piece of 1/4-inch thick flat stock that’s at least 3-inches wide. You’ll use an interesting technique if you make it from flat stock. It is described in the instructions and I’ve also written about it.
You could also use steel for the flywheel but you’ll need a little experience to machine it. One of the group’s objectives was to use materials that are easy to machine which is probably why it wasn’t listed as option.
The 24-page construction manual is well written, profusely illustrated and provides step-by-step instructions with lots of helpful tips for a beginning machinist.
Download the Plans
- From HMEM (There are two versions. You want this one, the “13Nov09″ update.)
By Rob, on April 17th, 2010
This is a quick review of DeltaCAD, an inexpensive and easy-to-use 2D CAD program with a short learning curve. I highly recommend it, unless you need to design and draw complex parts or make 3D drawings. If you’ve been looking for a simple CAD program then invest a few minutes and take a look at this one. The fully functional demo won’t take long to download or install, and it will work for 45 days with absolutely no restrictions. And you can buy it for only $40, which I think is a bargain.
DeltaCAD reads and writes industry standard DXF and DWG files, which makes it compatible with almost all other CAD programs. It loads almost instantaneously, which makes it a great viewer for looking at CAD files you find on the net. It has so many features that I’m not even going to try and list them all. And DeltaCad has been around for a long time, since 1995, and it’s always being updated and improved.
The program’s author claims it is the “world’s easiest CAD program,” which may be true. I looked at many other CAD programs and none of them come close to matching DeltaCAD’s ease of use. I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that they shared some common problems:
- The other programs were really powerful, almost designed to do all things for all people. In other words, they were bloated with features that many users, especially home machinists, would never use.
- They often didn’t come with a tutorial or some other way to help a new user get started. They also typically came with documentation that would be great at telling you the obvious, like “Click on the line icon to draw a line,” but leave out basic details, like how to make it a certain length or at a certain angle.
- DeltaCAD just seems to have been designed to be easier to use. It also comes with a simple tutorial that will get most people started making useful drawings in about an hour.
You’ll find DeltaCAD’s tutorial in the help menu. The tutorial will guide you step-by-step through the process of drawing a calculator, showing all the different methods you can use. I think most people will probably be able to complete it in about 30 to 60 minutes.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t show you how to add dimensions to a drawing, which is really easy. So after drawing the calculator you may want to take a quick look at the “dimension” topic, which you’ll find in help under “drawing.” Afterward, I think you’ll know enough to start making your own drawings.
If you have questions you can ask them on the DeltaCAD User’s Forum, where you will also find a library of drawings, symbols and macros to download.
There are some good reasons to learn how to use a more powerful and complex CAD program. For example, I’ve been told that many of the 3D CAD programs will help make certain that the parts you design will fit together properly. If you make a change to one part they can automatically make changes to the others so that critical dimensions and things like bolt holes will continue to match up.
So someday, if I start designing more complex projects and making them on CNC machines, I may need to learn how to use an affordable 3D CAD program like Alibre or Dolphin CAD. But so far DeltaCAD has been more than capable of meeting my needs and I’m going to continue to use it.
Related Links
ReviewCentre’s user reviews of DeltaCAD
Woodbin’s review of DeltaCAD
By Rob, on April 6th, 2010
 Photo by Karl Townsend These are Karl Townsend’s plans and construction notes for a zero fog mister. Even though they’ve been floating around the net since at least 2002 they aren’t that easy to find and I’ve heard it works really well. So I asked Karl for permission to republish them here. He says the original is still in use and he thinks at least one hundred people have made one. – Rob
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I’ve used a mister for many years on both lathes and mills. I hate the mess of flood coolant leaking all over the floor and mist cooling gives about 90% of the benefit. The major problem with mist cooling is fogging or atomizing the coolant so fine it floats around in the shop. Since I’m running a machine many hours a day, I’ve gotten real sensitive to the fog – it gives me a sore throat.
Anyway, I read about a low fog mister called a HenchForth Fog Buster here on this newsgroup. A fellow had obtained a copy of the patent for this unit and made his own. So, I did the same. This unit was better, but still a slight fog or smell of coolant would be in the shop. But, it gave me the idea of how to build a better one. This unit works so well, you can’t tell it’s on – no sign of fog or odor of mist.
The key to operation is in the relative pressure of the coolant and the supply air pressure. A standard mister has the coolant unpressurized and uses 40 – 60 psi air. The Hench unit pressurizes the coolant container to the same pressure as the air line. This unit uses a higher air pressure for the coolant than the air line.
A short explanation of construction:
Build a coolant container out of an old 20 lb. propane tank. Make a removable top to refill coolant (just a 1/2″ pipe plug). Weld in a drain line connection to the bottom of the tank. Provide a way to use a regulator and air line to pressurize the tank to 20 PSI. The drain line goes to the mister as a pressurized coolant supply.
Provide an air supply regulated to 5 psi. Make a way to shut off both this line and the coolant line when the mister is not needed.
The mister unit joins the water line and the air line with a needle valve to control the amount of coolant delivered. Use a small block of brass to make this assembly. The air line passes through the block and must be necked down to 0.100 ” dia. so the air velocity is high. At this point, the coolant line intersects the air line. The coolant line must be very small, I used 0.040 ” dia. at this point. Just upstream from where the coolant enters, there must be a needle valve to regulate coolant flow rate. I just soldered in a McMaster needle valve – #48965K24.
Use a 6″ long 1/8″ OD brass tube for the mister extension shaft. To the end of this solder a nozzle. This must be 0.75″ long and have an inside diameter of 0.040″.
Again, this unit is a total success for me. It runs up to six hours a day with absolutely no fogging. Mist rate can be controlled from nearly nothing to a heavy, nearly flood mist.
Mixer Drawing (PDF)
Mixer Drawing (DWG)
By Mikey, on March 29th, 2010
This is another excellent article by Mikey, a frequent contributor to MachinistBlog.com and winner of our “Machining Metal as a Hobby” contest.
The Jet HVBS-56M, like most of its brethren, lacks a suitable table for vertical cutting. The OEM table is, in my opinion, unsafe for use in the hobby machine shop because of its extreme flexibility. It is also a major hassle to put on and remove. Use it a few times and you will quickly realize a better table is a must, and as there are no really good aftermarket tables out there a shop-made table is your best option.
For the benefit of new owners thinking about building such a table, there are a few things to consider. These are MY requirements; others may differ.
- It has to be rock-solid in use. This is both safety and accuracy.
- It has to be square to the blade, from the side and the front, so that cuts are accurate without the user trying to manipulate the work to follow a line or to make cuts come out even on the top and bottom of the work.
- It needs to go on and come off quickly, preferably without needing tools to do so.
- It needs to wear well and not impede the cutting process in any way.
- It must not interfere with the saw when cutting in horizontal mode.
- It needs to be easy and inexpensive to build.
The Problem
The key problem with these saws is that the entire table, regardless of how fancy or robust it may be, is supported by a tiny area measuring 5/8” deep by 2-1/4” wide (on Jet saws) atop the lower blade guide. This small area is usually left as cast and not anywhere near flat. Instability is guaranteed by this design, but there are two things you can do to improve this situation (aside from milling the mounting area atop the blade guide itself). In my view, both are necessary.
The first is to make a sub-table to support the main table that will mount to it. The second is to make a support that slips under the main table after it is installed to take the pressure off the lower blade guide mounting point.
Note that a brace behind the table will not be solid enough to prevent movement of the main table (yeah, I tested this). However, a brace in front of the sub-table does help. I had one mounted to the area where my chip brush now sits such that it supported the front of my sub-table, and that helped a lot. However, an independent support under the main table is more robust and works significantly better.
I won’t speak to the design of others, many of whom have come up with beautiful and ingenious designs worthy of emulation. Search the 4X6 Yahoo group and you’ll see what I mean. Here, I will discuss my own as an example of how a table can be made to fulfill the requirements listed above. It isn’t fancy, just safe and accurate. You can decide what will work best for you.
Continue reading → A Table for vertical cutting on the Jet 5X6” Band Saw
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