Not An Engineer

State of the Workshop - April 2024

New toys and next steps.

It's no state of the workshop, but it's something!

I finally sat down to record an update on the weekend, but once I sate down to edit I realised I didn't have anything super exciting to talk about, because I was still in that inbetween; catching up on stuff I've been meaning to do since before starting the last video.

So I couldn't help myself from procrastinating a little longer by starting on the next project, and having my first go at some four-axis machining. It's going pretty well so far, and I'm glad I'll have something to t...

We're still moving

Hey everyone, and welcome to all of you who've joined since the last video!

Apologies for the radio silence, have been scrambling to get things organised after being down that cyclo-rabbit-hole for a month. It's a habit I need to break, but the shed and the office and every other part of my life always end up in chaos towards the end of a project.

Have also been spending time on finding a business accountant and organising the books, so that I don't end up in jail for failing t...

I made a precision gearbox - with NO GEARS

This was one heck of a project, but I made it in the end. A (nearly) zero-backlash 4th axis for my home made milling machine.

Sources:

How To Mechatronics - What is Cycloidal Drive? Designing, 3D Printing and Testing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsS9-FzKN6s

Levi Janssen - Has a lot of great videos on cycloidal drives

2024-04-02 10:26:27 +0000 UTC View Post

A stitch in time

This photo does a great job of portraying the state of my brain after a week straight of editing. But it's so close; and I was right about the length, at 29 minutes, this one is more of a saga. Will hopefully have it to you guys early-mid next week. Hope you're all enjoying the weekend. Catch ya soon.

Get back in the booth!

It's finally done. What an undertaking; this project has really pushed the limits of my capabilities, and absolutely given the new machines in the shop a run for their money. Is there a machinists equivalent of a magnum opus?

It's far from perfect, of course, but with any luck it'll do the job. And making the 5th axis will be a lot easier with a 4th axis!

For now it's into the office to figure out the story I'm going to tell, and start stitching it together. I have a feeling it's ...

It was back to the drawing board

I got right to the end of that first iteration of the cycloidal drive, only to realise it had some pretty critical design flaws, and it's form factor wasn't going to be very useful. Luckily things are pretty quiet at work at the moment, so I took the last week of and completely redesigned and (almost completely) manufactured version 2.0!

It's now a combined spindle and gearbox, with some hefty 40x80mm tapered roller bearings keeping everything nice and constrained.

As well as a...

State of the Workshop - March 2024

Today we're talkin' cycloids, change gears, and quick change tool posts.

Something came up...

Believe me when I say I had every intention of shooting the next workshop update video today. But when a listing for several thousand bolts pops up on marketplace for $300 (AUD), it's kind of a drop everything and run moment.

All the red bins are metric, and there's a good whack of imperial in the blue ones. I'll have to get myself some new taps.

Here's to never going to the bolt shop again (although I guarantee the first one I need for a project won't be among this ridiculously...

My god this thing is satisfying.

Got the two cycloidal disk's made yesterday. They're almost useable; but I've got a bit of tuning to do.

With both disk's installed on the camshaft in the housing, there's a bit of binding. Could be out of roundness, not enough in the way of tolerance between the housing and disk's, or maybe my cam lobe offset is slightly off, but there's plenty of hope yet!

The workshop is finally in a workable state again, which is a massive weight off; and while it's not in its final state, ...

New beginnings

Hey everyone, and welcome to those of you who've joined over the past couple of days!

My housemate has just about finished moving out, and the shop is in an absolute state at the moment, so I've been spending the weekend trying to get it back into the realms of useability. On the plus side, I've got heaps more space to play with, and that should let me set things up in a more camera, and also (non)engineering friendly way. On the downside, everything is everywhere, and there's nowhere...

I've reached a TURNING point

Spin me up scotty, we're off to round town.

Back on the tools (for a moment)

Almost finished editing the lathe video, just waiting on the final say on the sponsored segment, and to add the animations, so while I wait to hear back, I thought I'd get a head start on that cycloidal drive I can't seem to shut up about.

Took care of all the drilling and boring using a CNC program on the mill, and amazed at the consistency of the hole pattern. Was a bit worried about ending up with an oval.

I figured it would be quicker to cut the slug out of the centre of the...

End of an era

Picked up this beautiful old drill press on Friday (the pillar is actually solid round bar) from probably the last (at least that I know of) precision engineering workshop here in Marrickville.

It's a bit of a sad story, but one that's very typical of the area over the last couple of decades. The owner, David, had been running the business for 25 years, until recently the owners of the warehouse he was leasing passed away, and the title was handed down to their children. Almost immedia...

State of the Workshop, February 2024 - Now in 4K!

Hey guys, here's where we're at: I got a haircut, we've got a new lathe, we're making progress on the tripteron and the cycloidal drive, the workshop is DOUBLING in size, and I'm dipping my toes into video sponsorship for upcoming videos (They'll be ad free here!). Would love to hear your thoughts on everything in the doobely doo. Cheers!

The World of CADmin.

Hey everyone! Definitely time for an update, so here's some snaps of what I've been working on. Unfortunately I've mostly been stuck on the computer, researching and planning for the next couple of projects that are coming up. I know I said I was thinking about sous viding a steak, but in the end it felt like kind of a lazy video idea, so I've changed course and instead I've taken on what are probably two of the most challenging tasks I've ever attempted. 

From my limited experienc...

State of the Workshop, Jan 2024

Happy New Year! (If you're not in Australia, this message will be arriving from the future) Here's to a whole 'nother year of just makin' stuff. Thanks to all of you for being here, I've really enjoyed hearing from you, whether it's been ideas, questions, or just general shop talk.

Tripteron robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtXycVGJg4

Inheritance Machining: 2023-12-31 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

I need a straightedge, so I made three.

Have you seen the price of precision metrology equipment lately? Neither have I, I've been too busy rubbing these sticks together (And trying to animate the explanation of why).

Thanks for the early support you've all given me, and while I'm still deciding on whether or not early releases here on Patreon will be something I'll stick with in the future, I wanted to give you guys a treat. 

Hope you're all getting a good break over the New Year period, I'm definitely looking for...

Cross-roads

I've been rubbing these things for days now, and I'm finding that when working with such teeny tiny numbers, it's easy to lose perspective/develop a certain level of insanity.

So I put it to the group: Is circa ±6 microns (best as I can measure) straight enough for a meter long straight edge?

I wanted to do a poll, but I'm not sure I can add images; these would be the options:

A) Of course it is you moron, hurry up and edit the video

2) No way lizard brain, get ba...

State of the Workshop - December 2023

Chattin' about straight edges, prop making, and some new gear in the workshop.

This is my life now + Q&A Announcement

I didn't believe all the stories about how time consuming scraping and lapping three reference surfaces together would take, but now I know. It doesn't help that I ran out of coarse diamond paste pretty early on. But I am making progress, and I've got most of the script finished for the video, so it won't be too much longer. 

I've also just finished up a couple of jobs for Mr. I Did a Thing (you might have seen the spring trap already, and we're going to the farm to shoot for anoth...

Heard you guys like surface finish

Have been getting by with a HSS bit for the fly cutter for ages, but enough was enough. Knocked up a quick and dirty carbide insert holder today, and by Jove, I'm blown away.

Plus now I can face these straight edges at 240mm/m, instead of 60. For you imperial folks out there, that's not so bad, and slow as balls, respectively.

Machine go brrrr

The trouble with the Whitworth three plates method is, obviously, you need three plates. While it does mean I'll eventually (hopefully) end up with three beautiful reference surfaces, for now it means I've got triple the work to do.

I'm closely basing them on the design of Alex over at "an engineer's findings" on YouTube, he's got some great info on scraping mild steel as well.

But while he went with laser cutting for the web of his straight edge, I decided to 'save some money'...

Side projects on side projects.

Alongside working on the straight-edges, I've been putting together this I'd lapping arbour. The lap itself is based on robrenz's design; its expanded by a taper inside, and locked rotationally by the little collar. The shaft is driven between centres on a lathe, and will hopefully let me achieve some very nice bearing fits for the new lathe spindle. It's probably not going to get its own video, as I'm not sure there's a broad appeal for this level of machine-geekiness, but I am considering d...

Improvise, adapt, overcome.

When the only car you've got access to is a zippy little hatchback, and the steel shop wants $3.90 a cut, you've got to think outside the box. I picked up the material and started making chips for my next project on the weekend. If the number of endmills I've broken already (3 (three))is anything to go by, it's gonna be a goodun'. 

3D Printable Tool Racks

Hey everyone! Thanks heaps to all of you who've come aboard, I'm excited about the possibilities your support will enable. Here's a little bonus for anyone with a 3D printer and a milling machine of your own. I got tired of keeping them in a drawer, so I drew up some tool racks for my BT30 tool holders, they'll work with ISO30 and NT30 tapers as well!

State of the Workshop - November 2023

Basically how I've learned CNC machining

Made a dangerous mistake while working on this part - okay, maybe more than just one ("When is this guy going to make some proper hold-down clamps?").

But the way I see it, if you're not having to put on fresh undies semi-regularly, you're not growing.

I managed to get to the e-stop before disaster, and the whole incident opened my eyes to just how little I was "sending it" with my adaptive clearing parameters.

I never would have thought I'd be able to do full slotting with ...

Yeah, that's not going to work...

It's easy to get carried away with designing a project, and while I was definitely accounting for SOME tooling side quests (Stay tuned for those!), this one got me totally by surprise.

I also wanted to clarify that this lathe, and the workshop you saw in my first video, aren't, in fact, my own. I'm lucky enough to have a boss who puts up with my continuous after hours attendance - just in case you were wondering why I'm building a spindle for my home shop lathe from scratch -

...O...