Bridgeport for Beginners!

That should do it!!! Using #10 wire was overkill and a PITA to work inside those boxes.

 

I can imagine. #12 can be bad enough!

 

Whacha wiring there? Lot of dryer plugs.

 

Looks like a remote control there so he can operate the lathe/bridgeport from his armchair............

 

Looks like a giant 240v power strip?

 

Yeah Zap. That's what it is. It will power 3 vfd's and a compressor. Those are 30amp double pole switches. No more climbing through my ass to run a different machine.

 

Your machines use less than 30 amps?

I need to sort something like this out for my shop. More details pls!

 

WAY less than 30amps. Now I will say if the Air Compressors tank pressure is below the set value on the valve, flipping a switch or circuit breaker will result in the motor immediately starting. I havent measured it, but I bet the initial inrush is every bit of 30amps! So to avoid damaging switches or circuit breakers, it's a good idea to let the compressors pressure switch do the heavy lifting starting the motor.
My lathe is 3hp, the mill 2hp and the surface grinder probably 1hp. But when a vfd is doing the job of carrying the load and start, I'll have no spark across these switches with my dumb ass on the other end. So my multiple plug board here just makes it easy to switch from machine to machine as I work. Could I run two machine at one time? Probably with no issues.

 

In the non stop quest to make stuff more compact and smarter, I built this today. Now my bench grinder, buffer/wire wheel and belt sander live in one place. The top spins on the pole so I can place the entire contraption up against a wall. I drilled the center for an electrical slip ring. A little more paint and it will be good to go. It's very stable too and locks down on the spindle if necessary.

 

I did a three spindle unit like that using a trailer stub axle and wheel hub and I've seen at least two similar versions with three bench grinders mounted on a turntable with wire wheels, buffs etc. By angling the arms it balances well and goes closer to the walls too. It has a foot pedal to unlock the hub to rotate the desired unit in place.

 

That's really clever!


I mounted the power strip on the back of the drill press. It works excellent. Yes the bridgeport is still on lamp cord. I'll get to it later when I wire up the surface grinder.

 

That's a good spot for the power strip, out of sight from casual onlookers but still convenient to reach.

 

And it shouldn't fill up with chips.

 

Hmmm maybe a piece of sheet metal above it and on the sides for a deflector just in case something weird happens like a liquid spill when the cat knocks something over.

 

The cat has learned the garage is a no go zone. He walked across my car just one time. He vanished for a week.

 

Some swear it's necessary to balance grinding wheels and others say no. I figure if it spins, it should be pretty close. My wife found this in the closet the other day and asked if I still wanted it. It's for balancing R/C stuff. I was a heli guy 20 odd years ago.. Long before any bozo could fly a drone..



20mins on the lathe to turn a couple of cones...


And Bob's your uncle! It's pretty sensitive too rolling around on the 1/8" rod. The dubro balancer has a pair of knife edges. Easy!

 

It will never fly (at least I hope not!!)

 

Yeah no kidding!

 

Had to go back inside my mag chuck. I over filled it with stinky ass gear oil and it was pissing all over the place.



So I'm on the hunt for a better fitting seal around the handle and while it's open, I had to see what it looked like between the magnet and the top of the chuck. I also learned if you have one of these and it has oil in it.... You need to remove the chuck from the table every now and then.. Shut the chuck off and flip it over. The idea is you want to keep some oil on top of the magnet so when it moves under the top, it's nice and slidey.. (word?) I was impressed to find mine was very clean between the surfaces.

Anyways, here is how you jack off a chuck! No other way to put that one. It takes a huge amount of force to slide the magnet off the top. It's upside down here.
The piece of mahogany is sliding the magnet off the top. Pretty clean under there and no rust. You have to be careful with these, they will remove a finger tip easily!
Installation was easy, I used a couple pieces of 1/8" plywood to slowly lower it back straight down on the magnet.

 

Need a tool, make a tool. I dont know the significance of setting the diamond at 15degrees, but I did it. I guess it's to spread the wear.

Chuck is back together and no leaks. I dumped a cup of vactra in it before closing it up. Works great.