My first plastic vacuum chamber for evacuating rubber Moldavia never held much pressure. For this attempt, I poked around at the local thrift store and ultimately came away with a pot and a tempered glass lid that will enable me to see what is going on inside. Until I got hold of it, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this pot; I’m certain it had … Continue reading Vacuum chamber
It’s hard to believe, but I bought this vise at the same garage sale where I got my drill press for fifty bucks fifteen years ago. For a lifetime, the drill press and vise had been part of a piano repair business, but even in 2003 nobody wanted real pianos anymore, and even fewer wanted repaired ones. I think he threw in the vise for … Continue reading Unused tools
I’ve been experimenting with OnShape sheet metal models to produce patterns for etching parts. Being designed for ordinary bending processes, OnShape is not directly applicable, but I think it is close enough for my purposes. Here are the sheet metal model parameters that I have found work in OnShape to produce drawings that match the recommendations for etching. Thickness = material thickness Bend radius .0004″ … Continue reading Using OnShape to create etching patterns in InkScape
Due to flooding, progress on real modelling has halted, and I’ve had to move into the virtual realm. This is okay, as there is loads of drawing work yet to do on 622. I speculated a couple of months ago that some careful manipulation of OnShape’s new Sheet Metal Model feature might yield a good pattern for etching. Tonight, armed with an excellent resource on design … Continue reading OnShape and etched fold lines
For Christmas, both kids made something for the workshop. The Girl made a lovely scrap bowl. The Boy made some stock-keeping boards. There are hours of work in each of them. Thanks to both of them! Continue reading Merry Christmas one and all!
A while back, I posted my plan for learning to use my new lathe. I’m now about four and a half hours into the practice part of learning. I’ve produced a bucket-full of swarf. At this point, I can confidently turn to a diameter and get a reasonable finish on a part. I’ve managed to stop welding aluminum to the top of the tool, and … Continue reading Learning to lathe – progress report
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a new feature in OnShape: Sheet Metal Models. It almost sucked me into a rabbit hole, but my objective was drawing a driver, not experimenting with cool new features. So, I parked it until this evening, which I seem to be spending babysitting the Cricut as it makes Christmas crafts for The Girl. With a little experimentation this … Continue reading OnShape Sheet Metal Models
