The Jigmaster Project

[David Hall]

This is going to be the indestructible reel, drop it from aircraft, run over it with a tractor, I don't think anything will damage it, 
We need an appropriate call sign for this beast!
It's not a tank it's a

[Rothmar2]

This is going to be the indestructible reel, drop it from aircraft, run over it with a tractor, I don't think anything will damage it,  
We need an appropriate call sign for this beast!
It's not a tank it's a

TIME VACUUM (tongue in cheek, but an element of truth there)

[Robert Janssen]

Well done. Definitely the right method. Welding that would have likely brought tears.
Making stands and feet is trickier than it looks.

PS: you might want to put a witness mark on that before you forget

.

[Rothmar2]

Thanks Robert, coming from you, that is great reassurance. I just felt any heat would distort the frame, and I'd be back to square one.
I'm sure you can picture what is coming next, another 2-3hrs tool-making to be able to finish the seat off.
But I'll be making a few 501 frames, so the time spent now will be worth it in the long run.

[mhc]

TIME VACUUM (tongue in cheek, but an element of truth there)
[/quote]

An element of truth indeed! Each 'episode' of this project has been a summary of many, many hours of work (and skill), not to mention the countless hours pondering materials, design alternatives and process options. Add a few lengthy interruptions / delays from circumstances out of your control, I think you are justified in calling it a 'Time Vacuum'. On the up side, you are on the downhill run with the first frame, and now have most of the tooling made, process in place and design sorted (more or less) for any subsequent frames you can talk yourself into making. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I don't think it's a train coming!!

Having said that, I don't think 'Time Vacuum' will catch on, it needs to signify what has gone into making it, strength, tenacity, perseverance as well as what it is strong, stable, resistant - I'm thinking 'The Rock' but that is probably due to my geotech background. 

I think I am in breach of rule #18 - I had better go.   

[Ron Jones]

Truly impressive.
I believe the answer is yes, but are you keeping all of the jigs / plates your making up for this project? It would certainly help reduce the time of future reels.
Thank you for including us on your journey.
Ron

[sdlehr]

Add me to the list of folks along for the ride, enjoying the scenery. Well done!

Sid

[Rothmar2]

Yes Ron, I most definately am keeping the tooling I have made. At a guess, I reckon I have 30-40hrs in just the frame alone, and a third to half that time is in making the tooling. My next challenge is trying not to lose any of it. I work on a ship, doing 5 weeks on, 5 off, and have a days travel to get to/from. Trying to keep it all together without someone on the other swing throwing it out makes me lose sleep...I will show you a photo of the tools I have made at some point, so you can get a better picture of what this has taken. I'd say there's 30-40lb of metal in just the tools!
I have shown a pic of the 501 frames bending stage, will be getting another bent today. I am hoping these will be much quicker to make, not being as wide, means much less surface to machine, and tools already done. I may still have an issue with the drilling jig for the end plate hole pattern, but I have a set of Tom's plates coming, and I will check that out more closely before I go ahead and drill any more frames. So I may still have some tooling work to do in future.
I have now all but finished machining the first reel seat, there will be a post with that as soon as I get back into phone range. So now it's down to "trimming the fat" off the frame. Not having access to a mill means chain drilling and a fair few hours of filing ahead. I don't think the polishing is going to be a quick process either.....
 I had a thought it would be nice to be able to pass the tooling I have made onto someone who might be interested in having a go at this themselves, but I think it would be too cost prohibitive in today's world of ridiculous freight charges. And it would take me a year of travel to get the tooling home bit by bit in my suitcase!
At this point I'm thinking I will probably only make 5-6 frames.

[Ron Jones]

Just a thought, but how about contracting out the final milling on land? If the goal is to make it all yours then I understand this isn't acceptable, but chain drilling and cleaning up is hours upon hours of work.
Ron

[Rothmar2]

The reason why is cost. I can't justify paying around $40/hr for someone else to do this, when I can do it myself. I don't know what it's like in the US, but skilled tradesman cost an arm and a leg in Australia. I have a hard enough time putting money aside just to buy raw materials (SS plate etc), and I'm fortunate enough that I have access to the equipment I do at work. Otherwise there is no way I'd even consider something like this. I have a wife, kids, mortgage and plenty of bills to pay like everyone else, I can't afford for my hobbies to be any more expensive than they need to be.
Chain-drilling and filing is not that bad anyway. Yes it's time consuming, but time is something I have bit of out here. Beats sitting around watching movies like most other blokes do in their downtime. It just doesn't work for me, I'd rather do something productive....besides I can put the iPod in my earmuffs and groove away while I do this.

[Ron Jones]

As a submariner, believe me I can relate. If that is your deal brother then stick with it, it's working.
Ron

[Rothmar2]

No problem Ron. A submariner! Yikes, I think some of what I do in the Offshore is risky enough, but underwater?! And the military! Tip of the hat to all those who serve their countries.

To machine the reel feet, it was yet another tool made to bolt to the faceplate. The curved face with the bolt holes was a piece cut from some scrap pipe that was very close to the diameter of the frame. In the second photo you can see a partial channel cut. I initially tried to take a bit of a shortcut by mounting the piece to the faceplate with the clamping kit I have used at other stages in this project. The problem was the overhang of the small boring bar from the tool post, there was too much deflection and chatter with the intermediate cuts. This necessitated the construction of the holding tool, and thus also having to machine the rod profile in two steps. I'll also add that I was able to maintain a chuck speed of 270rpm without out of balance wobble. Sufficient for this step, and also due to the sturdiness of this machine. If ever attempting this on a smaller lathe, a counterweight would need to be bolted to the faceplate.



The seat bolted to the holding tool with the cap head bolts





Check with a try-square, not quite there....



So slack off the holding tool from the faceplate, and slip a shim in under the tool and adjust until square, you can just see it in this pic



Once happy,  mount the faceplate to the lathe, can do a partial check with the dial gauge for squareness of the faceplate, I managed to get it under 0.1mm...good enough. Do a rotational  check by hand with the machine out of gear, before commencing machining, vital safety step...



Bore cut to roughly the middle of the seat, virtually no tool deflection or chatter this time around



Reverse seat on the holding tool, do some checks for squareness etc with measuring tools and light cuts to get everything aligned before cutting to final profile



Then change boring tool for facing tool and carve out the taper at the top of the footing



This took a while as I didn't bother to cut away the excess metal enclosing the bolt hole of the original piece. You can still see a remnant of this



When I removed the seat to reverse it for doing the other end, I used a grinder to remove the bulk of the metal. Note I have rounded off the sharp corners as well



Re-attach to the holding tool



And machine the other end. I used a 5degree taper, but at this point I'll have to re-mount the seat again, as the feet are far too long, and I want to increase the taper. I plan on filing the width back of the feet as well.



And now a sneak peek.....



And as Robert wisely suggested, a witness mark as well



Will get chain drilling and filing up ASAP.

[steelhead_killer]

Dude I hope you work for NASA!  That is some awesome work! 

[broadway]

Seriously, You amaze me! Every step is so well thought out, carried out and documented.
Awesome job, bro!
Dom

[mhc]

You are certainly opening my eyes to what can be achieved with a face plate and appropriate tooling - I can stop guessing how you were going to make the foot.
I've heard it's good practice to replace those 316 hydraulic connection blocks regularly, before they leak, or have you found enough already? 

Mike