I started a project last summer to make my own quick change Lathe post. I never did get back to it as do many other things came up. Summers are rather busy and winter is cold up here. The plan was to heat my garage as it is insulated but the garage door is old, bent and seals are poor. Would be a waste of energy to heat. I decided on replacing the garage door. I went with the “works”, new door, rails, spring and opener. The R value I believe was 18, a well insulating door.

The 220volt heater I installed earlier this year easily keeps things warm. My hope is to work throughout the winter and accomplish more building rather than waiting till spring.

Lathe tool post...

Friday night I milled the slot for the cutting tool. Saturday, drilled the holes for screws to hold the tooling. Started taping with a 10-24 unc and gently worked it until snap! I remembered I had a new rap and started with it. The 3 flute straight taps aren’t well suited for new threads as the chips are forced down and tighten around the tap. Didn’t want to risk snapping another tap so decided to wait until I could order a spiral bottoming tap. These taps control the chip by curling the upwards out of the hole. Been careful to invest slowly in tooling as my builds are hobby. It Is so easy to spend a lot of money on tools. Cheap taps are about $7-9 each while the good taps can run around $25-50 each pending diameter (10-24 to 1/2). So time to invest in a little more tools, will lower the frustration level as well.



Garage Door...



Yesterday did a pickup with my wife for some curtains. About 1 mile from our small city. A house for sale sign caught my attention. A quick look, nice house and a nice double door garage door shop on the 1 acre property. When I researched online for the asking price, the thought quickly faded, $382,400. That is a lot of mortgage to carry for one income. I really do not know how couples are doing it these days other than both spouses work full time!

Thanks for reading & stopping by.

Pedro



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2017 05:02PM by pedrog.

Man! You must be living right, to get a tap to break OUTSIDE the hole, and with enough left to grabs d back it out!!! Never seen THAT before.

Oh ... Tip .... never trust the Tap Charts or the packaging. They seem to INTENTIONALLY specify Under sized drills to make the taps just a couple thousands too tight .... snap. Chartsmade by the Tap manufacturer. Develop your own chart of what yields a full thread without snapping taps.

Spiral taps areDaBomb!

I see the snowblower didn't wanna live in it's new box outside. Haha.

Gary

Thanks for the tip Gary!

No, snowblower wanted to be in the warm garage. It is where I like it as well. When/if we get dumped on with snow, just makes it easier to get it started and out blowing. But if our winter turns out like last season, will only require it a few times.

Pedro

Do you use lube? For the tap!

Lon

Hi Lon,

Yes lube was used. I had blown off the lube before I took the picture.

Good point though!

Pedro