Watching you turning plastic on a machine lathe reminds me of in 1970 I was a lathe operator for Bennett Respiration. We made medical respirators. One job was machining plastic respirator mask you connectors. The plastic was beyond gummy to machine but the simply chilled the part with nitrogen and used a sharp angle tool. Tons of ribbons all over my machine. Thanks
That's interesting. I tried to machine some resilient plastic suspension bushes but they just collapsed when I tried to grip them. At the time I thought about putting them in the freezer but they would have warmed up in no time. Cleaning up plastic swarf is no fun at all. Regards, Mark
Great project Preso, I too am often motivated by the lack of quality that the hardware stores sell us in great quantity. Thanks for the tip on the deck material, I can see a lot of use in the shop and particularly for test projects on the mill and lathe. Enjoyed very much, thanks and cheers!
I saw a product called "chemical wood" that was sold as a prototyping material to use on CNC mills and routers. It machined easily and quickly and didn't knock the tools around too much. The Eco Deck is similar in that you can knock out a draft part very quickly to check for size and fit and then if it works you can re cut from metal. I have just about used up all my offcuts of this material but I should really buy another length of it just to keep for small parts that don't need the strength of metal or in the case of components that need to be electrically insulated. Regards, Mark
Don’t believe I’ve ever felt invigorated when breaking a bit off in a part. Perhaps relieved to find the kids and/or wife weren’t nearby during my tirade.
I haven't forgotten you, when it comes to making you a rapping tool. I have the mold on deck but life interfered before I could pour it. Trying to get the job done before the real heat of a Florida summer.
That's OK. I have been having more success with the whole casting experience lately. I have a video coming out shortly where I get 100% yield from 12 patterns. How good is that? Regards, Mark
Hello Mark, I do like the die block for making rivets... also, the design you made to hold the glass in place without the need of any additional fastenings. Take care. Paul,,
Thanks Paul. I came up with that design for the glass fixing on my morning walk. Slogging 4km along a rough and steep mountain bike track gives on plenty of "thinking time". Regards, Mark
Nice job on the jigs and fixtures. There are not that many videos that show this type of work flow. I like the way the rivets look. Thank you for sharing it.
Gday Preso, I’m sure these lights will out last any that are on the shelf at Bunnings, the plastic material machines very nicely, great job mate, Cheers
Thanks. I can report that the garden lights have been installed for several months now and they work reliably and are practically bullet proof. Also, they look good but not like a Tardis! (Sorry, a lame joke from the last episode). Regards, Mark
Made myself the tool to get the dome head on soft rivets years ago, using just a drill bit to make a shaped inner section in a small piece of old shafting. Got a few bottles of odd solid rivets that I picked up, and they are useful, even made a few little repairs to toys from them, hammering them flat to fit in the broken plastic with epoxy.
My view is that riveting is an underrated method for joining materials. The difficulty is actually buying solid rivets now. Back in my teaching days we had hundreds of boxes of what was knows as Tinman's rivets. These had flat heads and stems about 3/32" diameter. We used them for riveting together sheet metal (tinplate). We also had a domed head rivet made from iron. They were soft and easy to work with and they were used for joining steel sections of 1/8" thick. Once we were supplied with spot welders and mig welders, there was no need for riveting any more and most of the stock got tossed out. I did manage to salvage one box of the tinman's rivets but I wish I had gotten a box of the iron rivets. Regards, Mark
@@Preso58 Yes solid rivets are only really used in aviation these days, as the pop rivet won out because of the lack of skill needed to use it properly. Plus the need only to access one side of the material. Solid rivet though is stronger than the material in most cases.
Hi Mark, thanks for another interesting video. Another way possibly worth trying to attach the bars to the casing would be to use Aluminium solder as opposed to the rivets and the TIG welding. I've had some success with the stuff on similar lightweight items .
That was going to be the next thing I was going to try when the TIG welding looked like it wasn't going to work out but I was still worried about distortion on those thin sections. It would have looked awful if they bowed, even slightly. I still want to try that low temperature alloy though. It looks interesting. Regards, Mark
If I knew it was possible I would ask you to make 12 more for my walk way. I do like what they look like. You won’t find these online. Well done! Looking forward to seeing the finished project.
Thanks but just making ten of them is turning into a marathon. Making 120 of those little rivets was no picnic. Still, no gain without pain! 😁 Regards, Mark
Looking great, Mark 😁. They look very durable, maybe even enough for Canada. May actually break the snow blower I think. 🤣 Very riveting video! (sorry, probably the 47th time that you've heard that pun) Cheers!
Thank you for this extremely educational video. Now I know how to make those solid rivets from soft metals. To make that ball peen effect end to the rivet, make a mandrel that is rounded at the end of a blind hole, marginally larger than rivet diameter and the depth of the desired finished rivet height. Cheers from Indonesia.
I do have a set of those for different sized rivets but I wanted the rivet to be flush with the aluminium bars. I have made a couple of steam locomotives with plenty of brass and copper dome head rivets. It's always a challenge to keep the rows of rivet heads neatly spaced with consistent sized heads. Regards, Mark
I enjoy following your thought process. At times I say "is he kidding?" or does Mark just like to pick the most difficult path. Then I watch a bit longer and realize there is always a logic method to the madness. Thank you and take care.
Often it's about the challenge rather than the outcome. I always seem to pick projects and processes that are just outside my skill range and ability but that's how you learn. I recall a wonderful quote that went " I haven't failed, I've just learned 1000 ways not to do it." Regards, Mark
Very informative as usual. I did some riveting at school but funnily enough not during my apprenticeship. The rod with the hole was known as a ‘set’ or ‘sett’. Not sure of the correct spelling. Regards.
Aluminium filler wire: I have 1050 (AL99.5) or 5183 (AlMg5Mn) and was wondering what type of wire you use. Looking at how easy this cuts it look like 1050. 5183 is fairly hard (but may be the better choice for structural bonds). Looking at the mounting of the glass: how do you prevent the lamps from filling up with water when it rains?
I am not sure what the composition of the filler wire is. I just purchased it as general purpose TIG filler wire. It is nice and soft though and it hammered easily into the countersinks. I have had one prototype light in the garden for a while now and even though we have had some rain it seems to be keeping dry. The powdercoat should fill the gaps between the cap and the tube but some water may still make it's way between the glass and the tube. The simplest solution would be to make a series of drain holes in the bottom but that also allows ants to migrate up into the area inside the light. I will just have to monitor it. Regards, Mark
Ok, I have a LOT of tools, but this video shows two tools I have never seen or heard of: The manual countersink tool that looks a little like an old brace, and the tool that pulls a rivet in when you hit the top with a hammer. What are these called and where can you buy them??
Steve, the countersinking tool is made by Noga. www.aimsindustrial.com.au/noga-rotodrive They are available in a couple of different sizes. I only have the one but they do a great job of deburring holes after drilling. The other tool I was using to set the rivets is a shop made punch. It just has a hole equal to the diameter of the rivet and it's used to set the rivet head tightly against the stock. Regards, Mark
As usual, great to watch your work Mark. I was wondering where you get that thick ekodeck material from? Looks like it would be perfect for a project I'm working on. Cheers.
I can purchase Eco Deck from a timber supplier called Ironbark Timbers. There are lots of companies making this style of product. Many will send you samples if you contact them through their websites. Regards, Mark
Yes, they had a factory adjacent to the Brisbane River just outside the grounds of the University of Queensland. After a lot of pressure from Brisbane City Council they moved the factory to Carole Park in 1978. They announced the closure of the business a few years ago but due to pressure from the public they decided to re-open and continue production. Regards, Mark
Maybe. I have had one in the garden for about a week and we have had some light rain. It seemed to remain dry just the same. Even if it gets a build up of moisture I am hoping that the materials I have chosen will be durable enough to stop any deterioration. I will try to do a follow up to show how they have performed. Regards, Mark
Geeze you reckon you had a boring job - try operating a capstan lathe to cut the short thread on engine studs , the autos would do the long thread and end radius then part off and my job was to hand feed these into a collet chuck and do the other end with a Coventry die - by the thousands . Then I got a job at a hard chrome joint and they plated the throttle shafts for Holden and Hyundai cars , each shaft had a thread on one end and a spade end on the other and before we could plate them each end had to be wire brushed by hand on a big buffing machine to remove any scale from the hardening process and I did these every day for 9 years - the volumes ranged from 500 to 1500 a day and they took around 10 seconds each to do . Well that was a riveting video Mark ! - sorry but someone had to say it 🤣
Well, you know what it's like then. Interestingly, the job that I described (making the springs) was normally done by the factory foreman's wife. She was sick for a few days and they put me on the station instead of her. Evidently she claimed that job and jealously guarded it. I had to ask her why and she told me that she could listen to the radio through an earpiece while she worked and that she could make the springs without having to think about it or look at what she was doing! Regards, Mark
@@Preso58 We had a toolmaker at the bolt place and he spent his days making the fingers that clamp the barstock in the Auto lathes , everything was fly cut then surface ground . One day I was working away going insane with boredom listening to this lathe fly cut the parts at 60rpm and I heard this almighty crash ! I looked over and the old guy had fallen asleep and fell of his stool crashing into a tool cart next to him - fortunately no harm done , watching him was even more boring than my job 🤣
That's a great demo of making and using rivets. I've done a few but definitely not on the production level as you have. If I were facing that same challenge I would have used T-88 epoxy -- etched and bonded the pieces especially since they're not going to be mechanically stressed. Beautiful design for the lights!
Thanks. I can report that the garden lights are still working perfectly after being out in the weather for over 6 months. No sign of water penetration or damage so I am a happy builder. Regards, Mark
Mark, The lighting plan is coming out fantastic. Thanks for the riveting lesson. I’ll definitely incorporate that in a future project. Cheers……. Joel 👍👍😎👍👍
Not yet. I have had one in the garden for a while just to see if it leaks and so far it seems to be fine. It will have to be monitored though. Regards, Mark
I like the way you used a drill for the compound slide on the lathe. I recently made a vice and welded the head of a roof screw to it to do the same. Using EcoWood is a great idea, I'll look for opportunities to introduce that where I teach man arts. Are you still in Brisbane?
Totally agree but this time I got greedy and tried to do it dry. In all honesty, my camera gear is bulky and it gets in the way of just about everything I try to do on machines. Sometimes I take shortcuts so I don't have to stick my hands in front of the camera. Unfortunately I paid the price. Regards, Mark
Dear Mr. Pressling. Very nice, well thought out and by the looks of things almost indestructible in a manner of speaking. Yes, the chinese rubbish is built to fail and the last lot that I bought employed the use of specially formulated plastic solar panels designed to become opaque in direct sunlight. That CNC machine looks interesting with the gas strut mounted on the vertical column. Would it per chance be a modified Seig X3? I bought one such modified mill from an outfit called Promica in Melbourne. The thing has never worked properly and now resides in dusty solitude in the corner of the garage awaiting a complete tear down and rebuild. Needless to say, Promica has disappeared from the face of the earth. I am mildly annoyed about that... In a manner of speaking. However, such is life. In conclusion, I sincerely hope that you are well and continue to stay that way by avoiding where possible, airports, train stations, shopping centres, dance halls, picture theatres, public transport, large congregations and suspicious looking individuals exhibiting flu like symptoms. Kind regards, Bushman
Chris, yes I do have a CNC'd Sieg X3 and it does have the Promica kit installed on it. I too am annoyed that Promica disappeared. I think I was lucky to get my kit. I know that many customers were left in the lurch when the business folded. I have done some extensive mods on the Sieg though. I filled the base and the column with epoxy granite and I moved the Z axis lead screw to the outside of the column and put the Z stepper motor at the top. I also retrofitted double ball nuts on all the axes and added the gas strut to offset the weight of a 3 phase motor I added to replace the original DC motor fitted by Sieg. My motor controller died shortly after I bought the machine and the vendor wasn't too helpful about replacing it under warranty so in the end I bit the bullet and just replaced the whole drive and transmission. I did a full build log on the CNCZone Forum here www.cnczone.com/forums/x3-sx3-g0619-g0463/240886-cnc-cad-forum-posts.html The Sieg was probably the wrong choice for a CNC conversion due to it's notoriously badly designed head and column but I have learned to work within it's limitations and I can do some accurate work on it but don't ask it to do cuts deeper than 1mm or you are asking for trouble. Regards, Mark
Most timber yards now stock these products. I got mine from Ironbark Timber at Kunda Park, Maroochdore. I'm not sure where you live but Bunnings also sell a similar product. We used it to replace a fully exposed timber deck at the back door of our house. It was previously built from hardwood joists and 93 X 19mm kiln dried hardwood decking with a pencil round edge. It lasted for about 20 years but dry rot got into about half the decking boards and most of the nails started to work loose. I ended up replacing the joists with galvanised steel RHS joists and the Eco Deck was fitted with a proprietary galvanised steel anchor strip that locks onto the edges of the boards. It doesn't need nail or screw fixing so there is nowhere for water to get into the surface of the boards. So far (after 5 years) it's holding up perfectly. Regards, Mark
