by Barry Young

Machines are expensive. Dust is abrasive. Don’t believe me? Go get that old motorcycle helmet that Aunt Beunice gave you for your 16^th birthday after you bought that 125cc Honda Combat Wombat with your paper route money. Yeah, the snazzy lime green one. See all that dust on the face shield? Give it a good rub and telephone me to tell me it didn’t scratch it up.

You keep your calipers and micrometers in a toolbox right? Those baseball cards that Grampa gave you go into his footlocker right? You keep your money in a bank right? So what do you do with your machinery? If you are like ninety nine percent of amateur machinists you let your machinery sit out in the open, unprotected, cold and lonely.

Next time you are using foul language to describe to a friend how your machine wouldn’t hold the tolerance you wanted it to, look back at how you treated the poor machine. You oughta be ashamed. Why would you put the bench grinder where it would spit abrasive particles onto the lathe? You mean you did woodworking in the same room as your metal machines are stored? Don’t you know that wood chips will soak up all the oil on those precision surfaces and make them rub together? The precision of your machinery is based on the wear that occurs to the ways and other sliding surfaces. So when you are done hanging your head, when your lip stops quivering, I will help you pay your penance. Even you can seek forgiveness at the chapel of the recovering machine abuser.

The only way to fix up your Karma is to make covers for your machinery. Yeah, a lathe cozy. This sounds dumb until you think about it. Like “Don’t run with the scissors,” sounded dumb until you either thought about it or found out why people told you that. This is the same, you can learn the easy way through logic or you can poo poo the idea and pay when your machines will no longer do what they should. I finally got sick of waiting for February 30^th which is when my wife said she would finish my equipment covers and asked her to show me how to sew fabric. This she was perfectly willing to do. It was not that hard to learn. We measured the extreme length, width and height of my Atlas horizontal milling machine and she made a sort of toaster cover shaped thing that fit like snot because the mill was not a perfect cube. Scratching my head I thought up a better way. That is what this article is about.

I took a cheap blue tarp and threw it over the mill. Everywhere there was looseness in the tarp got a row of pins. Eventually the tarp fit it snugly. I cut away all the excess tarp and cut nice and even around the base. Voila! We had made a pattern. We took it into the sewing room and laid cotton duck (fabric) down on the floor and laid the “pattern” over it. Dang! The fabric was too narrow. No Problem, We sewed on an extra ten inches and now it was wide enough. We pinned the pattern to the material, traced around it with a Sharpie marker and cut it out. She showed me how to sew the seams  which was WAY easier than I thought. I had her sew (hem) a piece of clothesline around the base of the cover and it was done. Yay! It fit all the curves and odd surfaces of the mill. It literally was a custom made cover.

Next came the Atlas 7-inch shaper. I decided to document the process and do all of it by myself.  Here are photos of the goofy shape that needed a cover

It is an ungainly thing to try to cover.

Under the tarp it looked like an ostrich trying not to be seen.

See that big flap ‘o nonsense hanging off the front? That is the excess we are trying to get rid of. Gathering all the excess material together then pinning it to isolate extra fabric leads to rows of straight pins pinching off whatever you want to get rid of like this.

Once the excess is pinned you can carve away the extra fabric OUTSIDE the pins with scissors leaving you something better looking like this.

Be sure to write on it before you take it off so that the outside is obvious. Otherwise the seams will show and your buddies will laugh even harder at you. When you trim away the bottom of the cover level with the floor it suddenly looks like a machine cover.

Now the pins can come out and you have a pattern. Lay this on the fabric you have chosen. You can see how I had to add material to get the width problem mentioned above solved.

Trace around the pattern and cut out the fabric. Sew up the seams and sew in the cord around the bottom. You now have custom fit machine covers. In this last photo you can see the incognito shaper on the left before the cord is sewn in around the bottom and the incognito milling machine on the right with the cord sewn in. The cord gives the cover a finished appearance so don’t be an idiot and leave it out.

That’s it! If you have a question or you want to leave a comment please click the “Join the forum discussion on this post” link below to log into the forum topic tied to this post.

- Barry

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Norman Newguy: In the Beginning

by Barry Young

While perusing You Tube one day you quite by accident come across an intriguing video of a model steam engine whizzing away. Meh! You move on. Something in the back of your noggin keeps reminding you of the video. It just keeps coming back. “Honey!” you yell through the house, “Where was that one video that had that one thing on it on You Tube?”


Yes my friends, it can start just that easily. Nobody with more than six neurons is immune. Just such occurrences can lead otherwise decent, intelligent and family loving people to disregard their families drain their bank accounts and do stupid things they would normally never do. Yes! It is the insidious beast Amateur Machining I am talking about. Only the heinous shutterbug and crack cocaine addiction bite deeper. If you have ever uttered the amateur machining mantra “So THAT’S how they do that”, I am afraid it is far too late for you. You are smitten. You will only level out after losing a family or two and several good jobs. Don’t laugh, I am talking to you.


Let us assume you have decided to take a trip down the slippery slope. There is no talking you out of it and no intervention service exists for amateur machinists. Where to start? Not where you think. Every book says rush out and buy a lathe. Bah! Before you do that lets juggle some numbers, it may be your last chance to see your kids. My divorce started when the wife stubbed her toe on a lathe chuck. I do not know what she was thinking going barefoot in the bedroom but she blamed me nonetheless.


To the numbers.
$800   Lathe
$100 Lumber for lathe bench
$200 Drill press
$500 Minimill
$2000 Measuring tools
$13 Material, one piece, 3 feet long from Home Depot
$56,514.26 Haas CNC Vertical Machining Center


That totals a whopping over 60 thousand dollars to get started. Add to this having to find a new place to live when you get kicked out of the house plus travel costs to see your kids between projects.


For those of you still reading we will now get a bit more serious. I have tried to save those of you I was able to.


A cheap drill press from Harbor Freight is the first thing to buy. Also some crappy drills from same vendor. If after drilling some holes in anything you can lay your hands on you still want to pursue this hobby then you are one of the truly shining examples of machininghood and we can proceed. If the junk drills do not deter you by making you feel the true level of frustration this hobby has to offer then you have the requisite stick-to-it-ive-ness. You are on your way to becoming a steely eyed master of metal. The pure among you will try every belt setting on the drill press. You will use nearly every drill and drill nearly everything that is not nailed down. If you back out now you will not have killed the Roth IRA and your family will welcome you back into their open arms tears in their eyes. If not, then come with me friend as we delve deeper into the world of amateur machining.


Your first major machine purchase MUST be a metal lathe. It is called the prince of machine tools for a reason. NO a wood lathe will not work. NO you cannot convert the drill press into a lathe. NO you do not want a milling machine first. NO you cannot start with a five gallon charcoal foundry and a wheel from a 74 Pinto wagon. That is only for the most pure among us who willingly choose to spend six months of toil and learning to avoid buying a sub $1000 Grizzly lathe. Do not even go there. If you do, you venture forth alone. Get thee to a Grizzly catalog or website or showroom and buy thee a nice machine at a great price and bask in its green glow. This for you is prudent. Be not tempted by old Atlas and South Bend equipment on Craigslist that is for later. Right now you need a machine you can lubricate turn on and enjoy. You needeth not the hassle of restoring an antique. In the beginning you need to cut metal, not shine it. Buy as large a lathe as you can afford. That is THE rule when lathe shopping.


Before the truck shows up with the shiny new appliance, you will have cleared an area of honor for the thing to sit. The area is dry and has good lighting. The little cabinets that come with small lathes are not tall enough and I am a short guy. Soooo. The bench will be built using stout 4X4 legs with 2X6 aprons bolted through the legs (drilled on your HF drill press). Another set of horizontal 2X4 bracing goes around the bottom about 6 inches off the floor to hold the legs steady. On top is a piece of 1 ½ inch flooring plywood from Home Depot. The more skilled craftsmen will let the plywood into the top so the edge does not show.


While waiting for the truck to show up spend as much time as possible with the family. They might just decide to keep you. The big day arrives. The truck shows up. Stop that jumping up and down. Try to act “professional”. Act like this happens all the time and you are bored. Be cool. When the driver asks for your signature say something like “whatever man”. Nobody needs to know that you are bursting inside. Stifle that grin now.  Do not let the driver go until you have opened the box. If any castings are broken you want to inform him BEFORE he leaves. Once the driver leaves you can go into the bathroom and lock the door and jump up and down till you have that out of your system. Regaining your detached persona go and unpack the machine. There are many little packets of fasteners and such. On packages like this the manufacturer hides pieces and parts all over so be careful. One time I had to chase the garbage truck to retrieve a piece of Styrofoam packing that had a follow rest in a little pocket. Check all the packing materials and retain them for at least a week. The manual goes into a file folder in a file cabinet in the house. Make a copy of it for out in the shop. Yes, I know they are almost always available at the manufacturer’s website but the one time you need it the server will be down. Been there. So stop sassing and go make a copy of the manual. Sheesh!


Get a friend or three to help you lift the machine up onto the shiny new bench you built. Bolt it down and finish the assembly of the wonderful thing. Step back, take a look and soak up the aura of this beautiful thing. It will never look this good again. If you want a picture now is the time. After use the paint will be scratched and oil will leave little trails everywhere so get while ya can.


Next time we will move on with leveling, alignment and initial power up of your glorious machine. Meanwhile you can write a letter to your kids.

Barry

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