You’ll also get a little humor along the way – something that is usually missing from most machining-related videos. What stones do you have in your toolbox? Feel free to add your “two cents” by visiting the forum topic related to this video.

Enjoy!

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (5) Posts

If you’re tired of anemic, one-lung snowblowers with their slipping drive belts, you might consider Kai Grundt’s V8 snow blower which raises the bar on the traditional snow blower in every respect. With electric start, electric block heater, antifreeze heater and eight cylinders, it has no drive belts to freeze up and you’ll never get bored with the job as the 454 cubic inch big block Chevrolet V8 produces 412 horsepower, 430 foot pounds of torque and can throw snow 50 feet at just 3500 rpm. Nor will you get cold as the machine has been ingeniously designed to route the engine coolant through the handle bars, with the rear mounted, enclosed radiator keeping the operator nice and cosy.

The first point to make is that this is not a V8 grafted on a traditional snow blower carriage but a purpose-built unit crafted around a motor of this magnitude. It functions very much like a traditional blower by way of operator input and feedback and offers effortless safe operation.

Manouevering the massive beastie (it has a total wet weight of 912lbs) is a snack thanks to the hydraulic-drive 4WD skid steer on independent walking beams which offers a zero turning radius. It’s also as fast as you like, with an infinitely adjustable speed range on the drive wheels via dash mounted flow control. At the opposite end of the scale, it has more than enough torque to pull your car out of the ditch before the hydraulic motors stall!

Adding to the well-balanced feel of the unit, just 15 pounds of down force on the handlebars will lift the auger blade off the ground in order to climb stairs/walkways for ease of snow removal. Safety has and continues to be paramount with spring return to centre “fail safe” type directional controls with emergency stop and tether cords.

Safety is one of the key theme, with a flashing blue light (as required by law in many areas) being the least of the safety features. No-one will fail to hear you with those twin throaty exhausts, which come standard with 92 decibels at the controls, though if the rhumba of a V8 exhaust is music to your ears, you can obviously go much louder. Evan at the standard baffling, hearing protection is strongly suggested.

The powerful yard machine lights and a dashboard with backlit gauges complete the package to ease the burden of this normally reviled task

The custom 42 inch, two stage auger has a Chevrolet 10 bolt truck differential with spool and a centrifugal auger clutch with shear pin protection, further adding to the image of this “automotive theme blower.” As each unit is cutom-built, optional extras for the snowblower are both diverse and outrageous as the base unit – there is unlimited auger choices from single to multi stage designs and various motor combinations to suit the religious preferences of the customer (Chevy, Dodge Hemi, Ford) and such exotica as a V-10 or a diesel engine or remote starting can be accommodated.

And if, after a while, you feel you’ve outgrown the 400 horses, this particular engine is well catered for in the performance modification area, with Lunati camshaft, Milodon Gear drive, Holley and Edelbrock components to name a few, and there’s always the fuel injection option too, if you feel you need to throw the snow out of the county or ensure your seat in the “neighborhood blower blingster hall of fame.”

Here’s the link to the original gizmag article. Sorry for the off-topic post, but I couldn’t resist.

If 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.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

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

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

This set of vintage plans was loaned to me by a friend who has had them for many (30+) years. The plans are for a “Six Inch Stroke Bench Crank Shaper” from the Pootatuck Corporation of Stratford Connecticut. However, I can’t seem to find any information about them online. The plans are old enough that I believe they are no longer protected under copyright. If this is not the case, please let me know and I will remove them.

Also, if anyone has any information about this shaper, including pictures or videos of a completed version of this shaper, please post them to the forum.

Which reminds me, for those of you who haven’t heard, ProjectsInMetal.com has a new forum! The new forum will allow users to communicate with each other more easily and provides a simple way for visitors to share pictures of their projects, ask and answer questions, etc. The forum is free, so please take a moment to register via the “Forum” tab at the top of the page.

One more thing, it looks as though someone used to supply castings for this shaper. If anyone is still supplying castings, please let us know by posting the information to the forum. If not, this might be a good casting project for the furnace my friend Barry is building. Also, if you’d be interested in buying castings for the shaper, please leave a comment below or on the forum.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (29) Posts

If you’re a clockmaker (or have some other need for cutting precision gears) and you don’t want to spend $8K on a quality Burgeon, take a look at Michel’s detailed plans. FYI, the plans are in French (for example, the index plate pin is called a “pointeau”), but that shouldn’t prevent anyone from being able to read the dimensions (which are metric).

“This is milling machine for clockmaking that I designed for use with a Dremel. This machine is based on a milling machine from the Bergeon company. The goal was not to duplicate the Bergeon design exactly, but rather to alter the design to allow for the use of a Dremel. A lightweight Dremel is easy to mount thus avoiding the need for a larger motor and pulley (like in the Burgeon design). On my site you will find photographs as well as the method of construction.

Also on my site there are other projects which might be of interest to your visitors: A quick change tool post that I designed which has proved to be very handy, as well as a stainless marking gauge, which was a very beautiful project to create.

-  Michel”

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

This is pretty amazing. A Metal Gear Solid fan created a version of Solid Snake’s gun that shoots … Rubber Bands! I wish I could find plans for one of these! I’ve got the plans now! They aren’t exactly step-by-step, but they show details for the critical parts. It should be enough to get you started!

Here’s a video of the gun in action.

Here’s a video of the firing mechanism, and a bit of video showing how the gun was built.

And here are the plans, courtesy of James W. from the HSM forum. Thanks Jim! If anyone else has completed one of these, let me know – I’d love to post your project pictures. Also, if anyone has a more complete set of plans that includes 100% of the pieces, please let me know.

UPDATE: I found the site where this gun comes from, but it’s in Japanese. Here’s a few translated links to the construction process: Link1, Link2, as well as a link to some of the other guns they’ve done Here. The english translation is a bit shaky, but the links provide even more production information for anyone attempting to build one of these.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (3) Posts

Material: Steel and Aluminum
Units: (in)

Here’s another nice set of plans for the Miscellaneous category, submitted by Bill P. Here’s what Bill had to say about his 2″ x 42″ Belt Sander:

“A little background: 2-3 years ago I got them off the HSM forum from member George B. The sander is a good resemblance of an existing commercially available sander – I have seen pics of a couple but don’t know what brand. At a later time I asked George – through the HSM forum – if he minded my giving copies to a couple friends and he readily agreed, so Ive been parceling them out here & there ever since.

As typical of us HSM’ers my friend and I tinkered around with the plans — as drawn, they are for a 2×42 size, but 2×42 belts can be a bit of a problem to locate, and get a selection of grits, whereas 2×48 are readily available and in a wide assortment of grits, so — we just added 3″ to the height of the frame! Also the plans don’t show a table & platen or any type of belt guard so we got that on our versions also.

There can be a bit of a snag to making the sander in being able to find the 2 wheels – especially the 6″. Since I had done all of Dave Gingery’s projects and had a furnace, I just made a mold and cast the wheels. Have heard of guys using casters, and supposedly, laminated wood!. And apparently, there are some commercially available wheels the knife makers use in making their big belt sanders — that’s where the scrounger in you can shine!

And speaking of “scrounging” — the first one I made was in the 2×42 size (how I discovered the scarcity of that size belt!) and I used what ever was laying around the shop. I had a 1hp 1750rpm motor and a piece of 1/4″ plate steel, so I made it up using that. The motor was non-reversible so I had to devise a jack-shaft. I later got a 1hp 3350rpm (you really need the 3350rpm!) motor and a nice piece of aluminum so I made the next one in the 2×48 size and added the table, platen and guard.”

- Bill P.

Update (12/18/2009): Fransisco sent me pictures of his completed sander a few weeks ago. Here’s what he had to say:

Hi Tyler!!
I want to tank you for share this plans. I built it and can say this sander is very useful tool. I’d love it!!. I Live in Brazil and the belt used was 1″ x 48″.
Well, tanks again!!
Regards
Francisco

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

Material: Steel
Units: (in)

These plans are for for a tube and pipe bender similar to the Hossfeld #2 bender (pictured). It looks like these plans may have been circulating for some time. I found them on Don Kinzers’ website, and Don found them on a website that no longer exists. These plans don’t exactly fall within the Mill or Lathe category, so I’m going to put them in a new Miscellaneous category.

Below you’ll find links to 2 different zip files containing identical plans in 2 different formats. The first is in .jpg format, the second is in .dxf format (only useful if you have AutoCad or similar software installed on your system).

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Material: various
Units (mm)

As luck would have it, I came across a site by a fellow from Florida named Ernie. Ernie is an accomplished machinist and hobbiest who will happily share his engine plans with others upon request. I asked Ernie for a set of plans for his internal gear engine and he quickly fired a set off to me via e-mail.

In his email Ernie recommended that I visit the site of a machinist that Ernie considered to be of truly exceptional talent – a man from the Netherlands named Jan Ridders.  Now, I had just finished admiring Ernie’s work, so if there was a machinist out their that produced work that Ernie admired, it was definitely worth a look.

I was amazed. Jan’s website documents several of his projects, most of which are engines, all of which are amazing. And again, as luck would have it, Jan is also willing to share his plans with his visitors upon requets. I quickly emailed Jan and mentioned that I had set up projectsinmetal.com and I asked him if he would be willing to donate a few plans for my visitors to enjoy. He agreed.

Because this site is focused on offering plans suitable for the beginner, I asked Jan for his most simple, straightforward set of plans for each of his 3 categories. Stirling Engines, Internal Combustion (IC) Engines, and Flame Eaters. Obviously all three plans would be considered advanced projects by anyone new to the hobby, and therefor they will all be listed under the “Advanced” category on this site.

Below is the PDF file that Jan provided for his “easiest and most reliable” stirling engine – the Coffee Cup Stirling Engine. Here’s a video of a few different versions of this engine in action:

Be sure to visit Jan’s website for more inspiration!

And if you don’t have enough materials in your scrap bin to build a stirling from scratch, they’re are tons of great kits on Ebay and books on Amazon to get you started. Just look below. Be aware, however, that most kits on Ebay aren’t ready to assemble, they just save you the time of gathering up all the necessary materials. Usually machining is still required to complete the kit . . . which is kinda the whole point.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (6) Posts