Fixing pianos, bikes, and myself **New, now with accordions and concertinas!**

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
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Bonus points if you figure out what the screws are from

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Starting the work
That's called a "chisel plane", and it is exactly for doing what I'm doing: insetting hardware.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
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Continuing to futz with the setup.
The "stops" on the miter box are not really repeatable. (If I adjust the angle for one, the next one is off). I've made sure the guides are perpendicular to the cutting surface, and I'm simply using the lock on the bottom to hold the angle in position. Still need to do a bit of fine tuning/practice runs, but it's coming along nicely.

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Alignment complete
All the inserts were attached, and linen banding was glued onto the edges of the cards. It's a bit stiff, but I'm sure it'll ease down when it gets the leather banding glued on. I was having 'issues' with the linen ungluing itself from the cards (linen soaked in hide glue is very much like carbon fiber composite [technically is?]), so I went around and "crimped" the banding using a pair of pliers. It's laying nicer, and is slightly more flexible. I guess I'll find out how good a job I've done when the leather gets on.

I abandoned using the buckskin, though. It's too stretchy to use a manual skiver on, and I'm not going to drop several hundred dollars on a powered one. Maybe one will show up at the flea market, who knows. I'll have to grab a bottle or two of leather stain, though, since the goatskin I have is a lovely (?) natural fleshtone.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
She is airtight:

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Things I learned:

My skives were too thick on the edges. (Crinkly edges on the banding)

My gussets were too short side-to-side.

The two combined to cause issues where nearly all the gussets leaked on one side of the joint. My solution was practical/straightforward: thin out a whole bunch of patches, and add gussets to my gussets. I've got a tiny pinhole left (skiver usually has tiny holes when it gets thin), then it's in to stain, bellows papers, and lacquer.

I'm "playing it in" right now to free up all of the glue joints, then I should be able to put it back on the form to complete the work.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
Everybody likes going down. Going down is easy.

Thanks to the encouragement of @Matt_ , who--in not so many words--told me to stop worrying and just ride Clayton, I set out this morning.

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(I swear to god my shoes are tighter. That's absurd, but I swear. My fanny pack definitely was 🤣)​

The trip there was uneventful, other than me leaving my Garmin on the other bike. Had to record on my watch (which only does breadcrumbs), so it took more than a few stops to remember which way to go.

I stopped at the top of Bridges. The first climb always sucks for me, but this time was heart-pounding-in-ears. I stopped for moral encouragement (aka, bitching to friend), then continued on.

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Anyway, finally made it through all the singletrack and wound up with just under 6.5 miles.

I guess it's time to practice going up(hill).

Why, what did you think I was talking about before?
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
It's....ALIVE!
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In case it's not visible, the arbors are spinning (quite nicely, I might add).

The grinder above belonged to my grandfather, and it's the first power tool of his that I'm nearing completion of.

This is a working restoration (that is, I cleaned it, removed the rust, and applied protectant to the body--mostly cast iron), so you see replaced bearings, a cleaned commutator, and new wiring.

I wish I had taken a pic of the commutator, which was a novel design I've never seen--a spring armature holding a carbon disc, pressed into a bronze ring.

Just need to straighten a tool rest, and modify an arbor-spacer for a 1/2" grinder to fit this one, to replace the broken cast iron one from here.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
Parting...is such sweet sorrow.

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I still have to turn down a large bushing, press it in, then face the whole shebang. The neck on the arbor bushing needs to be turned down a bit, too, to fit into the shroud properly.

I'll have to break out the 4-jaw for that, tho...this part could be kindly described as "egg-shaped".
 

w_b

Well-Known Member
Parting...is such sweet sorrow.

View attachment 232535

I still have to turn down a large bushing, press it in, then face the whole shebang. The neck on the arbor bushing needs to be turned down a bit, too, to fit into the shroud properly.

I'll have to break out the 4-jaw for that, tho...this part could be kindly described as "egg-shaped".
Been a minute since I’ve seen a Sherline in actual use…
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
Been a minute since I’ve seen a Sherline in actual use…
Homeowners, not so much.

People who use them for work (miniature shops, trophy places, machine restoration), they're pretty invaluable.

Honestly, this is the right size for me. We owned a 40x10(?) Atlas for many years, and it was a perfectly serviceable machine once setup...but it was enormous and heavy. The only thing it really does "better" than the Sherline for me, is make deeper cuts, faster. I don't need to turn parts that are 6-8" in diameter.

A compound slide is way more convenient, tho.
 
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Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I had a Sherline mill that I converted to a home-brew CNC that I sold. Part of me wishes I never sold it.

Funny, at the time I never understood having a lathe yet if I had a Sherline lathe I'd have made or modified a million things on it. Every now and then I check Craigslist to see what local options there are used and come up short in the small lathe department.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
I had a Sherline mill that I converted to a home-brew CNC that I sold. Part of me wishes I never sold it.

Funny, at the time I never understood having a lathe yet if I had a Sherline lathe I'd have made or modified a million things on it. Every now and then I check Craigslist to see what local options there are used and come up short in the small lathe department.

Have I got something for you 🙂

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A genuine Richard Sher Australian-made lathe. Has [actually] adjustable gibs, unlike the modern ones.

Also has magneto bearings in the headstock 😁
 
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