a few projects going on in the shop

[idacal]

have been working on a jib boom again in the shop, in between jobs. I needed a left handed thread pipe adaptor for monday Im pumping cement 800' down a well the plans call for unthreading and leaving the bottom pipe after pumping the bottom 200' full of cement do to water chemistry issues. so whipped this out this afternoon 6 thread per inch acme
the jib boom is going to be very handy for loading the lathe and flipping smaller stuff over going for 1/2 ton capacity with 17' of reach
and there is a 130 x 60mm roller thrust bearing in the bottom housing to help cary the load the bronze is just to keep it straight

[farmersammm]

The welds are immaculate.

Far as the Acme......you using an insert?

[idacal]

No I hand ground it, if it was a important part I would have bought an insert but its a 1 time use and half of it is staying in the ground. I can't take credit on the welds I have a young man working for me who is incredible for a 22 year old, he can think projects through and then do them, I told him what I wanted, and I how wanted it done, and he started laying it out. All those cuts are free hand with a guide he also did a lot of the machining on the jib. he came out to my shop to see me about a project. saw all the equipment he had never ran, but always wanted to, in the shop and was interested in a job. I offered him way to much to come to work figuring if he wasnt worth that much I didn't want him and would let him go, instead I feel like I got the better end of the deal.Im trying to convince him to come on full time.

[idacal]

also have another project in the works I finally found a replacement truck for my drill rig it had the engine n14, axles 46000 chalmers rears with lockers and cross lockers, 20000 lbs fronts, and most everything I wanted besides an allison BUT it has corroded flimsy rails I got it cheap enough to change rails to the size and thickness I need (which has been next to impossible to find) and still be in it for less than my budget. 99 paystar 5000 will post lots of pictures of this project I have been around a couple of frame replacements so Im not totally going into it blind. but it will be a learning experience

[12V71]

also have another project in the works I finally found a replacement truck for my drill rig it had the engine n14, axles 46000 chalmers rears with lockers and cross lockers, 20000 lbs fronts, and most everything I wanted besides an allison BUT it has corroded flimsy rails I got it cheap enough to change rails to the size and thickness I need (which has been next to impossible to find) and still be in it for less than my budget. 99 paystar 5000 will post lots of pictures of this project I have been around a couple of frame replacements so Im not totally going into it blind. but it will be a learning experience

Nice truck, there is an outfit in Portland Oregon that can form the frame rails you need on a custom basis. They can bend up to 30 feet long. I can dig out their name if you like.

It's HW Metals in Portland. My bad, they can bend up to 60' in length.

[idacal]

Thank you i will call them i was looking for someone closer than pg adams

[bhound]

Interested in seeing that frame replace,sounds very interesting!

[idacal]

i had a lot more going on in this thread on the other site, hate to lose it, but this feels like being home though and the pictures came back!!!! just went to portland to pick up my rails yesterday, 4 3/8s thick 30' long rails about 4500.00. rails are t1 a514 steel. but my other drill rig had the mast winch fail and dropped the mast, only a couple of feet no damage besides to shorts. but to get to the winch I have to take the rig off of the truck so that's the next project.

[idacal]

I had this posted up on the other forum but here is the rest of the jib boom assembled and installed with the arm on I have about 1/16" of deflection over 18' height 8" pipe in the middle with 13" plates every 3' and then pressure cemented everything together

[idacal]

we got a lot pulled apart today not a bunch of pictures but a few, the winch was a worm drive that finally was worn enough it dumped the tower, no damage, but the rig had to come off the truck to access. while it was down I going to finally fix this clutch pack right. It needs bearings rather than bushings, it spins to fast for bushings and grease and also needs a new gear this one howls like a crazy woman coming out of the hole so a lot of machining and fabricating. bought a hydraulic winch to replace the one that's no good and am going to make this rig to were it is not so painful to run.

[idacal]

we are making new gear for the gear set up in the photos above had to get out the old gear cutter off the balcony, clean it up and remember how to run it. but got the blank centered up and and starting the gashing cut for lack of a better way to put it changing out the bushings in the end clutch of a sett of ball bearings so this is a major fix hopefully it will take out a lot of the pain of running this rig

[idacal]

3 hours later the gashing pass is done now, thankfully its self indexing, we need to change to a form tool and cut the tooth probably be 2 passes I have posted up my old gear cutter before but that was before the original crash so here is a full picture of it, spur gears only

[idacal]

had some fun today the guys called yesterday and said the truck was acting up and did I want to come get them or just drive it, I told them to drive it. so we got it in the shop and realized the transfer case had spun a bearing we thought anyway. run to the scrap yard pick up a new transfer case Im almost back and they call and say that the back of the transmission is cracked as well that put a damper on what got done today. the planetary in the transfer case had locked up and broke the rear housing all but 2 bolts on the transmission. going to meet someone later who has a core transmission that maybe I can pull the tail housing off of. so instead, a lot of machining and shop work got done, finished up the gear cutting. Now have to start a lot of machining and welding and then machining again.here is some photos, the
bearings are what we are going to use. the ring in the lathe gets welded to the gear and everything gets machined out and trued up bearings will be a light press fit. I dont know if this kind of work interests people or not?

[12V71]

I like it. I've done some of that work on old B-E 36's, never got into the machine work but we did have an old timer here that could cut most any gear you needed. pretty low stress stuff so he would use a steel that would work harden while working. (according to him). I think most are still pounding holes in the ground.

[idacal]

I have been thinking about building one of those press brake set ups for my press and am needing to brake 36” lenths are thase accurate enough to be worth the build effort? or just wait to find a real press brake? I was also looking at those press brake that are leveraged theylook simple enough to build just havent been around metal bending much would like to be able to bend 36” of 3/16 sheet. The hydrualics part is easy for me, its khowing what route to go for once in a while use.

[farmersammm]

Used to see some of those form cutters on Ebay at reasonable prices. I doubt there's many out there anymore.

[idacal]

I got over 300 cutters with the machine everything from itstbitsy to 1 dp so no shortage of cutters just need a grinder now to sharpen them. has anyone messed with this type of press brake https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...tt=press+brake for making a few tool boxes would build my own and way heavier or are these more of pain than they are worth Im needing some 36" by 18 boxes

[kb0thn]

Given the sort of machinery you deal with, I think you would probably be unsatisfied with a crummy press brake attachment. Probably okay for bending a L bracket or C channel. But you are going to very quickly run out of tonnage and throat height to make boxes or pans. And you'll have to pull the part out a million times to check the angle while you sneak up on it.

I started with a 14 ton hydraulic press brake. Good for about 10" of 10 ga steel. I gave a surplus dealer $1500 for it. We made thousands upon thousands of parts on it (we are an OEM of our own niche products) and it quickly paid for itself...but setup was always a bear and we never had enough capacity. Now have a 60 ton Accurpress and can bend 6ft of 10ga / 4ft of 1/4". With CNC ram and back gauge we can do stuff repeatedly and precisely and not waste a lot of blanks setting up. But that 10 year old machine with tooling was $40k. And each segment of punch ends up costing hundreds and hundreds of dollars or more. I think it is easy to spend same amount of money on tooling as on the press brake itself.

So probably do more welding and make your tool boxes from individual pieces. And keep your eyes peeled for a nearly clapped out press brake with some tooling included.

[idacal]

thank you that's what I have been thinking. but have never been around press brakes can one of the old mechanicals with a clutch drive do decent basic work? Im pricing out steel to build a 4 foot press attachment and Im going to be a lot of money and time for something that is not very useful
I have a decent 60 ton shop press but its a single cylinder so to get everything to push evenly would be a bear.

[kb0thn]

thank you that's what I have been thinking. but have never been around press brakes can one of the old mechanicals with a clutch drive do decent basic work? Im pricing out steel to build a 4 foot press attachment and Im going to be a lot of money and time for something that is not very useful
I have a decent 60 ton shop press but its a single cylinder so to get everything to push evenly would be a bear.

Seeing the pricing on used hydraulic press brakes, I think that would be a safer and easier route to go. But I have not run a mechanical press brake. My experience is that stuff geared for high production is harder to setup and use for maintenance and repair and overhaul type work.

I agree that getting a single cylinder hydraulic shop press to bend over much length without self destructing would be a challenge. You'll essentially have to build a die set with guides on both sides. And not use the ram for anything other than straight pushing. Any side loading on your cylinder is going to wear out seals or possibly bend the ram.

I build a arbor press press brake a while back. Used regular press brake up and lower tooling. The top of the punch was pushed on directly by the arbor press. And the bottom of the side rested directly on the arbor press table. Sizeable tompson shafting on the left and right. Die springs to open it back up. And bushings the top guide to slide on the shafting.

[lars66]

thank you that's what I have been thinking. but have never been around press brakes can one of the old mechanicals with a clutch drive do decent basic work? Im pricing out steel to build a 4 foot press attachment and Im going to be a lot of money and time for something that is not very useful
I have a decent 60 ton shop press but its a single cylinder so to get everything to push evenly would be a bear.

I have a 150 ton Cincinnati mechanical from the 1940s with clutch drive that does accurate bending.

[el bob]

I dont know if this kind of work interests people or not?

Echoing 12V71, I like it. I think you were just asking about cutting the gear, but if I can answer more generally as well... You have a blend of heavy equipment repair, machining, fabricating, and work planning (i.e. having certain machines on hand, evaluating future machine needs) that is interesting and insightful. Thank you for sharing.

[idacal]

i have been looking and getting quotes on a used brake and probably wait for that to build my truck bed. I haven't posted any projects lately, so here is one some of you know I build a lot of my own tooling and have been building casing perforators for my own use well i quoted an abandonment on an old well it was in a vault under the sidewalk and street, some of the paper work said 8" and some of it said 24" no way to measure until the concrete was busted out. so threw out a lunatic bid, figured 24", and was the only bidder. long story short after 2 short days on a jack hammer it is a 24" well 80' deep. a 24" perforator designed for daily use is more that the whole job was quoted for but I had plan for that. I needed a tool for one job and its going to sit on the pile of 1 time use tools for the rest of my life so here is what we came up with. worked a champ, put 8 holes every 3 feet of depth took about 2.5 hours the last pick is what a 24" well in a vault looks like trying to work around. the punch was s7 steel straight hard no temper

[6Boys]

Why do they need to be perforated?

[_Dom]

For abandonment work are you pumping concrete in to fill it completely or setting a packer at a specific depth?
Are you punching holes in a pattern so that tool gets clocked some way? Maybe I am reading too much into 8 holes every 36" and you run in the hole punching every 4.5" as you pull the tool out.. Fascinated that you could work that depth in 2.5 hours, much respect.
Edited to add +1 as 12V71 and elbob said, keep the posts coming.