Annoying/time consuming moving the cars out and heating the garage/cleaning up , moving them back in every time I need to machine...Takes a half a day just to warm it up in there and lathe wont cold start easily and w/o throwing the circuit breaker several times...I NEED A SHOP!
I think I will go talk to the home owners association an ask about how big of a "shed" I can build. A small one would be enough for my lathe and a few other things I want to get out of the garage and would allow for quick heating and better work environment where I can go any time I want and not have to worry about cleaning all the metal ships up/sweeping the floor every single time I machine.
Anyway, got all the machining done for the next 2 units so I am good for now...just need to make gaskets, assemble, and buy a couple more thermostats. Still looking into the best route for the brass ports. I think this will work for the small elbow if I can machine a little off of the barbs and thread it just like I did to the trial straight piece:
I might have to order solid brass bar to machine the large straight port out of since I haven't found a brass fitting w/enough meat on them to thread the correct size.
Again, this will probably drive price up more and take more machine time to make so I leave it up to you guys on what you want. In my opinion the large port is plenty strong and it is doubtful it will ever break. They are made out of a fiberous plastic material which is much stronger than regular plastic. The small elbow I did break while trying to remove, but it didn't break easily. It took alot of force turning it and remember these are glued in with a special epoxy type glue. That brings up annother thing. The ellbows all might break during removal and this requires alot more effort to drill the plastic out and use a knife to chip the plastic leftovers out of the first thread or two and then I have to recut the threads with a tap to remove the the rest of the epoxied plastic leftovers that are still in the threads. All that takes approx 1/2 hour, plus the machining of the elbow down to size (assuming i can get the 90º elbow in the chuck to machine it), and cutting threads on the elbow. Machining/drilling/cutting threads on the large piece will take a good bit of time also.
In my opinion the large port is fine, the small one is the only one in question of needing replacement w/brass and that is debatable. Not sure all this is worth it unless a core has a damaged plastic elbow (from pulling too hard during hose removal, damaged during shipping, etc).
I am thinking the elbow will be about $10 each installed and the large straight port piece about $20 each installed made from scratch (since there is no other way).
What are you willing to pay in cost for the full upgrade?
What about just the elbow only upgrade?
Let me know your thoughts on this stuff guys.
I may be able to sub-out the machining of the ports to a friend w/ a mini lathe for a small cost to save time also (maybe just give him some of the leftover scrap pieces since he likes to tinker anyway).
- Mark
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
A friend offered me his extra 7.5' x 10.5' rubermaid shed for $300 still in box. I might take him up on the offer since it is removeable and portable for when I move (I'm in the Air Force for those of you who don't know). 
I have 2 South Bend lathes, a 9A and 10L. A Clausing verticle milling machine that has a V/H 8" rotory table, a Atlas horizontal milling machine, a Atlas 7B shaper and drill press 
And it's all just a hobby 
Oh and incase the 65 degree basement is too cold I have a natural gas heater 
