Werowance builds a webster

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werowance

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finally getting around to start building a Webster. started with the base and already running into a tooling issue. my vice can hold the plate on the side in order to square up the long edges but I don't have room to do the short edges and my vice wont hold the plate flat because its to big. my machine is a combo lathe mill.

I'm wondering how I'm going to clamp that plate down flat so I can square up the short ends and then drill the holes without a bigger vice. I was thinking of just mounting it to the table but I don't have enough down travel on the mill head to go that far down with the drills without an extension or something. I'm not sure I have any flat stock that I could stack on the table to bring the plate up high enough either. any suggestions?
 

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It looks like a reasonably hefty chunk of plate that shouldn't flex too much with light cuts, so I would guess you could use some riser blocks under each end/side and clamp it directly to the table, rather than having to pack it up with solid plate for the full width. Basically just some decent 'legs' to bring it up high enough. Alternatively, you could drill some holes in inconspicuous places and bolt something to the bottom of the plate that can be gripped by your vice.
 
ok, after several days of looking around, head scratching and trying to come up with a way to do it without buying a new vice I came up with this. all a bunch of scrap rusty steel I found in the corner of my shop. welded it up, used an end mill to clean and level the top once bolted down and then a final very light pass with a fly cutter. then evenly spaced 1/4 x 20 holes every 1 inch on both sides to give me a way to clamp it down. its dead center with my lathe chuck as well so I can take those ends down square easily with the lathe portion of my combo machine or I can use the mill portion as well. the lathe portion is much sturdier than the mill head. once I get the short ends squared and to length then I can drill the holes. I don't plan on making the radius cuts like the plans show because I will probably use a good portion of it for a gas tank mount and also will likely rescess it in a wooden base when /if I ever complete it. I just have 3 bolts sticking up just for show. ill also try to use nuts on the back side of the bolts I can get a wrench to since the plate is so thin. probably only 1/4 inch before I started. and it was nasty metal. it chipped appart instead of cut. seems brittle.

upload_2019-1-18_9-51-2.png
 
well the table worked well but had a horrible weekend in the garage. had all the sides squared and to size and the next day I went to drill the holes. 1. my led edge finder wouldn't work. found that the resister between the battery and the led had broken. 2. my digital calipers wouldn't come on. 3. my number 9 drill was bent - what I get for letting others use my tools.

so after giving up I went in and ordered a new edge finder and new calipers. next day I was bored out of my mind (I had planned to be in the shop all weekend long making parts) then I had an idea to take an ink pen tube and make a new tube for the resister like the old broken one. it actually worked and my edge finder came back to life. then took the caliper cover appart and cleaned the contacts for the on and off and they came back to life. now still had to wait another day until the local drill and bold supplier was open to get that number 9 drill. and by last night I had all holes drilled and the locktite broken loose and base plate removed from the new table. glad I got to have a little fun this weekend.
 
Brian, if you are watching this build, could I ask a favor, on your gears, could I get 2 measurements? the outside measurement of the the gears and then a second measurement of how deep the teeth are maybe an outside diameter and then a second diameter or circle for the bottom of the teeth? I have the gear cutters but don't know the actual size of the gears without shelling out the bucks to buy them.
 
finally getting around to start building a Webster. started with the base and already running into a tooling issue. my vice can hold the plate on the side in order to square up the long edges but I don't have room to do the short edges and my vice wont hold the plate flat because its to big. my machine is a combo lathe mill.

I'm wondering how I'm going to clamp that plate down flat so I can square up the short ends and then drill the holes without a bigger vice. I was thinking of just mounting it to the table but I don't have enough down travel on the mill head to go that far down with the drills without an extension or something. I'm not sure I have any flat stock that I could stack on the table to bring the plate up high enough either. any suggestions?

I realize this doesn't help since you've solved the problem but did you try holding the plate in the vise with the removable jaws moved to the outside of the fixed and/or movable jaws? It sure looks like that would have allowed you to hold the piece. You can see the different ways to fit the jaws here, http://machinetoolsforsale.com/Kurt.htm

lg
no neat sig line
 
so a couple of questions, 1. is there a tool to cut the relief out for a flat head screw if so whats it called? I normally use a drill bit large enough to make that relief however it makes a triangle hole, if there is a tool just for this I would like to look into purchasing it. 2. to make a concave radius say .250 would I use a .500 drill bit right? other than that I didn't get hardly any shop time this past week because of a ankle injury. couldn't walk for 2 days and wasn't about to stand on cold concrete floor when I got better enough to move around. but I did manage to locktite 2 pieces of aluminum plate together to be ready to make the bearing supports. also ordered the ball bearings. expensive little bearings at that....
 
the package I was waiting on with my bearings arrived last night from global power from NY. unfortunately instead of bearings they had shipped 2 drive belts of some sort. this will probably set me back another week waiting on the bearings to get straightened out.
 
got my bearings in and also helped someone out with making a new handle bolt for their gun safe and now I'm back to work on the engine.

on laying out the inside radius I just cant seem to get it right. attached is a drawing of where I'm having trouble and if I move my table up and to the right by .250 in both directions from where the lines intersect which I have circled then that is where I should drill a .500 hole to get a .250 radius correct? when testing it with layout dye and my compass set with one point in where the drill puch mark would be and the other side of my compass extended out by .250 it just wont intersect with the lines correctly. seem to be at the least to far to the right. so what can you think of that I'm doing wrong or how would I locate that drill to get the radius. I realize I could just omit the radius but part of the fun is learning (to a certain extent). so basicly if measure from the far right hand of the part to the left I was measuring 3.250 and scribed a line up and down. and then (measurement not shown in the pic) looking at the part on the far right hand that part is 1.250 high so I measured 1.500 high and scribed a line from left to right and from where my to scribed lines intersected I thought should be where the .500 drill would go. but in testing it misses the mark.

upload_2019-2-7_13-51-30.png
 
hmm, well I'm thinking that's what I was saying. basicly in the drawing where I the x is where my arrow points starting in the center of that x I moved right .250 and I moved up .250. I just took a long winded way of calling off the measurements for height and length to get to the point of saying middle of that circled x.
 

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