Herbie & Friends The New York City Machine & Prototyping shop!

Big News!

Fri, 9 Jul 2010 23:39:47 -0400

CNC Toe Clamp Fixture

Wed, 2 Jun 2010 23:18:26 -0400

Here’s my first ever “real” fixture! It’s made from aluminum using Giblaltar toe clamps, which are similar to the Mitee-bite product. More details in the video below.

I’m back!

Tue, 1 Jun 2010 23:17:38 -0400

Figured out the youtube problem! Video coming shortly

5C Collet Stop

Sun, 23 May 2010 18:07:43 -0400

I needed a 5C Collet stop in order to make a few dozen rods of the same length... Unfortunately, my Bison 4” 5C collet chuck doesn’t like standard 5C collet stops (which normally protrude behind the collet...)

So I made my own! This is out of aluminum (should probably make one out of metal if I use it a lot) and threaded via single-point-threading on my 7x14 mini-lathe.

The center is drilled/tapped for 1/4x20 in order to use a variety of “stops” (e.g. custom lengths, fasteners, etc).

I drilled four 0.125” holes around the perimeter and made a tool for easy inserting & removing.

Youtube...

Thu, 20 May 2010 18:23:00 -0400

Damnit Youtube! A few weeks ago, Youtube “merged” their user accounts with Google Accounts. I knew this was happening, but had no idea what was about to happen...

Apparently, the email associated with my Youtube account was already an email I was using for a Google Account... And now, youtube tells me that my account has been disabled! But I know this isn’t true... I continue to receive youtube emails & updates and, well, my channel is still active.

Anyone have any tips on how I can resolve this?? I’ve emailed youtube/google support, and their cookie-cutter answer is to ‘reset’ my password - but I know my password!

Milling Aluminum mold & Casting Urethane

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:08:41 -0500

Here are two videos which are a complete walk-through of milling a mold out of 6061 aluminum and then using PMC-744 urethane rubber from www.smooth-on.com to cast the parts!

New Mill! Atlas MFC Horizontal Mill

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 23:09:26 -0500

Here it is folks! My new, yet quite old, Atlas MFC Horizontal mill. As I mention in the video below, I’m excited to have the mill for quite a few reasons:
1) Pound for pound, it’s a very rigid mill
2) I’m excited to have a manual mill for both convenience and to become a better machinist
3) The arbor-style cutting will be great for facing stock and for slotting and parting

Enjoy!

As usual, much more to come. I currently have the power feed and backgear removed, so once those are back up and running, I’ll have more footage up.

4” 5C Collet Chuck for my 7x14 Mini-lathe

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:56:57 -0500

Here’s a video overview of my Bison 4” 5C Collet Chuck which I use on my 7x14 Mini-lathe. I purchased the chuck from brassandtool.com and the requisite adapter plate from Little Machine Shop Part #1692 (which required the face to be turned down to fit the Bison Chuck).

Big news! Herbie has a big brother!

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:12:45 -0500

Big news folks. Herbie has a big brother! Details (and, of course, videos) to come. I’ll keep everyone in suspense for now... but will say that this mill is very old and, compared to herbie, very heavy! Stay tuned!

Tapping Head Demonstration

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:18:00 -0500

Check out the video demonstration of my ‘new’ tapping head!

Pen Plotter! New (well, old...) Roland DXY-1150

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:11:23 -0500

Check out the video of my new (well, very old, actually) Roland DXY-1150 Pen Plotter.

I was inspired by the Chiplotle.org library which allows a modern PC/Mac/Linux computer to connect to many of these pen plotters and either control them directly or work with images, vectors, EPS, DXY, etc.
 Aside from being fun and cool, I think this plotter has the potential for many uses:
1) Printing drawings on 11x17” paper (normally not possibly by home PC printers
2) Print directly onto thin sheet metal and aluminum
3) Use for home PCB etching where the plotter will apply the ‘resist’
4) Did I say fun?

Internal Combustion Engine

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:23:42 -0500

This was posted by Terry over on the Tormach Yahoo Group and is a beautiful piece of work. I’ll let him do the talking on the details - http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tormach1100/message/4392 but there’s a video below showing it in action.

Updated Shop Video!

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:21:16 -0500

Here’s an updated shop video which shows some of my new equipment:
1) A 12-Ton Harbor Freight shop press
2) A Procunier 2E tapping head
3) Heinrich No. 6 8” Bench Punch

Tweaking the 7x14 Mini-lathe

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:19:24 -0500

Here’s a great write-up by a guy who put quite a bit of work into improving his 7x14 mini-lathe. Also just a generally good read re: machining terms and examples.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=627.0

Rapid prototype - Arduino + Servo + LCD...

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 23:55:52 -0500

In this video tutorial, I’m building a rapid prototype project which uses an Arduino, a servo, an optical sensor and a 16x2 LCD screen to track a cumulative count (a count occurs each time the opto is interrupted) and a servo to simulate usage.