HAFCO AL360 Metal Lathe

Added a metal lathe to my tool collection. 

Fitted a digital readout

Have a go at some O-ring grooves and surface finishes on Aluminium.

Making some simple aluminium adaptors.

Turning down some A-size Vee belt pulleys to accept a B-size belt for the motor upgrade and VFD installation into the lathe.

Having a go a some pipe trimming and weld prep.

Jumping on the TIG welder for the first time in a while.

Making a small ball mill to be used in the lathe for crushing clay to make green sand for casting aluminium.

New Titan TM20LV Milling Machine

 Picked up a new toy recently.  A Titan TM20LV bench top milling machine.  Brand new, without spindle motor or control box.  Which is perfect for a CNC conversion.  watch this space for more.

 3D modelled in Autodesk Fusion360 to design bearing blocks and ballscrew mounts.

General Updates

Following the success of the rudder mould.  I thought I'ld have a crack at a making some spreader moulds as well.  These are made from some 15mm thick HPDE I had laying around.  The idea is the perform a closed moulding with an inflatable bladder (long party balloon) with carbon fibre and epoxy.  It appears some RC airplane DIY builds have success with this method for fuselages.

This is a simple sign for a friends business to hang on their wall.

The machine is now cutting 6mm thick aluminium plate in 0.5mm DOC, 24k RPM at 1200 mm/min with  a 1/8" single flute solid carbide cutter.

The parts below are to upgrade the Y & Z axis of the router to accommodate HIWIN linear rails and bearings.  The brackets and Z-axis beam will also be a lot stiffer than the existing 20mm thick aluminium plate.

The goal here is to improve machine rigidity to allow larger depths of cuts for faster production times.