Corian Turntable Fun

[Ropie]

Originally posted by valveitude
Thank you for the response Mr. badman, in spite of the considerable volume of views of this thread, I've had very few comments...kind of a lonely fishbowl feeling here.

This is a fascinating thread with great pictures - your work is starting to look very impressive

[valveitude]

Hi neutron7,

Did you get a big ol floor standing drill press and put on an ebay chinese slide table to make it a milling machine?

Boy, you read my beads

apply too much side force it "jumps" up and sideways, almost as if the 2 main bearings are not preloaded properly. can they even be adjusted?

Thats where the real mods come in. The bearings in a drill press quill aren't strong enough to handle the lateral forces of milling, but there isn't room for bigger ones. So, I did the next best thing, I turned out the quill to fit a stack of bearings. I have a stack of 3 on the bottom (cutting end) and a stack of 2 on top. I also re-cut the taper on the end to move it as close as possible to the bearing race to minimize spindle flex. The biggest (and most difficult) improvement was making a custom collet chuck to fit the spindle's Jacobs 33 taper. I also secured it by the column to the shop wall. It aint no Bridgeport, but I can cut .05" a pass in aluminum and .02" a pass in steel with a 1/2" end mill. Slow and steady is the name of the game with it.

thats beutiful work by the way

Thank you.

Hello Ropie,

Thats some skin condition you have there

This is a fascinating thread with great pictures - your work is starting to look very impressive

Thank you..I will definitely keep up the progress posting.

Casey

[owen]

No comments, simply because we're all in AWE.

Shock and Awe.

Fantastic work!

Owen

[maxro]

Originally posted by valveitude

Hello Ropie,

Thats some skin condition you have there

That's what happens when you think that acid is as Safe As Milk for drinking.

Oh, and nice work on the platter.

Max

[Sheldon]

Nice work. I have a Teres from a kit, with a few mods to allow easy adjustment of arm height. I've been thinking of trying a
DIY linear tracker but have to finish some speakers and amps first.

The most interesting thing is your tooling. I thought I was the only one who cobbled together that kind of stuff - though not on that scale yet. I'da probabaly taken it to a friend with a brake drum lathe and figured out a way to use that. Or worse, mounted a belt sander vertically and true the edge against it. Appalling huh?

Sheldon

[kevinkr]

I was following your transformer core material thread and found your link to the turntable project. You must have more patience than one thousand men to do the kind of work you are doing.

I am sure the results will be more than worth the effort you have expended so far. I will follow this thread until it is concluded. I had thought to build a turntable and have done some modest stuff with AR-XA and the like, but this is of a whole other caliber! Great stuff!

Kevin

[valveitude]

Thanx for all the encouragement guys!!

I feel kind of embarrassed now with my “lonely fishbowl” comment , I guess it was paranoia not knowing if the viewers of this thread were silently chuckling or cheering…I should have known better.

The most interesting thing is your tooling. I thought I was the only one who cobbled together that kind of stuff

Tooling has, and always will be (until the Star Trek replicator becomes a reality anyway) the bane of the diy’ers existence. I lost count a long time ago of the number of ideas/projects that I discarded because I “thought” I needed something I didn’t have. About 10 or so years ago after one such point, I decided that my next project would be a metal shop. Well years later I still don’t have the shop I dreamed of, but I also have the knowledge that I don’t necessarily need it. Oh sure, more tooling would make things easier and quicker, and on the occasion I simply can’t do without, I make what I need. And so another tool goes into the collection ( I have a dandy set of drum sanders now for example). Here is a thought to consider, in the 1800’s the machinists of the day (they were called “mechanics” then) entire collection of tools consisted of chisels, files, and scrapers. No kidding. Luxuries like lathes and mill machines were reserved for the factory floors. A case in point that most can relate to, is the engine in the Wright brothers first successful plane. Their “mechanic” built it from scratch and chiseled the crank shaft out of a solid plate of steel!! Look it up.

I'da probabaly taken it to a friend with a brake drum lathe and figured out a way to use that. Or worse, mounted a belt sander vertically and true the edge against it. Appalling huh?

Only if the results were. I actually eyed the belt sander for a while before I settled on my drum idea.

I was following your transformer core material thread and found your link to the turntable project. You must have more patience than one thousand men to do the kind of work you are doing.

Well, I will actually finish this project..patience is without a doubt the most important tool I have. It wasn’t always this way..working with metal taught it to me.

Thanx again for all the encouragement guys…I should have another progress report after this weekend .

Casey

[Paul Dimaline]

Never forget us "lurkers", we're watching you all the time

[Sheldon]

Originally posted by valveitude
I decided that my next project would be a metal shop. Well years later I still don’t have the shop I dreamed of, but I also have the knowledge that I don’t necessarily need it.
Casey

But maybe it is available. When I went to high school, all the schools had metal shop, woodshop, autoshop, etc.. Some years ago, I wanted to build a childrens bed and cut the wood to make a guitar. I took an adult school woodshop course, in which the formal instruction consisted of; "I'll be over here if you need any help with any of the tools, work safely". The shop was fully equiped with saws, lathes, joiners, power planers, etc.. The vocational courses are no longer available in many areas, but maybe that still exists in your area.

Sheldon

[valveitude]

The vocational courses are no longer available in many areas, but maybe that still exists in your area.

If only it were so. After this weekend, I would put a high premium on access to a more equipped shop. Of all the work on this table so far, this last couple of days has been the least enjoyable.

I decided to change course a bit , and work on my plinths. First I laminated the bottom plinth, so far so good, then I set out to dimension my top plinth. I made a jig to fit the spindle mount hole in the plinth…



… all set to go..and go..and go. News flash…aircraft aluminum is a wee bit more tenacious than Corian. Couple that with the fact that I generously oversized the rough cuts , and a good time ensued…



…1/8” doesn’t sound like much, until your removing it .003” at a time, the max cut the paper can handle without disintegrating. After getting the radius down, I proceeded on to the straight cuts…



…all is not in vain however. It looks quite nice…



… I intend on leaving the brushed aluminum exposed, I will veneer over the Corian. I figure I put around 20 hours this weekend standing in front of my press cranking handles on the x-y table, in addition, I changed the paper on the sanding drum 21 times. Would I do it again …you bet I would!! In fact I’ll be working on the bottom plinth next. This time however, I will use my die grinder to cut it just shy of the final diminsion..should speed things considerably.


Casey