And back to work. And running classes every other friday. This is my first chance to relax for a month…
So I got down to the shop, and finally made a new drawbar for the mill. The drawbar it came with has 1/2″ 12 TPI thread, for some obscure reason. I bought some tooling last year that has M12 thread, because of course you do. So I have needed an M12 drawbar for a while. Behold!
My minilathe has a shitty little quick change tool post, and is really not up to parting, but we got there in the end. It coped with turning down the stainless pretty well, especially the nuts. Smallish cuts, but not tiny nibbles. Unfortunately, when I was doing the square at the end for the wrench, I neglected to seat it properly for the final cut, so one side is cut much deeper. The wrench still works, and the drawbar still works, so all good. Now I can run my gear cutter and my slitting saw, which means I can finally finish the QCTP for the tiny lathe. When I have time.
Last weekend was the first ever meetup of Melbourne Combat Robotics! Sarah and I made an antweight (150 gram) sumo bot, which somehow won two of its three rounds. Still not quite sure how… But the main thing was, lots of fun was had!
Knifemaking! Slower, now that I’m home I’m not quite doing a knife in a day. But I’m working on one for Megan –
Lots of hand filing for that crosspiece, and then I went and screwed it up drilling cross holes. So I bought a 2mm end mill. See how long that lasts …. Then a handle, and hardening.