PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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And to the left of the Bridgeport, converting a Chinese 6 x 20 to CNC, center rear a shaper, left control cart for Hurco Mill and black box to the right above the lathe a heat treating oven.
Hope I don't get mugged 
Best Regards and hope you enjoyed.
Pretson
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 6006
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Again the simple things that EAT UP TIME!!!
Ran out of 316 SS 8-32 3/4" long cap screws...I had 1"ers so I cut down 14 of them...
Well, SS leaves a nasty burr that would ruin the threading in the 6061 T6 aluminum parts...so I tried to chase them with a die...messed up the threads as it would not start correctly...
Thankfully I had my trusty thread files and one with 32 teeht per inch...
This whole exercise in shortening 14 screws ate up almost 2 hours.
pic of thread file and burred screw.
OK Preston...I do the same thing(shorten bolts as needed). but a 20 minute drive to the bolt store and you could have purchased a couple dozen.....along with those *other* things you still need.... 
Rob( I hate running outta bolts when you're on a role)
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 6006
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Preston..... 
Is this whole shop...metal/wood yours...on your property?
DANG!
Rob
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Hi Rob, Yes this is all on the home property...
And I did not show the sheet metal fab shop out back.//
Horizontal bandsaw, tube notcher, metal racks, English wheel., plnakshing hammer, sheet metal brake, sheet metal shear, and sheet metal roll...tig, mig, low pressure acetyline, for aluminum fusion, oil fired casting furnace... oil fired heat treat oven...2 over head gantrys...
and the started Observatory on the back garage...
finish delayed for the 20 Inch RC
Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 6006
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Hi Rob, Yes this is all on the home property...
And I did not show the sheet metal fab shop out back.//
Horizontal bandsaw, tube notcher, metal racks, English wheel., plnakshing hammer, sheet metal brake, sheet metal shear, and sheet metal roll...tig, mig, low pressure acetyline, for aluminum fusion, oil fired casting furnace... oil fired heat treat oven...2 over head gantrys...
and the started Observatory on the back garage...
finish delayed for the 20 Inch RC
Regards,
Preston
Good night!
Amazing......You own all that equipment?
You have a resolve......... 
Rob(and a checkbook)
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Yes Rob, My father many years ago advised me to buy the best tools that I could afford...
don't waste your money on women...
And thus I have done this for over 30 years...
I'm happy to say that my wife of 15 years and I agree...
She and I share a common hobby...Gold Smithing...and the stones and materials dwarf my machine shop...
Best Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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rwiederrich
Goldfinger
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 6006
Loc: Bremerton Washington
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Quote:
Yes Rob, My father many years ago advised me to buy the best tools that I could afford...
don't waste your money on women...
And thus I have done this for over 30 years...
I'm happy to say that my wife of 15 years and I agree...
She and I share a common hobby...Gold Smithing...and the stones and materials dwarf my machine shop...
Best Regards,
Preston
Well.......that answeres that.
I'm glad you're blessed in that area. Having a common hobby helps in the fun factor... 
It's interesting to see how other amateur astronomers live, and get their ATMing done.
If I lived by..I'd be your best friend...
Thanks for posting the images...and being patient with all my questions.
Rob
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www.goldmtobservingcenter.com
Providing a great place for amateur astronomers, and ATM's to come and enjoy their hobby.
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Michael Miles
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/05
Posts: 604
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Hi Preston:
Well, now I've had that promised tour of your machine shop . 
Looks like you don't have enough money in your budget for machine tools, so I'll continue to post my things as I get them done too  .
OK, you asked for feedback, here's some for you. You told me before about some of the design issues with the Uncompleted 10", so I'm assuming you've addressed those in the new scope. I seem to remember they were mostly related to the portable use of the scope. The 20" won't suffer from having to be portable though.
I'm a little nervous about the ball end trusses though. I'm doing a thought experiment where the truss end clamps are loosened a little bit. If that were so, wouldn't you be able to twist the structure? Imagine giant hands grabbing the top and bottom of the scope body like grabbing two ends of a coke can. Apply a twisting force. Wouldn't the structure shift if that happened? I suppose if the scope were mounted in a fork, then there wouln't be much torsional force, but a GEM would have a similar effect to the giant hands.
I could also chime in how gorgeous it looks so far, but that would be very redundant on this post.
Looks great - glad you're having fun,
Michael
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LXD-75 w/
Stellarvue 102ED
Hardin 10" Newt
Antares 8" Newt
Meade AR-5
Meade N-6
Celestron 102mm refractor
Canon 300D, Meade DSI guiding
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Hi Micheal, Thanks for the feedback. If you look closely at the Ball Capture blocks, each ball is surounded by 3 cap screws and when tightened will not move. Then the Capture Blocks are fastened to the rings with three 10-32 cap screws.
I still have to machine the shallow groove in the capture part of the block to allow the shaft of the Ball End to fully seat in the machined
faces of the Capture Block and not touch the shaft.
90 percent of the weight is supported on the back plate and the rear truss assembly is only half the length of the upper truss assembly.
I made a small simulation before I started posting with this design and loaded the joints with 100 pounds of force per capture block.
This was done for a simulated lower truss section and the shift was less than 0.0001 inches.
In actuallity, the weight per lower truss joint with be divided by the 16 ball ends and thus quite low.
Additionally, the mount for the GEM and secondary scope will be fixed at the Back Plate and floating in 2 sets of linear rails at the mid ring area. With these mounts 6 inches in width or so, that will also act to reduce any shearing action...
Besides, if this type of truss is good enough for professional scopes that are upwards of many meters...it ought to be good enough for this little hundred pounder...
Time will tell, but I'm not too worried.
Thanks for your thoughts and input.
Best Regards,
Preston
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Micheal mensioned some of the short comings of scopes that I have been involved with and this Collimation Swivel corrects one of those problems.
In the past, I've worked with collimation systems that basically assumed two plates with a bolt going through the back plate and into a tapped hole in the front plate.
However, as you tighten only one of the 3 collimation bolts to adjust things, it basically is trying to pull the threads sideways as you shorten the distance of only the one bolt to adjust one's collimation.
Thus, instead of doing the same...we bored the holes horizontally in the Collimation Plate so that the Collimation Swivels could slide into the hole and now when one tightens any one bolt the Collimation Swivel can change it angle slightly as it can rotate in the bore of the hole.
Again the material is 832 Bearing Bronze...
I decided to show each step after the roughing yesterday.
So here is the spot drilling after centering everything up.
--------------------
A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Similar pic showing the set up and end stop to be able to repeat each piece without measuring each time. Just slide the next piece to the stop and tighten the vise.
--------------------
A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Drilling with 3/16 drill through.
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Drilling with an H drill for tapping with a 5/16-24 thread
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Spoting the edge of the hole with a 5/16" end mill.
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Tapping 5/16-24
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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When you through tap it displaces the metal on both the face and back side with a raised area and burr.
This needs to be turned down to fit the bore of the hole closely.
--------------------
A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Here you can see the little shiney spot where we are removing the high spot and not taking down the overall diameter.
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Facing the ends.
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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Setting up a 5C collet stop to be able to repeatedly put the piece in the lathe and accurately drill the ends out to the exact same depth.
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A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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PrestonE
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/29/05
Posts: 817
Loc: Houston,Texas
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You can see the little button that stops that part at the same place each time.
--------------------
A few I enjoy,
and a few more in the works ;<)
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