Rebar identification

Looks to be checkmark or V followed
13S4 or
1354

Now to decode it

It is checkmark... makers mark

13  not sure, maybe metric diameter
S Billet Steel
4 420 grade aka grade 60 or 60 KPSI yield strength

and there are two dots below it which are what Roy at
Christ Centered Blacksmithing said was good

Happy man here.  I see transfer punches and such in my future



Found this which has a 13 in the same position but am not sure what it means.

Wood handled lead hammers

Found these wood handled lead hammers at a garage sale this week for $1 each.  The sell had no idea what they were.

Rebar Grade Chart.

Roy of Christ Centered Ironworks did a vid on forging rebar.  Mentioned it was marked for grade

Did a little digging and found this chart 

Source
BY DAVID P. GUSTAFSON TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
CONCRETE REINFORCING STEEL INSTITUTE

I have 100s of lbs of cutoff's from highway construction.    That may mean they are grade 60.  Need to look for marks.

Sand Muller Tub Canidate

A fellow who collects scrap has this.    I am going to cut off the feet and cut it down for use as a muller drum.

Tool Tip: Propane torch soldering tip

I found this propane soldering iron tip.  Its the cats meow for soldering automotive wires.   It's not new and I don't know where you can find them.

It slips over then torch end.   I had to reduce the outside diameter of my burnz-o-matic torch to mount it.

Live Center Bearings

This was written a while back but never published.


Found a video on YouTube regarding fixing a similar live center.

Amazing "Wet Paper Towel" Method of bearing removal on skully jones live center

Worked as advertised.  Used a cut off socket extension to drive the towels in.  It takes a surprising amount of stuffing.

Not fun picking the paper shreds out of the bearings.  Not sure if both bearings are good.   The bearing number is Timken Part Number A4059.  It looks like a uxcell 30202 will fit even but its a mm wider. ebay has 3 for $10.https://www.ebay.com/itm/30202-Single-Deep-Groove-Ball-Bearings-Silver-Tone-35mmx15mmx12mm-3pcs/351957893328?epid=2136364554&hash=item51f25340d0:g:sxcAAOSwUwFaS5RO

I am going to clean them the best I can and see if they work.

And they did.  Have them a little too tight but it runs cool so I am going to live with it.

Image of aluminum pouring device and muller arbor

A heat shield has been added it. Greatly improves comfort while pouring.  2nd and 3rd images are the arbor I plan to use for the muller.   Today I managed to get the nut loose and remove the saw blade the shaft is 1 1/2 inches.

Derusting comes to an end

In the short run anyway.   Brought up an unaltered IBC container and placed it next to the shop to hold the washing soda solution when not in use.  Now I can pump it out and reclaim the floor space.  Maybe move the engine crane outdoors too.

Pulled the gibb and clamp bits out of the tank and cleaned them up as best I could.  There are pits in areas due to the rust but I think and hope it is serviceable.  Think of the rust pits as oil revivors.

Next Day:

The derusting tank and its anodes have been moved to outside storage.   Moved a swamp cooler inside and placed it on a stand.    

Clothes Dryer lint screens

I was wondering if a clothes dryer lint screen would work as a fine green sand riddle  To test it I riddled some of my casting sand that has been run through window screen many times.   It worked.

Window Screen

Dryer Screen

DYT4000 Update

A few days ago I was mowing with the DYT4000 and I would get a puff of smoke when I engaged the pto clutch.  It was not getting better so I moved it into the enclosed truck.  At this time I have no real motivation to open up the head.  With luck it is only the gasket but then I have seen cases where most of the head was junk.   Don't think that is the case but I have the BX2200 to mow with and am currently working on fixing the spindles on the RXT42 and the old Murray Briggs twin that I really like.

When it rains I scrap aluminum !

As mentioned earlier we are in the middle of a burn ban.  As in "no open burning".    I have been unofficially told I should be OK so long as I do not leave it unattended.

Anyway after a fast 1/4" of rain I figured I should melt the two town car rims while everything was still soaked.

I have made a video and post about this in the past so I will not go into details.  I started the fire by pouring diesel fuel over partly burned logs from last time.  Placing these on the bottom and a little encouragement from the burnzomatic did the trick.

The video.

The next day I melted the larger chunks and made ingots.

Baby Its Hot Outside

It is July 4 1218 at 2:15 PM and its 98F.

Just in case I forget !

MIlling table update

After running the reverse electrolysis at 2A for a day I have switched it over to 6A.  But it would not hold the current.  Kept cutting out so I put the 10A charger back on and the amp meter read about 5A.

What the table looked like today.

My initial thinking is that I could duplicate the tailstock base by using it as a pattern.  After pulling it apart to examine the base it may be better to make a wood pattern due to draft issues which would need to be patched with body filler.  Maybe better just to make a new pattern more specific to the table based on the tailstock design.

I have made a similar pattern for the mill electronics base plate but it will be better to start from scratch.

One issue I have to deal with is how high to position the table above the lathe bed.   Initial inspection has me thinking I want the table to pass over the saddle.   I may loose a bit of milling height but it should enable the cutters to reach further across the milling table.

If you are wondering what is up with the mill I will tell you.   At this point the plan is to use two nearly identical sized pulleys to get the correct speed at the spindle.   The belt will ride on the motor flywheel rim and a slightly smaller pulley on the mill.   Initially I will try to run it without V grooves on the flywheel.   The flywheel is 6 inches and the mill pulley needs to be something like 5.8 inches.  Need to 2X check that.  Also need to check the gear reduction on the mill.  I have seen 2 conflicting numbers.

CC RZT 42 Mower Spindle

A spindle bearing is out on the CC RZT.   I figured I would have spindle on something else.  No dice.  This one even uses larger bearings than the craftsman mowers.

The top bearing died and balls must have dropped down into the cavity between the bearing and cut grooves into the spacer.  The spacers and the top bearing race are stuck on the shaft.  I am wondering if tossing it in the burnout oven for a while to free it up.  But how hot and how long.

Originally I was thinking it was a rust bond but the blue color from heat has me wondering.

July 17

Used the hydraulic press with two short bits of bed frame backed up by the press plates.   Stuck the bed frame between the bearing and the hub below it and it worked great.  This worked so well I am going to tidy them up a bit and create a center hole then save them in the wheel pullers!

But the spindle has a slit on top where the pulley needs to go.  Thinking of brazing it so the pulley centers.  Maybe cut down the top spacer to let the pulley ride below the cut.   Maybe between that and the brazing it will work.

And it will give me a chance to try my hand at brazing.

But:  I just remembered that the upper bearing had hogged out the housing.  Time for a new spindle.

But But:  Well I found the housing on my office desk.  So it must have been some other bad spindle housing I melted.  But with the shaft looking the way it does I am sticking with the new spindle.  Keep the old housing as a spare.  Hopefully will never need it.  Best insurance is having one on hand.
Now to put it some place safe.

Brown & Sharp #6 Turret Lathe Turret De Rusting

While I was working on freeing up the milling table I figured I could run the the

turret through the derusting process.   The table was much easier to free up than expected.  But there is no point in stopping this.  This is a two part VBLOG.

Part A

Part B

W A I T for it

Lufkin Bore Gauges

My wife found these at a garage sake.

 She did not know what they were but the price was worth the risk in that they would be useful.

They are Lufkin bore gauges.   Looks like it is good up to about 6 or 8 inches.

I am not sure what the missing part was.

These should be useful for checking cylinder bores.  Set it to the max allowable.   If it is loose in the bore the cylinder is out of spec.

Found an image of the set with the instructions in the lid.

I do not see how the rods can be used more than one at a time.