It's the great big bandsaw clamp givaway thread..

[.RC.]

Have received a few PM's from people wishing to pay for postage or reimburse me in some way.... While I would like to thank them for the generous gesture, I am pretty right for things and not quite destitute just yet...

If you want to do something perhaps you could help out someone else in a similar way.... Many here have helped me out in he past... Eskimo sent me a electrical contactor a couple of years back... OzHunter collected and posted a 150-300mm micrometer to me then never got back to me on what the postage was.. Machtool collected a kiln for me and arranged cheap transport.. GregQ and his family put up with me for five days when we had the Melbourne scraping class back in 2011.. People in the US have helped me out as well...

I am in an area where i am not really in much of a position to help anyone else out... So all I will say is if you want to do something, if in the future someone asks for help and you feel comfortable in being able to help them, then you might be able to help them out....

[Steamwhisperer]

Well said Richard.

Phil

[wheelinround]

I'm sure I have a use for it!

If it doesn't work, it's yours. At least I'll know where it is if I do need it!

Ah Nick your a gem no worries as I can knock something up if required I am sure.

[Anorak Bob]

Thank you Richard,

Your efforts and generosity are greatly appreciated.

Bob.

[argeng]

Thanks Rich,
You have been very generous, I am more than happy to help out where possible to other members. I am in Vermont in Melb so if any one needs a pick up or help moving gear drop me a line. I have a good selection of rigging gear and a portable gantry for use. I have a large Elliott lathe so am open to help where I can. This is a great collection of like minded people, when I purchased my Elliott Lathe Peter F was fantastic in helping me bring it up to operational specs and sent me an original manual, no charge, so cheers to Peter. Just wish my kids could realise the beauty in machinery, in saying that my daughter, when she was 12 was quite good on the soldering iron when we did a school lighthouse model together. Being 52 now I have come to the realisation that when I get further on in years I must make sure I sell all my gear as I would hate to leave the kids in a situation where they sell all my hard earned, no one can appreciate, just how much I need this bit of kit, for bugger all. I not to long ago went to a friend of my wife's, who's father had passed away, 3 sons all not interested in engineering, where they were cleaning out his garage.
He was a fantastic guy of German background, hard life, escaped the whole Nazi trouble, ran the border, was fired at, eventually happy in Aus and had some good gear. Forgetting what I paid, I picked up some great stuff. I needed to drill through a hardened starter ring gear that I was adapting for a Yamaha go kart engine to make it electric start, and yes there in my treasure trove of 2 boot loads of gear were some Stellite drill bits. I also, was looking at buying some precission V blocks to balance the crank shaft and what was in the gear, 3 sets of matched blocks.
I know I have dribbled on but what the heck, it comes down to its nice to meet people who have a good heart.

Cheers Bruce

[wheelinround]

Why didn't I see it before ..........so simple top make a few.

I am off with tool box in hand to scavenge all the truck wheel bearings and engine bearings I can gather.

[Jekyll and Hyde]

Why didn't I see it before ..........so simple top make a few.

I am off with tool box in hand to scavenge all the truck wheel bearings and engine bearings I can gather.

I don't know that I'd be so keen to use a hardened steel bearing race for this one, especially loaded in the direction that it will be in use. And I definitely wouldn't straighten them out as RC shows in his 'making of' thread, that is an absolute no no. I know the load shouldn't be that high when clamping stock, but I'm not so sure what happens if the blade jams and wrenches on the stock being cut... Seems like too much risk of shrapnel to me.

Yeah, yeah, I know, safety nazi, blah blah blah. I'm sure you've considered all that, but just in case someone else reads it and isn't aware of the potential risks with hardened steel, it's still worth mentioning the obvious...

Never seen the big end/main bearings out of a truck, would they be strong enough? Car big end/main bearings tend to be pretty damn soft....

[Greg Q]

All posted this morning except for the one going to nosnow... Sorry but when i was driving home I noticed your parcel still in the car.. I will try to get it posted later this week, ironically yours will be the cheapest to send..postage was a bit more then I was anticipating....... Damn i was really looking forward to that third ivory backscratcher as well..

Oh and Greg the mexican did not get his sent either.. The drugs are not packaged, ready to post yet Greg....

OH BTW Greg, how is the tunnel digging under the border going?

¡Ola Ricardo! The tunnelling goes slowly. I could have gotten under the Rio Grande quicker. Are those Queensland Border Patrol guys bribable?

Anyway, thanks for packing my shipment boogie board thing with the thing extra carefully

Greg "Chapelle" Q

[.RC.]

I think they must be bribable as around winter every year we get inundated with these bastards with blue number plates pulling caravans doing 80kph up the highway.. They must get over the border somehow...

[Greg Q]

Mi compadre: I promise that as long as I sport my vic plates that I will never go quite that fast. In the right lane, too.

Getting back to these clamps for a moment: could a bearing race not be heated to draw the temper down to RC 40 or so? I agree that as found a bearing race would be way too brittle for this. As I recall the originals on PM were chunks of hydraulic cylinder.

GQ

[Michael G]

Hydraulic cylinders don't have to be anything special - depending on the pressures and provided the wall thickness is up to scratch they can be 'normal' carbon steel.
An annealed bearing race might be alright but the problem with some of the more exotic steels is that annealing is not necessarily a slow cool from a high temperature. If the right (or wrong, depending on your view point) elements are present it may for example require a quench to below a certain temperature followed by a reheat to stablise the structure.
If someone wants to try making one of these the go might be to see if you can get a ring of scrap or two from a either a hydraulic cylinder manufacturer or someone who repairs earth moving equipment (scrap cylinder).

Michael

[wheelinround]

I meant the cone not the race

You are right but how much pressure will you be loading onto it.

I have had to cold chisel, oxy these out on breakdowns roadside and then was taught how to weld a cone to remove it in the workshop (smartA of course he didn't go out with minimal tools) which was as stubborn to remove as a pig in mud.

[Jekyll and Hyde]

I meant the cone not the race

You are right but how much pressure will you be loading onto it.

I have had to cold chisel, oxy these out on breakdowns roadside and then was taught how to weld a cone to remove it in the workshop (smartA of course he didn't go out with minimal tools) which was as stubborn to remove as a pig in mud.

I'm not sure how much pressure would actually be applied in this situation, which is part of the reason for my hesitation. But what worries me more is that you are putting the entire piece under stress, as you're only supporting the two ends and pushing in the middle. I suppose if you've got a press and something suitable to use as a shrapnel catcher/damper, you could test how it will stand up with relative safety...

As far as other sources for material, I've got a short lump of some kind of magnetic stainless steel pipe (appears to be cast, oddly enough) which is 150mm in diameter with a 10mm wall at the thin parts. It came from one of the skips at my local scrap steel joint some months ago - the skip was full of them, seemed to be offcuts from some sort of manufacturing process. Might be worth a scout around at your local scrappy?

[bosox]

You are so generous! I like those band saw clamps. But I'll pass for it.

[Ueee]

Thank you RC

Postie just turned up with the the clamp, good job.

For anyone else posting things, often it is cheaper to use a pre paid satchel to post things. From .5 to 3kg is 12.50 aus wide.