360* Rotating Back Blade Project

[3RRL]

Mornin Rob & Larry,
Nice progress ! Im really enjoying this thread for a couple of reasons really !

1st its really interesting !

2nd I think its great that so many people are interested in machining ! When I got into the trade 35 years ago, people would say, so what trade are you in ? And I would tell them toolmaker/machinist, and they would say "ohhh you do that" Fast foward 35 years and somebody is actually interested in working metal

Keep the posts and pics coming, Im feeling important again !

I'm with you all the way Scotty, it's nice to be "needed" again in my old age. Even nicer someone appreciates it too!
BTW, did you see that neat depth mic extension and clamps for it? It is exactly 1" tall and I can reach out 8" with it.
Thanks,

 

[scott_vt]

I'm with you all the way Scotty, it's nice to be "needed" again in my old age. Even nicer someone appreciates it too!
BTW, did you see that neat depth mic extension and clamps for it? It is exactly 1" tall and I can reach out 8" with it.
Thanks,

Afternoon Rob,
Honestly, I saw the picture but I didnt blow it up ! Very nice
along with personalized engraving! A nice touch for sure !

 

[montejw]

When I got into the trade 35 years ago, people would say, so what trade are you in ? And I would tell them toolmaker/machinist, and they would say "ohhh you do that" Fast foward 35 years and somebody is actually interested in working metal

Keep the posts and pics coming, Im feeling important again !

I've been trying to figure out how to get into this trade the last couple years. I'm 49, not much time left for an apprenticeship is the big problem. Had one job if I wanted it, but $10/hr was lower than "we" could afford.

Keep 'em coming Rob and Larry, very cool project.

Monte

 

[scott_vt]

I've been trying to figure out how to get into this trade the last couple years. I'm 49, not much time left for an apprenticeship is the big problem. Had one job if I wanted it, but $10/hr was lower than "we" could afford.

Keep 'em coming Rob and Larry, very cool project.

Monte

Mornin Montejw,
Well I could have never raised two kids and sent them to college on that kind of money ! I started my apprenticeship at 21, oh I guess that says how old I am I started in Feb 1972 at $3.15 per hour, and Im making about 10 times that 35 years later, still not a lot of money in todays world, but my wife does considerably better than me so it works

I do mostly engineering protype work on office equipment and paper handling protypes. Id rather be working on tractors, but it pays the bills

 

[GuglioLS]

Centering the big worm gear meant cutting off part of the hub projection. I am not wasting any time on sissy milling cuts anymore so I took a Ø3/4" corn cob mill and buried it 3/4" deep at full width cut..........
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i106/rliefveld/Larry Tilt Blade Project/6MILLGEAR.jpg
..........It is going to weigh a ton with 10 quarts of oil in it!

No more sissy milling cuts - Now your talking. I sure am glad your not messing around anymore.

Rob,

The excellent quality of your workmanship and fast rate of progress on the gearbox are way beyond my expectations. It's turning out GREAT!. I'm in anxious anticipation of it's completion. This weekend I'm hoping to be able to post a few pictures of what I am adding to control the Blade swing offset. I picked up some steel today for mounting the Hydraulic cylinder and to make the mounting bracket for the gear box. What color should we paint it? - Opinions anyone please?

Also - does anyone know what color / brand paint matches Leinbach yellow ?

I have to do some welding on it and the paint is gonna get burned real bad.

Larry

 

[montejw]

Centering the big worm gear meant cutting off part of the hub projection. I am not wasting any time on sissy milling cuts anymore so I took a Ø3/4" corn cob mill and buried it 3/4" deep at full width cut. Then ground the height of the hub to the correct dimension. I also turned the spacer for the other side and ground it also.

Rob,
Aren't gears hardened a bit? I thought you'd have to use an abrasive of some sort to cut it.

That's a gnarly cut.

Monte

 

[3RRL]

Rob,
Aren't gears hardened a bit? I thought you'd have to use an abrasive of some sort to cut it.

That's a gnarly cut.

Monte

This one wasn't. It cut pretty easy and seemed to made of a cast material. Most gears need to work into each other and then work harden over use. Usually made of steel or cast. You can use carbide tooling ... either solid carbide or inserted cutters to cut hardened steel with air or liquid cooling and of course grind it if necessary.

 

[tlbuser]

What color should we paint it? - Opinions anyone please?

Also - does anyone know what color / brand paint matches Leinbach yellow ?

I have to do some welding on it and the paint is gonna get burned real bad.

Larry

Rainbow with JD Green, Kubota Orange, Ford Blue, and MF red. That way it'll match almost all of the TBN crew that'll want to borrow you're cool new toy

How about safety yellow Rust-Oleum

 

[tlbuser]

I noticed a trend here. Do you tag everything? Old camp habit from your mom putting tags in your underwear ?

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Rob and Larry,
Many years ago, I was working in the toolroom and we had an old Kearney & Treker milling machine. It had a power feed chuck and dividing head that was coupled with the table lead screw. I used it to mill worms with an involute cutter, some with double, tripple and quadruple leads. All the stuff that I did was 29 deg included angle, acme for short stuff. I always thought how neat it was to run that thing, its probablly in some antique museum today !

 

[3RRL]

I have quite a lot of progress to report today. I started work on the shafts and there are three that need to be made or modified. Each one entailed a lot of work to custom fit them to work in Larry's gear box ... more than the eye meets.

I started on the big worm gear shaft. Larry had given me hollow splines that needed to be connected so they would be long enough to run through the top and bottom of the box. That way he could not only plug in a PTO type shaft into the bottom such as his tilt blade, but also into the top if he wanted. This represented some problems because connecting the two hollow shafts and keeping straight as well as strong and lined up in the center was tricky.
I put the long spline inside the shaft to line them up. Indicated several times in the "V" block.



I found the outside did not run true to the inside so I had to position the shaft several times so the OD ran true to the ID. Then I clamped them in position to TIG weld them together. This took several hours to straighten out after welding each time until I was finally able to arc weld the shafts completely.

 

[3RRL]

Next was to turn down the weld and blend the two shafts together. Total run out over the entire length was .002" ... not too bad for that super slow turning worm gear. Even better is that I will not use the total length but a shorter length for the box.



After that I figured out where to cut the key slot. Larry wants a 1/2" protrusion on the bottom and 1/4" sticking out of the top. I had to work the key stock a little to get it to fit the worm gear since there was a lot of taper in the broached slot. But after some massaging, I got it all in there neatly and fit together.

 

[3RRL]

Here it is now all turned down and machined with the key fitted to it.



And fit to the big worm gear. It has been cut and chamfered to the correct OAL for what Larry wanted. So now this big worm gear and shaft are ready to be installed.



Next was to get started on the shaft for the worm itself. First thing was to measure how deep the hydraulic motor would clamp inside the side plate couter bore. This has to be fairly close so the shaft end is still inside the oil seal. I had to saw off about 2" to get it to this point.

 

[3RRL]

Not only did I have to get the length right, but I had to figure out how to attach the hydraulic motor to the shaft to drive the worm. I decided to make a 3/4" square drive pocket in the end of the shaft, like on a 3/4" drive ratchet wrench. I set the shaft up in the milling machine again this time inside a big "V" block held by my vise. Then started to drill out the corners of the pocket.



Here is the pocket all finished machined. It is .002" per side larger than 3/4" square for an easy fit. I had to be very careful because it was standing way up in the air and use a small endmill for this work. Notice the end of the shaft still has the lathe finish and also how the keyway was cut all the way through the shaft.

 

[3RRL]

I mentioned that keyway because Larry was kind enough to machine that at his home for me. He was kind enough to cut it all the way through so now I had to plug it up where the oil seal has to ride around it.
Here is a close up of the pocket work and the keyway slot.



Oops, in this photo the keyway slot has miraculously disappeared!! Fixed by magic...
Can you tell where it was? I'll bet Larry is relieved because he was fretting about this for a month now. If you look at the right side of the shaft you can see where the rest of the slot still is. The end and the diameter look pretty good now. Larry is going to owe me for life.

 

[3RRL]

I'm not done yet because I still had to modify the hydraulic motor shaft itself....another easy job.

Here is a photo of the motor Larry sent me. It is a European "Meta" brand and originally came with a Ø1" keyed shaft which I could not use.



I quickly took it apart and removed the drive shaft noting how all the gizmos went into it. It had "O" rings, bearings and a bunch of other stuff. Hope I remember what order they go to put it all back together again?

 

[3RRL]

I chucked up the shaft (which is harder than a wedding night peter) into the "V" block and set it up on the surface grinder. I had to plunge grind the hardened shaft to get the flats on it. Then rotated the shaft inside the "V" block and indicated each square side to get it perpendicular to the others and on center of the shaft.
This is starting the first flat.



This is it all finished and cut off to length. It is all surface ground and chamfered, ready to re-assemble the hydraulic motor. Grinding all these surfaces took a very long time. It is also .002" under 3/4" square for the same reason... ease of assembly. Total engagement of shaft to pocket is .800".

 

[3RRL]

Shown here are the completed worm shaft and hydraulic motor with it's modified end.



This is how they mate up.



What's left now? Well, I have to tack weld the collars to the plates so they don't come off during assembly. I will also add radii to the top and bottom plates so they are not sharp and Larry will not bust his knees on them. Then I will assemble the box with one end left out so I can inspect how everything fits and runs together ... maybe even take a video of it like that running. Then take it all apart again for final assembly with sealer on the side and bottom plates. Larry can get his own gasket for the top. Larry, get a thin paper gasket so you don't lose the pre-load for the thrust bearings! I'll include a couple shims for you.
For now, I'm going to take a break after all this hard work.
I'm very pleased as to how it's all turning out.

 

[tlbuser]

Ever heard the term "artistry in motion" ? Some people pay big bucks for that type of stuff and here, we're getting a freebie
Very impressive !

 

[3RRL]

Thanks TL,
It's nice that this thread has been of interest to you. BTW, in our trade we always "mark" our tools so they don't end up accidentally in someone else's box. Most of mine I've had for many, many years. Dating back to when I worked on the bench for others, so they are all marked. But yes, my underwear is marked too. ... just a habit I guess.