Completed Switch

I went back to Mendelson's early Saturday morning, sheepishly, hoping to get in and out of there without encountering my new nemesis "Big Elf".  My goal was to acquire another switch in order to disassemble it and use the cam I needed to make my original switch work.  Simple.  But while I was there, I decided that I would add 2 pilot lights to indicate which circuit was active--the Mill or the Lathe.  Naturally, there was no complete light to be found, so I had to Frankenstein some stuff together.  This necessitated an hour of sorting through racks of random parts looking for the combination of size, voltage, lamp, and lens that would work together.    I did manage to assemble 2 lights for $2.50 each, so it was worth it.  The switch I needed was right were I had left it--with 3 other switches.  I was tempted to buy them all, but I have enough "maybe I'll need this some day" and realizing that the budget has been blown on this switch many times over, I opted out.

I did note that the other switches were 3 position instead of the 5 position I was using, so this was a bonus--I planned to use the 3 position switch head from the new switch with the circuit modules from the switch I had at home.  I proceeded to the check out pile...and there he was.  It was like he was lying in wait for me.  "Big Elf" wasted no time in snarking to me "I guess the price wasn't so bad after all."  Resisting the urge to purge, I simply replied that I needed this one to make the other one work.  We completed our transaction and I was off.

I had decided to fill some of the holes in the motor starter box that I was re-purposing for the switch.  I had picked up a can of Bondo earlier in the week.  Never having worked with the stuff personally, I decided to start there so that I could get the box repaired and repainted with some dry time while I was building the switch.  The smell of Bondo was instantly familiar, though I'm not sure why--Dad was not a big fan of the stuff.  Remembering that I had hated that smell, it was strangely comforting now--something akin to "your own shit don't stink".  It took a few tries for me to get the holes filled to my satisfaction.  Finally deciding that I was taking too much time with this, I put a coat of paint on and set it aside to dry while I worked on the switch.

Once I got the switch apart, I realized that the cams in the two switches were not the same and I would not be able to simply take a cam from the new and add it to the old to get the "dead" position I needed.  Moreover, the 3 position head and the 5 position head worked in tandem with their respective cam designs, so it at first looked like I was not going to be able to get a working combination.  Ultimately, I found that the head and 2 cams from the new switch installed on the circuits of the old switch gave me everything I needed except...one cam.  So I was back where I started except that I now had a 3 position switch head and would not have to manually bi-pass 2 "dead" positions.  Looking at the cams I had leftover, I realized that I had 2 cams with only 1 detente and I needed 1 cam with 2 detentes.  So I had 2 tries to make the cam I needed. 

This would, of course, be a perfect job for the Mill.  I felt that temporarily wiring up the VFD and the Mill to do this job was a bit excessive (you have to draw the line somewhere), so I resorted to caveman technology, sort of.  I fitted the cam I needed to copy to the cam I was cutting together as they normally mate and chucked the unit into my vise.  These are nylon cams, so cutting the material could be achieved in a variety of ways.  I chose a copping saw.  I was able to rest the blade against the pattern cam and follow its profile as I cut the new cam.  It worked reasonably well, leaving only a little fine tuning to be done with the Dremel tool (actually a China Depot knock-off of a Dremel tool--when will I learn) with an engraving bit.  My first attempt worked, so I have a spare if I need it.

I got the switch all together and it worked well, so I was ready to assemble the box.  Looking at the now dry box, I decided that it needed another coat of paint. Naturally, this resulted in a mess.  For some reason, the fresh paint crackled slightly.  I had been very careful to keep contaminates away from the box as it dried and even wiped it with mineral spirits before I painted...oops.  I guess the mineral spirits prevented adhesion.  So I had to wait for it to dry, sand it down again, and start over.  Meanwhile, I went ahead and pulled wire in the conduit I had run last weekend.  And this meant that I would soon discover that I had not bought enough wire, so a trip to Lowes.  By the time I got back, the paint was dry, so I sanded it again and repainted it again.  The finish was not what I had hoped for, but it was good enough.  I pulled the wire and then while I waited for the paint to dry, started rearranging tools from the old tool chest to the new tool chest that I bought at the garage sale from the old retired machinist from whom I also bought some tooling --did I mention that?  Anyway, I will end up with a tool chest for machining and a tool chest for my general tools.

When the paint was dry a third (or fourth, I lost track) time, I assembled the switch and the pilot lights and wired it up.  It went together pretty easily (that may not be accurate since this is day 5 on this thing).  I did have to change a dedicated ground to a common in order to make the pilot lights work appropriately, so I am using a shared ground for the Mill, Lathe, and Compressor.  Not sure if this is Code Kosher, but it works for now (I'll read up on that later).  The switch worked fantastically and the Mill is back in business.  The Lathe, on the other hand, did not work.  I'm certain that the circuit from the switch is correct, since the Mill works.  The wiring on the Lathe is highly suspect and the motor might be bad.  If I have to buy another motor, I could just buy single phase and this whole switch thing will have been for naught.  I didn't have time to figure out the problem, so that will be next week's adventure.

Switch Update

I got the distributor for the switch on the phone and he is going to try to scrounge up a cam for me.  I asked him, out of curiosity, what a new switch would cost: $770.00.

I've decided that $15.00 maybe wasn't such a bad deal.  I'm going back to Mendelson's to buy the other 4 that were on the shelf, new in the box.  I'll be selling for $100.00 each, if anyone is interested.

Control Panel

This weekend I worked on the control panel for the mill and lathe.  The challenge has been to find a 3 pole, 3 throw switch (tptt).  Initially I was looking for a simple disconnect, but I had no luck finding such an animal, concluding that a selector switch was my only option.  Not being too familiar with controls, it has been learning experience for sure.  Most of the web sites I found offered catalog descriptions and were not helpful in describing applications.  My other problem was a constant in all my little projects: limited willingness to part with money.  This drove me to the very lair of the enemy: Mendelson's Surplus.  I mention them by name now (formerly I refrained) because they managed to piss me off again.  A surly attitude from one of the elves who apparently has been knighted within the organization--or whatever elves do to elevate their status--had me steaming as I left the building.  I have sworn them off before and gone many years without darkening their door, but the gravitational pull is hard to resist; sometimes I can feel it tugging at me from my shop--like when I'm in a quandary about how to make something work without spending too much money on new parts, not knowing if they will serve my intentions.  The issue this time relates to the outrageous pricing.  After spending literally hours sorting through piles of junk that has sat in heaps for decades, I tried to get a price quote from the elf, who decided to do an online search to find the retail price. I mentioned that I had bought a similar item from them last week for $7.50 (a switch that I disassembled and probably would have worked had I not lost patience trying to fit all the little springs and cams back together after locating them from the various corners of the shop where they ultimately landed after bouncing around like ricochets in a cowboy movie), and that I wasn't particularly interested in the retail price of this ancient switch.  Having invested my own time in finding it, and realizing that I may be the only person the universe who could actually find a use for it and who was willing to look for it, I felt that about $10.00 was fair.  Well, you would think that I had just insulted his mother.  He mentioned that he didn't know what it was worth, but he was sure it was worth more than $10.00.  I explained that it was only worth as much as someone was willing to pay for it, and that I was willing to pay $10.00.  I asked if he would rather have $10.00, or a useless switch buried on a shelf for another decade.  He replied that he would just put it back on the shelf "because I can".  I resisted the urge to just walk away (as a younger man, I would have let loose a verbal assault intent on making him cry, but I've grown...), because I really needed the switch in order to keep working over the weekend.  We settled on $15.00.  I mentioned that I had been a customer since the 1980s and had never been treated so poorly.  I'm not sure what he said to my back as I was walking away.

So, I got home with the switch and immediately took it apart.  This is a nice big switch, so the springs and cams are a manageable size.  I gave myself a pretty good headache trying to work out the functions to do what I needed, and re-assembled and dis-assembled the switch a few times before I got it to where I think it will work.  It is not ideal--I have a dead position that powers one line and I need a specific cam to open the pole.  If I bought another switch, I would have the cam I need, but I don't want to spend another $20 and I don't want to go back to Mendelson's. 

I found the manufacturer and a distributor in New Jersey.  Turns out, these switches are made for marine shore power and generator switching, which is essentially the function I need.  I can probably buy a new switch that does exactly what I need, but I'm guessing that a new switch like this is a $100 item.  I did send an e-mail to the distributer inquiring if I could acquire just the cam I need.  Waiting on a reply.

Driving Instructions, Part I

Ok, here is lesson one of an infinite series of specific driving tips and techniques for the average driver [read: moron].  The illustration applies not only to making right hand turns, but also to parking on a curve.  The object of this lesson is to learn how not to "curb" your vehicle, and more importantly, how not to ruin someone else's lawn.

It is apparently a little known fact that a wet lawn, as they often are in the spring of the year, is soft.  A typical vehicle weighs in the neighborhood of 4,000 pounds.  All of that weight is resting on 4 wheels with a contact area in the neighborhood of 133 square inches (trust me, I researched this); thus, a point load of 30 pounds per square inch.  Typical soil bearing capacity when dry is 2,000 pounds per square foot, or 14 pounds per square inch.  This is significantly reduced when soils are wet, but soils do vary greatly, so they could have more capacity   To be conservative, we'll just use 14 psi.  You can see that a car exerts nearly double the load of the soil's bearing capacity.  The end result is a rut.  In someone's lawn.

Although some people don't care about their lawn, it is safe to assume that many people do.  And, those people would prefer that a car stay off of the lawn so that said ruts do not appear.  There are many reasons that ruts in a lawn are undesirable, but for this discussion, we'll just take it as a given.

If the illustration seems confusing, take a minute to examine the one viable route.  The logical conclusion is that the nose of the car needs to progress further in a straight line before the turn is initiated to ensure that the rear wheels follow on the pavement and not over the adjacent lawn or curb.


This may take some practice, but once ingrained into your driving habits, it's no trouble at all.  Besides, think of how otherwise inconvenient it would be to have to get a new windshield when some angry homeowner comes storming out of his garage with a baseball bat and starts beating on your car and shouting obscenities about how you ruined his lawn.

Rearranging the Shop

I spent most of the weekend moving machines around to find space for the Southbend lathe.  I gave up my workbench site by the window so the lathe would be next to the mill, facilitating the 3 phase power requirement.

I liberated the bench and cabinets that had been the home of various planting implements and lawn chemicals for my new workbench.  Ultimately, this is going to work much better, as I can get the gardening stuff all together in the large mobile cabinet that already has fuels, chainsaws, shovels, and other unpleasantries.  I built this cabinet to be somewhat fireproof, having made it from steel panels, unistrut, and fire rated doors left over from a construction project.  I don't imagine my insurance agent would approve storing fertilizers and accelerants together, but having them at least in a semi-resistant cabinet is probably better than in most households.

I still need to add some shelving above the workbench, so I can add a work light below and have space to store projects in-process (because I tend to get side tracked, if you haven't noticed).  The lamp I spent a bit of time working on (haven't posted anything on this yet), and put aside because I didn't like the way it was turning out, eventually needs to be finished; I am not ready to re-purpose the cherry wood, which I spent quite a bit of time milling down from rough lumber for which I traded a pretty nice Delta compound miter-saw.  So, I have a pile of parts that need a temporary home and I suspect that even when the lamp is finished, there will always be something in que.  Even Yoda needs a place to rest between my attacks.

Next on the agenda is to wire up the lathe, then get back to Yoda.  I fab'd a bracket to mount to the wall and extend out 24" as a mounting post for the VFD and the disconnect for the mill and lathe.  This will put the VFD in arms reach of both machines, which is much more handy than mounted flat on the wall next to the mill (where I had it originally).  Reason being that I can use the VFD to control motor speed of both machines without messing with belts and gearing.  You can see the bracket mounted in the first picture.  But the VFD cannot run both machines simultaneously, so as a precaution, I have been searching for, and I think I have found, a 3 pole, 3 position switch, so I can select either machine with only one powered at any given time, but both powered from the VFD.  I bought more wire and some AC conduit (and made it out of Lowes for under 50 bucks--Woohoo!) to make the connections and I am eager to get this done.  But I ran out of time this weekend, so it will probably be next weekend before I get to it.