Thank God I'm not the only one!

Unfortunately, people here still don't throw away computers on the street, so for now, I have only one Sinclair ZX81 (mine), Spectrum 48k, Amstrad/Schneider CPC 464, several working 286, 386 mobos, two broken 486 mobos, RLL and MFM controllers, several AT psu's, 5 broken HDD's (they have nice strong magnets hehe! couple of printers and various cards...

Guess I have only one car garage almost full of other crap (one complete car engine, two small outboard motors are the bigger things I can think of now)...

And, as jaydee said...:D :D :D

:D , well you got me beat in junk inventory, but still me too just can't trow stuff away, some part of me always thinks, that someday I might need that.

Puzzdre, did you find anything (books)

heh, the first thing you throw away, you'll need it right on tommorow...:)

hi morph,
No, I didn't find anything here in my town (Vinkovci), but on friday I'm going to Zagreb, and I'm pretty sure that I will find the book. I'll go directly to the faculty of mechanical engeneering, and also, some second hand books stores... Not to worry...

What worries me is the fact that I can't find any place selling those x-y tables, I'll have to try to find it somewhere else. I'm trying to find the table here in Cro to avoid paying the (high) customs fee when mail delivered from outside Croatia. I know (and it makes me pretty mad) that there are ones for as much as 50$ plus shipping, but when that arrives, it will cost me 100$...:cry:

oh, yes, I'll ofcourse visit the Bauhaus in Zg and buy that nicro oil!!! Thx again!

any luck on your side?

just to add, I'm always willing to pay good money for good stuff, but I'm not eager to pay double and gain nothing.

:confused:

Now don't you wish you had listened to me?;)

Actually, I found out that 2 rows is good, but 3 and more is almost completely useless.

There will be two rows
Just to find some time...and buy new drill bits :D

Believe me, I DO.

(the third bit is on the opposite of the first one, just one hole...)

Nice to see someone else trying to do another Xjinn block! I made one with aluminum and it was STILL a pain.

The drill press that I used was very similar and I noticed that the stage holding the block was not very stable. Any pressure at all and it flexed downwards, causing lateral pressure on the drill bit. I heard a lot of "ping" noises until I learned to do it really slowly.

Also, when working with aluminum, WD-40 really is a good cutting oil! All the machinists here at work swear by it. It was supposed to have been designed (in WWII) as a cutting oil for aluminum. As for working with copper, I don't know if there are better substances. When working with steel, there are cutting oils with sulfur compounds that help lubricate, but those same sulfur compounds do not work well with aluminum machining. If you are looking for cheap, one of the machinists here suggested that I use diesel. It's not easily flammable (which is why diesel engines use wierd combustion methods), it helps lubricate well, and it's very cheap.

I second the person who recommended using different drill bits for copper. You want an incident face angle that is much less agressive! This is because a normal drill bit cutting face is angled to cut into the material and shave slivers off. With copper, it is so ductile that if the drill bit actually bites into the copper, it will snap off any small drill bit quite quickly. You want a zero or negative angle so that you (lightly) press into the material to get any cutting action at all (hard to describe).

Note, this is all what I've been told by the machinists at work. I don't do this stuff for a living.

WD40 is good, but have you ever tried Kerosene for cutting/drilling AL? Shop I worked at used it and it made working with AL so much easier.

Thanx for the more info guys!

I'll try to find some blocks of al to see how it is working with al. For now, all (little) experience I have is with copper (with various results...:D )

The tool shops in my town have pretty narrow choice of drill bits to choose from, so I'll have to search for the better shops.

So, as always, the trick is to take it easy on the handle...(pun intended):D

any comments/infos on that endmill bits from the pic?

Hi, I found some x,y tables 150x200 mm 418 dem , 150*300mm 630 dem , 230*430mm 935dem
They have x,y wheels and you can also turn the table 360° around vertical axis.
Those prices are from some older catalogue , but tools and equimpent prices aren't fluctuating a lot. I will make a call for current price in availability

that 418 dem one would be acceptable for the (financial) moment :)
does the 150x200 mm means that it can travel for 150mm in one and 200 in other direction?

funny thing, yesterday in the videoclub I met a guy who's neighbour used to have a machine shop here (now retired), I'm going to visit him soon to see if he has something to offer...maybe he has a mill that his grandchildren don't need anymore...I'm not putting much hope into that, but...we'll see...:D

morph, THANK YOU A LOT !!!!!!

pls, post what you find.

thanx again!

Cheers!

another good coolant to use when cutting aluminum and copper is that solvent in a parts washer that most autoshops and machine shops have. That stuff smokes, but works great.

good to know Fixitt !

addendum: t ;)

Can O' Beans, diesel is kerosene. Diesel is just more refined. This may explain your luck with it!

--Matt

@Morphling1: I thought that all the chains of the stores carry same kind of stuff, but no, not here. The guy in the bauhaus store said he never heard of nicro 860, and he was pretty sure they never had it in the store...
So, I'll have to try something else...
Sad story...
Thx.
:shrug:

@mkosem: funny, in my country jet engine fuel is called kerosene...:D

and did you guys know, that a jet engine runs pritty damn well on Diesel. not as good as on it's intended fuel, but good enough for a sub 4sec Qtr-Mile in a jet dragster (early 90's)..... :)


reason they used diesel in place of jet fuel, was actually because it's a bit less potent... makes it less Fatal, to the driver...

I use good old Castrol GTX2 "a Can of the best"....