Am I officially crazy yet? It’s almost 3am and I just got done unloading my new lathe. (Thanks, Chris.) Apparently it’s restored from around World War II. I won’t be turning any cannon barrels with it, but it should serve as a nice introduction to the wonderful world of machining for me. I’m planning on using it to make robot parts (shaft couplers, that sort of thing), and rocket parts (small nosecones, couplers, I may even try my hand at making reloadable rocket motor hardware), stuff like that. If only I didn’t live in a 1-bedroom apartment the size of a shoebox, I’d have some place to actually put it. (It’s currently standing up against the air conditioner. Ideal setup, eh? Hah.) Hopefully in a couple of months I’ll be moving to a bigger place with a garage or basement.
Planning on signing up for CIM-101, the Intro to Manufacturing class at Camden County College. That will be the first formal training I’ve had of any sort regarding anything related to hardware. Up until this point it’s all been just self-taught. (It works, but it sure takes a lot longer.)
Got Gunther’s pulleys and belts today, from McMaster-Carr. They look great (although I thought the pulleys had keyways in them). My motor shafts are metric and the pulleys are SAE, but I think they’ll be a perfect press fit. Very very nice.
Still waiting for my AllElectronics order. I’m making a doohickey for one of Chris’ battlebots — the idea is to have two big beefy motors that can each drive the weapon disc, and I’ll make a circuit that will use the weapon’s RPMs to determine whether to run one or both motors. (Both motors to get it up to speed, and one motor to keep it going while saving power.) Planning on using a hall effect sensor and an AVR to monitor the spinning wheel and work the magic. Some dirt-crazy-cheap 70-amp relays will kick the motors on and off (gotta love surplus). I’d hate to be on the business end of that.