The tandem thing has been bugging me for a while, Jamie’s 650b Conversion, Tom’s custom Ibis “Dumpster Dive” and my high school memories of Pete and I riding Mt. Wachusett and descending “Mile Hill” on a Paramount Tandem loaned from George Gamache.
Also bugging me was this Jack Taylor that Wayne has had tucked away at Velo Classique for some time. I recall helping him move it there.
Making some minor modification to this Jack Taylor 50th Anniversary Edition tandem to entice the wife to take some leisurely rides on the W&OD or the C&O Canal. Work in progress but addition of wider tires, fresh brake pads, fender removal and addition of riser bar for stocker is looking good.
All Done! Pretty happy with the final outcome of the Certiflat Welding Table kit. Took a bit of help from their support for me to get it flat but other than that pretty nice addition to the shop. Working on clamps now, I am turning down some 3/4 (don’t have any 5/8 lying around – and I have a lathe) for the pins and attaching some cheap harbor freight quick clamps to them – proto-type seems solid enough – usage over time will tell.
After years of working off the floor, make-shift benches and everything in between I ordered a Certiflat 36×48 Pro Top Kit. Yup, felt a bit foolish for not having built my own over the years but my work never has been traditional bench/layout work. Recently I have had been dabbling in some fab work requiring a bit more precision. So I took the plunge….I will do my best to chronicle the purchase/ship/assemble and usage of the Pro Top Table.
First: old faithful – lots of work done on this setup (well, there has been lots of these types over the year, this is the latest one)
Old Welding Table
Enter weldtable.com Certiflat Pro Top Kit w/Legs (shameless referral link)
Ordering was straight forward, there follow up with referral program was quick, almost annoying but at the same time understandable. Took about 6 days until initial ship. Shipping for me was UPS and tracking was spot on. Packaging was done well, see pics below. (have seen some post where folks got damage tables)
Fresh off UPS Truck
Off the UPS Truck
Assembled and Framed in Wood
Assembled and Framed in Wood
Assembled and Framed in Wood
Packing Slip
Leg Kit is Separate Box
Phone a Friend
Pretty damn heavy and very awkward to get out of box and onto saw horses. Call a friend makes easy work of that! Like I said, I have heard stories of bad packaging but this is pretty stable and had no issues.
Top Side Framed in Wood
More Wood Framing
Help from Marge
In Box View of Framing
More Framing Closeups
Framing Removed
Clean up and clamp up
Cleaned up all the pieces from left over oil and grit from the manufacturing process before clamping in place. Note, need more clamps but so far so good and all the “light tests” are looking good. Did have one troublesome rail (more light test failures than all the other parts of the table) and will take it off and double check for burrs and what not.
U Clamps, Slight Mod (bends) to fit through holes
Found the Crown
Cleaned/Degreased Table Top
Rails all Clean
Cleaned Up and Reassembled
Clamp Up
Tacking it up! Oh Shit!
Things have gone south at this point, sent message to the folks at weldtables.com for some assistance. I have tacked the table after removing all the gaps (no light between table and ribs) and then flipped it over to inspect for “flatness”. Straight edge on the short 3′ side was dead on when checked all the way across from one end to the other! Very excited at this point. Checking the long 4′ length is a different story. On the good end (the very edge) was real good although actually not as solid as the 3′ inspections. When checked in the middle of the table the gap was about 3/16″ and on the opposite end it was 1/4″ off — EEEK! There are not gaps against the table and ribs so I have not way to pull any bow out at this point as the table top is completely flush with the ribs. Gap pics below to give an idea what I am seeing. Hopefully the folks at weldtables let me know I did something goofy and I can fix it easily. Maybe this turns into a “don’t do it this way” tutorial.
Opposite Side – just shy of 1/4″ gap
Gap at Good Edge – less than a 32nd
Found what I think is the issue. I cut most of the tacks out – rookie mistake I did put a few tacks in spots that I could not easily cut. One of the longer ribs is way out of wack. Pics below. It has a bow in it and appears to be wonky with respect to width.
I assumed the ribs (as advertised) where accurate but the ones I got appear not to be so. So clamping to the ribs and removing the daylight between them and the top is no guarantee that the table is flat.
Going to request a set of rails/ribs from weldtables and go from there.
Straight rail/rib
Bowed Rail/Rib
Bowed Rail/Rib
1.990 at End
1.969 in Center
1.98 at other end
FWIW – I measured the other “good” rib in a similar fashion and they where within .003 – not off .021.
Will keep posted on weldtable response:
FLAT!
So after exchanging a few email with the folks at weldtables.com I learned the error of my ways. While I still need to look at the ribs again to understand how they work exactly I did get the table flat despite discrepancies in the ribs as pictured above. Basically clamping the untacked ribs and turning the table upright was the first step. With use of an oak board and some “heavy persuasion” I knocked out the high spots. Which basically seemed to just really tighten up the slot and tabs and maybe bring back the memory of the top. Took some moving around the table with the straightedge and some fine tuning taps but all is good and flat with the table now! More pics to follow and leg installation coming soon…
Came across this advertisement in a 1896 Bicycle News . Certainly the earliest Wearable I have seen. I did dig around some other ephemera I have to see if I could spot some more but came up empty. Early 1900 Youth Companion thru 70’s Electronic Mags showed no signs of anything similar.
Got my EspoTek Labrador Oscilloscope from Crowd Supply. It has been a long while since playing around with an Oscilloscope let alone an open hardware one like this. Here is my first look:
Couple of shots out of the box
Top View of Labrador
Bottom View
Connected to a bread board: Not absolutely necessary but I would suggest starting with it. Basically fits nicely on a standard breadboard. Note, the pins for Power Supply and the Signal Generator and “Digital Outs” line up on the bread board for a pretty handy. Do take care inserting into the breadboard as they legs are pretty long and I would say not exact but they do work.
Attaching to breadboard
Attached
Had to dig a bit for this but found the Pinout diagram – very helpful of course. There are no pinout descriptions on the device itself or at least any legible ones for these old eyes so keep the PinOut link handy.
First, get oscilloscope software for your device at their github repo: EspoTek Labrador Releases and get it installed. I had one issue getting the device to be recognized on my MacBook Air but a simple unplug/replug in the USB cable did the trick. There may be a sequence to follow but I have not played more with is since it started working.
Have a couple of wires ready to calibrate it on startup. The basic calibration process require (appears you ground out the Oscilloscope CH1 and CH2 to the USB housing).
Messed around a bit with the signal generator using the same circuit: Not sure what is going on with the Square wave but the other waveforms look accurate.
Sawtooth
Square wave
Triangle
All and all pretty please with the Labrador Oscilloscope. Will mess with the Multimeter and Logic Analyzer soon enough.
Recent photo scans from a 1960’s scrap book I bought a few years ago at a swap meet. Each of the photo’s have 1961 6 Day Race hand written on the back of them. The pages of the scrap book indicate the same. Judging from the rest of the “very interesting – more on that later” photos in the scrap book the race was probably in NY.
A 6 Day Race historian friend of mine immediately identified it as a “Portable Olympic Track” so it could be anywhere. Rules out Madison Square Garden as was my first suspicion. If was fun to find such great 6 Day Race photo’s it what is otherwise a pretty common family scrap book. Enjoy.
Created adjustable sub-plate for tool posts I picked up recently at the Cabin Fever Expo. May need some additional modifications but has adequate travel to situate the form tools that I want to play with. Simple plate with slots to allow adjustment over the work piece. Don’t need much travel as the form tools will stay as close to the spindle as possible.
Sub plate / Riser for Post
Sub plate / Riser for Post
Tricky part of the second operation lathe is getting front and back tool post in sync. Also, depending on some of the tools I use in the turret it require sthe cross slide to be pushed up pretty close to the spindle. Hence they typically come with factory installed risers and corresponding tool post.
Brown and Sharpe 210-120 Knurling Swing Tool. Nice addition for the Rivett 918s. Takes 5/8″OD – 1/4ID – 1/4″ Width Knurling Wheels. Came with the “fine” diamond (male or female tbd). More wheels to come and and a bit more studying. Great document for anyone playing with knurling Reed Machinery – Knurls and Knurling has been a great help.
B&S 210 -120 Swing Knurl Tool
B&S 210 -120 Swing Knurl Tool
Finished Knurl – B&S 210 -120 Swing Knurl Tool
The swing tool is interesting. The swing allows the placement of the knurl on the part to be flexible. Single wheel limits patterns formed by multiple wheels but diamond patterns available so not a worry. Initial test shown above – not too shabby. Need to work on the push bar that contacts the swing arm, just pushed it with the cross feed plate for now.
Dental Lathe with Chuck – more posts about this later as I clean.
Almond – 5-6″ Made in Ashburnham, MA
3/8 RH, LH and Boring Bar with HSS Inserts.
Nice quality small tool posts
Misc calipers and centers
Tube Micrometer – Slocumb
Cabin Fever Expo is a great place to pick up all sorts of odds and ends. The auction this year was great, the consignment area never fails to deliver and the vendors round it out with a huge variety of tools and tooling.
