I’m just “Skating through life”……………..

[Runs With Scissors]

So there it is……My Bridgport.

It has been sitting there for a few weeks and now its really getting in the way.

The garage is packed…..It’s cold as all hell out there, and I need to "light a fire” under my own ass…...

First things first though.

I gotta be able to move it from “place to place” in order to start taking it apart with the hoist.

My plan is to use the hoist to “lift the heavy parts”, but the BP is sitting adjacent to the hoist currently, so I can continue to use it. (the hoist)

Well I decide to order some “machine skates”. These skates are part of my ”master plan” on getting this thing into the basement, but they will need slight modifications.

BACKSTORY: When I moved my lathe downstairs I ran into a “slight problem”. The dolly/trolly/boards I used as “ski’s” got hung up at the very end. I ended up using a “come-along” to kind of “muscle” my way out of the situation, so I would like to avoid a similar situation.


So looking at the skates, it appears (to me at least) that the nose could/would/might hit the floor before the actual “wheel” does. This would be the equivalent of the above situation that I am trying to avoid.



As I pull them apart, I look at the ‘welds” that are holding the supports together.

I am not getting that “warm and fuzzy” feeling about the “overall construction” so I decide that some modifications are in order as well.

I break out the “air chisel” and in a little while, I have a “Blank Slate"

Below you can see how much of the skate “protrudes” and everything I can figure points to a potential problem, hence the reason I decide to "shorten them”.

I mark them, then I commence to cutting the “ears” off with the bandsaw.

Well that is “taking forever” so I decide to fire up "Ye Old Upstairs Plasma Cutter"

Love that thing.

I use a scrap piece of steel as a "straight edge” and just like Van Gogh, I begin "lopping off” ears.

A few minutes with a file, and Waaa,Laaaaa………No more potential “hitting” problem…….Even at this extreme angle all possibilities of the “nose hitting” are gone.

One thing I failed to mention at first, was a problem I was having originally when I used the skates.

When I would hit “less than even” ground, one skate would “shoot out” from under the BP, leaving me in a kind of sh1tty “three leg'ged dog” position.

So, in order to remedy this, I have decided to make some “safety pins” so that the skates stay put.

I came up with a plan to “weld nuts” to the bottom of the “main deck” and use threaded rod as the ’safety pins”.

So I TIG on a nut to each "deck plate"

This has the desired effect, and things are going well.

Although, now I realize that my “cross braces” will now have to be modified. Aggggghhhhhh…….no biggie I guess.

A few minutes with the Plasma Machine and a file.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I now fire up the TIG machine, and its “off to the races” once again.

I TIG back on all of the “cross braces” , making sure to use the ‘axles” as alignment pins.

I also decide that I should weld the tubes that used to be connecting the ears, so that I have a way to turn the skates or align them with a bar if needed.

Some welds turn out better than others, as per usual, ……

Heres one that should make you feel good about yourself….I believe the Weldmonger would lovingly refer to it as “Hammered Dog Shit"

Overall I am happy with the way it's coming along though.

Now what @Runs With Scissors story would be complete without a “cameo” involving the lathe?

So after all this work, I am putting everything back together.

When I go to put the last axle in….Hmmmm?????? Now where did I put that last nut?

It’s got to be somewhere ……….. SOMEWHERE…….RIGHT???????

Nope…..I looked for that damn nut for at least 2 f’ing hours……..

No problem…….I just head up to the hardware store and grab one……..

WELL after my 4 th store, I just new that i was screwed……Not one damn place has this nut…..



Well, I guess thats why God invented lathes

I'll just moodify the damn axle to accept a nut the “next size down”…Here it is…..

But when I do, I am not liking the results. The nut just seems too small now. The last thing I need/want is for the damn axle to “break off” at that point, and have the whole thing come “ass over apple carts” down my stairs.

I am probably “over thinking it” but thats my “gut instinct”, so I decide to just make a "new axle"


So I fire up the trusty lathe and "I’m off, faster than a prom dress"

now in the past i would have “cut off” a piece, then turned it.

But I decide that if I do that, and then F up the first thread, (which is entirely possible) I have kind of “wasted” that piece.

So I decide to use the entire bar (as shown above) and if I screw up, I can just cut off the small screwed up section and ‘retry’ it.

I got the threads correct the first time,(amazingly) so i turn the “main body"

Now for the moment of truth…….I gotta succesfully part it of…AND thread the other side….correctly….

(I know….I know…..for all y’all "actual machinist’s" this is a “walk in the park” , but it’s exciting for a dumkoff like me….)

OHHH THE SUSPENSE!!!!!!!!

BAMMM!!!!!!! I F’ing NAILED IT!!!!!


Here she is, "hot off the press” as it were…………...

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Ok……So now I have a small problem……DAMN IT……

It’s never the things you ARE thinking of….its always the sh1t your NOT thinking of that screws you.


You see the original “stopper screw”….Well thats the thing that keeps the "black round circle" in place and prevents it from lifting up and losing all the ball bearings…...

Now the way I have it, when/if that plate lifts, the ball bearings will assuredly roll away

DAMN THE BAD LUCK/PLAN!!!!!!

Then it hits me………What if make the “counter bore” bigger?

Could I then use a nut to hold it in place?????

Gotta give it a shot. (enter the Lathe)

So I line my boring bar tip with my “Joe Pie” inspired “Height Gauge Tool”

This is one part of using a lathe that has “befuddled” me, using a boring bar……... but I take “real small” bites and it actually comes out “pretty ok” this time.

Here they are in “attack formation” just waiting for “duty to call"

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Now it's “go time”……Gotta give these bad M’frs a try…..

So I have to get the BP “up a little” so that I can put the skates under it, so I try to come up with a “high speed, low drag, solution” to raise the BP a few inches

I find some metal, and a spare jack……and……..and……………and…………….NOTHING!

I got nothin…….I have all kinds of things running through my head, but I can’t nail any one thing down.

So I revert to the plain, old, boring………shims and a pry bar.

I have boxes of those "welding coupons", so I just went from corner to corner, adding a shim or 2 each time...

Until I get enough clearance…..

Then I work all around….side to side….front to back….Just trying to keep things level and stable.

Now a “small child” could push this behemoth around…...

 

[bearbait]

Nice welds RWS but that was a long one, don't you know I'm old and it's hard to hold my attention for that long these days. Nice job my friend!!

 

[Sidekick]

When I moved my Bridgeport, I took (4) 12 inch 4 x 6 pressure treated scraps and cut one end to look like a staircase with 3/4 inch x 3/4 steps. I raised it with a Johnson bar one step at a time going around it so 4 x 4s would slide under and lag bolt in place. Then bought a harbor freight pallet jack to roll it out the door to a rollback we winched it on strapped to the pallet jack. Rolled right off at my garage. Buy a cheap pallet jack for your shop to go with the skates.
RWS has tooooo much time on his hands .

 

[D2Cat]

I didn't notice if you reinforced those welds on the plate by the rollers? They originally looked like a design for light weight objects.

When I saw your title it reminded me of what the doctor said as she was reviewing aches and pains, "You are accumulating years!".

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Nice welds RWS but that was a long one, don't you know I'm old and it's hard to hold my attention for that long these days. Nice job my friend!!

Yes sir, thats why I posted it now……

I didn’t want to try and tell the “entire move” in one story…….”Inch by inch, life's a cinch….Yard by yard, life is hard….."

 

[Runs With Scissors]

When I moved my Bridgeport, I took (4) 12 inch 4 x 6 pressure treated scraps and cut one end to look like a staircase with 3/4 inch x 3/4 steps. I raised it with a Johnson bar one step at a time going around it so 4 x 4s would slide under and lag bolt in place. Then bought a harbor freight pallet jack to roll it out the door to a rollback we winched it on strapped to the pallet jack. Rolled right off at my garage. Buy a cheap pallet jack for your shop to go with the skates.
RWS has tooooo much time on his hands .

I was considering getting one of those….still might.

However, I do not have nearly enough time though……Always a “fight” to finish things……Gotta retire one day so I have time to do more.


(Which by the way, is a “Vicious Circle”……..Work to buy more tools/junk/stuff but then don’t have time to play with it all……Then I buy more shit cause I want to do more in my "off time", then have to work more to pay it off…….Rinse and repeat)

Sadly, the thing I enjoy most, “buying tools” is the very thing keeping me “prisoner”……..It’s/I’m complicated…...

 

[Yooper]

Your tig welds show much progress, grasshopper!

Now I’m wondering how many of you are old enough to get the ‘grasshopper’ thing?

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Your tig welds show much progress, grasshopper!

Now I’m wondering how many of you are old enough to get the ‘grasshopper’ thing?

Thank you sir!

and I am!!!!!!

Loved that show.

 

[Ping]

Your tig welds show much progress, grasshopper!

Now I’m wondering how many of you are old enough to get the ‘grasshopper’ thing?

Master Po say "Grasshopper's wolly worm welds will turn into butterfly with practice"