rod mill new mech. & wheels for

Use 2 shafts coupled by a belt or chain . Your wheels can be immobilized by injecting the bearings with epoxy resin . Locked to the shafts with shaft retaining loctite . Alternate suggestion : Use 2 pairs of cogged pulleys with enough slack in the belts to form a "saddle" for the drum to ride in .

Hi there

Friend helping is very opposed to belt-drives. He comes from and works in a commercial marine environment. A slipping or broken belt would mean death if you were trying to ride-out a storm. Someone else I independently know had to motor heading 30 hours heading to the Atlantic because there was not a moment they dared to turn the bow away from the weather so they could turn and run for their home port. I see where they are formed.

But he does have a very good lathe, very good milling machine, etc. "The dream spec." is there to be had.

I would have had a shaft with a wheel mounted to each end, and a belt-drive to a pulley in the middle, between the bearings.

He did give me my "Mark 1" rod-mill - which is significant.

Thanks for the idea of locking the wheels on with glue. Just not worth quibbling - get the mass produced item and pour in glue. However; Shaft diameter going into gearbox is something like 20mm - and presumably wheels would need to press over something about that diameter.

What I did not say:

Size of wheels - is constrained

You might want to run up to 70% of critical speed - you could have a shell configured as a ball-mill.

So that is 70RPM for the mill shell.

UK mains is 50Hz and motor runs at 1500PRM However; Variable Frequency Drive will go up to 60Hz, giving 1800RPM

Have gearbox 15:1

(/f 1800 15) ;; 120.0 ;; RPM - the fastest the drive-shaft can turn.

(* (/f 70 120) 240) ;; 140.0 ;; mm dia.

So 150mm diameter wheel looks good if 140dia wheel not available. Given induction motor's presumed typical phase slippage - 150dia wheel...

The gearbox has a "female" coupling taking an 18mm diameter shaft. The drive shaft will be likely 20mm diameter - turned-down to 18mm and keyway milled for the gearbox. The 20mm diameter is what the wheels would need to mount on.

Does this take us to a different solution?

My friend repairs and replaces engines, makes custom machines, etc., etc. The solution can be "precision".

Rgds Rich S.

For what it's worth - updated webpage presenting where trying to go with the rod-mill project.

I was visualising 3inch / 75mm SHS with wall thickness about 3mm for the "frame".

I have posted the sketch in there before.

In broader picture; and thinking of some advice given on here...

I am glad of advice. Doing my Doctorate and other projects I would bring a sketch to the machine-shop - which was the best way of explaining what I was thinking of - and they would advise, while questioning me about the purpose of the details, on how it would really be much better done. I have though already been told by a marine engineer that the design see "makes complete sense".

I do need that counsel - in this first instance.

That said - "pulling in favours" is proving so time-consuming that it would be much cheaper paying all the delivery charges, and paying commercial rates for machined parts. IF I know what to ask for... Counsel in the first instance (but then become self-reliant(?)). Then - it would be good for me to simply get into the outbuilding and "get on with it". More advantageous than the possibility of picking-up more good counsel doing things in a collaboration.

I have ore waiting to be ground, and my "Mark 1/2" rod-mill is in pieces in someone else's workshop a couple of hours drive away.

All this is causing me to connect in my mind to good times when I was the "go for it" innovator. This version of me needs the cobwebs dusted-off. Striding back in "resurrected" would be rather good :-)

Best wishes, Rich Smith

For what it's worth - updated webpage presenting where trying to go with the rod-mill project.

I was visualising 3inch / 75mm SHS with wall thickness about 3mm for the "frame".

I have posted the sketch in there before.

In broader picture; and thinking of some advice given on here...

I am glad of advice. Doing my Doctorate and other projects I would bring a sketch to the machine-shop - which was the best way of explaining what I was thinking of - and they would advise, while questioning me about the purpose of the details, on how it would really be much better done. I have though already been told by a marine engineer that the design see "makes complete sense".

I do need that counsel - in this first instance.

That said - "pulling in favours" is proving so time-consuming that it would be much cheaper paying all the delivery charges, and paying commercial rates for machined parts. IF I know what to ask for... Counsel in the first instance (but then become self-reliant(?)). Then - it would be good for me to simply get into the outbuilding and "get on with it". More advantageous than the possibility of picking-up more good counsel doing things in a collaboration.

I have ore waiting to be ground, and my "Mark 1/2" rod-mill is in pieces in someone else's workshop a couple of hours drive away.

All this is causing me to connect in my mind to good times when I was the "go for it" innovator. This version of me needs the cobwebs dusted-off. Striding back in "resurrected" would be rather good :-)

Best wishes, Rich Smith

---------------------------- Generally it looks good to me. I would make the roller frame a little differently to enable easy changes.

Moving the central lengthwise member to the side(s) gives more drum size options. I'd make the pillow block bars from perforated tubing or "strut" to allow changing their spacing and fine tuning their parallelism if the drum walks endwise. Moving the rollers further apart increases their traction by wedging action.

Pulleys and a belt connecting the shafts give the extra traction of 4 wheel instead of 2 wheel drive. A spring tensioned belt idler would let the rod spacing change. Vacuum cleaner or sewing machine belts might work. I tried O rings but they let the drum stop and jerk. South Bend successfully used a vee pulley and belt on the motor driving a larger flat pulley on the countershaft, it's easy to change steps without releasing belt tension.

I saw this recently

That said - "pulling in favours" is proving so time-consuming that it would be much cheaper paying all the delivery charges, and paying commercial rates for machined parts.

------------------------------------ That is why I watched and waited for bargains on older (1950-60's) machine tools that were still good enough for home projects if not commercial use. They can still do accurate work when needed, it just takes more time and understanding their remaining strengths and limitations. The accuracy limit is how closely I can measure since I can take light cuts to intended size

Haven't seen this exact one - it is a Cornish stamps.

The California Stamps are superior, but need rolled steel bar - which arrived with the Bessemer and open-hearth steelmaking processes.

The Cornish stamps were readily made in the days of cast iron (only) - and wood.

To give some idea of importance - the village of Twelveheads is just down the valley - which is proudly named in honour of the stream would power a set of 12 stamps heads.

They work well - both Cornish and California stamps.

King Edward Mine museum can still produce kilos of tin with its California stamps readily.

My rod-mill does the same exactly the same task - for a much smaller size etc. But needs variable-speed drive and things which have only become readily available economically in recent times.

I thought about that - is it time to have my own machine-tools...

Build a lean-to for solid fuel - empty the outbuilding as much as possible. Board out the rafters and put lighter rarely used things up there. Buy a compressor and park it 4/5ths the way up the wall not taking up floor-space. Lathe, maybe a mill, in.

I got a lathe as a kid. But my dreams were bigger than all of my {abilities; mentoring; pockets; etc; etc.} I can see it now and forgive myself a lot. Now I have a range of abilities, something in my pocket, and small dreams.

I was visualising 3inch / 75mm SHS with wall thickness about 3mm for the "frame".

---------------------------------

The motor, shaft extension and drive pulley frame for the 6.5HP engine on my sawmill is 1" (25mm) square tube, and quite adequate. I've seen 2" (50mm) square tube as the frame of a custom "antique" car.

Was that meant as a rhetorical question? I think those of use still here are already on the side that has them and are screaming yes at the screen.

A bit earlier, in case you didn't watch the whole video, is another crusher but for larger material

I thought about that - is it time to have my own machine-tools...

Build a lean-to for solid fuel - empty the outbuilding as much as possible. Board out the rafters and put lighter rarely used things up there. Buy a compressor and park it 4/5ths the way up the wall not taking up floor-space. Lathe, maybe a mill, in.

I got a lathe as a kid. But my dreams were bigger than all of my {abilities; mentoring; pockets; etc; etc.} I can see it now and forgive myself a lot. Now I have a range of abilities, something in my pocket, and small dreams.

--------------------------------

My South Bend lathe holds up to 10" (254mm) diameter, big enough for my projects, maybe not for yours. The practical work diameter is smaller, to allow for chuck jaws, unless you can bolt it to a faceplate. The diameter capacity is less over the carriage. Student abuse has degraded its precision though I can still turn a shaft and hole or ball bearing recess to a light finger pressure fit, tediously by repeatedly measuring and removing most of the excess.

It has a threaded spindle and leather belt drive, both long obsolete but still adequate. It is slow and loose enough that carbide bits don't work well, localized wear prevents snugging the gibs over the full travel, the slides are tight at the ends and looser in the middle. High Speed Steel (HSS) tool bits are fine to cut mild and somewhat hardened steel like the rock drill rod or high strength bolt shanks.

The ways of small Sears lathe I bought first were worn low near the spindle which meant I had to thread and turn diameters precisely at the barely used tailstock end. The worn area was still good enough for more usual short parts like adapter bushings, it lowered the bit height more than the cutting diameter. When I took a night class to correct what I had been doing wrong by guesswork I milled the bed straight. It was still too small for useful cuts in steel so I grabbed the 10" South Bend when I saw it, and lived happily ever after. The SB has made hydraulic pump drive components for an

Finding parts can be a problem for an old lathe, or a new import one. Tooling such as chucks and cutting bit holders is more generic and should be easier.

The Sears has separate change gears for threading, which is acceptable for occasional use, a quick change gearbox is very nice but not essential. A complete British change gear set for threading would be different from what I have, your BSP pipe thread has different pitches.

The exact metric conversion gear pair for an inch pitch leadscrew is 127 teeth driven, 100 (or 120) driving the next gear. 47/37 is very close and more compact. I use 1mm = 0.040" to mentally convert metric drawing dimensions to inch dial readings for roughing near final size.

jsw

Was that meant as a rhetorical question? I think those of use still here are already on the side that has them and are screaming yes at the screen.

------------------------------

I've been struggling to not push too hard.

Unfortunately I can't help much with the next question, which ones? My experience with imports dates back from when they were troublesome, so I bought old American iron instead.

URL Not Found For Me.

Doesn't that risk if at any moment it doesn't roll it will be carried off the assembly by belt friction? With wheels or rollers if for some reason it doesn't roll, because maybe mass got stuck on one side for example, it should just slide or scoot. Am I missing something?

The nice thing is if you don't like your choice you can change it. You can cast urethane rubber wheels any size you like as long as you can make a mold, or if you prefer not to, skateboard wheels are a great option for lots of applications in DIY industry. The bearings for skateboard wheels are pretty small, but they are pretty inexpensive even in fairly high grades. For the drive side just make a shaft journal to match the OD size of the bearing.

Unless I totally miss the scale or the project and you are rolling an oil drum sized tumbling chamber. Now I bet skate wheels would work with that too. Just adjust frame for size.

YES!

Probably. LOL.

I have made tools for jobs faster than going to the store to buy one, and I have made parts on an evening or a weekend when I couldn't buy them and still finish the job today.

option for lots of applications in DIY industry. The bearings for skateboard wheels are pretty small, but they are pretty inexpensive even in fairly high grades. For the drive side just make a shaft journal to match the OD size of the bearing.

Unless I totally miss the scale or the project and you are rolling an oil drum sized tumbling chamber. Now I bet skate wheels would work with that too. Just adjust frame for size.

---------------------------------- Skate bearing field use report:

When I built my bandsaw mill I reused a previous smaller attempt's blade guides, which used 608 skateboard bearings, 8mm bore (5/16"). The dealer showed me how to disassemble, clean and grease them for longer life. At first they worked but 50 MPH and 1000 lbs of blade tension (not directly on them) wore them out quickly, sometimes in a day, leaving a trail of the balls, seals, outer race and cage fragments in the sawdust. The saw kept cutting normally with one intact guide.

The upgrade used R8s, 1/2" bore. Cheapies from Amazon lasted in the 2" diameter side (top) roller guides that deflect the blade 1/4" downward to stabilize it against twisting it but not in the back side bearings that support cutting pressure at 50 MPH , from me leaning on the carriage handle. A change to $5 R8 bearings from an industrial supplier cured that.

I know the blade speed because I repaired and mounted the crashed motorcycle's speedo. The blade runs on the tires.

I have made tools for jobs faster than going to the store to buy one, and I have made parts on an evening or a weekend when I couldn't buy them and still finish the job today.

------------------------------- I usually make tools I can't buy, like a box wrench in two bolt-together halves that reshapes and loosens a stubborn brake line flare nut. The rock drill rod part adapts an HF jack spreader bar to my Viking floor jack. The flat bottomed gantry track trolley mounts an HF electric hoist. I machined a