Pellet heads!! What's up today?

I'd have gone for a triple play,but I eat like a BEAR.

 

He was seen crawling around on his knees saying beer,I need beer.

 

Snow and high winds all day,go ahead and laugh-----------

 

Lot's of wind this year, the new norm

 

Possibly,but lots of the wind might be coming from Smokey???

 

We didn't have nearly as much wind as we normally do during winter. Although when the wind kicked up, it really went for the gusto.

 

KISS....YESSSSSS INDEED.
Earlier when we had just got the loaner "Munchy" ...We set the little critter on the concrete outside the shop door and wanted to get after some shells right away..

We needed something to catch the finished product in and after a few short moments of head scratching the totes (Sitting on a shelf) came to mind.

Grabbed one, tossed it on the concrete under the machine and off we went.

The tote worked well, holds a fair amount of material (About 1/2 full is perfect) and has handles to pick it up and is easily dumped into a 55 gallon barrel.

Decided that the new machine needed a wider base (Green one was tippy and had 3 legs) so made it with 4 legs and a wide stance single contact at the bottom of each pair of legs.

Adding the Furniture dolly seemed like the perfect idea to drastically simplify moving the machine..

Going to add a piece of 3/4" plywood between the end pieces of the dolly to allow the blue tote to sit easily between the legs.

Today's update..

Yesterday I picked up more materials.
1/2" x 6'' x 6" angle for the anvil
Some various other materials to fabricate the anvil adjusting mechanism.
3/4-10 all thread, nuts, washers... yada, yada, yada

I got some of the materials cut and ready for machining, but nothing worthy of pics at this point.
I had been running an ad on Craig's list looking for a 1/2 hp motor and had not heard anything... so decided to use one we had (Robbed off a small compressor) but last night I got a response to my ad and am meeting a fella locally to look at what he has.
$30 for a 1/2 hp 1725 RPM 120/240 MOTOR

Munchy may have it's own heart yet...
Gotta meet the dude at 9:30 this morning....

Yessssss, simple is a great plan... I love re purposing materials....
This plan in conjunction with EBAY and Craig's list can yield very affordable results.

Here is a "Blue Print" or sort of so I could get an idea of what I wanted to build for the anvil and it's adjustment system.
I broke several drafting rules while doodling this up... DON'T CARE
Every time I make a drawing, even after 50 years since drafting school I remember my teacher harping about things ya don't do.... on drawings.... WEll i'm gonna do it anyway... WE are not building the Taj Mahal YA KNOW

A useful sketch to be able to see if the idea is viable is all.

Decided to build the anvil assembly and get it all squared away and the with it adjusted to the operating position sit the rotor in place and drill it's bolt holes.

There is plenty of room on the main frame to position the rotor where it needs to be at final assembly rather than position it first and then try and work around the rotor while adding the anvil assembly.

Last will be the motor position.
I want to be able to use a standard V belt that can be purchased at the local NAPA store and not end up with an odd duckling...so will measure things once the rotor is set and see where the motor ends up...

Here is the "Print"

The Anvil has a slot in the middle of the lower side keep it snug during operation... The cutouts on the side allow a short piece of 1/2 inch key stock to be welded in to allow the anvil a positive stop in close proximity to the rotor.

The reason for this setup is There is always a certain amount of CRAP (Sticks, rocks ???) that get into the shells and CAN, WILL AND DO jam the rotor.

An easy quick way to clear the offending crap out needed to be made.
The loaner machine had an adjustment that was OK but not as fast as I would have liked.
The adjustment allowed the little weld beads on the rotor to hit the anvil and if the hopper was full when the jam occurred it was a PITA to relocate the rotor to anvil clearance to keep the thing from banging.

After a few runs we used a SHARPIE PEN and made a couple marks to line up...not perfect..

A positive stop is a far better method.

Today the plan is to get started on slotting the ANVIL, welding in the base plate the ANVIL sits on and getting that entire assembly sitting where it needs to be.

Snooping about the shop last night looking for a saw blade for the Jet horizontal saw I stumbled onto a cool little hand crank that was bought for something GAWD KNOWS WHEN... This little crank will work sweet to operate the Anvil adjustment....Give the crank a job

I will get some pix as soon as I can.

 

Lots got done today...

Met with the dude on the motor.
A good old motor.
Torsion type rubber mount.
Dirty.....but runs sweeeeeeeet.....
$30
A good cleaning and it will be just fine.

Went after the Anvil assembly today... a fair bit of machining and some welding.
Got the anvil mounting base drilled and welded into the frame.
Laid out the slot in the anvil for the anvils main 3/4" retainer bolt.
Drilled two holes and then slotted them for about 3/4" of travel to allow clearing any foreign objects (Sticks,rocks, junk) that will not pass the Rotor/anvil contact point.....

Welded the anvil positioning member onto the anvil.

The jack screw reaction angle plate is clamped to the main frame and will likely get drilled tomorrow to allow the 3/4" thread rod to pass through and thread into the anvil itself.
A picture of the hand crank that will move the anvil assembly.

The anvil is held tight in the running position by a 3/4" grade 8 bolt the inserts from below the anvil base and it's head is held from turning by a piece of 1/2" key stock welded to the bases lower side.

The anvil needs to get one more trip to the mill and have it's sides machined to be sure they are parallel with each other.

Decided to use two pieces of Cold rolled Key stock to capture the anvil and provide the ability to allow the anvil to move fore and aft about 3/4"

Simply position the anvil square with the frame and snug the bolt... set the key stock in place and weld to the main frame... (Will allow a small clearance between the anvil and the key stock so the anvil can move with minimal issue)


The newly acquired motor will mount just about like the one I had previously planned to use.

The motor came with a pulley, but it was not usable and required some serious persuasion to get it off the shaft.. (It's in the scrap pile now)
Looks to have been on the motor for a loooooooong time.

Motor is probably from the 50's-60's judging by the style (Oil lubed bushings most probably) Has the little oil cups on each end.

Capacitor start...
1/2 hp...1725 RPM 120/240 volt single phase
5/8" keyed shaft.

The rotor bearings are at the post office... have them tomorrow.

And a good time was had by all...

 

Happy Birthday scajjr2

 

X2

 

X3 OM!

 

Nice spring weather on tap for today and some of tomorrow...
Then RAIN next week.

Sorry to hear of the snow and cold for some of the folks here

 

X4

 

66* and sunny here. I'm laughing in T-shirt & shorts.

 

Is it too early to start counting top 10 days? Today sure feels like one, loving it!

 

Started out raw, wet and gloomy. I did the dump run, stopped at TSC and picked up dog toys for the cats (I don't like catnip infused toys - and the cats don't miss it), then did my grocery shopping.

About 4pm the sun came out and the temp shot up to 58*. I opened all the curtains and shades then headed outside. I did some yard clean up (trash), put a bunch of pallets out at the side of the road (a neighbor will pick them up for bonfires), filled in the ruts to the tent garage (still parking the truck on solid ground though), went for a short walk, and generally dawdled around in the sun with my sleeves rolled up until about 5:30. As I was feeding the cats, the clouds rolled in again. Supposed to be rainy until Monday (with maybe some white stuff mixed in).

 

Here on the seacoast of NH we had fog all day with a seabreeze. Never got over 45. The stove just kicked on. Earlier I drove about 5 miles inland to run the dogs and it was sunny and warm. *sigh*