It has been a filled week.
There are things you do not know you need until you have them. I’ve been cleaning parts with a spray bottle filled with WD40’s cleaner/degreaser, which sort of works. I also have used Purple Power at a 50%, 100% and had good luck with it.
But the chuck I took apart this week had oil and grease that might have been original from the factory, 50 years ago.
I ended up using a simple aquarium type pump with a dish tub on top of a 5 gallon bucket. I was able to clean that chuck in less than an hour. It looks nice.
Which leads me back to why I required that chuck cleaned and put back into production. Back in 2018, I picked up a semi-universal dividing head, BS-0 size. It is somewhere. I knew where it was for a long time, but every time I needed to use it, I didn’t actually do it.
Now I can’t find it. Instead, of replacing it, I picked up a cheap 8″ rotary table. This cost less than the 3″ dividing head I had purchased.
The differences are that the rotary table doesn’t come with dividing plates, easily fixed for cheap. And it doesn’t have a foot stock, or lathe dog, nor a chuck.
That old chuck is about to be mounted on the rotary table. I will finish making the chuck key soon, then it is on to the rotary table work. Making gears.
Which takes us to “Chinesium” goods. Rotary tables can be had for less than $90 from Amazon. That is a 4-inch version. A Yuasa 12″ tilting rotary table is only $5,815.
You get what you pay for. Mine is on the very cheap side of things.
The overall quality feels and looks good. Nothing obviously wrong with it.
But, because it is Chinesium, the first task, before first use, is to tear it all the way down, clean it, lube it and put it back together again. The reason is that there is likely to be chips and grinding grit in the tool. Not likely, there is dirt in the system.
There is a handle that is used to rotate the table. I removed that handle with the dial to reveal a machined surface that the dial rides against. There is a glob of grease there, as there should be. But when I wiped my finger across that machined surface, it came out black. This is an indication that there is grinding grit in there.
That grinding grit will destroy a tool if it is left on working surfaces. Thus, we clean it well before putting it into production.
Making progress in the shop.
For your thoughts, Hagar reported that she had watched a video by a young woman that had escaped from Gaza. She suggested that we consider why there are all these pro-terrorist protests throughout the United States, but there does not seem to be any in the countries that have had to deal with the Palestinians.
So the questions are, are there pro-Palestine protests happening in the Middle East? Are there pro-Palestine protests happening in other countries? If so, how many and how big?
Why are they mostly(all) happening in the US?
Heather Mac Donald addresses this question brilliantly here – https://www.city-journal.org/article/hysterics-for-hamas?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
when working with machine tools trust nothing. verify. todays media in America is nothing but a giant distraction. democrats feed the distraction with useful idiots to keep the dumbed down morons from seeing Freedom and the Country destroyed…
I think a very significant point about Gaza is that when Israel offered to return Gaza to Egypt along with the rest of the Sinai Egypt refused to take it. I suspect Jordan would reluctant to take back any of the West Bank at this point either. Much of the Arab world hates “Palestinians” but sees them as a useful club, and a distraction for the masses who might otherwise direct their anger at the Arab ruling class.
“We appreciate your understanding that we must not allow a civilian exodus from Gaza to Sinai because it would be a very dangerous matter that could end the Palestinian Cause and we are keen that it will not happen” — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, 10/20/2023, speaking in Cairo with British PM Rishi Sunak. https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/510651.aspx
In other words, Egypt (and Jordan) want to keep Palestinians victimized as propaganda pawns. And that clearly has been true since 1948. There are even whole UN agencies dedicated to this effort (UNRWA is one, but there may be others).
“Why are they mostly(all) happening in the US?”
First of all, they are not all happening in the US. They are happening across Europe and in the UK as well. And, because it is verboten to defend yourself against attack in those countries, the pro-hamass people have no qualms about beating you with a 2×4 simply for being there.
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Now, personal opinion, why are they happening in the USA and other 1st world countries, but (seemingly) no where else?
Because of the nature and culture of the countries. The US, the UK, Netherlands, Germany, all have a population that considers themselves free, they have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, they have open elections, etc… etc… etc… (Yes, I know, all of that is debatable in actual practice, but it is a part of their culture.) There is, for the most part, a national identity.
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In order to institute the leftist ideal of a one-world government with the elites in charge, and the rest of us living in squalor, they must overcome that obstacle. And, what better way to do that then making the population criticize themselves and learn to abhor their national identity?
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These protests are all about… what? Destroying Israel? Supporting palestinians? No. That just happens to be today’s topic. It is no different than BLM protests, the CHAZ/CHOP, Occupy Wall Street, etc… etc… etc… Convince the simple minded that it is “right” to protest and fight against some minor injustice, and it will elevate from “let’s call for a ceasefire” into “Destroy the USA.”
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Give me a better method for the Soros/Davos/COP/etc… crowd to enflame the ignorant and topple countries.
So the questions are, are there pro-Palestine protests happening in the Middle East? Are there pro-Palestine protests happening in other countries? If so, how many and how big?
Why are they mostly(all) happening in the US?
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As others pointed out, they’re happening all across the Western world, in places that haven’t had to deal directly with Palestinians. Nations that have had direct dealings with Palestinians want no part of it. (Apparently they’re just that bad of people.)
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But I’d also point out — admittedly very cynically — that anti-Israel protests are happening in the Middle East, too.
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The difference is the “protesters” wield government power, so instead of chanting and waving flags, they’re arming their soldiers, firing rockets, and launching drones. Iran, for example: They don’t need an anti-Israel “protest”; the whole frickin’ country is already anti-Israel, including the people in power. Their “protest” looks more like a military attack, because that’s the resources they have to “protest” with.
On cleaning solvents: my favorite high-power solvent is lacquer thinner. Not when any plastics are around, but it does wonders on leftover adhesives and gunk of all types.
Meanwhile, a chemical engineer and former adhesives manufacturing engineer tells me her go-to solvent for getting labels off plastic substrates, where strong solvents are bad news, is WD-40. It’s slow but it gradually softens adhesives so you can peel off labels, and rub off the remnants with a cloth.
“Chinesium” heh, good one…
I bought an LCD caliper from Horrible Fright a while back. The first time I moved the slide it was VERY gritty.
Took it apart, cleaned up all the surfaces and put a very very light coating of silicone grease on the contacting surfaces, and it is now nice and smooth.
I buy various tools at various price ranges. Since at the moment I don’t do work demanding high standards, low cost tools are often a fine choice. For example, I have a Harbor Freight hydraulic press — the kind that’s basically a heavy steel frame plus a bottle jack. The welding is a bit crooked but it works fine, and it was dirt cheap.
A lot of my tools came from Enco, before Stanley bought them. Enco had a nice style where many tools were listed in three flavors: “imported”, “US” and “Brand name”. So, for example, I could get a third world micrometer, or one made in the US by an unknown brand, or one made by Starrett, with three quite different price points. Nice: it enabled me to choose where to spend the extra money for the extra quality, with the tradeoffs clearly visible.