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A new challenge # 2


phoenix2013

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Yes Carl, January 20 from now on will be celebrated as an Independence Day in the Sovereign Republic of ET.

 

Ok should we start calling you His Majesty Phoenix or simply Supreme Potentate?

2006 Volvo 780 "Hoss" Volvo D12, 465hp, 1650 ft/lbs tq., ultrashift

Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

2013 Smart Passion Coupe "Itty Bitty"

 

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first!"

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HAHAHHAHAHA

 

Thank you Henry. I just spit Iced Tea all over my monitor from laughing as ponder your new title ........ At first I though you moved back north with the Great Swami visual aid .....

 

Very nice work.

2017 Entegra Anthem 44A

SOLD - 2004 Volvo 780. 465hp and 10sp Auto Shift (from 2010~2017)

SOLD - 2009 Montana 3400RL

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Aaaah; the good old days.....Spent considerable years hunched over Bridgeports and the like getting wetand slippery with dromus oil. Adding a digital readout to those old things extended their lifecycle for another 50 years or so.

 

Be careful Henry....making those jaws a work of art that also shine would have these RV toter types out there dismantling their heads weekly to polish the darn jeweles er..jaws!

 

Kiss principle to jig design.....gotta love it looking at a 3/4 bolt and nut jam lock. Henry; would a floating "V" in front of the two jaws similarily clamped down and forced tight to outside of front curves further prevent spread while boring?

 

I loved my Binkley head on my Gene McCall Airglyde but those dang fore and aft pivot points were the one area I constantly moaned over with no easy access to lube and metal to metal contact with minimal surface area to mitigate wear. Jaws didn't seem to be the slop area to worry about but rather the whole dang head getting sloppy on it's side mounts.

 

While in here; Henry, did you ever see the latching system used by the older "Superfifths" with the jaw that swept in from one side to wrap the pin, then a latching bar slides across in front of that to securely lock the thing in place? I had one of those and it worked well until it got older and started to become a nuisance for maintenance.

Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!

 

Bruce, Sandra & Scampi cat SKP#86370

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We actually used three Bridgeports with three setups, this shop is about 5,000 square feet with all kinds of machinery and tools. These were second run of pre-production castings to essentially qualify the part, the "changes" and the casting process, they got it right and we were able to turn them into "production" parts. They will run a big production run for me next month.

The jam nut was a spur of the moment "invention" to get through the process, we have a long list of "improvements" and additions to the jig to secure the jaws for milling and boring. The fellow in the picture is the shop owner and a first class machinist with about 40 years of experience. It's a pleasure to work with someone who instinctively knows what you need and can offer suggestions how to solve it (practically).

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Yeah; noticed the end mill and vice set-up for facing off the toe of each jaw and regardless of how you went about it; to end up with .005" clearance tolerance is real good machining using a boring head with those little .001" hash marks and gentle use of allen "T" handles. Did he use a dial indicator to monitor the bit carrier movement when making adjustments?

 

Massaging the process further will only speed set-up times as I don't think you're looking for a better clearance for king pins that might be within .010" on a good run on a day when the lathe operator wasn't hung over. They'd have probably used a go & no-go gauge to check every tenth one, if that.

 

EDIT ****thinking about those King Pins and how they would have been made during the war years brings to mind a huge Acme Gridley Automatic machine with cam driven tool bits and perhaps six or eight feed tube stations. One of the verty first jobs I had after leaving the Navy in early sixties was to replace and set-up the tooling on a line of those brutes at Canadian Arsenals in Longbranch Toronto. Hand cranking those things around against all the spring tension of the cam followers was a real challenge until the operators stepped up to help or push me out of the way altogether and they'd holler "I'll do the cranking and you do the indicator watching" Every last one of them was a female over the age of fifty left over from WWII manufacturing days. Boy those ladies could make all the equipment sing in that place.

 

I learned a LOT from those old dolls.

Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!

 

Bruce, Sandra & Scampi cat SKP#86370

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^ Those types of guys are usually expensive but priceless in the long run because they will save you money in either cash and/or time!

$95 and hour and worth every bit of it. Between jig building and working through 3 sets of parts 23 hours. Unavoidable first time and last time cost.

 

Bruce, we switched to a bigger boring bit, this one was a bit dainty but it did the job, carefully. The graduation are 0.001 total, diameter not radius, and we "walked it up" few thousands at a time. Though to put metal back if you go too far.

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YEP, it sure can be. Those little guys are fine for dainty work but they will also leave ungodly chatter marks in the bore if you try to "hurry" the process with too high a speed or deep a cut.

 

Henry; those castings look very nice for sand molds....not seeing any cavities after machining, someone else knows what they're doing in your process. You're lucking out on the skills demand.

 

That munitions place I mentioned used to have huge tumblers and would "tumble" parts like those jaws with abrasive stones or beads as part of the clean up and strangely enough, some stress relief as well. Noisy as all get out, but they were thankfully in a separate room.

 

From a purely quality and design viewpoint; those hitches of yours are probably the single best NEW product to come out of the RV'ing industry in decades.

Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!

 

Bruce, Sandra & Scampi cat SKP#86370

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Bruce, I actually made the contact at the HDT Rally couple of years ago. One of the the "attendees" was a casting engineer who consults for casting companies. I've been after this for several years, with no luck I might add and the last place I expected to find someone to talk about it was at the Rally. Go figure, there is no limits to the "talent" you find there. I "studied" the casting technology over the years, primarily to be able to have an intelligent conversation, it was very refreshing to run into someone who is a professional in the field. He was able to layout how we were going to approach this project and what to look for.

DSC_0014.JPG

You may have noticed in the front of the "stack" couple of parts cut through the major axis and material thickness. This was done to see if there was any thin-out or granularity changes indicating casting process issues. The material composition, flow control, temperature and cool-down control, etc., etc., I've learned a lot in the last month.

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I am trying to decide between Great Swami,

 

or ET Jedi Master.

DSC_0086.JPG

Why are you using a hoist on those plates? They don't look that heavy? ;) Especially with all the holes cut in them....

2006 Volvo 670 singled long

2011 Heartland Sundance 3300CK

2006 Smart passion

2001 F350 DRW CREWCAB

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205.25 lb per plate, or for you cooks 205 pounds and 4 ounces.

Now, for your engineers and "mathematicians" ten 13/16 holes, eight 5/8 holes, eight 7/16 holes and one 1/2 hole. The formula for area of the circle = 3.14 x radius x radius. If you guys figure out what the combined area of the holes is I will tell you how much the holes have "lightened" the plate. :):D:rolleyes:

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We have talked in many threads about unhitching quickly in case of fire or emergency. Maybe a U-channel bar that the kingpin can slide on past(over) the back plate of the ET. When wiring failure occurs on the trailer front landing gear......drive away fast and let it drop! :)

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Hey Phoenix, the thickness of the plate is needed for that calculation in A-cad.... :rolleyes:

I prefer to think about how much weight this piece of gold is going to add to the back of my Polaris Ranger.... Cost @ 1, $225. Its a "hitch" of sorts...to allow quick change of the box with a sprayer. The box,etc will have tabs that hook around the tapered edges and two bolts into the back lip to firmly wedge it into place. Remove two bolts and slide the box back off onto the forklift--I hope! I bought the unit with this real nice sprayer built into the box---took 2 hours to disassemble it for removal! I could build a skid that slides into the box...but this is more fun. Besides, I got some ideas for the sprayer... B)

 

post-9595-0-17264400-1422026600_thumb.png

 

Its made out of 1/4" plate...all needed dimensions... :D

No camper at present.

Way too many farm machines to maintain.

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Good Morning Phoenix:

 

When you see the old goat, tell him that I thank him every time that I hook up my trailer to my ET Jr. It is Henry's continuous quest for perfection, product improvement and customer service that makes the ET's the best HDT hitches on the market. I know, from another HDT'ers experience, that I can be rear ended by a Greyhound bus and the ET will still survive, well enough, to allow me to move the trailer off of the highway. More importantly, the trailer was not rammed into the back of the HDT cab because the ET still held the trailer captive.

 

Yes, I know the ET's are expensive. But you get what you pay for!

 

The original installation, of the ET hitch, on my Volvo, had some very serious issues, related to safety. Henry assisted me (via several telephone consultation, supplied hardware and drawings) in re-mounting my ET. Although Henry had absolutely NOTHING to do with the original installation of the ET, he helped me make it right and, he never charged me a penny for his time.

 

At the 2013 Rally Henry adjusted (and showed me how to adjust) the air leveler valve on the ET. At the 2014 HDT Rally Henry fixed wiring issue on my Jackalopee. Again, Henry had nothing to do with the original installation of the Jackalopee. But he still fixed it.

 

Thank you Henry!

 

Jim

 

PS - Tell Henry that I am also thankful for his suggestion that I become one with Solidworks, which will become my lifelong quest. Like Henry, I flunked retirement. So, the work stuff still gets in the way of the funs stuff.

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9.0391 sq in

You guys are awesome! I figured someone would "invest" the time in the challenge, therefore I have to "reciprocate". The plate is 5/8" thick and weighs 26.55 lb per square foot (or 144 square inches), therefore each square inch weighs 0.1843 pounds. The drilled holes "lighten the plate" by 1.666 pounds. We are having fun now! :D

 

Jeff-C, the trapezoid piece is very close to 10 square feet. 1/4 inch plate weighs 11.25 lb per square foot, so you have 112.5 pounds before you calculate the "lightening holes" subtraction. I can calculate that for you, but I'm gonna need a bunch of "atta-boys". I'm sure others could use atta-boys too. :ph34r:

 

Jim, the old goat did not have a good time after you and him attempted to load the SW into the laptop, ended erasing everything and "re-installing" the "original". He just finished a month as busy as the pre-Rally shtick and had the big computer de-"junked". February and March look like "quiet time" and an opportunity to fool around with bunch of stuff (again).

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