The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

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  • Mini-Lathe Carriage Stop Rebuild

    I finally managed to whack the mini-lathe’s carriage stop handle with the chuck, prompting a quick repair:

    Carriage Stop - handle epoxy clamping
    Carriage Stop – handle epoxy clamping

    I probably should have epoxied a rod into the recess under the handle, seated in a drilled hole into the hub, but let’s see how long this quick-n-dirty version lasts.

    While I had the hood up epoxy was curing, I lasered a block of edge-lit acrylic to replace the credit card shims:

    Carriage Stop - spacer
    Carriage Stop – spacer

    Which turned out to be one itsy too thick. Rather than sand / machine it down, the step over on the left grew a little brass shim:

    Carriage Stop - spacer and shim
    Carriage Stop – spacer and shim

    Both pieces depend on snippets of adhesive sheet to hold them in place, which seems reasonable because they’re always in compression. That also eliminates the hole and pin I originally thought would be necessary; living in the future is just grand.

    Thing looks like it grew there:

    Carriage Stop - installed
    Carriage Stop – installed

    The orange stripe on the handle is laser-safe PSA vinyl.

    That was easy …