With all the key components cut out for the BMW M TEK sign it was time to start piecing it all together. The idea was to layer it all to give it some 3D feel to it. I was also going to have to make it all come apart so that all the individual pieces can be finished appropriately.

Using a felt pen I traced out all the components onto the backing plate so that I was able to determine what overlapped where. Then I went to work building spacers out of 6061 aluminum round bar. I machined all the spacers on the lathe then drilled and tapped all the holes. Eventually all the spacers got TIG welded onto their appropriate sign component. As uneventful as all this is the process was somewhat time consuming. However I am a big believer in that the amount of time invested in the project will be visible with the end project.

So at this point all the components have been mounted and bolted down. I had yet to build the exhaust pipe mounts. My main concern is that I didn’t want the mounts to be too visible. I Vise-Gripped some washers onto a sheet of aluminum and plasma cut out a couple of inconspicuous plates. The plates got aluminum tubes welded onto them that would allow me to slide the M3 exhaust tips onto them. The brackets then both got mounting brackets welded to the back side of the sign.

The only phase left in the actual construction involved welding the 1” aluminum perimeter, previously made, to backing plate. Using an old sheet of plywood and some wood screws I was able to position the perimeter tight up against the backing plate and then join them with some welds. Yes there were a few gaps, yes I find them difficult to cope with, will anyone notice? I doubt it but it still bugs me.

Okay so the actual construction is done and now comes the point of the process that involves spending time finishing all the components. This is where I struggle. I am not a great finisher however I am determined to improve in that department. My original plan was to combine flat black spray bomb, anodizing, polishing, and brushed finishes to create some contrast. I will spare you the vision because the vision had changed. I really had my heart set on anodizing but opted not to for various reasons, I’ll save that technique for another project. My new plan involved seeking out some outside help for part of the process.

I have friend, who has a friend, who knew this guy named Dave. Well it turns out that, because of my friend’s friend, Dave is now a guy I know. Anyway…I went to see Dave cause Dave does vehicle tinting, rock guarding, and vehicle wraps for a living. I went to see him because I wanted to incorporate some carbon fiber look to the sign plus I thought he could help me with the addition of some color. Well it turns out Dave was the guy to see cause he confirmed that what I was looking for was something that he could do.

So with the components prepped I took the pieces to Dave and this is what I got him to do. The backing plate got layered with a carbon fiber look wrap. The outer circle of the BMW roundel was also wrapped with carbon fiber and then was decaled with a white laser cut “BMW”. He wrapped two of the “Propeller” blades with BMW blue and then laid down a custom made M stripe decal on my supplied aluminum support. Fantastic! The wraps totally gave the sign a motorsport look to it. I am a little disappointed that I farmed out some of the work however I consider it a lesson in recognizing, and accepting, ones limitations.

The plan from the start was to polish up the “M” to a mirror finish. I also decided I would polish the circle that provides the background for the BMW emblem. The polishing of the circle will hopefully add another dimension to it all. I sanded the circle and “M” down to a 400 grit and then went to town on the buffing wheel and put the aluminum through a 4 stage buffing process. After that I had Stu, an automotive detailer and friend of mine, help me finish off the mirrored look with a 3 stage polishing compound laid on with a 7” electric polisher.

The rest of the components were all finished in a brushed finish. After sanding the remaining pieces down with 400 grit I took a Scothbrite pad to them and carefully brushed in the final look. The brushing helps the polishing of the “M” and BMW circle really standout.

All the non-visible backs of all the components all got spray bombed with flat black. I wanted to prevent any nasty reflections from occurring as the light creeps in from the backside of all the suspended lettering.

So with a few more minor finishing touches and a bit of detailing I was ready to check this one off my list. And I did however I had some straying thoughts while I built the sign which led me to put the effort in to build a couple of bonus items. So with some extra material on my hands and a little bit of time I came up with a “M-R” sign. It is simply a mini award that was meant to recognize another key player at the dealership who is not a tech but still plays a significant role in the department. Their name starts with a R therefore I turned the “M power” into “R power” The sign is nothing more then a couple sheets of aluminum trimmed to spec. The base was carbon wrapped and then top was half polished and have “M stripe” wrapped.

The second bonus item was a “Pimp My Hoist” kit. I built a hoist control upgrade kit for one of the hoists at the dealership. The kit was all made from 6061 aluminum and machined on the lathe. The 4 key components comprised of a motor button, lock release, hydraulic down release, and an oil tank vented lid. To give it the “M” look I machined 3 separate rings for one of the levers and then anodized them with “M stripe” colors. The lever was then bolted together to give it a 1 piece look. The rest of the components were all polished.

Anyway…there you have it. A completed project that was able to teach me a few things. Hopefully the service manager will be pleased with the result and hopefully the sign will suit the purpose. Time to move on to a bigger project, stay tuned.

It was time to start coming up with a plan to put some lettering on the BMW technician award. The basic components were all cut out but the sign lacked the info that was going to define what the sign is going to represent. In keeping with the German BMW theme I decided to shift from the “M Tech” theme to a “M Tek” theme.

The plan was to cut all the lettering out of the same aluminum sheet I used for the base. Now if I had a CNC plasma then the cutting of the letters would have spared me of some ingenuity. Since I don’t have a CNC plasma, yet, I was faced with having to cut all the lettering by hand.

I decided that multiple steps would be required in order to ensure that the lettering would come out looking that of CNC quality. It all started on the computer tracking down font that was similar to that of the BMW line. The “M” font was not an issue as I was able to AutoCAD the dimensions using an actual “M” emblem as a reference. The issue was with the “TEK” font and after reviewing many different fonts I finally settled on one that was similar. The only concern I had was that the font would eventually be increased by approximately .170” around all the edges. Since the font would be acting as a plasma guide I needed to ensure that the space left between the plasma cutting tip and the plasma cutting tip guide edge (sort of like a kerf) would not alter the look of the font too much.

The “TEK” font then was scaled to size and printed out on multiple sheets of paper. So after a bit of arts and crafts I was able to tape and cut paper that would leave me with a full scale version of my lettering. So with the paper templates in hand I was off to the garage.

So as the second step to the cutting process I traced all the lettering out on 1/8” MDF hardboard. With a jigsaw in hand I trimmed all the letters out. Using multiple sanders, including a drum sander on the drill press, I was able to work all the lettering down to precise dimensions. It was important to ensure that the lines were all straight and the radiuses were all smoothly rounded. Since the templates were going to be the actual guide for the plasma torch any imperfections in their shape would surely transfer through onto the aluminum.

With the MDF templates built the rest of the job was quick and easy. The letters were Vise-Gripped down onto the plate of aluminum and then trimmed out using the plasma torch. The edges only required light touch up with the belt sander and flap wheels. As far as the “M” letter goes there was no MDF template made. The “M” was all measured out and then straight edges used to provide the guide.

With the letters all cut I was able to lay them out onto the rest of the sign and verify that the image I had in my head was the image that was now sitting in front of me. Now that all the components of the sign have been cut the next phase will involve layout and some sort of method to attach all the pieces into unity.

A local BMW dealership that I have done some work for in the past approached me about a potential project. The manager of the service department was developing an internal company technician recognition program and was in need of some “hardware” to hand out. The manager wanted some sort of “Stanley Cup” for the award that would get passed around to each recipient. He wasn’t able to offer much of a suggestion as to what the award was supposed to be. All he knew is that he wanted something unique and he thought that I may be able to come up with an idea.

Well I pondered it over for a day and decided to pitch an idea to him that had been lurking in my mind for sometime. For some unknown reason I have had the urge to build a sign. I really have had no use for a sign and therefore no reason to build one. It’s not that I had any particular type of sign in mind; I just wanted to see what I could come up with. So with paper and pen in hand, along with some colored Hi-liters, I used all the skills I lack as an artist and sketched out a fairly pathetic artists rendering of what I envisioned I could build.

The idea was to build a 4 foot wide by 26 inch high aluminum sign. The shape, and feel, would mimic that of old school garages as well as modern BMW vehicle lines. As I pondered about what the point of the sign was I decided to create an “M Tech” theme award. For those of you who are unaware the “M” style BMWs are the high end performance line of BMW vehicles. Therefore it seemed fitting to provide a high end performance based award to the top technician.

So as I spent time researching and figuring out how to combine old school with M Power and came up with the following design. The overall shape mimicked that of old school garages combined with the features found on the back of an M5. I plan to incorporate some chrome tail pipe tips along with the air vent found on the rear of the M5. The sign would be made out of aluminum and incorporate multiple layers. It would also involve using different finishing such as paint, polishing, brushing, and anodizing.

Well I took my artists rendering to the service manager and pitched him my idea. I was bit shocked that he told me to “go for it” after only seeing my pathetic sketch. I suspect there must be a certain amount of trust involved as I am not much of a salesman.

So with given the green light I spent time getting the basic shape and dimensions finalized in AutoCAD. With some dimensions to work off of, a 4’ x 5’ sheet of utility grade aluminum, and some 6061 flat bar I stepped into the garage, broke out the plasma cutter and started shredding metal.

The backing, or base, that would support the rest of the sign was cut out from the sheet of aluminum using my homemade circle cutter to ensure the lines were uniform. The BMW emblem was designed to be 2 tier and was cut as per the AutoCAD specs to ensure the ratios all remained the same. The border was built from 1” x .125 aluminum 6061 flat bar. The entire border is made up of approximately 6 sections all welded together. The bends were either done with the ring roller or the Hossfeld clone bender.  I had acquired a complete set of 4 M3 chrome tailpipes which I had planned to use for the project. The pipes were too long so they all got trimmed down on the band saw and then cleaned up on the lathe.

So as it sits now the base and basics have all been rough cut and mocked up. Next step in the process will involve designing BMW font lettering and coming up with a technique to accurately cut them out of aluminum.

I had been procrastinating finishing the paint booth simply because I had no clear game plan in place. Well my procrastination turned to frustration, depression, and finally anger to the point where I just sucked it up and went at it. People always say nothing good ever comes from getting mad, guess they were wrong. It was my rage and fury that got me to the finish line.

As a quick recap the paint booth frame had been all welded up, the ventilation fan assembly had been built and all the supports that would allow the booth to stand on its own, as well as collapse, had been completed. I managed to get my hands on a 30’ x 40’ tarp which I had planned to use to wrap the booth up like a birthday present. At this point in the project I am still unsure if any of the master plan is actually going to work out in the end. Gotta trek on…

So my rage day came where I went and purchased 175 feet of tarp tape, 15 feet of Velcro, and then came home and set the frame of the booth up. As I struggled to lay out a tarp with a footprint bigger then my entire garage I managed to actually incase the booth. From here on in it was simply a matter of cutting up the tarp as though it was gift wrap. All the seams were sealed with numerous different methods. Tarp tape was used on some, others had 1” x .125” 6061 flat bar sandwiching them, others got Velcro, and the floor was done by folding the tarp into the wall seam. I certainly will not bore you with every seam detail. The project took me a weekend and 5 evenings however in the end I had a 98% sealed booth that was still completely collapsible down to 4 inches thick.

I still had yet to deal with a lighting issue. I needed good light however it could not be installed permanently. I picked up 4 double tube T12 48” florescent light fixtures and rigged them up to see if the illumination would be sufficient. 4 fixtures would do however 6 would be better. So I picked up another 2 fixtures. I strung cables through the tops of the housings to allow for hanging them on hooks. Then using a 50 foot extension cord I wired them up together in 2 sets of 3. The lights all get hung on hooks inside the booth and when it’s time to disassemble it takes approx. 1 minute to unhook them all and hang them on a storage hook in the shop.

I still needed to get an air supply and electrical connection into the booth through the tarp sealed walls. I welded up a support plate that got bolted to the lower corner of the intake filter wall and then configured a stubby extension cord to fit through it along with a permanently mounted compressed air hook up.

So with everything sealed it was time to fire up the ventilation fan, face bitter disappointment and come to terms with the realities of my backyard engineering. Turns out the disappointment is going to have to come back another day cause the booth pressured up fantastic. The walls and ceiling all ballooned out which actually gives me more room inside the booth to move around. There appears to good airflow coming out of the exhaust filter. Now there are minor little spots in the tarp that have a few leaks, I’ll have to wait till I actually spray something to be able to visually see if the leaks are an issue. There is a slight breeze blowing through the center of the booth, it’s not bad and may not affect the spraying at all. Again I will have to wait till I spray to be able to evaluate the full booth performance.

Because of te size of the booth getting good pictures were difficult. The best I have is a video that gives a full tour, you can check it out below.

I measured the RPM of the ventilation fan using a digital tach. The maximum specified speed is rated at 1140 rpm and the way I have it pulleyed down from my 1725 rpm treadmill motor the fan’s actual speed is 1265 rpm. Not too bad, a bit high but until further testing it will have to do.  I suspect I can re-pulley the fan to allow for lower RPM and lower CFMs and still have good pressure within the booth.

Well I can’t stop now, the booth is complete but it still needs to be stored. My current plan is to hang it from the ceiling however I lack a plan at this point. I’ll see what kind of ideas I can grow.

I choose to plumb the pressure gauge right in at the nozzle instead of at the tank thereby ensuring I would know exactly what pressure the nozzle was getting. As I mentioned in an earlier posting I had cut the burner flare at too steep of an angle however I chose to use it as a learning experience and see what kind of difference it would make. So with the propane tank connected to the burner I headed outside to see what kind of damage could be done.

I thought that a video would be more interesting than any kind of descriptive writing I may come up with so below you will see the inaugural testing. When viewing the video you can watch the pressure gauge at the nozzle. I was able to adjust the propane pressure all the way from under 1 psi up to 30 psi. Take note that the “12 o’clock” position on the gauge in the video is 30 psi. The video demonstrates adjusting the jet position first by using water and then the burn section shows the effects of different pressures and different choke settings.

So after the video was shot I switched the burner flare over to a different, and proper 12:1 ratio, flare. I then lit the unit up to see what kind of performance difference was evident. With the proper flare I was unable to achieve propane pressures past 20 psi. There are, however, other variables at play. I am one size bigger on my jet then I ought to be so I am going to hold back any official reviews until I have time to machine a #60 jet.

So with moderate success I continued on with some engineering of the actual furnace. I was throwing different numbers around and determined that in order to achieve the amount of BTUs required for the furnace I am planning to build I would need 3 Reil style burners. Hmmmmmm…I could do that or I could just go bigger. I am undecided however I figured it was probably worth my time to prototype a bigger burner which will have a 2″ nozzle as opposed to a .75″ nozzle. Since then I have collected all the parts required for the bigger burner and will try and hunt down some time to construct it. If the bigger burner is a success then the continued testing of the smaller Reid type burner may come to a halt.

The burner I am building is Reil style burner which will have enough output to fire a small aluminum melting foundry. I will not go into the physics behind the burner since this has already been done by Mr. Ron Reil himself. If you are interested in learning more then check out Mr. Reil’s site here.

The Reil burner is a very low budget design that allows anyone to piece one together using standard gas pipe fittings. In my case since I have access to a lathe, welder, and mill so I chose to build it with a few slight modifications. None of the changes that I did affects the original function or performance.

I chose to make a couple of changes to the original Reil design. The first one being that my burner is designed to have the jet size changed easily and quickly. The original burner design is simply and 1/8” brass nipple with a jet hole drilled into the side of it. I decided to make my own mini jets out of replaceable brass 1/8” pipe plugs. This way when it comes time to tune the burner I can easily experiment with different jet sizes. The second change I made was to how the flared nozzle is fabricated. Those people without a lathe have a greater challenge when trying the build an accurate flared nozzle. In my case I plan to machine the flare to precise tolerances.

So I started out with some basic gas and brass fittings. The rest of the parts will be used from metal I have laying around the shop. The combustion chamber and the nozzle are simply a ¾” – 1 ½” pipe adapter threaded to an eight inch section of ¾” gas pipe. The 1 ½”  nipple used as the air intake duct was cross drilled to accept the 1/8” brass pipe fittings that will make up the gas jet assembly. I machined some collars, with set screws, and welded them to the sides of the intake pipe. The collars would allow me to align the gas nozzle on 2 planes and then lock it down into position.

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Of course there are flow dynamics that enter into the equation. For example some of the unknowns are the amount air flow the intake will allow as well as the exact jet size that should be used. I am unsure if I will be running too lean or too rich. I can easily alter the jet size to accommodate however changing the air intake size would require a complete re-do. Anyways…I am basing my 1 ½” intake pipe calculation on other people’s experience. As far as the jet size goes Ron Reil recommends starting with a #60 jet. Since my #60 drill bit was previously broken I stepped it up one size to a #59. In order to be able to idle the burner down I opted to add on a choke assembly to the back of the intake. It is nothing more then a leftover 2” aluminum disc (one that I had prototyped for the tank clock) and a 6mm SS threaded rod. This way I can accurately control the intake air flow.

Onto the flared nozzle. The flared nozzle is said to work best with a 12:1 flare ratio over a length of 1.5”. Well it was Sunday afternoon that I was building this and I was using metal that I had. Since I had no heavy wall 1” ID cold rolled I drilled out solid stock to suit me needs. Drilling out the 1” center took awhile but came out beautiful in the end. Right on, all I have to do is flare it. Well this is where the measure once and screw it up permanently rule comes into play. I set my compound rest angle wrong and cut my flare too steep. Oh well, no fixing it now. I will use the wrong cut flare nozzle as a learning experience when it comes time to tune the burner. I will plan on cutting and new, and correct, nozzle. Hopefully during testing I will be able to see a difference.

So with all the machining and welding done I ended up with a completely serviceable propane burner. At least it looks like a burner, I suspect it can’t officially be called one until it actually shoots a flame. For now the burner sits on the bench while I collect the propane regulator, bottle, and hook ups in order that I can feed it some hydrocarbons. I will work to post a continuation on the performance of the burner which will make up the first part for my future foundry.

I was able to get my hands on a 3 axis DRO (digital read out) for the RF-45 clone mill. I have never had any experience with these units however I have only ever heard good things about DROs on mills. I currently have some milling jobs in the brainstorm and early design queue so I figured I would take the time now to get the mill in peak running state.

The DRO system I obtained is a Chinabuilt SINO SDS6-3V 3 axis unit. I was able to obtain the user manual for the system before I decided to buy and had spent time determining if I would be capable of using the system. The manual translation is a bit rough and it takes some mental work to decifier what is being explained however I figured once I could get my hands on the system and work with it I was going to achieve success. The manual contains no installation instructions as these systems are a universal fit and therefore it relies on the ingenuity of the installer to ensure it is going to fit.

So this blog posting is nothing more then a documentation of pictures showing my installation. I had attempted to find pictures and information on how others have done the install however I had no luck. I decided that with nothing to go on I was going to wing it and see what I could come up with. I was very pleased with the install and I am not sure I would have done it any differently. I am sure there are other ways of doing it, and perhaps better ways, however at this point I will plead ignorance. I decided I would post some pictures in hopes that it will help others who are planning to perform an install. Perhaps the information found here will either show others what to, or not to, do.

The basic concept is that there are 3 linear scales that need to be mounted to the mill. One scale for each axis X, Y, and Z. The criteria for the mounting is as follows; 1. The scales cannot affect the operation of the machine in any way. They cannot be mounted in such a way that it limits adjustment knobs or travel. They also cannot impede machine maintenance such as lubrication points of the ways or gearbox oil changes. 2. They need to be mounted rigidly as to maintain the accuracy of the readout. The biggest challenge was the Z axis. 3. The scales need to be as protected as possible from any oil, coolant, or metal contamination.

So off I went to start drilling and tapping holes into the mills castings. The DRO came with a few universal aluminum brackets; I was only able to use one for the Y axis. I ended up having to fabricate a total of three other adapters to get all the scales mounted.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story. It took me approximately 4 evenings to do the complete install and in the end I think it was 4 evenings well spent. I am happy with the rigidity of all the scales. The Z axis scale, the one that gets exposed to the worst vibrations, seems to be holding fairly accurate. Since the install I have spent a few hours educating myself with all the math functions. The DRO is more then just a readout as it can also help to perform accurate machining functions such as circle drilling, radiusing corners, center finding, drilling evenly space holes along an oblique line, plus a whole range of other functions. I was able to successfully get my way through many of the functions. Perhaps I’ll save my new found knowledge for another posting.

The Y axis needed a bracket made to connect the scale to the supplied aluminum adapter. Using a chunk of scrap channel I milled a bracket to attach to the Y table.

These are the three completed brackets that I built for both the X and Z axis. I left the quill clamp in the picture to show how the aluminum adapter fastens. The rigidity of the Z axis bracket was a concern however the use of 3/8" aluminum plate seemed to do the trick.

I was able to neatly bolt the X scale onto the back of the compound table. The scale is out of the way and protected.

A complete picture of the Y axis was difficult to take. This is the top view of the Y scale bracket mounted to the Y table on the right side of the mill.

Here you can see the mounting of the Y scale on the left side of the machine. The factory aluminum bracket goes up and connects to my fabricated steel bracket. Rigidity is not a problem with the Y scale.

The 3/8" aluminum plate bolted to the quill clamp was the right choice. It looks clean and is out of the way. The angle cut towards the left rear of the bracket allows me to still drain the gearbox oil.

The Z scale was tucked in behind the vertical feed controls. It's mounting still allows me to access the nut required to angle the machines head.

The final picture is of the plate I built in order to mount the control panel arm to a wall stud.

The paint booth project progress continues to slowly take place. As usual I continue to be bombarded with side projects which always end up slowing down the main projects. The goal was to have the booth completed before the New Year. FAIL!!!!!! I figured out how to solve that problem, no longer set any goals. There we go…right back on schedule.

The main frame of the booth was previously finished. Before I can start to tarp the entire structure I needed to fabricate the intake air assembly. The plan is to create a pressure booth therefore a fan, and duct work, need to be mounted on the intake side. I had previously calculated out the air needs of the booth. Total booth volume is approximately 936 cubic feet. I want to ensure I can double the air exchange every minute meaning I need to find a fan capable of at least 1900 CFMs. My fan options open up since the fan will not be mounted on the exhaust side and therefore will not be exposed to combustible fumes. Unwanted explosions should not be too much of a factor. Of all the fan and motor assemblies I looked at none of them were perfect for my application. So I decided to build a fan assembly that would suit my specific need.

After flipping through pages of a local appliance parts supply catalog I was able to find a 22” 4 blade aluminum fan with a pitch of 27 degrees that was capable of producing 3640 CFMs of air movement. The horsepower requirement for the fan was rated at .37 horsepower with a max speed of 1420 RPM. I was able to find a surplus 1 horsepower treadmill motor with an RPM of 1750 for $20. This was going to work perfect. Since the rated fan CFM was overkill I would be able to pulley down the fan rotation to get the spec’d RPM. Once the paint booth is completed I will then be able to do further testing. If the CFM movement needs to be tweaked all I will need to do is re-pulley the system.

So I stated the ventilation portion off by welding up a collapsible aluminum frame to support both the fan and the duct work. The frame will fold in flat to the main frame in order to accommodate storage. The idea is that the fan assembly will need to be removed and stored separately from the main frame. With the frame built it was on to the fan assembly. Using some 11 gauge sheet metal a circle was cut and then lined with 1” ring rolled flat bar. With some spare aluminum and a couple of flange mount bearings I was able to fabricate a fan support. The treadmill motor has no case to it as it is designed to mount inside a treadmill assembly. Using some muffler clamps I was able to build a mount for the motor that allowed it to be suspended by its rubber end mounts. Hopefully having the whole assembly rubber mounted will reduce my main frame from rattling apart.

Since I am unsure of what final RPM I will be running I built the mount for the motor out of a length of angle iron. Since different pulley sizes will also impact my V-belt lengths having the extra bit of angle iron will allow me to customize my belt tension adjustment.

I have yet to build a shield for the fan blade. As it sits now I am sure it would do some serious damage to human body parts should something decide to get in its way. Before I finalize the fan assembly the rest of the booth will need to be completed and performance testing will be required.

Next step on the road to completion will involve having to secure a tarp to the main frame assembly. I am dreading this part simply because I am a one man operation that is going to be wrestling a 30’ x 40’ tarp over the skeleton and then having to trim it a fasten it. I suspect a calm demeanor and deep breathes will be involved.

As with each winter season that passes it would appear that the snow season is also the season for new shop tooling and equipment. I don’t plan it that way it just always seems to end up being the time everything comes together. Well this season is no exception. With the introduction of the RF-45 clone milling machine that entered the family last year it has been a slow, on going, exhaustive researching process of getting the tooling set up for the unit.

I have been in the market for a decent vise to sit perched on top of the compound table. After spending much time on the forums trying to decipher what I should be looking for in a vise it pretty much came down to “don’t cheap out”. Cheap vises are cheap for a reason and although I have no experience with any milling machine vise it would stand to reason that your machined products will only be as precise as the equipment you use. I soon found the name “Kurt” popping up everywhere and realized that Kurt is the granddaddy of all milling vises. That’s great however I am not a production machine shop, is the cost of a Kurt realistic for a home shop guy like myself? As I continued to research I started to read more and more about the Glacern product line. I had previously purchased a Glacern R8 drill chuck for the mill and was quit impressed with the quality. Nicely machined product with smooth operation and yet for a decent price. As I read more I decided that the Glacern GSV-690 vise is the way to go. The finish looked good and I found no bad reviews on them. The price was better then Kurt plus Glacern’s swivel table was priced much lower then Kurt’s.

So here comes the pain. I’m in Canada and finding a Glacern distributor within the great white North’s borders is hard to do. Shipping cross border is a pain and I was fearful that the cost associated with the weight was going to exceed the cost of the vise. There is a company in the Eastern end of the country that does distribute some of the Glacern’s products including the GSV-690 vise I wanted. So this is the point in the story where I care not to elaborate. I have chosen to bury the painful details of dealing with this company so all I will say that after waiting almost a year to get this vise I was faced with yet another hiccup that would deny me another chance of getting my hands on the unit. It turns out the straw that broke the camels back was that the distributor was out of stock as was Glacern. The distributer tried to sell me Glacern’s Premium GPV-615 6” vise however it was not the one I wanted. The premium vise is still a very nice vise however its opening capacity was slightly smaller and although it was ground in such a way that it could be mounted on the side there was still no swivel base available for it.

I sat for days feeling defeated. I was able to buy directly from Glacern however there website confirmed what I was already told; they are out of stock. This has gone on far too long but now was not the time to give up. My next move proved to be the winner. I felt as though I had finally found the door that opened to sunshine meadows filled with flowers and butterflies with the von Trapp children skipping to the tune of Do-Re-Mi. I emailed Glacern customer service to enquire when they would expect to have stock on the units. Within minutes Dave Warren, from Glacern, responded. He had checked with the stock department and they actually had one in stock. It was mine if I wanted it. Wadda mean if? So with tool adrenalin flowing and sweaty palms I quickly responded with “you had me at “in stock”” and a “yeah I want it”. Do you ship to Canada? How much is the journey gonna set me back? Well the transportation fees were quoted at $159, not as bad I thought considering the set up came in at 105 pounds. What choice do I have? This is the best shot I got so I decided to stop thinking about it and make it happen.

But how? 10 minutes ago Glacern’s on line ordering showed 0 in stock and I would be unable to add one to my cart. Well it turns out that things can happen in 10 minutes time and now the Glacern site showed the GSV-690 vise in stock. Fantastic! Added one to my cart and while I was browsing I tossed a swivel base into the mix as well. Went to the checkout, calculated my shipping costs, hmmm…only $144. Sweet!!!! Handed over my 16 digits and I was off to the races. I had looked back to see if Glacern still showed the vise in stock, nope, no more to be had now. Filled with excitement I had to email Dave back to relay my giddiness and say a big thanks!

When I emailed Dave with the thanks and with one more question, however at this point his answer could not change what just happened. It had to do with shipping. I thought to myself “please, please, please, I hope they don’t ship UPS. Not UPS. Please not UPS. Anything but UPS, tie it to the back of a turtle, point it North and I’ll wait, I promise. UPS brokerage fees are killer!  So Dave? What is it? Do you ship UPS? Come on Dave…respond to the email. The 4^th email we had exchanged wasn’t quite up to the response time I had come to expect. It took him about an hour this time! Well there was good reason for it. Apparently Glacern does ship UPS. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! But wait, calm down and read on. Glacern is aware of how UPS likes to take advantage of us Canuks and they are working towards a solution. Dave, being the hero he is, had been in discussions with his supervisor and as a one time favor for this being my first order they applied a coupon code that would relieve me of all the brokerage fees. First thoughts? Rock on!!!! Second thoughts? Is this too good to be true? I had better wait till UPS lugs the vise onto my doorstep and asks for nothing more than a signature. Well that they did! No money required and the whining that usually comes from me actually came from the UPS driver about how heavy the package was that he had to wrestle with.

So where does this leave things? I’ll tell you where. It leaves me with a brand new GSV-690 vise, with swivel base, straight from Glacern Tools with zero UPS fees. What have I got to complain about? Nothing! Let’s move onto the good stuff…you know…the shiny precision machined tooling.

Well I am not one to critique a milling vise since I have very little experience with them. However the Glacern, upon visual inspection, is a fine piece of tooling. I was concerned that a 6 inch vise would be slightly large for the RF-45 clones table however I think it was the correct choice.  The vise comes with centering tabs located on the underside to allow for centering of the vise on the table. In the case of my table the centering tabs are too large. No big deal. I removed the tabs for now so that the vise would sit flat on the compound table and at a later date I will mill the tabs down to fit my table. The feel of the lead screw is smooth and precise. The vise even came with a slideable metal shield that covers the threads to protect them from the milling debris.

In the end I will never know f I would have been better off with a different choice of vise. I now own a Glacern and it’s the new addition to the family that is going be with us through lots of projects. I am thrilled with the quality and even more thrilled with the service and support form Glacern. I think I reached the top with this one.

Ram tough? Not as tough as hard core cyclists. A riding friend of mine approached me with an idea for a small project to help spruce up his winter beater. This winter season he found himself battling the snow drifts in an older Dodge Ram 4×4. Being an avid cyclist he wanted to bring out a bit of his personality in his vehicle. So it was decided that the ram hood ornament was going to be replaced with a mountain bike handlebar assembly.

The plan was to machine a perch that would bolt to the original hood ornament mount. The perch would allow for the mounting of a stubby steering stem. The original ram head was spring mounted. Since the handle bar assembly would weigh significantly more then the aluminum ram it was decided to incorporate solid mounting of the perch.

The build was fairly simple, the pictures tell the tale. A section of 1.375” solid round 6061 aluminum was chucked up on the mill and a centering slot was machined. The slot was designed to ensure the perch would not pivot which in turn would have put the bars off center.

The rest of the work was done on the lathe. The perch was machined with a built in stem cap. The idea behind it was to prevent theft of the stem. The stem would need to be mounted onto the perch first and then the perch bolted to the hood from the inside. Since the hood is latched, with an inside release, one would not be able to remove the perch. This, of course, does not prevent someone from unbolting the bar from the stem…not my problem.

In order to provide a bit more support for the whole assembly a smaller bushing was machined to give some strength from the underside of the hood. The completed perch was then taken to the buffing wheel and finished with a mirror shine to match the rest of the mount. In the end I think the perch worked out great. My fiend still has yet to piece the whole show together however it is guaranteed to add some personality to his ride and will keep him dreaming about the trails to come in drier months.