Some time ago I stuck together 2 HF 26" chests with a 14" cabinet extension in the middle. I slapped on a sheet of ¾" plywood and an old chunk of stainless countertop and called it an awesome thing to have next to my mill that I could fill with calipers and micrometers and endmills and all the sundries that come with machining.
And then I was offered a series one HF 44" combo which I thought I could store all the socket head cap screws and bearings and bushings that I use all the time
And while the extra storage was welcome, I don't care for top boxes and it looked pretty clunky. Top box went over to my mechanics box for now. I welded up a 1x1 frame for the new bench top.
That's progressing nicely. 11 feet long and two feet deep. My original plan was to top it with prefinished hardwood flooring but I'm waffling on that now. Perhaps just another layer of plywood and some laminate flooring? That is what is on my garage bench and it holds up great and can easily be replaced if damaged. The other current thought is a 3/8" sheet of rubber.
I also intend to replace the 44" box with another 26 and 14 combo as soon as they go on sale again.
Car of the day. A big ol' Bentley
This monster has been in the same family since 64 and was on the field at pebble beach in 67. It hasn't had much more than regular exercise since then and it shows. Well worn out interior and plenty of glue residue on the doors from various rally stickers.
It's an honest, well preserved car that drives pretty well for what it is.
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
What year is the Bentley?
In reply to RossD :
Thanks!
We do a lot of cool stuff at the shop. This was really just an excuse to show some of that off while covering some of the details of keeping my old crap in working order.
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
It's good to see the tools of the trade too. But, yeah...keep the car pics coming please. :-D
The craigslist gods smiled upon me and I scored a bunch of maple prefinished hardwood flooring leftover from a gentleman's renovation.
Looks like I will soon be ready to go bowling on my work bench. One row left to trim and install. I might wrap the edge with some 1/8" cold rolled flat.
Today's car a behemoth Chrysler Lebaron
It sure is big, and ugly. So ugly it has an appeal
Those headlight pods!
It is a pretty miserable driving experience. Pretty much what you would expect from something that large, heavy and softly sprung. Steering inputs have a strange latency. Turn wheel, a short time later the body starts to roll alarmingly and a bit after that the car begins to change direction.
But that view from the drivers seat is worth the price of admission. Yowza
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
That is so cool!
In on a Saturday. Yesterday I had a crash on the mill. The R8 collet drill chuck was hopelessly stuck in the quill. I had to disassemble the quill to be able to use the hydraulic press to remove the chuck
This R8 to Jacob's taper piece is a goner
As with most things, once the quill was out I couldn't bring myself to slap it back in withou new bearings.
Ordered for monday delivery. Those precision 7207 bearings weren't cheap
Today's car.
Lotus Europa twin cam
This totally original 30k mile example was put into storage in the 90's to preserve it. Decades in storage wasn't kind. It now has an entire new brake and cooling system and a fresh rebuilt twin cam. I also had to replace the fuel tanks.
It gets some shakedown miles Monday and will soon be in fair weather use.
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
What's the long tank in front of the valve cover under the rear window? I don't remember either of mine having that.
I am going to guess evaporative emissions stuff. Lines run to the fuel tanks and it has a few vacuum lines on it.
Great thread Trent, very readable ! While most of your machine tool stuff has about as much relevance to my life as feathers do to a frog ( I'm a hand tool kinda guy ) it's always good to learn a little about different stuff. The cool car pics are the icing on the cake 
You must truly dread having to wake up every day not knowing what automotive nightmare awaits you at the shop .....
unbelievable the stable that exists under this roof.....thanks for sharing and yes I'm broadening my exposure to all that is "machining"
My job certainly does not suck!
One of our old projects is up on BAT if anyone feels like bidding
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-alfa-romeo-gtv-20/
It was mostly bolting alfaholics parts together but I did manage to convince everyone involved that efi was going to be far better than webers.
It is a riot to drive
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) :
That car is almost impossible to drive gently. That quaife transmission has to be shifted aggressively to work. It is a monster
New bearings finally here.
Quill reassembled and making chips
So I finished off this bushing for a key way broach. I'm having to make a timing gear set for a 1936 Daimler. This final key slot was the last step
Those are some very worn out teeth. New on the left. Profile is totally different
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
How did you cut the teeth? Or is this an adaptation of another gearset with enough meat to make the Daimler bits? Outer ring from something else shrunk onto a new center?
ANSI standard industrial sprockets. Every timing chain I seem to encounter is an ANSI 35 pitch. That would be a 3/8" center to center of the link rollers.
With ansi sprockets it is really easy. For single row chains the first digit will be A and for double row D
Then the pitch in this case 35
Then hub type. A is no hub, just a flat sprocket B is a hub that protrudes on one side and I'm forgetting what the letter is for protruding hub on both sides.
Then tooth count. Put that info together and you wind up with something like D35B36.
I call my bearing supplier down the street and give them that info and if it isnt in stock they can get them pretty quickly. In this case the motor does not have a chain tensioner so I stuck with the tooth count that I was replacing. Had I not I could have gone close enough and as long as the pair gave a 2:1 ratio. 22/11 or 50/25. It doesn't really matter but I wanted to make sure the chain wouldn't be too tight or loose so I went with what I knew worked.
From there it is a matter of deleting the metal on the new blank that isn't on the original and then being really careful to cut the key slots in exactly the same orientation as what you are replacing.
These had no timing marks at all. And there never was a manual for this engine. I pity the person who has to time this cam (it'll probably be me)
Anyway, that is my method for duplicating timing chain sprockets without the expense of having a gear hob or horizontal mill with an involute cutter setup
Is that Daimler engine a Knight sleeve valve or conventional poppet valve?
It is the conventional valve variety. The head and bores are one iron casting and the lower block is aluminum. One odd thing about it is that all the fasteners are SAE course but have Whitworth size heads. It also runs with a lot of valve lash. 54 and 50 thousandths gaps.
I have yet to see the actual car, I was just delivered the motor.
Trent (Generally supportive dude) said:
And there never was a manual for this engine.
What's the ballpark production of this engine - hundreds, dozens, or just a few?
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
It looks like 6000 total of these cars were sold, Far fewer with this 2 liter engine, making it still pretty pedestrian but the "maintenance manual" is devoid of any real info and it was all that was ever produced.
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
Thanks! The result is so spot-on...
