H/T to Clif for retweeting it.

I have been keeping this quiet because I am still trying to figure out how I am going to accomplish this.

A couple of EXTREMELY GENEROUS readers who are within a half hour drive from me and who would prefer to stay anonymous, dropped by a week ago last Saturday and gifted me an awesome little present.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a brand spanking new, Variable Frequency Drive and a used 240 V three phase electric motor.

Already wired up and ready to install on my Smithy 3 In 1 lathe/mill combo machine.

I am just beside myself with gratitude for such an excellent gift.

These guys are just awesome and it’s not the first time they have dropped in and showered me with awesome.

I tried to return the favor a bit and they didn’t go home empty handed but that is beside the point.

You guys know who you are and I thank you again!

So now I have to figure out how to get all that installed, no easy task because that 240 volt motor is quite a bit larger than the little 120 volt unit that is on the machine.

In other words, it’s not even close to being a straight swap.

Ve Haf Vays of getting around such things though.

My plan is to make a Jack Shaft that will install in the spot the original motor is at right now and then mount the new motor underneath the table with a belt going through an opening I will have to cut.

Something like this, that was also in a bunch of stuff I got from Old Chuck, except this one just has bushings and I want bearings.

I will have to make a riser for the Jack Shaft pillow bearings to sit on to get close to the centerline of where the motor sits now.

I already have the material for the shaft and the riser and the pillow block bearings are sitting right next to the machine.

I went and bought a big hunk of some tough assed Aluminum yesterday and got it cut down so it will fit where the motor is. I still have to keep the machine in one piece for the moment because I am going to have to mill some keyways in it for the pulleys I am going to use, also courtesy of Old Chuck across the street, who gave me a whole tool box full that he was going to throw away.

It took my Harbor Freight Chineseium Special Horizontal Band Saw and hour and a half to cut through this 5X2 hunk of Aluminum.

The saw is 3 years old now and still has the original blade on it. I’m thinking maybe it’s finally time to put the new one on….

But, it did finally make it, after I realized I had to flip it over and take off one of the vise extensions so it would clear.

The shaft only took a couple of minutes, I’m thinking the Aluminum was clogging up the teeth on the blade even though I was pouring oil to it.

So I now have some of the parts ready to put together. I still have to drill a bunch of holes and fabricate a way to make it slide for belt tensioning purposes. I may just use the idler pulley already inside for that.

That set up will replace the motor and then I am going to figure out how to mount the new one underneath. It will be on a shaft with a plate on it and be able to slide back and forth as it tilts so I can put that step pulley on it for even more speed control.

It’s pretty big project for me and my humble skills but I think I will get it figured out and done eventually.

It’s something I have been wanting to do pretty much since I got the machine but thanks to a couple of awesome guys I don’t have any excuses not to anymore.

I’m pretty excited to get this done and working. This will make the little machine way more user friendly.

So that is one thing I have going on among many. There has been quite a bit going on in my life for the last couple of months and a new chapter is going to start tomorrow. I have been staying quiet about most of it except for family and a couple of friends.

I am fine so don’t worry about me.

The Good Lord must still think I’m not done with whatever it is I am supposed to do down here this go round and hopefully I’ll be around long enough to get a quarter of all of my projects done.

I would be happy with that.

Stay tuned as I try to avoid complete catastrophe yet again with my little project.

I will take some kind of video of it when I get more of it done.

Because there just isn’t enough comedy out there.

Thanks for stopping by and my heart felt appreciation to everyone who is helping me out here.

Holy shit.

Watch this a few times, the gray car coming towards the camera even had the air bags go off.

Dayum.

Blew every fucking window out of the place. I still can’t believe the people in those cars right next to the blast didn’t get killed outright. Probable blew their eardrums out.

The Wifely Unit tells me that I need to quit worrying so much about shit and that I need to get off the internet more.

Must be nice living in La La Land.

Meanwhile, everywhere I turn I am seeing more shit coming down the pipe.

The price of gas in Europe just went up sixty fucking percent.

I wonder how long before we start seeing shit like this?

Either way, Sweet Crude hit $112 a barrel earlier today, seven dollar a gallon gas in some places will be following along shortly.

Still beats the shit out of this nonsense though.

All I can say at this point is to keep your eyes open and take advantage of any sales you can find on the things you need.

The Shit Storm is gathering strength.

There is some good news occasionally, Pfizer is having to dump their secrets and it is going to horrify a bunch of dumbass Normies when it all sinks in.

BIDUMB just shit the bed and rolled around in it yesterday so that is keeping his handlers busy trying to spin it all. His approval numbers are on their way to the Waste Treatment Plant as I type.

Chipping away at the stone.

That’s all we can do.