# My modding equipment.



## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Jan 31, 2016)

I know I don't have the serious machinery that some of our expert machinists here on CPF have, but I thought I'd share the tools I use for the mods I do. When I first got into mods about 6 years ago all I had was my old DMM, a 30 year old 35W Weller soldering iron and a few basic small tools. Necessity with projects have led me to each of the purchases. Experience has shown me that you get what you pay for. I'd rather pay more for one tool now that will last me decades than pay even more for cheap tools that I'll need to replace multiple times. 

So in no particular order:

Fluke DMM. I've had a decent Radio Shack DMM since college EE classes (about 20 years - you do the math  ). It seemed about time to upgrade this year. An indispensable tool for driver, LED and switch mods. 12 ga wires attached below to get more accurate tailcap current measurements. 






Just got this lux meter so I haven't had a chance to put it to good use, but good for testing the throwers I am getting into now.





A Dremel Tool is essential for any cutting, sanding, shaping, polishing, etc.





A cheap but decent vise from Harbor Freight.





Never ever cheap out on a good soldering iron.





Cutters, tweezers, picks and stuff for manipulating parts. 





A Weller PyroPen - butane powered. I use this with the heat blower tip for re-flowing LEDs.





Solder, flux paste, thermal paste, thermal adhesive.





Parts bin, compressor and air hose. A California Air Tools 1HP 6.3gal ultra-silent air compressor - it's amazing how quiet the dual-cylinder setup is compared with some other ones I've tried. 









91% isopropyl alcohol. Essential requirement for cleaning LEDs, grease, parts, etc.


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## nfetterly (Jan 31, 2016)

Nice post SOYCD, having bought quite a few (VERY NICE) light from you nice to see what you have, the pyropen was one I wasn't expecting. I'm slowly heading towards doing some of my own mods so that was nice to see...


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Jan 31, 2016)

Thank you. 

Yeah - for a while I used the Pyropen with a soldering tip as my primary soldering tool too but I got real tired of getting burned with the side expelled gases. :scowl:


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## Nitroz (Jan 31, 2016)

I see some of your things that remind me of my work space. I have a pyropen, which is giving me some problems, a weller WES51, awesome soldering iron, the air hose spool, and the radio shack flux.

The alcohol pic looks to have several Mtn boxes back there.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Jan 31, 2016)

LOL - yes. I am a frequent flyer over at MtnElectronics. Richard has setup a great business for us modders.


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## Nitroz (Jan 31, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> LOL - yes. I am a frequent flyer over at MtnElectronics. Richard has setup a great business for us modders.



No doubt!


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## gunga (Jan 31, 2016)

Nice. Questions. Why 91% alcohol? I use 99%. I thought there were fewer impurities?

How is the pyro pen for reflow? I often use a frying pan and gas stove but it's nothing special.

Also, I've found I really like brass wool for cleaning iron tips. You? Any tip cleaners?


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 9, 2016)

Gunga - I actually realized as I was going through my receipts for tax season that I actually had ordered some of the 99% alcohol. I had just put it in the 91% containers for easier pouring.

I just added a new tool to my modding arsenal today.  A little bit on the lower end as far as lathes are concerned, but I've never used or owned one before so it seemed to make sense to start less expensive and work my way up if things go well.


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

Lol! That is the exact lathe I own.
I scored it off of Craigslist for $250 and have added a quick change tool post. I have learned a lot and am so glad to have it because it opened up the modding possibilities, but it has created one problem. That is that after owning this for 2 or so years I now want a 10 x 22 lathe.


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## m4a1usr (Apr 10, 2016)

Me three! It's a good beginner lathe. Perfect for learning on. And like Nitroz said get a quick change tool holder. They can be found for pretty cheap on the "bay" but if your going to need cutters, boring bars, a parting blade, center drills and a tail stock chuck just go to the little machine shop. It will be a bit painful to the pocket but you'll appreciate it later once you have the basic tools for most of what we love to do. 

A word of advice about these lathes. If your mechanically inclined, check your cross slide and compound rest for play. Than do your self a big favor and TAKE THE LATHE APART and adjust all the set screws where you can. You'll discover them by looking it over very carefully. From the factory they are adjusted waaaaay too loose in tolerance/wobble/play. You can make it cut so much better by just eliminating that sloppiness. And if you don't have a shop vac. Get one now. You will be wading in "curlies" otherwise. And congratulations on your purchase. I love mine. Matter of fact I just got in from the garage cutting some D35 reflector spacers for my Z46 LED conversions on it.


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## ven (Apr 10, 2016)

WOW Sean, very well kitted out, very impressive  you certainly have done some awesome work and look forward to what you do with the lathe


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

Thanks guys. 

I bought some tooling from HF with the lathe and the stuff they sell in the store is all the wrong size for this lathe. You need 5/16" tools to be on center and they only sell 1/4" in the store. I shimmed it up and did a little practice work with it and they are okay.

I like that they include the live center for the tailstock.

I already went to little machine shop last night and ordered the quick change tool holder along with the cam lock for the tailstock. Got some better tooling and boring bar. One of the things I expect to be doing with this is a lot of boring of battery tubes for 18mm cells.

I've been reading up on the adjustments for the cross slide and cam and will look into those as I get more familiar. I am still learning all the terminology. There are some great educational lathe series on youtube. 

Any recommendations on the following:
- How do you clean off all that shipping grease? I've wiped it mostly off but I am not sure if there should be some remaining grease or if I should be using a solvent to get down it all off.
- Did you guys pull apart the head stock and lube up the drive gears at all?
- Did you check the motor alignment?
- Best place to get copper, Al, delrin bars?


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

As a side note I was able to go from this with a drill and dremel:






To this:






I expect my time spent on some projects to go from hours to minutes. Huge efficiency gain.


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## precisionworks (Apr 10, 2016)

Fluke DMM's are the only meters I trust with my life. Most of my troubleshooting & consulting work is on 460 volt 3-phase equipment where mistakes are costly. My Fluke meters are a 175 & a 179 plus a FLIR CM83 (amp clamp/power factor/Swiss army knife). Flukes don't lie, ever. Good choice.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

Thanks Barry. 

Here's a list of the jobs that I am planning on learning to work on. In no particular order:

- HDS boring to 18mm internal and make a 16mm adapter.
- V10R 18mm boring, again with 16mm adapter. (start with AL and then work my way up to a Ti bore)
- V10R triple mod
- Possible HDS triple mod (just possibly, but not sure on this one)
- Debadge V10R Ti heads/bodies
- Eventually - make P60 copper drop-ins (that will take a lot more learning but should be possible)
- A proper copper heat sink job on the Alpha for triple setup rather than stacked copper PCBs


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## gunga (Apr 10, 2016)

The v10r triple mod interests me. Let's get that going! I know it can be hacked by hand but I'm not interested in hacks.


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## Str8stroke (Apr 10, 2016)

SOYCD, that is a real nice set up. Glad you shared that with us. Kinda like Meet the Maker I like to see on one of the Knife Websites. They sometimes show you their shops. Anyways, amazing the talent, skill and knowledge the members here have. CPF is such a asset to the hobby. 

That mini lathe is so cool. I can't wait to see the projects you are soon going to produce.


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

Any recommendations on the following:


ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> - How do you clean off all that shipping grease? I've wiped it mostly off but I am not sure if there should be some remaining grease or if I should be using a solvent to get down it all off.


I used mineral spirits and the oiled it with Mobil vactra way oil


ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> - Did you guys pull apart the head stock and lube up the drive gears at all?


Not yet, soon.


ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> - Did you check the motor alignment?


No


ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> - Best place to get copper, Al, delrin bars?


 I use 6061dude on Ebay. Fast shipping and free!


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## KuanR (Apr 10, 2016)

Sean, you're really stepping up on your mod game! Your LED work has always been my favorite and with your new arsenal you're opening up a ton of opportunities. 

Once you figure out the 18mm HDS mod, I think that's the perfect time to get into another HDS again.

I look forward to your updates in this thread.


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## m4a1usr (Apr 10, 2016)

Ditto what Nitroz said. I just used naptha for a good all around general wipe down/ degreasing. Then lubed the bed with Militec-1 and let it soak in for a bit. For the gears, cross slide and compound rest crank I use Slip 2000 EWL. I guess you could use whatever you have on hand that would be the most effective? I'm sure you already know it but just in case all oils applied should be wiped dry so it doesn't attract cutting accumulations. 6061 dude is my go to guy as well. And he has lots of stock that isn't even listed in his store. Just ask. He's always responded back within 24hrs. Not to mention he's always shipped everything via priority.


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

m4a1usr said:


> 6061 dude is my go to guy as well. *And he has lots of stock that isn't even listed in his store*. Just ask. He's always responded back within 24hrs. Not to mention he's always shipped everything via priority.



Learn something everyday! Thanks for this tip.:twothumbs: I don't know how he has such great prices and ships things for free, and like you said priority. His Ebay feedback speaks for itself.


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

One thing I need to add is one of those lighted magnifying glasses for my tires eyes.


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## m4a1usr (Apr 10, 2016)

Nitroz said:


> One thing I need to add is one of those lighted magnifying glasses for my tires eyes.



I hear ya brother! Those little 3" critters with the 2 clips for holding your work are fine but only do a very limited use. Something like a bench top 5 or 6 inch, articulated arm, magnifier is the bomb. And they are not as expensive as most think they are. The Eclipse 902-109 looks like it might be capable. Just don't know if it uses real glass or a plastic/lexan lense?


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

How do you guys hold a flashlight in the chuck without causing any marks? I just put a good set of marks on a e2e body trying to get it to spin straight. The spindle through hole is only .8" so there's not going to be much sliding in there. 

I'll check out that ebay guy for some stock to order.


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> How do you guys hold a flashlight in the chuck without causing any marks? I just put a good set of marks on a e2e body trying to get it to spin straight. The spindle through hole is only .8" so there's not going to be much sliding in there.
> 
> I'll check out that ebay guy for some stock to order.



I use painters tape.

And yes, that is one reason I will be upgrading to the Grizzly 10 x 22. See you already want to upgrade.  Still even with this little lathe it is still better than nothing to start with.


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## m4a1usr (Apr 10, 2016)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> How do you guys hold a flashlight in the chuck without causing any marks? I just put a good set of marks on a e2e body trying to get it to spin straight. The spindle through hole is only .8" so there's not going to be much sliding in there.
> 
> I'll check out that ebay guy for some stock to order.



I'm not sure how anyone else is doing it but I am using various adapters from Lumens Factory. They have a E2C and a C2M that works great for some of the stuff I do. And since I doubt Mark is going to run out of these my guess is I can scratch/score and mark them up and not feel guilty. Hope this helps?


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## Nitroz (Apr 10, 2016)

With the 7 x 10 work must be done slowly and carefully, but you can turn out some decent work on the little lathe.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 10, 2016)

I like that idea - I'll be looking into those adapters. Will probably make it easier to spin them straight as well.

Nitroz - no need to upgrade yet - although I'm sure I'll want to soon.


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## DrafterDan (Apr 10, 2016)

Looks good Shine! 
I've used a pvc pipe, cut along its length to hold a body tight without scarring the aluminum.


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## StrikerDown (Apr 11, 2016)

A small hole through the spindle is a limitation of many lathes. Often we try to grab what we can and work on a part with too much stick out. You may get away with it some time but the chance of failure seems to increase with the cost of the part in the chuck. And it can be dangerous!

The advice you gave in the OP "Experience has shown me that you get what you pay for. I'd rather pay more for one tool now that will last me decades than pay even more for cheap tools that I'll need to replace multiple times." is something I have always believed until a lapse in memory/judgement had me buying this same 7" X 10" lathe from Harbor Freight. Fortunately making my first project, turning a bar to make a new handle for my vise, the little HF started making strange noises. After finishing that first part thinking the noise would only get worse until something broke, I returned it to HF getting my money back. I decided to get a slightly larger lathe, 14 X 40" Precision Mathews From Matt. Years later I have not regretted the decision. Buy once, cry once!
I'm not saying you can't do good work on the little lathe but some things just are not possible on the small format and everything you can do on it can be done easier and much faster on a larger machine.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 11, 2016)

Touche Striker - failure to take my own advice..... 

The 7x10 will be a great learning tool and I'm sure I'll be able to work on plenty of little projects for now. Once I outgrow it I'll look towards an upgrade.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 11, 2016)

Touche Striker - failure to take my own advice..... 

The 7x10 will be a great learning tool and I'm sure I'll be able to work on plenty of little projects for now. Once I outgrow it I'll look towards an upgrade.


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## mcbrat (Apr 11, 2016)

Nice! Yes, the videos on YouTube are good for these little lathes. I just picked one up off a fb group really cheap.


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## calipsoii (Apr 11, 2016)

Grats on the purchase SOYCD! You're gonna have a blast on that machine. 

Pay no attention to the naysayers - a little lathe is great to start on. I started on one MUCH smaller than yours (a Taig watchmakers lathe). Here's a shot of it sitting in the bed of the 10x22 I eventually replaced it with:






As others have suggested, a quick-change toolpost is a nice investment. Check LittleMachineShop for some that might fit directly on your machine. The one I purchased needed to be modified to fit on mine.

Can't wait to see what you turn out on that bad boy!


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## gadget_lover (Apr 11, 2016)

A couple of points for beginner lathe hand;

First, is that the same same safety rules apply to a 7x10 as apply to a much bigger lathe. The injuries from a small lathe may be less serious, but losing a finger instead of losing an arm is small comfort. Google has a lot of safety advice for lathes. One safety rule that is not obvious is that a long metal rod that extends through the headstock will need support to keep it from bending and flailing about as it spins at high speed. It can be deadly. 

Second is that there are work arounds for a lot of the shortcomings of any lathe. For instance, the small spindle hole is less of a problem if you simply buy a bigger chuck. A 4 inch, independent jaw chuck will have a bigger hole in the center than a 3 inch scroll chuck. A long light will still protrude too far, but the area you are cutting will be several inches closer to the jaws of the chuck.

One of the things you will learn is how much pressure you need to use to clamp a light in the chuck so that it does not move, but not so tight that it marks the surface. A wrap of masking tape is usually enough to protect a flashlight.

Good luck with the lathe. Using one can be very satisfying.

Dan


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## Nitroz (Apr 11, 2016)

calipsoii said:


> Grats on the purchase SOYCD! You're gonna have a blast on that machine.
> As others have suggested, a quick-change toolpost is a nice investment. Check LittleMachineShop for some that might fit directly on your machine. The one I purchased needed to be modified to fit on mine.
> 
> Can't wait to see what you turn out on that bad boy!



Calipsoii,

Love the lathe!

What is the magnetic light clamped on the lathe?


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 13, 2016)

A few new lathe parts came in today.

Drill chuck:





Tool quick change: (love this one, so much better than stock)


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## gadget_lover (Apr 13, 2016)

I like quick change tool posts too. 

The reason I like them is not that they work better than the original. After all, the original is a big block of steel that has a lot of area in direct contact with the compound. I like the QCTP because I'm more likely to use the right tool for the specific cut if I have it mounted in a holder and can swap it in only a few seconds. 

Dan


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 19, 2016)

A few more lathe upgrades over the weekend.

Added the 4" chuck with adapter. Much nicer jaws on this chuck and the extra through the hole space is appreciated. The adapter was a little off balance as it came so I had to machine a small copper weight of 12 grams to insert into one of the holes in the adapter. That balanced it out perfectly and no vibrations while running. 

I used the 4" chuck on a HDS 18mm bore and it held the work wonderfully.

I also picked up the small lathe DRO kit. Not cheap but it makes a world of difference for my aging brain keeping the measurements consistent. I'm getting a little play on the compound slide so I'll have to go back and check out the install of that piece. Other than that I am very pleased.


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## DrafterDan (Apr 19, 2016)

some of us worked manual for years before using a DRO. You're stepping into the limelite really soon!
~of course, we should have upgraded years ago, but wha' 'cha gon' do?

I don't have a DRO on the lathe that I use, but do have one on the Bridgeport mill.


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## Light Bringer (Aug 29, 2016)

gunga said:


> Nice. Questions. Why 91% alcohol? I use 99%. I thought there were fewer impurities?



Beyond 90%, IPA is hygroscopic. Leave it open long enough, and 99% will turn into 90% by absorbing water from the air.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Aug 29, 2016)

Actually - to clarify to gunga - I had forgotten, at the time, that I had ordered some 99% from Amazon and then distributed among a few empty 91% bottles for easier use.


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## gunga (Aug 29, 2016)

Ah thanks.


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## George7806 (Aug 30, 2016)

gunga said:


> Ah thanks.



I like your setup SOYCD, Fluke is def. the way to go. I have yet to own any of their tool, I wasn't happy with. I also have and still own one of those 7x10 lathes as a matter of fact, I owned 3 from different manufacturers over the past 14 years, and still gets plenty of use. There are many upgrades you can do to it, to make it more precise, and if you're keeping it for a while it worth doing it. Although it's perfect for small projects, it has it's limitation....I have access to a 17x40 in case I need larger capacity. Thanks for sharing this, I always find it interesting to see what kind of setup others are working with.


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