Rops pin mod.....Updated and finished!

[TheOldHokie]

Gotcha...I always thought it was for "more accurate" work.

Indicating in a 4 jaw has always beem the industry standard method for obtaining concentricity on a lathe. Very little I do needs that sort of accuracy and the 3 jaws get vastly more use.

Dan

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Ok, well life has been F'ing crazy....If it has a pump or motor on it, it has broken recently.

Well I got a little rain delay yesterday, so down to the shop to finish 1 of the 238,675 projects I have going on.

One thing I hate about leaving a project, is that when I return, I have to remember what the he!! I was doing/thinking.

Here we go.

So it appears that I needed to drill one more hole for the handle.....

It's already indexed so I just need to "spot the hole " and drill it.

Now you would think that since I have to drill another hole at the other end, I would simply crank the table over, spot and drill.....NOPE!!!

Having a brain fart, took the piece out then flipped it, to spot and drill it....about half way through drilling it, I realized my mistake....So not the worst mistake, but annoyingly the holes don't match up...oh well...

A test fitting was next....Its a little tight, but I'm OK with that.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Now to make a handle.

I wanted something that I could grab onto with my whole hand like the Linch pins I was using.

Now this gets me to thinking about how to bend it and have it come out even. I was thinking of making a jig and using the little press to sort of "press brake" it into shape; However, that seemed overly complicated.

Instead I decide to use the little brake I made a long time ago. It's certainly no Tennsmith Box and Pan Brake, but it has served me well for smaller projects.

So I measured my hand and it's just under 4" , so a little quick math is in order (on my pool pump motor box that I just had to replace)

I need 2 , 4" sections and then the remainder will be divided by 2 and that will be the height/depth of the handle.

I also kinda "fudged" some in for the bend radius. (30 years ago I would have put paper to pencil and figured out the proper radius, but today it's just "spray and pray")

I mark the rod according to the math and set up for my first bend.

So far, so good....

 

[Runs With Scissors]

The second bend goes well. As you can see, by sheer Providence, the brake is just small enough to allow for the bend.

I know what your thinking......He's gonna forget to put the pin on before he bends it...HAHAHAHAHAHa

Nope. I put the pin on FIRST, then bent it.....

Then the final bend...AND

DAMN IT!!!!!!

My "fudge factor" bend radius was off.

So now I'm kinda of pissed, but not totally surprised its off by a "wee bit". No problem, I just cut off the excess and TIG it together, and that will be "good nuff".

 

[Runs With Scissors]

So, I break out the only stainless rod I have .

And here we are. DONE!!!!

But here is the problem.... Although not many people would ever notice that the "rectangular" handle is actually "Trapizoidal" now;

Those damn Demons are screaming "Fix that you dumb bastard!!!!!"

So I measure both sides and figure out how much I have to cut off to "even it up".

Well its not perfect, but it did quiet those demons.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

The other side is basically the same except I properly drill the holes indexed correctly this time.

and corrected for "bend radius fudging" and........BAM!!!!!


I totally fu@@ed it up, and now I have a big gap.

After some cussing and swearing, I have 2 options.

I have one rod left so I can either cut this one off and make a new one, OR I can "nip" a piece off and "patch it in".

Because it was pretty "square", I chose the latter.....

One thing I found out on the first one was that if the seam is tight enough, no filler rod is needed. Just carefully going over it with the torch seemed to "pretty evenly" distribute the metal, and it didn't look too bad.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Here is the results and comparison photos.

I figure that since they are opposite sides, no one will ever notice that they are different in handle size.

(Kind of like that Buick Regal I had as a kid...I had different hub caps on both sides, but since you can only see one side of the car at a time, no one ever noticed........Except my Dad....Haahhaha)

The End.

 

[tsp159]

You're an absolute mad scientist (machinist?) and I'm here for it. Nicely done.

 

[dirtydeed]

nicely done...but I'm scratching my head as to "why"?

Do the L's have a different ROPS setup from that of other Kubota tractors? IE.. pull one pin and lower the ROPS (in my case, after giving the anti-rattle bolt 1/4 turn).

 

[Runs With Scissors]

nicely done...but I'm scratching my head as to "why"?

Do the L's have a different ROPS setup from that of other Kubota tractors? IE.. pull one pin and lower the ROPS (in my case, after giving the anti-rattle bolt 1/4 turn).

View attachment 105647

DD, I'm not sure if mine is 'different' than yours, but on my factory set up, I had to unscrew the bolt on each side and to make matters worse, the bolt head is some Cattyywampus design with a cable connected to it which would wrap itself around the bolt when unscrewing.

First I cut that damn wire.....but even then it was a "Sh!t show" to try and undo by hand.

Some people run taps through them and grease them.....etc.

I just thought it was a piss poor design; hence the "quick disconnect" pins.

from this 4 minute PITA

to this 4 second job

 

[Runs With Scissors]

You're an absolute mad scientist (machinist?) and I'm here for it. Nicely done.

Thank you sir!

 

[dirtydeed]

DD, I'm not sure if mine is 'different' than yours, but on my factory set up, I had to unscrew the bolt on each side and to make matters worse, the bolt head is some Cattyywampus design with a cable connected to it which would wrap itself around the bolt when unscrewing.

First I cut that damn wire.....but even then it was a "Sh!t show" to try and undo by hand.

Some people run taps through them and grease them.....etc.

I just thought it was a piss poor design; hence the "quick disconnect" pins.

from this 4 minute PITA

View attachment 105672

View attachment 105673

to this 4 second job

View attachment 105674

So, this (see red arrow) is not the pivot point of the ROPS????? Now I'm really confused. I guess I'll have to look at my neighbors L3301.

Edit: looking at the type of hardware in this pic, I'm guessing that the middle bolt/nut is the pivot point for the ROPS. In that case, I concur. That's a terrible design to have to use a bolt in the front hole to lock the ROPS....hence why you started the project.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

So, this (see red arrow) is not the pivot point of the ROPS????? Now I'm really confused. I guess I'll have to look at my neighbors L3301.

Edit: looking at the type of hardware in this pic, I'm guessing that the middle bolt/nut is the pivot point for the ROPS. In that case, I concur. That's a terrible design to have to use a bolt in the front hole to lock the ROPS....hence why you started the project.

View attachment 105682

 

[MountainMeadows]

Mad machinist for sure!
I feel your pain as I'm the same way when it comes to fabrication...........

I say scrap the prototypes and send them to me and have another go at it............

 

[Pawnee]

Cool story bro!