Back in the game!

[John DeBree]

Hi Guys- Jay here in upstate SC. I used to be into CC's, then got sidetracked developing our land and building our house. Now I'm retired, and starting to tinker with the old Cadets. I have two Originals and two Model 70's, or at least enough parts to have that many! I needed a small rig to tow implements, as my full-size Ford tractor would tear up the lawn, so I turned to one of my long-forgotten CC's. An Original was the closest to being together, so I re-wired it, messed around with all of my parts until I got spark, put the cleanest carb on it, and it fired right up!

The first chore will be pulling a drag harrow around a 1/2 acre field I'm restoring. This fall, I'll pull a spreader with lime and grass seed, and see if I can make my weed patch into some kind of lawn. I have a zero turn for mowing, but it's worthless for towing a spreader (I tried).

I'm 66, been retired about a year from being a tool and die maker. I have most of a machine shop set up at home, so I can weld and make just about anything I need. One of the Model 70's is going to be a custom; I'll start a thread when there's something to show. Anyhow- that's me. Thanks for adding me to the forum!

 

[kmcconaughey]

John, WELCOME!

 

[wh cc guy]

Welcome Jay from another retired tool and die maker playing around with cub cadets.

 

[mfrade]

Welcome John - from a home shop/hobby machinist

 

[gchunnett]

Welcome John (Jay) and wh cc Guy, this is off topic I know, but the thinking experience of two tool and die makers would probably answer this engineers puzzle in a moment. Can I invite you both (and anyone else who cares to venture an opinion) to comment.
Ps I have two CC originals and a horrible MTD Cadet (that is junk)

I have 5 bee hives, with the express purpose of giving away jars of nice wild mountain honey. I built a spinner which deals with ~80% of the extraction, I get wax from the odd comb development and what does not fit into the spinner. I melt and filter the wax into blocks and can produce flat sheets.

I want to make a wax roller with the interlaced hexagonal pattern in negative form, the size needs to be specific to our local bees, which is 4.7-4.9 mm across the flats. [rollers for the American and European bees are (expensively) available but not in my size as above] the negative form is so that the sheets come out with a small positive raised portion the bees then grow to the cell and fill with honey

I have a Bridgeport milling head on a ME 1000 Stigon base with motorised X axis, a pair of Colchester Lathes and various other workshop widgets ..... for making Cub Cadet parts...... of course.........

How do I go about setting up a machine to produce a pair of rollers with a negative form of the interlaced hexagonal pattern??
ps, I'm a 66 year old retired geologist with a natural bend to fixing up old fascinating stuff.
If necessary to take into Private Mail, I'm not sure how to find your personal mail address... sorry

 

[kellycaudle]

Welcome John. What part of the Up State are you from? I live just south of Greenville in Piedmont.

Kelly C

 

[John DeBree]

I'm north of Travelers Rest, near Tigerville. About 15 miles due north of downtown Greenville. We're out in the country, on 8+ acres, mostly woods. I designed and built our house, mostly single-handed.

gchunnett- Those rollers would be hard to make even with a full shop of modern equipment. The tricky part is the hexagons; not a shape you can readily machine, at least if you want hexagonal pockets. The only thing that comes to mind would be to EDM them, one row at a time. It would take forever, and be very expensive.

 

[podenbach]

Welcome to the forum. You might as we’ll plan for a new shed for more toys! I surely miss my 100 and original, they don’t turn up as often as on the east coast.

If any of you retired tool and die makers want to work for peanuts I need a couple tools made for my OBI 5ton to cut and form spring steel. If you know someone please let me know.

 

[tromaniecki]

Welcome John, that machine shop will come in handy fer sure.

 

[John DeBree]

I like peanuts... we'll talk.

As for space; the first building I put up on our land was a 28 x 48 barn, with a big loft as well. Plenty of room for toys!

 

[gchunnett]

Welcome again to you and I like the idea of a large barn, i built a 6 car dungeon with the same expectation. Thanks for the "Hard to machine" suggestion, its been a mental challenge for several months already, and remains unresolved, at least in my simple mind.

I may make a Plaster of Paris negative of one of the sheets and then cast aluminium as a flat sheet template.... only need several cm of form and the bees grow it out and downward to fill a frame...... will advise on progress