Building a Special Purpose Workpiece Holder

 I am converting 3" OD, 0,5" ID .5" thick steel donuts into a counterweight for an EQ1 telescope mount.  The current plan is to epoxy four together to make a 2 kg weight.  I picked the 3" diameter because it fits into my 3" 3-jaw chuck.  I can face them just fine, but turning the edge to get a pretty and consistent finish?  Typically you open jaws inside the interior hole, but neither of my chucks can go small enough for a 0.5" hole.

The headstock is 3/4"-16 threaded.  Some years for ScopeRoller, I made a couple of these for holding 3/8"-16 workpieces very securely--more so than a chuck can tightly hold slippery acetal.

My first feeble attempt was to tap a 1/4"-20 hole through and then use a 1/4"-20 bolt with a washer and nut to lock the donut in place.  It would not hold.

So I turned the holder to .497" diameter, just slightly smaller than the inside of the donut.  It is not a press fit, but tight enough to turn the edge.

Next step.  Tommy bars (I am not sure just Sherline calls then that) go into .15" diameter holes in the chucks to loosen them when on tightly.  So I put the workpiece holder on the rotating table on the tilting table at 90 degrees.  Then I drilled three tommy bar holes 120 degrees apart.

This required finding the center of the workpiece left and right and the center.  This was easier than I expected.

The correct final steps involve using a center drill to mark the drill spot.  (Center drills do not twist or get lost like twist drills.)  The chuck was too large to get the center drill that close.  Fortunately, aluminum is so soft that the twist drill went right in.  This was .3 inches/min.

Rotate 120 degrees each time; three perfect tommy bar holes.

I managed to turn four of the six donuts before running out of steam.  I will do the rest, then dri; and tap the thumbscrews for two of the weights tomorrow.  

How Do You Do Know the Climate Crisis is Real?

11/11/22 Daily Mail:

"Egyptian sources corroborated widespread claims that some 400 private jets landed during COP27."

Look.  I am not saying they have to get there by rowboat or dog sled, but even first-class in a commercial airliner would be far less destructive.  Horror of horrors, you would have to be near the "little people" whose lives your religion will injure.

Clear Sky Last Night

But below freezing so early that observing seemed ill-advised for my health after that agina attack last year. Perhaps we will get clear nights above freezing before spring.   There are some downsides to not being on the coast.

When Even California Backs Down on Solar Subsidies...

10/10/22 Los Angeles Times:

"California is poised to reduce payments to homes and businesses that go solar for clean electricity they supply to the power grid — a landmark shift in how the state promotes a crucial technology for fighting climate change."

The dirty little secret of solar and wind power is that neither is very consistent.  Utility companies have to have standby power for darkness, very cloudy days, and low winds.  I remember Southern California days with no wind and great heat: you know when people in the San Fernando Valley MUST turn on A/C.

What is the reliable backup power? Coal, oil, hydro (what about the fish), nuclear (you want three eyed fish and glowing babies?).  Renewable energy often increases energy costs because they still need backup power while paying exorbitant rates to buy power from net solar power producers.  And I have not even reached the problem of the unrecyclable PV panels I discussed a few weeks ago.

Maybe More Ripple

11/9/22 Associated Press is showing the Republican candidate for Oregon Governor just a few points behind the Democrat.   They have not called the race.

This should give Democrats reason to be afraid.   Oregon is solidly Democrat or was.

11/9/22 Associated Press shows Laxalt (R) two points ahead of the D for Nevada U.S. Senate seat.

I Fear Biden Was Right: Democracy is Dead

 It is possible that lots of Americans consider genital mutilation and abortion more important than buying groceries.  (After all, their Facebook friends have assured them rising prices are a Republican lie.)

Or there was enough voter fraud to matter.

Either way, my grandkids are going grow up in Venezuela.

Another Major Victory

ANTONYUK v. HOCHUL (DND 2022).  It is 186 pages so you may not be interested in reading it all.  As with most cases, much of the decision is a review of how the federal rules of temporary restraining injunctions apply.  Then there is the question of standing: do the people who are suing have a basis?  Will they be injured in some serious way if the temporary injunction is not issued?  Example: 

With regard to the Oswego County Defendants' argument that Plaintiff Mann lacks standing, Plaintiff Mann has alleged—and repeatedly sworn in a declaration—that he possesses a concrete intention to carry his firearm in his church (which is adjacent to his residence, where he possesses that firearm). (Dkt. No. 1, at ¶¶ 183-84, 188, 191-95 [Compl.]; Dkt. No. 1, Attach. 9, at ¶¶ 4, 12, 16, 20, 25, 28, 30-33 [Mann Decl.].) Plaintiffs have also adduced evidence that, on July 13, 2022, Defendant Hilton publicly stated that he would be enforcing the CCIA (albeit "conservative[ly]"); on July 20, 2022, Defendant Hilton publicly stated, "Under the new law, taking a legally licensed firearm into any sensitive area-such as a... church...[-]is a felony punishable by up to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison"; and on August 31, 2022, Defendant Hilton publicly stated, "If you own a firearm please be aware of these new laws as they will effect [sic] all gun owners whether we agree with them or not." (Dkt. No. 1, Attach. 9, ¶ 24 [Mann Decl.].) This is sufficient to establish a credible threat of prosecution under the case law cited in Antonyuk I, 2022 WL 3999791, at *15-16.

With regard to the Oswego County Defendants' argument that Defendant Hilton is not a proper Defendant, the Court rejects that argument because of his particular duty (and willingness) to enforce the CCIA in Oswego County (including Plaintiff Man's church). (Dkt. No. 1, Attach. 9, ¶ 24 [Mann Decl.].) As his defense counsel acknowledged during oral argument, "[T]hat's his job." (Dkt. No. 23, at 40 [Oral Argument Tr.)^[8]

The decision prohibited enforcement of the ban on carrying in places of worship, among others:

Based on the historical analogues located thus far, it does not appear permissible for New York State to restrict concealed carry in "any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit, subway cars, train cars, buses, ferries, railroad, omnibus, marine or aviation transportation; or any facility used for or in connection with service in the transportation of passengers, airports, train stations, subway and rail stations, and bus terminals." (as stated subsection "2(n)" of Section 4 of the CCIA). Indeed, historical analogues exist containing specific exceptions permitting the carrying firearms while travelling (presumably because of danger often inherent during travel).^[34] ...

Based on the historical analogues located thus far, it does not appear permissible for New York State to restrict concealed carry in the following place: "the area commonly known as Times Square, as such area is determined and identified by the city of New York; provided such area shall be clearly and conspicuously identified with signage" (as stated in subsection "2(t) of the CCIA). Granted, one might argue that historical statutes banning the carrying of guns in "fairs or markets" are analogous to this prohibition. However, thus far, only two such statutes have been located.^[42] Setting aside the fact that the first one appears to apply only to carrying a gun offensively ("in terror of the Country"), and the fact that the second one appears to depend on royal reign, as stated before, two statues do not make a tradition.

As a result, the Court orders the enforcement of this provision temporarily restrained. 

No whining that the Court's decision in Bruen is not making a difference.   UPDATE: Interesting comment that I missed.  The decision explains why the decision is so long:

it is hardly his fault that the Court has taken so long to prepare this Decision (the length of which has been necessitated less by the breadth the Complaint’s claims as the unprecedented constitutional violations presented by the CCIA [the New York statute in question]).