POE Trigger/Switch for Mailbox Cameras on BI?

[TheWaterbug]

would it be possible to make some sort of giant bit out of this 3" hardened steel sphere. It's only $30:

View attachment 167183

Now there's one for $20, with free 1-day shipping. I couldn't resist, and clicked Buy.

Interesting. I see a nut with angle grinder threads welded to the steel ball. On the other side, an adhesive-backed sanding disk.

The sphere is allegedly AISI 52100 Alloy Steel. Is that easy to weld to? I have no welding equipment, but I can probably find a friend who does.

 

[dmcIPCAM]

@TheWaterbug, I say this with the utmost sincerity and as a long-time woodworker: Please be super careful doing any kind of operations
involving rotating cutters, especially of the diameter being proposed here. There is a reason that there are no core box router bits much
larger than about 2" available. And those commercially available bits will be much more balanced and precise than trying to weld
a shaft onto a metal ball. I'm even reluctant to use larger diameter Forstner bits in a hand-held drill. I'm guessing that nearly all of us on this
forum have a story about "wrenched" wrists or smashed fingers smashed using large diameter hole-making saws and bits. I'm not trying to
be Chicken Little here, but please be cautious.

 

[Gimmons]

I'm a "farmer welder" but I think anything that isn't stainless or cast iron is weldable with normal welding wire. Get a spare angle grinder nut, maybe drill a hole to let the shaft go all the way through, and set the ball on the nut so it self centers, then tack.

I wonder what uses 3" ball bearings?

 

[Gimmons]

@TheWaterbug, There is a reason that there are no core box router bits much
larger than about 2" available. ... but please be cautious.

Angle grinders are so useful, but you sure can whack your fingers off before you know what hit you. I have less trepidation about grinding tools --which can hit and scratch you, but probably won't cut you--, than I do cutting things. I sometimes watch boatbuilding videos by a guy called Lou Sauzedde, who puts a 7" saw disk on an angle grinder and uses it to cut channels between planks for caulking. He calls it "Mr. Friendly." I'd be really afraid of that, but a 7" diamond disk on a grinder is the best tool I know for scoring stone, when you're doing masonry work.

Anything heavy on an angle grinder will wear out the bearings faster than normal, but the 3" ball bearing sounds like a very specialized thing that won't see long hours of use. And of course, if the welds break, that ball will do some smashing.

 

[TheWaterbug]

@TheWaterbug, I say this with the utmost sincerity and as a long-time woodworker: Please be super careful doing any kind of operations
involving rotating cutters, especially of the diameter being proposed here. There is a reason that there are no core box router bits much
larger than about 2" available. And those commercially available bits will be much more balanced and precise than trying to weld
a shaft onto a metal ball. I'm even reluctant to use larger diameter Forstner bits in a hand-held drill. I'm guessing that nearly all of us on this
forum have a story about "wrenched" wrists or smashed fingers smashed using large diameter hole-making saws and bits. I'm not trying to
be Chicken Little here, but please be cautious.

Thank you, sincerely, for the warning! I don't have a lot of experience doing this sort of thing, which is why I'm asking so many questions.

I think the angle grinder might be the wrong tool for this, as I really don't think I need 9,000 RPM for this. I'm really envisioning this is the finishing tool, not the bulk-removal tool.

The good news is amazon had this drill press as a Prime Day special for $159, so I ordered it. If I can get the ball mounted onto the drill press, then I'll have a lot more control over both the speed and the position, and I'll just go slowly.

I won't be able to rework that diagonal brace in place, but I can make and install a replacement. And I have other installations where this type of mounting would be desirable. Maybe I'll get the whole neighborhood interested and make a bunch of these.

 

[TheWaterbug]

I'm a "farmer welder" but I think anything that isn't stainless or cast iron is weldable with normal welding wire. Get a spare angle grinder nut, maybe drill a hole to let the shaft go all the way through, and set the ball on the nut so it self centers, then tack.

I wonder what uses 3" ball bearings?

Rail cars? Hydroelectric generators?

 

[dmcIPCAM]

Thank you, sincerely, for the warning! I don't have a lot of experience doing this sort of thing, which is why I'm asking so many questions.
The good news is amazon had this drill press as a Prime Day special for $159, so I ordered it. If I can get the ball mounted onto the drill press, then I'll have a lot more control over both the speed and the position, and I'll just go slowly.

Variable speed which is good, and the chuck will take a 1/2" shaft, but this dude is about to simulate a lawn mower blade spinning in his drill press...

 

[TheWaterbug]

Variable speed which is good, and the chuck will take a 1/2" shaft, but this dude is about to simulate a lawn mower blade spinning in his drill press...

LOL! He needs to sharpen it, first. I have an angle grinder . . . .

 

[TheWaterbug]

Now there's one for $20, with free 1-day shipping. I couldn't resist, and clicked Buy.

The sphere has arrived! If you're in need of a 3" steel sphere, this is the one to get!



I don’t know how to interpret or estimate the “G” grades for ball bearings, but this sphere is very round, very shiny, and very dense!

Also dead-on-balls accurate at 3.000” diameter. At first it said 2.995” as I passed it through my caliper, and then just as I snapped the photo it flipped over to 3.000”! Dead serious!



5 stars!

 

[TheWaterbug]

I've made some progress on burying those cables in the post, but that's not ready for photos just yet.

Ok, I finally finished this part of the project. I didn't feel like dragging an extension cord 75' out to the street, and I couldn't find an edge guide for my ancient cabled router anyway, so I bought a Ryobi cordless palm router for $77 (tool only, now $74), an edge guide for another $16, and a 1" dia. straight bit for $11, for a grand total of $104 in new toys. As I always say, if it's a tool it's not an expense, it's an investment .

It took way longer than I had planned, routing out 1/16" depth on each pass, and I routed out a couple of nails in the process as well . But all's well that ends well, and I still have all my eyeballs and fingers, and the router still works:



It's amazing how much room those connectors take up. I thought I'd have plenty of room with a ~1.25" W x ~1.25" deep channel in there, but it just barely fits, and I even had to chisel out a small piece to make one junction fit. But it does fit, and it looks reasonably tidy once the $17, 1/8" thick aluminum strip is on and painted:



If I have one regret it's the black cables from the inside camera and the illuminator. They're ugly. I also would have drilled and gone straight in on those cables, as I did with the two other cameras, instead of the fugly wraparound job I did.

But it looks pretty darn good, and if you were just driving/walking/jogging by you probably wouldn't notice that I have 4 cameras (one inside) and a ton of cabling going on.

Tomorrow I'll post updated photos of the zip-tied camera on the diagonal, and of my newly weathered fake rock.

 

[TheWaterbug]

Tomorrow I'll post updated photos of the zip-tied camera on the diagonal, and of my newly weathered fake rock.

The rock has had enough mud splashed on it that it now looks a bit less fake:



and here's a close-up of that zip-tied camera: