What did you do today? 2023

[Craig BrownParticipant @craigbrown60096]

Turned a slice of scrap 4" steel bar into the beginnings of a backplate for a new to me 6" 4 jaw chuck for my Boxford lathe

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

[Kind of] finished fitting the Tool Library for the Lathe in my lunch hour, switching to using 80mm M6 bolts with penny washers and T-Nuts (the spiky woodworking type) has mostly solved my misalignment problems

Although I could only get 30 of the required 32 T-Nuts today, and one hole needs to be widened slightly and the bolt refitted.

 

To say it was a nightmare to put up would be an understatement, but now it's done it's clearly an improvement.

 

Whilst the three brackets holding it are up to the job, definitely thinking some additional bracing wouldn't go amiss, 16 Multifix C holders is not an insubstantial amount of weight so it bounces a little currently.

Edited By Jelly on 20/03/2023 15:00:17

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Some more done to the Farm boy today.

Spent the morning setting up the rotary table with the part secured to it. The afternoon was spent with a little machining as that part did not take as long as the set up. This means that the majority of the main machining on this part is complete just some holes to do and then onto the rear part which attaches to this. Not so much setting up.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I made a couple of Abrafile links to fit the only hacksaw frame I could shorten, which could be reverted back to take a standard blade. I had to make the links, because the clip-on links that I've had for years, won't fit this frame.

The hacksaw frame was easy enough to shorten, by replacing the RHS that goes between the handle and the front section, and I just happened to have a piece the same size which was long enough to be cut to the length required, so that I could use the 8" Abrafiles I recently acquired. This piece of RHS was retrieved from a busted office chair many years ago, and is just swopped out when needed.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 22/03/2023 19:27:42

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I sneaked off for a nap…

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

Finished the backplate to fit a Sanou 100mm 3 jaw chuck to my Super 7.

The backplate was an RDG pre-machined cast iron item that is a nice fit on the lathe spindle nose. At the time I bought it, the least expenesive option was a "seconds" 5" backplate that had 24 "indexing" holes drilled incorrectly. around the outer edge Turning this down to 100mm got rid of the offending holes, at the expense of the generation of a suprisingly large amount of swarf.

Drilling the 3 mounting holes had to wait until I got the second of 3 scales for the DRO mounted on the mill, which happened yesterday. With the hole pitching function on the DRO, pilot drilling, size drilling & lightly countesinking the 3 holes was very straight forward & the chuck fit on as would be expected.

The backplate spigot to chuck fit was not as tight as I was aiming for i.e. not a "snug" fit, but no obvious play. On the lathe the chuck body was running around 0.05 TIR, but that could be "tapped in" to 0.02 before fully tightening the bolts. The remaining error appears to be that the chuck body OD is not exactly round. A piece of 12mm silver steel clamped in the chuck shows 0.05 TIR runout close to the jaws, increasing to 0.08 around 100 mm out – not in Griptru territory, but not too bad for a £40 chuck & it feels noticably tighter than the OE Myford chuck.

The Jingce DRO works OK, though it would work even better if the top horizontal segment on the X axis "10s" display hadn't first gone dim then subsequently failed altogether after about an hours running out of the box. And given that my glacial work rate in the workshop means that it was sat in its box for 3 or 4 years before I got around to fitting it, no hope of any warranty (even assuming that an Ebay purchase DRO actually came with a meaningful warranty in the first place ! ). Hopefully a dry joint, but if it is a faulty component & I can't identify a suitable replacement green 7 segement display I'll swap out the duff one for one of the higher count displays – I only have 370-ish mm travel & won't use the 1000s upwards display capability.

Nigel B

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

This morning I was enticed into considering upgrading my mill by the availability of a well priced turret mill, which would be a practical nightmare to collect (and undermine my attempts to clear some space in the workshop, but somehow still is drawing me in…

Then spent all my normal evening free time doing design calculations for an emergency job in the middle east, to keep a customers plant running, which is it's own sort of fun…

Nothing like a bit of pressure to make things exciting, I guess I will learn if they were able to build the solution before they ran out of storage capacity and had to press the big red button labeled "Lose $61,000 per minute" sometime tomorrow.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I have a Clarke CBG8W grinder that I was going to sell as I have two other grinders one being a standard bench grinder and the other a dedicated wet tool grinder for planer irons and wood chisels.

Anyway I have been looking at a polishing and buffing one so instead of buying one I have ordered a pig tail and mops to fit the CBG8W so spent the day cleaning it down and replacing the grease in the gear box I must admit it does sound a lot quieter than it did. As for the slow wheel I may use that to sharpen drill bits as it is water cooled so not much chance of it throwing particles onto the mops.

I also moved the grinding area onto a mobile base which will be easier to clean and away from all of the machinery.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Made a small ball handle lever with the intention nof it clamping the Back Gear selector shaft on a newbie's little lathe.

Howard

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

10 square headed QCTP holder bolts today for two new toolholders.

Edited By bernard towers on 23/03/2023 21:13:10

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

After a couple of days deliberating whether to or not, I finally grasped the nettle and did the finishing touches to the adjustable vice stop. It's been an accessory that I've been meaning to make for, literally, years and only just got around to making. The YouTube videos ended with it looking somewhat crude but effective, so yesterday and today I made the effort and rounded off the sliding clamp and made a couple of knurled thumbscrews. The fixture for attaching it to the rotary table took a couple of days to draw up in CAD and cut out on the router. Actual machining time was maybe a tenth of that. Isn't it always the way, though?

Here's the finished article in a mock-up situation:

John

[Andy_CParticipant @andy_c]

Not model engineering related but worthy of mention I believe. This week my epson printer XP760, a few years old and still giving good service, gave an error that the waste ink pad was full. That was it, no ability to clear and on and off merely reported the same error with touch screen locked. Having just bought inks I was a bit miffed as only recourse was to buy another printer that would inevitably use different inks. A quick google I came across octoink (no connection) who provide the instructions and new waste pads along with a utility and software key to reset the counter. Within 45 mins printer back up and running. Worthy of note.

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Almost 6months since I acquired the toolholders to do it, I finally got round to trying drilling with the carriage power feed on the lathe…

Don't know why I waited so long… It's revolutionary!

That was only aluminium, but the action is so fast and smooth, and the hole quality is clearly superior too compared to drilling with the tailstock.

I blindly trusted the feeds and speeds from Machinery's Handbook, and pilot drilled 6mm @ 3200rpm, 0.12mm/rev, then straight to 19mm @ 1200 rpm and 0.3mm/rev, both of which would have been unthinkable for me using the tailstock.

The chip evacuation was also a lot better for the drill maintaining proper chip thickness.

I now just need to get some MT2 and MT3 40mm drill sleeves to fit my holders, so as to maximise rigidity, rather than using MT4 adapters.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Why the hole quality is better comparing with drilling using the tailstock? Is it because of power feed?

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Posted by Sonic Escape on 25/03/2023 10:15:38:

Why the hole quality is better comparing with drilling using the tailstock? Is it because of power feed?

The honest answer is that I don't know why exactly, it's just a practical observation.

The reasons I think it gives better results are a combination of things:

The big one is the comparative rigidity of the setup, my tailstock has to extend out a long way to reach over the cross-slide, which allows for a lot more flex when starting the cut.

The feeding is better all round, drilling works best with a high chip-load and this needs comparatively fast feed rates… It can be hard to turn the tailstock handwheel fast enough to achieve that (especially with nonferrous metal like Alu) but my carriage handwheel will happily move that fast even by hand.

Power feed is then the icing on the cake, because it makes everything very consistent.

 

 

Edited By Jelly on 25/03/2023 14:34:50

[Phil LinghamParticipant @phillingham79132]

Finished my first project modelled in Fusion 360 and then manufactured. Bottom speed of my lathe is 70 RPM and I know I'm not the first to do so but sometimes when I'm cutting a fine thread or working up to a shoulder I turn the chuck by hand. Every time I do so I tell myself I could do with a handle to make life easier, so I thought I could borrow a handwheel from my milling machine as they are held on with a single bolt hence very simple and quick to swap.

Designing it in Fusion 360 wasn't strictly necessary but was a useful exercise.

[Phil LinghamParticipant @phillingham79132]

Posted by Jelly on 24/03/2023 23:38:00:

Almost 6months since I acquired the toolholders to do it, I finally got round to trying drilling with the carriage power feed on the lathe…

Interesting idea Jelly – I'm curious to understand how you make certain the drill bit is perfectly centred?

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Good question Phil – I was wondering that too. There are various ways but the best is not only accurate but also quick and repeatable.

I like that spindle handwheel, neatly sharing the handle itself with its home machine.

As you say that is by no means a new idea and Myford will even sell you one for their lathes. That though, like most of the published designs, uses an expanding, split sleeve rather like those used on the screw-fixings for securing heavy items to masonry.

Yours differs significantly: Is the diagonal line actually the sliding surface between two wedges?

[Phil LinghamParticipant @phillingham79132]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 26/03/2023 12:46:40:

Good question Phil – I was wondering that too. There are various ways but the best is not only accurate but also quick and repeatable.

I like that spindle handwheel, neatly sharing the handle itself with its home machine.

As you say that is by no means a new idea and Myford will even sell you one for their lathes. That though, like most of the published designs, uses an expanding, split sleeve rather like those used on the screw-fixings for securing heavy items to masonry.

Yours differs significantly: Is the diagonal line actually the sliding surface between two wedges?

Exactly that Nigel – just like an old fashioned bicycle handlebar stem!

[JellyParticipant @jelly]

Posted by Phil Lingham on 26/03/2023 11:55:46:

Posted by Jelly on 24/03/2023 23:38:00:

Almost 6months since I acquired the toolholders to do it, I finally got round to trying drilling with the carriage power feed on the lathe…

Interesting idea Jelly – I'm curious to understand how you make certain the drill bit is perfectly centred?

Used a DTI in the chuck to indicate the MT4 taper of the toolholder in concentric to the spindle's axis of rotation, setting the toolholder height adjuster and the tool X offset on the DRO; massive faff but it only needs to be done once and that's it set for good.

So with that one off awkward setup in place I can now:

• drop the holder onto my toolpost with a drill seated in the taper,
• lock the clamping lever,
• move to X 0.000,
• lock the cross feed and
• start drilling,

all in a matter of seconds.

Edited By Jelly on 26/03/2023 18:20:14

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

..feared for my Tomentosum..

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 07:42:25:

..feared for my Tomentosum..

Could be Sunday roast.

regards

[Roger ClarkParticipant @rogerclark]

Posted by Oldiron on 27/03/2023 10:32:22:

Posted by DiogenesII on 27/03/2023 07:42:25:

..feared for my Tomentosum..

Could be Sunday roast.

regards

Oh deer!

I'm going now

[John ATTLEEParticipant @johnattlee20632]

I also think that Jelly's idea is a great one and solves a problem for me. On my Denham lathe, the travel on the tailstock is only about 1.25 inches for some reason. This means that I often have to take several bites to make a deep hole and I have suffered from poor productivity so far as drilling is concerned. I frequently have to drill more than 1" dia.

Also where I have a large dia workpiece, sometimes that carriage will not clear the chuck jaws and thus I cannot get it out of the way. The DRO reader does not help. Thus the tailstock is not close enough to the work piece. I do have a 3 MT extension but it is obviously not a desirable set-up.

I don't use QCTPs but I have indexable tool holders mounted in square blocks so the tool height is always correct. The block is secured by a single 5/8 stud and there are four tapped holes on the top of the compound slide.

I think that I would go for a square block bored out to 3 MT to hold the drill and with a male 3 MT end. Obviously it would be made by holding the tool with the male 3 MT mounted in the chuck and the female 3 MT bored and reamed. I would provide some means of extracting / ejecting the drill. The height will always be correct.

To set up, I would plug the male 3MT into the tailstock and then clamp the block (by two studs) to the top of the compound slide on the carriage. Zero the X axis on the DRO and I would be good to go.

I cant wait to do it!

John

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Only had a little amount of time in the workshop but did manage to get the joint done.

With the cutter I used I needed to machine 1" from the centre line but when I offered up the front section as I was machining it slipped on at 1.0021 which I am happy with.

Screws which need to join them together will be done once the two parts are complete they are also aided with some JB Weld

Test fitted

Now to start machining the outsides down to size which have two protrusions on one side and one on the other.

Edited By Dalboy on 27/03/2023 18:48:54

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