Lathe Twiddling
May 27th, 2009Shoulder!
Today I twiddled around with the lathe. I gave up on trying to part the fat aluminum cylinders I bought. I had a half-inch steel dowel from Home Depot, so I cut off a piece and stuck it in the chuck and fooled with it.
I assume Moly-Dee is not an ideal cutting fluid for steel. It seemed to lubricate and nearly prevent cutting. I have something on the way which is supposed to be more appropriate.
The carbide indexable tools are working fine. I cut a little off the end of the dowel and made a shoulder. That was about all I had time to do.
Now what do I do with an eight-inch dowel with a shoulder?
May 28th, 2009 at 1:38 AM
Buy Guy Latord’s Machinist’s Bedside Reader #1 and make some of the tools he discusses. The grasping groove cutter is a nice project and will teach to make your own milling cutters and harden them. The tiny tap wrench is a nice lathe project, and when your mill arrives you can make the finger plate. For the cutter you will want tool steel, of course.
Use a sulphurized black cutting oil for steel. Rigid threading oil will work.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:35 AM
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Now what do I do with an eight-inch dowel with a shoulder?
[/quote]
Thread the turned-down end. 🙂
May 28th, 2009 at 9:43 AM
How about a picture of the results? The surface finish will give you a good idea of if you are doing it right, should be smooth.
An eight-inch dowel with a shoulder sounds like a handle to me, you just need to make something for the end of it.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:30 PM
3 in 1 oil
used to supervise at a marine machine shop, bought it by the case.