The Master Machinist Shows You How
May 19th, 2009Victory
Man, this is incredible. I finally have a lathe!
I just did the finishing touches on the base for the quick change tool post. Now I have something to mount my tools on, and I guess I can throw my useless rocker post in the trash. Look:
The part I fixed is under the base, in the T-slot. I had to make cut after cut today, to get it in there. Finally, I had to finish it off with a file. I could have used the lathe, but it’s so hard to mount parts in the compound, the file was actually easier. And incredibly, it’s more accurate. I believe the part may have bowed a little when I torqued down the bolt that held it in place. On top of that, sometimes when I re-mounted the part, I didn’t get the exact height I wanted. So the part had some cuts that were essentially perfect, and some that were flawed enough to make it fit badly.
Believe it or not, it looks fantastic now. The file took out the little swirly marks the cutter left, and it flattened the imperfect surfaces.
What a relief this is. I was not able to use the lathe without a tool post. As of fifteen minutes ago, I have a machine tool that actually functions!
The base fits in the slot very tightly. There isn’t any friction to speak of when you shove it in, but if it were ten thousandths bigger, it wouldn’t go in. And if you turn it 180 degrees, forget it. It only fits one way.
Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t want it wobbling around in there. And I can claim I made it tight on purpose.
If there had been any way to finish it on the lathe, I would have done it, believe me. But the file gave a better result, so I might as well pretend I planned it this way.
I love machining. It is easily the coolest thing I have ever done with tools.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:01 PM
I see you have your compound set to just about zero.
If you ever intend to do any threading, you might want to consider setting the compound head to 30 degrees (60 included angle). What this does for you is allows you to feed into a thread pass after pass with no appreciable difference in the initial cut. Smooth threads. The toolpost should be indicated square to the spindle. 99% of the lathe work I do, I do with the compound at 30 degrees.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Oh, and nice work. very nice work. Now you need to go to blindhogg’s place and learn to blue stuff so you can refinish the freshly machined surfaces. And any other steel stuff you have laying around the house.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
I think I lined it up so I could bring it way back and get the part where I needed it to be without running out of carriage travel. Something like that. I forget.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:44 PM
I’m shipping you the heads from an old Camaro 327 motor along with the crankshaft as your first commercial project.
Wait…you need a mill for the heads so keep on working…
May 19th, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Lookin’ good, Steve.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:00 PM
“And I can claim I made it tight on purpose”
You really should have been an engineer, Steve.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:33 AM
You don’t have to apologize for using hand tools. Sometimes it makes more sense to use a pen than a word processor.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Yes, very cool!
May 20th, 2009 at 8:20 PM
Kudos!
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Any projects for the 6xxx-T6?