Member postings for Gareth Johnston

another staters page featuring Elmers engines.

Thanks for that another great helpful link. Regards Gareth.

If you have the right sort of screw cutting indicator many metric threads can be cut using the it directly in much the same way as imperial threads. I assumed that your Vicroy would have one and that it's likely to be similar to a Boxford one. That works this way

Lathe parts can make this type of indicator or people could have a go at making one themselves. An M3 acme tap could be used to finish of the gears providing they aren't too thick for the size of tap used. It's best to cut slots at more or less the correct pitch first by hand. If the equipment is available it's simpler to just cut a gashed gear - straight teeth at an angle to suit the angle of the thread.

Must admit I have stuck to imperial because of the pain metric threads cause in this respect. The catch with indicators like this is the time it can take for the correct index marks to come round on some pitches.

The screw cutting nut can always be disengaged if the method I outlined is used. It helps when working up to a shoulder.

John

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ThThanks John , I have seen that system before on a imperial Boxford lathe , very handy also at that but unsure weather id bother with it on the viceroy. Thanks Gareth.

There are some simple things that are better made than bought such as centre punches and drifts for knocking dowels out of things. Many items like that are made of air hardening steels these days and don't really measure up to the old way - hardened and tempered steels. Silver steel is suitable and easy to get. For slotted screws a hollow ground blade increases the grip by an extra ordinary amount. The rad of a 6in or 8in grinding wheel is about right for the hollow grinding.

A lathe type centre finder is can be useful for face plate work also 4 jaw at times. Pictures can be found on the web but they benefit from having stiff spring loading built in as well. Around 12in long over all is a decent length for one with say a 4in section with the female centre hole to hold the spring.

If you envisage fitting your own chucks a very precise dummy spindle nose is very useful. If the Viceroy is the same as the Boxford you need to cut the flanks of the thread correctly to size but omit the rounded end - normal way of screw cutting on a lathe. This means that the OD is undersized which help get the register correct in cases where the lathe doesn't have a different diameter register. A very short section of the register can be turned under size - say by 0.010in to help use it as a plug gauge when making back plates. The threads in the back plate are best cut entirely with a chaser. They crop up on Ebay regularly. Not sure how you will get on doing this on a metric lathe as the spindle might still be imperial. In that case you will probably have to reverse the lathe at the end of each cut. Best way to do that is often described on the web when metric threads are cut on an imperial lathe. It uses a screw cutting indicator in a particular way. Disengage, turn off, reverse and re engage when the indicator is where it was when disengaged.

You might find that College engineering produce a casting suitable for a Boxford/Viceroy face plate. They did do an excellent rotary table kit but unfortunately it was slimmed down to suit the gap in a Myford bed. Still better than most but not sure if they do it any more.

If I want a keyway in a bore I use a slotting attachment. They do the casting for these as well but as it's for a Myford tt needs packing up to the centre height.

Lots an lots of things can be made but some of the more ambitious ones such as a dividing head do need a T slotted cross slide. This chap can help with that if the machine lacks one

http://www.latheparts.co.uk/

He's always busy and can be hard to get hold of.

John

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Thanks for your info john , you are correct about what you say about the metric lathe I do have to reverse when on the end of the cut. Cheers Gareth

Gareth,

It might help a little if you told us which lathe you have purchased.

There is a reason for that.

I used to have a lot of people coming around to my shop wanting to know what to make first, and I always told them to see what was missing on the lathe that you would like on it, not big projects, but small things that get you niggled sometimes because it doesn't have one.

Say you have a mini lathe, then looking at Steve Bedair's site (sadly Steve passed away very recently after a bad bout of the big C),

**LINK**

look what you can easily make for it. There are lots of sites out there for all types of lathes, and most will show little mods that can be done to make them just a little better or easier to use.

This will go on throughout the lathes' life (I am still modding mine after many years), but it will teach you more about your lathe than making a small steam engine ever will.

Don't get me wrong, eventually you will make your little project, but get the lathe to how you want it first, it WILL make your machining a lot easier.

John

Most soluble cutting oils have a biocide in them to keep the bugs at bay and they also have rust inhibitors.

I tend to use what I think is appropriate for each job, like making some 5BA studs, that just need a drop of oil on it to lubricate the die. I do not use a pot and brush as I find it is wasteful so now have some little plastic pots which I keep the cutting fluid in as it is far easier to apply small amounts.

Bob