Member postings for John Reese

Machine a piece of stock to 2mm thick. Tap a 2mm hole. Insert the screw with the head flush with the plate. Use a Dremel or a file on the back side of the stock to remove excess length.

You might consider a new chuck. Finding jaws for a 40+ year old chuck would be a challenge. If you do purchase aa new chuck consider one with 2 piece jaws. The top jaws are reversible so they will always be on the chuck. It also allows the use of soft top jaws for special jobs.

Good luck.

Carbide inserts for steel usually have a negative rake hone on the edges. It does not perform well at low speed or for light cuts. If one must use inserts buy those intended for aluminum. They have a positive rake and polished surface. It is unfortunate that so many opt for carbide right from the beginning. HSS is more versatile in that the cutting angles can be optimized for the job at hand. Is it a matter of being afraid to mess up grinding a tool? Are they to lazy to learn about tool angles?

I started using HSS on my 10K South Bend then switched to carbide inserts. Now I am using HSS in tangential holders for much of my turning. On the larger lathe with 6 hp. I use mostly carbides.

I would suggest making a new screw. The threads on either side of the stretched area will be out of phase. I hope you find a cause other than a stretched screw. I have owned quite a few vises over the years and I abused them. I never stretched a screw. I think it would be near impossible to stretch the screw without putting a cheater on the handle and that would likely bend the handle before the screw stretched.

Lesson to be learned: do not lend your tools.

If I were buying a lathe I would avoid any with a built-in variable speed. At some point the Chinese maker will terminate support for the lathe and parts will become unavailable. Unlike lathes with step pulleys and back gears the available torque does not increase at lower speeds.

I prefer a machine with a standard electric motor that can be sourced anywhere. I favor V ways over flat ways. Even with considerable wear in the V ways it is still possible to hold size. On flat ways the wear is concentrated in a small area near the headstock, If the gibs are adjusted for the un-worn part of the bed there will be slack at the worn end therefore it is impossible to hold size.

I have owned South Bend lathes since the 60s. They have V ways, a standard motor, step pulley drive, and back gears. I believe Boxford is a near clone of the South Bend so I would recommend it. Colchester made great lathes but I am not familiar with the smaller sizes. Emco made some great lathes. Stefan Gotteswinter uses one.

I am not opposed to a Reeves type variable speed for lathes although repair parts are pricey.

I have one similar to the first one shown. It was made by Brown & Sharpe. It does not have the fine adjustment screw. Most of the time it just sits quietly in its box.

I have a metric set of ER32 collets. I also purchased a few inch sized collets. My tooling is almost entirely inch size. With 1/2" and 3/8" the metric collet when hand tightened will not hold these inch sizes tight enough to keep them from sliding out of the collet. That meant 3 hands were needed to chuck these sizes: one on the spindle brake, one on the collet wrench, and one to hold the end mill.

If backlash is the problem the effects will be exacerbated if the cutting tools are not perfectly sharp. If using insert tools you need a tool designed for aluminum, a perfectly sharp edge and a polished top. If using HSS be sure the tool is honed to a perfectly sharp edge. If an end mill is used for steel it will probably perform poorly in brass. Some machinists keep tools for brass separate from their other cutting tools.

NDIY, I have been trying to find a suitable name for those thin skinned people who can't handle criticism. I have considered names like snow flake, candy ass, etc. I finally settled on emotional weakling, abbreviated EW and pronounced EEWWW.

If you want to find harsh critics go to Practical Machinist forum. Sometimes they attack like a school of piranha.

The CO2 used in welding or for carbonating your beer is extracted from the air so from that standpoint it is neutral. The energy requires to extract CO2 from the air is not carbon neutral.

As others have said the welding characteristics of the argon blend are much better than straight CO2.

Purchase an extension Morse taper socket. Mount it between centers and turn the male taper to a suitable diameter.

For use in a hand held drill motor sme runout is tolerable so it is preferable to purchase a used extensin scket and modify it.

I have a South Bend 10K, under drive with cabinet. I just put a 4" stem caster on each corner. There were tabs sticking out from the front and back of the cabinet that made it easy. The extra height saves wear and tear on my back.

I have a small garden tool like a 4 pronged claw for dragging masses of long tangeled chips out of the chip pan. I use a margin trowel with a rectangular blade about 2 1/2" x 4" to scrape the fine chips into a dustpan. I haven't considered using old paint brushes for swarf. Either they are too good for that use or were improperly cleaned and are a near solid block of hardened paint.

I buy cheap Chinese brushes at the paint department of a DIY store. The bristles of most paint brushes are too long to move swarf effectively so I give my brushes a haircut.

A normal pipe cutter will roll the cut edges inward. In many cases that would ruin the pipe for its intended use.

I have a Cole drill. Anyone who wants to experiment with it is welcome to come to Illinois and try it out.

A Desmond dresser works well. It has star wheels that work against the wheel. Try flea bay.

Gotteswinter used a special epoxy compound for his tramming that is not available to us common folks.

A Carbarundum dressing stick works. Cheap.