Member postings for John Reese

Please do not judge the rest of Americans by what the Californians do. I worked for a while foe a company that manufactures jack for hydraulic lifts. In California the grinding swarf was classed as hazardous material and had to be sent to a company licensed to process Hazmat at a substantial fee. The swarf generated at the Indiana plant was SOLD to a re-processor. I don't know if they reclaimed the abrasive, the steel, or both.

Stefan Gotteswinter replaced the top slide on his lathe with a solid block. He made a video of it.

Stefan Gotteswinter machined the pilot in the back of the chuck slightly oversized allowing for a bit of lateral float. He could tap the chuck body to bring the work into perfect concentricity.

I think the HSS will serve you best. To get the most out of carbide inserts on a mini lathe get those specifically designed for aluminum.

I really like the tangential tools like those from Eccentric Engineering. I don't know if they make a holder small enough for a mini lathe.

Little Machine Shop has excellent reference material like speeds and feeds, angles for grinding HSS tools and a bunvh of other good stuff.

**LINK**

Good US made vises made in the US also command high prices. Most of the bench vises sold in the US are Chicom junk. A good used Wilton, Reed or Parker vise can bring up to $250, maybe more in the larger sizes. Except for Wilton I don't think there was a quality vise maybe 50 years. The top quality Wilton vises are prohibitively expensive.

In the US air entrained concrete is used for resistance to freezing and thawing. The air content would be between 3 and 7 percent by volume.

Using an admixture not specifically intended for use in concrete means the contractor assumes full liability for the performance of the concrete. Using admixtures specifically designed for use in concrete and in the specified amount will shift liability to the concrete supplier and/or the vendor of the admixture.

Rebar corrosion is primarily related to chloride. Sal migration into the concrete is the primary cause of rebar corrosion in the US. Epoxy coated rebar is required for road and bridge construction, at least in Illinois and Iowa. We use a tremendous amount of salt on the roads in winter.

I strongly suggest that you use HSS tools instead of carbide insert tooling. If you don't want to learn to grind HSS I recommend a tangential tool holder similar to what Eccentric Engineering sells. If you insist on using carbide get inserts made specifically made for aluminum. The object is to minimize the pressure the tool exerts on the work in order to minimize deflection of the work.

It becomes more difficult to track down alignment issues when your test pieces are deflected due to tool pressure.

I had problems with R8 tooling that would not go into the spindle. They had been bumped on the end that raised a small burr. Once I had stoned off the burr they went in just fine.

It s a crankshaft strain gauge. Here is the Starrett equivalent.

**LINK**

Edited By John Reese on 07/06/2021 02:10:40

Bison is another brand of very good chucks. If you replace the chuck you might consider one with two piece jaws. That allows the use of soft jaws that you can bore to fit your work ensuring concentricity.

The split drill drivers when combined with a taper length drill has the same dimensions as a taper shank drill. They were often used with an automotive shank holder in transfer lines for machining motor blocks, heads, etc. Split drivers are also made for reamers and taps.

**LINK**

These sockets allowed for adjustment to compensate for resharpening drills. The machine spindle had a cylindrical bore with a keyway. There was a grub screw to engage the whistle notch on the holder. A dull tool could be swapped for a sharp one very quickly. The tool and holder were preset to the correct length before being put in the machine.  drills and reamers were always run in guide bushings on the transfer machines.

Edited By John Reese on 07/06/2021 01:50:33

There is absolutely no need t purchase a test bar. They come from China or India and are of unknown accuracy. The way you turned the test bar in the chuck is the right way to do it.

I feel your pain getting the lathe level. It involves a lot of deep knee bends. If you ever need to re-level the machine find a helper to turn the leveling screws while you read the level.

Pete Rimmer and Hopper are right on the mark. I suggest making the test cuts with sharp HSS to minimize part deflection due to tool pressure. For aligning the headstock to the bed suggest you look for jacking bolts on the headstock. My Clausing Metosa had jacking bolts on the outboard side of the heastock. My Nardini has the jack bolts directly below the chuck.

When turning between centers vertical misalignment of the tailstock will result in a part that is fat in the middle.

I doubt that it makes much difference which slot the no. 1 jaw goes in. Just make sure that the jaws are in the right order and that engage the scroll properly. As to the order of tightening the pinions I suggest you find out which pinion gives the best concentricity and always use that pinion when tightening. My 6" Buck and 8" PBA have only one pinion. I don't bother with which pinion to tighten!

Precision regulators are available on the bay for reasonable prices.

Bernard Towers has the right idea. Increase the diameter of the belting so it rides on the sides of the V and does not touch the radius at the bottom of the groove. That will give plenty off traction.

+1 on Jason B's method.

I have a 5" sine bar, a 5" sine plate, and a 3" an 2.5" sine bars plus a compound angle magnetic chuck with 5" roll distance. While I do have gauge blocks (slips) I often use an adjustable parallel or a shaper gauge to set the height instead of using the gauge blocks. The 2.5" bar has an integral base. Once the angle is set the bar can be locked to the base to maintain the angle. The integral base incorporates a magnetic V. It works great on the lathe for setting the compound to exact tapers.

I think John Paton nailed it.