Member postings for larry phelan 1

Regarding the difficulty of marking the holes for bolting down,Chester gave the spacing for the holes,so I simply cut a piece if plywood the full size of the lathe footprint,marked out the holes then screwed the ply to the floor while drilling the bolt holes. Worked very well,no bother finding the holes through the pedestal base.

That should read "I spent about three days on and off"",now,a few minuets serves to touch them up,and they cut with a clean hiss.

Old Age,failing eyes= bad spelling !

Many moons ago,I bought a Martex Drill Sharpening kit and despite my best efforts,could not get it to work. Tried it every way,was kind to it,cursed it,still no use,so, dumped it on the back shelf.

Time passed,blunt drills built up in huge numbers and my skill with the bench grinder was sadly lacking. I was losing the battle. While looking for something else,I came across the Martex once again. Set it up,read the instructions again,seemed clear enough,so gave it a try. Result ?a drill as good as new ! How come ? No idea,but to be sure I tried another one. Again Success !!!!. No idea what I did wrong first time around,but I now have a box of sharp drills from 3mm to 12mm. My skill with the grinder has improved somewhat,so if the drill is chipped or angle is wrong,I correct that as best I can,then check it with the Martex,which will show where it need to be reground [The Martex sharpens drills,it does not grind them to shape ] Between both machines,I get good results.

The Martex was not cheap at the time but neither are good drills,8mm upwards. I spend about three days,on and off,on the job and regard it as time well spent

Regarding those jigs which are supposed to work with a bench grinder,do you know anyone who has got any of them to work? I dont.

Dont talk to me about "V" or "O",one is worse than the other. The fact is they dont care a fig about their customers,any more than Banks do,just pay up and shut up.

It,s a case of "We have your money,now UP YOU !".

Hi Adrian R,

I have a Craftsman lathe,somewhat similar to your machine. My lathe sits on two pedestals ,which I bolted to the floor after fixing them to the machine.Found no need to bother with shims. At one high speed,which I seldom use,I detected a slight vibration,so I fixed a strut from the back of the headstock to the back wall,problem solved !

Since my lathe is belt driven,I had no need to worry about oil leaks.

Even without bolting down,I doubt if it would topple over

Would have to agree with many others that for a "one -off" it would be quicker to use a hacksaw and a file.

As others pointed out it takes far longer to set up for a job than it takes to do it [my experience,anyway. ]

If you want to cut gears,you will need a rotary table,but no need to have it motor driven. Great help available on this site regarding this subject. How do I know ? Ask me ! Thank you Brian !!

My advice,for what it,s worth : buy a few hand tools and get used to them first before getting involved with machines. Remember MACHINES NEVER SLEEP !!.And they dont come cheap either.

Better to look "silly"than to be silly.Some timbers can be unforgiving,as I know only too well.

All shops can be dangerous,just have to use common sense [What,s that ,I hear you say ? ],yes indeed.

It,s a rear gift,given to few,but needed by many. You might manage your shop minus a finger or two,but without your eyes ???????. That,s a No No !

I have had a few disputes with my saws,routers,even my spindle moulder and have the proof but nothing too serious,although few of my fingers are quite the same shape they use to be [makes my hands look "interesting",as a Doctor once said to me ]

So have fun but Do take care. They dont give out medals in our line.

Since there is no grub screw or no roll pin,it has to be a key [this would also account for the sudden death ]

Sad to say,looks like the shaft will have to come out,but then,it has had a good innings !

Do let us know what you find.

Same with our library here,great service great staff,great help for us old sods who can,t work these printers,copiers,ect. Just ask them nicely and the do the rest.

Might explain why some of us have breathing problems now !! Workshop conditions in those far off "happy" days were far from ideal. H&S ? Who are they ?

Might sound like a stupid question,but for turning jobs I assume it would be work for the four jaw chuck ?

I doubt if the three jaw chuck would like it. Would this be correct ?

I bought one of those chucks,thinking it would be good for milling. Big mistake ! No way will they hold a workpiece firm enough,might be OK for grinding,dont know about that. I think a good vice or good clamps might be a better idea. Failing that,stay well out of the line of fire !!.

How the Hell do you manage to work in a shop that small ?????? I salute you ! My place is 40X20 feet and I still fall over stuff !

Screwcutting is one of the jobs I really like doing,and although I am no expert [far from it ! ],I get fairly good results and great satisfaction from it.

May I suggest that you pick up a copy of Sparey,s book,where you will find ALL the info you need,explained in very simple terms [even I could understand it ! ] Everything is explained and he mentions that even at that time,leaving the half nuts engaged for all threads was becoming common in industry. I never use the thread dial for any threads.

I have cut threads up to 2 1/4 " 8 tpi without any trouble,left and right hand. Sounds like you are missing your start point each time,also,no need to invert the tool,works OK right way up. Tool was nothing more than HSS,ground by eye to form.

Give it a try,it will come to you.

Yes,that,s what I would try,and before someone shoots me down,let me say that I tend to use a smart tap with my lump hammer,since I dont have a lead hammer.I find it,s better than fooling around with a too light hammer.

Something I came across last week in Lidl might be of interest to other members with millings machines.

I have a LUX mill,on a stand,which brings the top of the spindle quite difficult to reach for changing drawbars.

Tried standing on a beer crate,not very steady,not high enough,not safe. Came across a small fold up set of steps,well made light to handle rock steady,and all for 16 Euro !

Down side is that if SWMBO see,s them they,re gone !!

Might be worth looking at.

Two points re the above,

! Carl, I never heard of that make !!!

2 Nicholas, Very few people can wear shorts successfully,and many who do should think twice about it.

There is a time and a place and more to the point an age. [to say nothing about a shape ]

Just a thought along those lines ;

It has come to light that criminals are using drones to check out properties in rural areas around here,looking for trailers,ride-on mowers,quads ect,which are not always on view from the road.

If we have them,I,m sure you have too,Just be careful to lock up your gear.

Dave [S-O-D ]

I saw that hint about the timber cover for the lathe bed in Sparey,s book many moons ago,and it was the first thing I made for the lathe. It,s a lot cheaper than trying to repair a damaged bed if a chuck slips at the wrong moment.

As an aside,I often wondered about those tangs too,I thought at one time that they were there to provide the drive.

And yes,some MT centers are shorter than others and can get stuck in the tailstock.

How do I know???? ASK ME !!

I made a simple clamp type unit for my lathe [not very pretty,but it works ] As I remember,I bought the wheels from Chronos and have never had any trouble with them. For the amount of knurling we need to do,I think such wheels are good enough and are cheap enough to replace. Different story if you are knurling every day,but who is ?

I have a Craftsman lathe and sad to say,it has only one slot at the back of the cross slide. I suspect this is intended for mounting a back tool post,thats what I use it for anyway. When they said it had a slotted cross slide,I assumed that meant several slots for mounting other fittings. This is not the case, so I,m not sure it could be used for milling.