Member postings for larry phelan 1

Like many others I have had "problems" when parting off,still have,but I dont think I would go for that approach !

Sometimes it works for me ,first time. Next time,no way ! The Gods are fickle [as we all know ]

If I think it,s going to be" one of those days ",I just take it out and cut it off in the band saw. I doubt if I will live long enough to to really master the art,but I keep trying !

One thing I like about this Forum,is that you never know what you,re going to see,or learn .

Keep them coming.

I had to do something similar with my Craftsman lathe in order to cut 1.75 [12mm] and 3.5 [30mm ]. As far as I remember,I set up for some speed but used a different setting of the levers on the gear box.

Sounds iffy,I know,but I made a note of what I did,for the next time around.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder !!!

For holes that size,I chain drill and then clean up as much of the points left using a file. This makes it much easier on whatever cutter you use next. Would not like to try a hole that size using a boring head,sounds like a job for the lathe.

Not sure if this is the right place,but here go,s anyway.

Some of you may remember that I asked for advice on gear cutting. The response was all I could have hoped for,and I thank everyone for their time and interest.Since then,I have made my first attempt at the subject and thought that you might be interested to know the results.

First off,I used a piece of Ali,which was to hand 63x20. This was big enough to give me a 38 t gear [1.5 mod ]. Cut it out with hacksaw/angle grinder,drilled it 12mm and mounted it on an arbor nothing fancy !then turned it to size and set it up on the mill.

Set the cutter to just brush the blank,then moved the spindle to one side while I set the dept of cut using my dial gauge. I had already been around the course to make sure that the setup was right,so I was happy enough to begin cutting. To my surprise,it went very well,no real problems,although I did feel that not all the teeth were cutting.I seem to remember that someone else remarked on this some time ago. This may be due to the cutter bore being slightly off center or the holder not being quite true.I will get a better holder for next time.

The cutting went very well and I was quite satisfied with the result [for a first effort,anyway ] Since I did not need a gear of any particular size,this was just an exercise,part of the learning curve.Since I had enough scrap Ali left over,I made a smaller gear 20t just to try it..Both worked out well,just trying to work out how to cut a slot for a key [drill and file ? ]

While looking at the range of teeth the cutters can deal with,I wondered that No1 can cut 135 to a rack ! Can you cut a rack with a mill,or am I reading this wrong ? dont really how you could move the workpiece. Perhaps not.

Again,my thanks to everyone,not forgetting Brian for the help and advice.

It has been a most satisfying experience.

,

Looks like Joe Stalin,or perhaps his younger brother !

Like many others,I tend to leave the tailstock alone[too much messing to get it right again ],so now I use a boring head when cutting tapers. I use something with the taper I require in order to set the boring head,unless it,s an odd ball taper,then it just has to be worked out. The good news is that does not happen very often.

I agree with other Members,let sleeping dogs lie ! They are seldom in good humour when you disturb them,your spindle might be the same !! Why risk it ? Clean it where it is,the belt should soon clean up what,s left.

Never tempt the Gods !! How do I know ? Ask me ! Been there,done that,more than once !

I think I,ll pass on this one.

If you have access to oxy/propane you might be better off to consider brazing,for the cost,if nothing else.

Have you any idea how much silver solder rods cost? dont even ask ! Chronos used to sell them,many moons ago,but they dropped them,due to cost,I believe. I still have a few,but am very careful about wasting them.

Did not Sparey mention something along these lines on page 88 of his book,when talking about drilling large dia holes in the lathe ?. He refered to them as "Flat drills" which never jam. Might be worth trying.

Dont think I,d be too upset about that amount of run out !

But then,I suppose it,s a case of "Horses for course ". My errors tend to be a bit bigger than that !

I,d say,live with it.

Sparey gives a useful formula for calculating turning speeds for different materials------cutting speed divided by 1/4 of work dia= rpm.

For mild steel,cutting speed is about 80 feet per min

For brass,it,s about 200 ft per min.

So,it,s easy enough to pick the right speed,taking into account the dia of your workpiece. He also makes the point that you might find yourself using back gear more often than you think. I found this to be the case,much to my surprise. Cutting speeds for all materials are available.

Hope this helps somewhat.

/

I thought that was the way most guys made their draw bars ?

Not exactly rocket science.

Iain,

You have only yourself to blame ! Everyone knows that you should NEVER-NEVER start two jobs on the same day,more so if the first one has given you grief. That is called tempting the Gods !

Having said that,I never thought belts were that dear. The ones on my lathe are starting to show signs of old age,fraying at the edges [like myself ].Might be a question of which wears out first !

Strange the way they keep changing the sizes of machine parts,for no good reason. Came across that before,many times,it,s a P-I-T-A.

Hi Jon,

Looks like you have plenty of help,right on your doorstep ! Lucky you,not like these parts,where they ask you "What is a lathe"?

Make the most of it and good luck with the rebuild.

When I had to move house some years ago,my machinery was in storage,in a cold garage for two years. I simply coated everything in whatever grease I could find,together with sheets of anti-rust paper,which I think I got from Chronos,at the time. Much to my surprise,there was very little rust to be seen when I went to collect.

I,m not sure if Chronos still sell that paper,because I have not seen it listed recently,but someone else must sell it. I find it great for use in storage drawers and boxes.

Perhaps it might be time for me to look at the rise and fall on my drilling machine [bought 1983,never touched since ]

also my mill !![ later vintage ]. I would hate to find something like that .

What,s that old saying about "A stitch in time-----------------"?

Hi Bazyle,

Just thinking about your idea of using plastic. What type of plastic should I be looking for? As you say,it might be kinder to my cutters than steel. For some reason steel was my first thought.

I made two rear toolposts for my Craftsman lathe using nothing more than offcuts of BMS which were kicking around,nothing fancy,one was made from a piece of two inch box tubing,and I use it all the time.

I just cut the pieces to size and welded them up,drilled and tapped for Allen screws,and used a piece of 12mm threaded rod to clamp it to the cross slide.Bit iffy,like much of my stuff,but it works,and if you paint it to match the machine,who knows ?

I made another tool post for use from the front,this one rotates and locates,like the "proper" one. Reason was that I had tools set up in the proper post and did not want to upset them,but need to use other tools as well for the job.

Was not too difficult to make,cut out the location slots on the mill.,Works fine.