What did you do today? 2023

This morning I was enticed into considering upgrading my mill by the availability of a well priced turret mill, which would be a practical nightmare to collect (and undermine my attempts to clear some space in the workshop, but somehow still is drawing me in...

Then spent all my normal evening free time doing design calculations for an emergency job in the middle east, to keep a customers plant running, which is it's own sort of fun...

Nothing like a bit of pressure to make things exciting, I guess I will learn if they were able to build the solution before they ran out of storage capacity and had to press the big red button labeled "Lose $61,000 per minute" sometime tomorrow.

I have a Clarke CBG8W grinder that I was going to sell as I have two other grinders one being a standard bench grinder and the other a dedicated wet tool grinder for planer irons and wood chisels.

Anyway I have been looking at a polishing and buffing one so instead of buying one I have ordered a pig tail and mops to fit the CBG8W so spent the day cleaning it down and replacing the grease in the gear box I must admit it does sound a lot quieter than it did. As for the slow wheel I may use that to sharpen drill bits as it is water cooled so not much chance of it throwing particles onto the mops.

I also moved the grinding area onto a mobile base which will be easier to clean and away from all of the machinery.

Made a small ball handle lever with the intention nof it clamping the Back Gear selector shaft on a newbie's little lathe.

Howard

10 square headed QCTP holder bolts today for two new toolholders.

Edited By bernard towers on 23/03/2023 21:13:10

After a couple of days deliberating whether to or not, I finally grasped the nettle and did the finishing touches to the adjustable vice stop. It's been an accessory that I've been meaning to make for, literally, years and only just got around to making. The YouTube videos ended with it looking somewhat crude but effective, so yesterday and today I made the effort and rounded off the sliding clamp and made a couple of knurled thumbscrews. The fixture for attaching it to the rotary table took a couple of days to draw up in CAD and cut out on the router. Actual machining time was maybe a tenth of that. Isn't it always the way, though?

Here's the finished article in a mock-up situation:

John

Not model engineering related but worthy of mention I believe. This week my epson printer XP760, a few years old and still giving good service, gave an error that the waste ink pad was full. That was it, no ability to clear and on and off merely reported the same error with touch screen locked. Having just bought inks I was a bit miffed as only recourse was to buy another printer that would inevitably use different inks. A quick google I came across octoink (no connection) who provide the instructions and new waste pads along with a utility and software key to reset the counter. Within 45 mins printer back up and running. Worthy of note.

Almost 6months since I acquired the toolholders to do it, I finally got round to trying drilling with the carriage power feed on the lathe...

Don't know why I waited so long... It's revolutionary!

That was only aluminium, but the action is so fast and smooth, and the hole quality is clearly superior too compared to drilling with the tailstock.

I blindly trusted the feeds and speeds from Machinery's Handbook, and pilot drilled 6mm @ 3200rpm, 0.12mm/rev, then straight to 19mm @ 1200 rpm and 0.3mm/rev, both of which would have been unthinkable for me using the tailstock.

The chip evacuation was also a lot better for the drill maintaining proper chip thickness.

I now just need to get some MT2 and MT3 40mm drill sleeves to fit my holders, so as to maximise rigidity, rather than using MT4 adapters.

Why the hole quality is better comparing with drilling using the tailstock? Is it because of power feed?

The honest answer is that I don't know why exactly, it's just a practical observation.

The reasons I think it gives better results are a combination of things:

The big one is the comparative rigidity of the setup, my tailstock has to extend out a long way to reach over the cross-slide, which allows for a lot more flex when starting the cut.

The feeding is better all round, drilling works best with a high chip-load and this needs comparatively fast feed rates... It can be hard to turn the tailstock handwheel fast enough to achieve that (especially with nonferrous metal like Alu) but my carriage handwheel will happily move that fast even by hand.

Power feed is then the icing on the cake, because it makes everything very consistent.

Edited By Jelly on 25/03/2023 14:34:50

Finished my first project modelled in Fusion 360 and then manufactured. Bottom speed of my lathe is 70 RPM and I know I'm not the first to do so but sometimes when I'm cutting a fine thread or working up to a shoulder I turn the chuck by hand. Every time I do so I tell myself I could do with a handle to make life easier, so I thought I could borrow a handwheel from my milling machine as they are held on with a single bolt hence very simple and quick to swap.

Designing it in Fusion 360 wasn't strictly necessary but was a useful exercise.

Interesting idea Jelly - I'm curious to understand how you make certain the drill bit is perfectly centred?

Good question Phil - I was wondering that too. There are various ways but the best is not only accurate but also quick and repeatable.

I like that spindle handwheel, neatly sharing the handle itself with its home machine.

As you say that is by no means a new idea and Myford will even sell you one for their lathes. That though, like most of the published designs, uses an expanding, split sleeve rather like those used on the screw-fixings for securing heavy items to masonry.

Yours differs significantly: Is the diagonal line actually the sliding surface between two wedges?

Exactly that Nigel - just like an old fashioned bicycle handlebar stem!

Used a DTI in the chuck to indicate the MT4 taper of the toolholder in concentric to the spindle's axis of rotation, setting the toolholder height adjuster and the tool X offset on the DRO; massive faff but it only needs to be done once and that's it set for good.

So with that one off awkward setup in place I can now:

• drop the holder onto my toolpost with a drill seated in the taper,
• lock the clamping lever,
• move to X 0.000,
• lock the cross feed and
• start drilling,

all in a matter of seconds.

Edited By Jelly on 26/03/2023 18:20:14

..feared for my Tomentosum..

Could be Sunday roast.

regards

Oh deer!

I'm going now

I also think that Jelly's idea is a great one and solves a problem for me. On my Denham lathe, the travel on the tailstock is only about 1.25 inches for some reason. This means that I often have to take several bites to make a deep hole and I have suffered from poor productivity so far as drilling is concerned. I frequently have to drill more than 1" dia.

Also where I have a large dia workpiece, sometimes that carriage will not clear the chuck jaws and thus I cannot get it out of the way. The DRO reader does not help. Thus the tailstock is not close enough to the work piece. I do have a 3 MT extension but it is obviously not a desirable set-up.

I don't use QCTPs but I have indexable tool holders mounted in square blocks so the tool height is always correct. The block is secured by a single 5/8 stud and there are four tapped holes on the top of the compound slide.

I think that I would go for a square block bored out to 3 MT to hold the drill and with a male 3 MT end. Obviously it would be made by holding the tool with the male 3 MT mounted in the chuck and the female 3 MT bored and reamed. I would provide some means of extracting / ejecting the drill. The height will always be correct.

To set up, I would plug the male 3MT into the tailstock and then clamp the block (by two studs) to the top of the compound slide on the carriage. Zero the X axis on the DRO and I would be good to go.

I cant wait to do it!

John

Only had a little amount of time in the workshop but did manage to get the joint done.






With the cutter I used I needed to machine 1" from the centre line but when I offered up the front section as I was machining it slipped on at 1.0021 which I am happy with.



Screws which need to join them together will be done once the two parts are complete they are also aided with some JB Weld

Test fitted

Now to start machining the outsides down to size which have two protrusions on one side and one on the other.

Edited By Dalboy on 27/03/2023 18:48:54

Heavy Drilling from carriage reduces wear on tailstock ,so maintains accuracy,