First job

Today for the first time made something useful on the lathe. A friend needed 4 stainless steel spacers for a packing machine that he is fixing. It took me almost 3 hours. I think I would starve to death if I'll have to make a living from my lathe skills.

I bought a 6.5mm DeWalt Extreme Cobalt drill for the holes. This drill is worth the money. After drilling ~170mm of stainless steel in total the cutting edge is still very sharp! It has also a triangular section on the tail so it doesn't slip in the chuck. I don't know why they don't make all drilling bits in this way.

This was a good time to use also my latest finding on the Sunday flea market, a huge Jacobs chuck. This relict has stamped on it Carpati (Carpathian). So it is an old Romanian model. I suppose this is the largest chuck made for MT3. It looks like it was used a lot but it opens/close smooth and the jaws are in very good condition. It is heavy and I like it a lot.

After every few mm I removed the drilling bit and add more paste and remove the swarf. There was a lot of swarf compressed inside. I don't know if it is ok to make such a deep the hole in one single drill.

In exchange I got an 8mm H7 reamer. It doesn't have a square tail but it still useful.

It's a machine reamer not a hand reamer. Unlike a hand reamer it has a 45 degree angle on the front and those are the cutting edges. The start of the flutes are not tapered like a hand reamer. It doesn't have a square on the shank because it doesn't need one. it will be held in a chuck on a machine tool.

Andrew

Well done you, plus you've learnt the advantage of decent drills about 10 years faster than me.

That was quick!

Saw your video

Your indexed tool looks like its too far away from the job, always cut with the toolpost as close as possible to minimise tool flex

When drilling deep I use an old toothbrush dipped in oil to clean the drill flutes and lubricate them between each pass

Edited By Ady1 on 03/08/2023 03:11:28

Satisfying isn't it, well done!

Pretty good for your First job i'd say!

Was many moons before i got beyond turning Ali & brass.

My first atempt at turning (mild) steel at 1st glance bore more than passing resemblence to a screw thread, rather than a smooth surface i was aiming for.