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Tool tips

Various tips to make life easier in the workshop

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David Clark 117/10/2010 11:53:32
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3357 forum posts
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To find out the exact centre height of your lathe headstock, turn a bit of bar to a known diameter.
Say the bar is 0.500 and the measured distance from the lathe bed to the top of the bar is 3.745in.
The exact centre height is 3.745 minus half the bar diameter = 0.250in. so the centre height is 3.495in.
This is a very useful dimension when setting tools to centre height.
regards David
 
keithmart17/10/2010 16:04:39
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165 forum posts

Hi


What about setting the tool as near as possible by eye, facing off a piece of bar, and using the centre pip left on the bar to set the exact tool height?


regards


Keith


Leeds UK

Ian Abbott17/10/2010 17:52:51
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Keith wrote:
What about setting the tool as near as possible by eye, facing off a piece of bar, and using the centre pip left on the bar to set the exact tool height?
 
Funny, I thought that I was doing it that way because I'm lazy to do it properly. 
 
Ian 
David Clark 117/10/2010 19:17:55
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3357 forum posts
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10 articles
Hi There
Great idea.
I will try the pip idea next time I set a boring bar.
regards David
 
Sam Stones17/10/2010 20:49:49
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922 forum posts
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Hi David,
 
I think it'll take forever and you'll become really bored just before it gives you the pip.
 
Best regards,
 
Sam
AndyB17/10/2010 21:25:34
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7 photos
Hi all,
 
To set a tool at centre height I just swivel the topslide around and match the tool to a nice sharp centre in the tailstock.
 
It is easier to feel the level if the eyes are starting to clap out, but just as easy to see for  the younger members.
 
I keep a pile of old, very worn (so not to have the teeth upset the measurements) hacksaw blades broken off into short sections as shims if I am using tools of different thicknesses.
 
Works every time and takes about 30 seconds. Once set, you can take what time you like to set the angle of your topslide.
 
Andy
 
 
Andrew Johnston17/10/2010 21:36:14
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7061 forum posts
719 photos
Paah, the whole centre height thing is a pipsqueak!
 
Regards,
 
Andrew
ady17/10/2010 21:50:07
612 forum posts
50 photos
Just make a tool which sits on top of the toolholder and hangs down to the correct centre height.
 
A hex wrench shape, like a gooseneck/elephants foot, hold long bit flat on toolholder with thumb and position the cutting tool to touch the bit which overhangs.
 
easy peasy lemon squeazy

Edited By ady on 17/10/2010 21:51:28

Steve Garnett17/10/2010 21:57:58
837 forum posts
27 photos
If your lathe is level, you could always use one of these, or even make one pretty easily:
 

 
 
chris stephens18/10/2010 11:57:09
1049 forum posts
1 photos
Very interesting, does this video define the expression "overkill"?
chriStephens
PS next time i get bored might have a go at making one, I have little space left in my box marked "sounded like a good idea at the time but in reality never used" 
WALLACE18/10/2010 13:13:08
304 forum posts
17 photos
The problem with the pip method is that it's dead easy to take the end of a carbide tool  .  .  . no prizes for guessing how I know.
 
There was a tool described in MEW a few years ago using a lump of perspex with a couple of lines scribbed on it to avoid paralex errors - I always thought this was a  very clever idea - but still haven't found the time to knock one up !
 
W.
 
 
Howard Jones18/10/2010 15:51:15
70 forum posts
112 photos
I put a center in the morse taper of my headstock. then another centre in the tailstock.
bought the two up together with a razor blade between them. the blade sat perpendicular to the bed confirming that the heights of both centers were the same.
 
thereafter I just put the metabo keyless chuck in the tailstock. I have a 2mm chinese drill that I murdered by breaking the flutes off and grinding to a precise point. this gets set in the chuck (which is accurate). the tool is then placed against the pin point and adjusted to be a tad below centre to prevent rubbing.
 
If I ever doubt the accuracy I put the centre in the headstock and check the height of the pin.
been ok so far.
works with boring bars, armstrong tool holders and hacksaw shimmed quarterinch hss tooling.
 
measurements have errors. this method has none.
 
but!!!! you go on doing what works for you. I'll do likewise. none of the techniques are wrong but how do you know your measurement is being made exactly vertical?
 
WALLACE18/10/2010 18:22:38
304 forum posts
17 photos

How about one of those laser thing's held in the chuck ? (or better still a collet ?)
 
I suppose it depends on how wide the beam is to how accurate the height would be set  .. .
 
w.
Richard Parsons19/10/2010 05:08:46
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645 forum posts
33 photos
 

My eyes are not as good as they were. So I made this little Gizmo.  It works you get a coconut every time   I have written it up and posted it to the editor as a contribution.


Sam Stones19/10/2010 06:56:44
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922 forum posts
332 photos

When I was a lad in’t toolroom (c1950), there was one toolmaker who did most of the intricate turning. However, his eyesight was so poor that he wore glasses so thick they were like the proverbial beer-bottle bottoms.

For really intricate work, especially when there was a need to locate a `tight’ spot, he used a simple flash-lamp battery and bulb arrangement. The cutting tool was electrically insulated from the body of the machine, which thus became the `earth’ return.

Richard, I hope this doesn’t read like a "Me Too!".

Your photograph appears to show a Super 7 with a Bernard `Grip-True’ three-jaw chuck.

Fond memories for me!

Sam

Richard Parsons19/10/2010 09:19:17
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645 forum posts
33 photos
It is but it uses two LEDS culled from broken lighters. The cheapo light is insulated (with masking tape. A Super 7 bought in 1975 with a body threaded Griptrue.
Thanks for the tip about insulating the tool The next lighter I find with a torch I will look at that idea.
Must go as I have to repair a shower bath, Hungarians seem to be able to break anything

Edited By Richard Parsons on 19/10/2010 09:22:47

David Clark 119/10/2010 09:24:38
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3357 forum posts
112 photos
10 articles
Hi There
I too worked with a turner who appeard to have bad eyes.
Did super work but kept getting his head too close to the chuck.
Boss told him to get his eyes checked.
Two weeks later he was seen wandering around with a white stick.
He was almost totally blind.
We wondered how he had driven to work every day.
regards David
 
Bogstandard19/10/2010 10:25:59
263 forum posts
 
 
Bogs
KWIL19/10/2010 12:00:01
3681 forum posts
70 photos
I use a old fashioned double edge razor blade (thin, hard material) for this, it also works when aligning two centres, try it between your spindle and the tailstock sometime.
Howard Jones19/10/2010 12:38:39
70 forum posts
112 photos
michael williams old sausage you have a lot to learn. (which is good because life will be interesting)
the old dodges used by turners of old have a lot going for them. they tend to be less error prone when the user is in the faded stage before being aware of fatigue and packing it in for the night.
the method I described also has the advantage of alerting you to a positional error in the tailstock well before relying on the accuracy for a drilling job.
also I would make the point that methods that work on the myford with it's flat bedways often cant be used on a hercus or southbend because they use V ways.
the method I described doesnt use batteries, pencil , paper or a calculator. It uses the inherent accuracy of the machine tool.
 
Bogs your ruler method will come unstuck on the first piece of irregular shaped bar that you try it on. on the stuff I seem to turn it would never work until a truing cut was made.
 
I hope you all live long enough to have David tell stories about you and your accuracy.
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