Ball Turning Tool Post????

ML_Woy said:
Making a Ball Turning tool post helps if you have a milling machine which not everyone has at this time. I saw a thread, posted in the last couple of months, which showed a Ball turning attachment made from a boring head, mounted in a AXA tool post, using the boring bar attachment. The builder took an inexpensive boring head, attached it to a shaft, inserted it through the boring bar tool post attachment and put a handle on the other end of the shaft. This allowed the boring head to rotate. Once set to the radius of the ball it worked to move the cutting tool.

I thought it was really cleaver and plan to build one for my lathe. He used the same head, mounted on a morris #2 taper in the tailstock as an offset tailstock attachment to turn tapers.

Look around on the forums and you can probably find the post.

This might be the easiest way to get the attachment you want.
Click to expand...

HERE is a site where the guy uses a boring head for ball turning.

Gary
 
ML_Woy said:
Here are some pictures of a ball turning attachment I made for my Craftsman 12" just this summer. Just went to my local machine shop and picked up some scrap flat stock and a piece of 4" round. I just copied some others I have seen on the web. Turns out it works well and was simple to make.
Click to expand...

Yes, and see that long extension sticking out? When you reverse it to make the opposite type radius and that long part is toward the chuck, be very careful that you don't allow it to turn under the spinning chuck. This is how I crashed my lathe and spent 3 weekends and lots of people's time realigning the headstock on the lathe! Fortunately this was all I had to do!

Barry

I'll try to post a couple of pictures of my ball turner and it's new "Dings" from the crash!
 
Here is my ball turner. It is for a 13x40 lathe. I had to drill and tap an hole nearer the center of the cross-slide to accept the compound's socket head cap screw which I show in the pictures so that the ball turner can be mounted in one of the slot nuts for the compound t-slot circle and the other bolt closer to the center of the cross-slide. If the ball turner were to be mounted in BOTH of the same slot nuts as the compound then it would be too far away to make any contact with a shaft of any useable size. These are the problems with this adaptation on a 13x40 of this type. I have yet to make the ball for the end of the ball turner handle. I utilize a 5/16" slot so that both ground inserts, and brazed carbide inserts can be used. I may make a new slider to accept profile type diamond shape inserts so that I can use ceramic for stainless or other materials.
DSCN0263.JPGDSCN0264.JPGDSCN0265.JPGDSCN0266.JPG

DSCN0263.JPG DSCN0264.JPG DSCN0265.JPG DSCN0266.JPG
 
Lots of good ideals here,I never heard of Over the top ball turner.But I can see the advantages,now to go back and look at the diagrams for the Over the top ball turner.Thanks guys---kroll
 
Kroll, you mentioned in the first post that you haven't turned any metal yet. It's great to have a project list (I have mine tagged to the desktop so I can go there quickly), but I recommend that your first few projects be to make scrap. Put some mild steel or aluminum in the chuck and just learn to make chips.

Starting out by trying to make something you want can work out the first time. More often, though, it gets frustrating because you don't yet know what will happen when you do that. "jawdrop: A radius turner is well worth making, but needs a good fit where rotating parts come together to prevent chatter (from a loose fit) or hard operation (from a tight fit). You will need both inside and outside surfaces to come together with a nice slip fit.

Once you learn what it takes to remove metal in a controlled (and safe) manner, pick a dimension a bit smaller than your current stock diameter and try to hit it, as measured by a micrometer. Do the same with an inside bore. They (inside and outside) don't have to be compatible, but if the material allows it, why not try. Remember, these are the training projects, so the only end results you need is to learn something and to have fun doing it.
 
Kroll said:
Lots of good ideals here,I never heard of Over the top ball turner.But I can see the advantages,now to go back and look at the diagrams for the Over the top ball turner.Thanks guys---kroll
Click to expand...
Hi Kroll, I had to make a few adjustment in measurements because I already make my quick change tool boring holder and boring bar, I think my 3/4 and his was 1 in. in dia. This cause minor things, bolt size and other things. Now I got my desk top running, a I-Pad doesn't make it for pictures, I will post some pictures of it. I only try it one time, made some mistake and talking it apart to make some adjustments, but I can see it will work real nice after I get use to working with it. Isn't that a cool site, going to try something else soon, but first I got my hands on plans for a SB threading dial. If you do this and have any trouble let me know, maybe the only thing i could help with, i am still learning. Thanks Chester
 
Hawkeye,your right I do need to wait till I make some swarfs first.Been reading Rays post about carbide vs HSS and seeing that rpm's is a big factor and possessing some knowledge with experience.This will be one of my future projects---kroll
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top