Please excuse my excitement. A very simple project.

[Robo_Pi]

I knew that photo would end up derailing the whole thread. But to be honest, I didn't think it would be quite this bad.

I know now that the actual no-no is to simply to never post a picture of a chuck with a key in it. Never mind the actual context.

I've learned my lesson. Don't ever post a picture of a chuck with a key it in. Period. That appears to be the rule that actually needs to be adhered to.

How safe you actually are in real life doesn't even matter. You were caught posting a picture of a chuck with a key in it. Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

 

[benmychree]

Enough already! Personally, I NEVER leave a chuck wrench in any chuck that is powered, and even feel a bit funny leaving one in a dividing head chuck. Seeing a picture of a wrench left in a lathe chuck makes me cringe, once saw a picture of a school shop with a long line of lathes with all the chuck wrenches posed in the chucks; makes one wonder???

 

[Robo_Pi]

Seeing a picture of a wrench left in a lathe chuck makes me cringe

That's the incorrect assumption that everyone is making concerning this photo. This wrench wasn't "left" in the chuck as in being forgotten. That's just an optical illusion of the photograph.

What actually happened here was that the job had been COMPLETED. I was done for the night. The lathe had already been shut down. And all power was off.

I then though that I should take some photos of the set-up before disassembling so that I could post them on Hobby Machinist forum. So I stuck an axle back into the chuck. I actually had to use the chuck key to loosen the chuck up a bit to get the axle in. I lined it up with the drill bit and snapped the photo. Then I immediately took the axle back out of the chuck and removed the chuck key.

The chuck key just happened to inadvertently be left in the photo. I didn't bother removing it because I knew I wasn't going to be powering the machine back up again.

Moreover, the extreme irony here is that I actually DID remove the chuck key during every drilling operation. In fact, I even thought about this and realized that removing the chuck key in this situation is overkill since the chuck cannot move.

None the less I removed the chuck key every time before powering up the mill. Just to be sure that I wouldn't get in the habit of leaving the chuck key in the chuck. In other words, I was practicing perfect safety procedures to the hilt. Overkill to be sure.

But just because I happened to take this photo with the chuck key still in a locked-down immovable chuck. Everyone who sees this is going to think this chuck key has been totally abandoned and is just waiting for some unsuspecting person to come by and turn on the lathe.

That's just not even remotely the situation behind the photo.

But as already pointed out, I'll be spending life in prison for having taken this photo anyway, so I may as well resign myself to that.

It's photographic "murder" that cannot be denied.

A chuck key in a lathe chuck that's locked down and being used as a stationary vice for a milling operation.

SEND THAT MAN TO JAIL! HE'S GUILTY!

That will be my legacy from here on out I guess.

Robo Pi the convicted chuck key molester.

 

[benmychree]

I note in the above that you use the word (dissembling), it should have an A between the two S'es that spelling you mistakenly used has quite a different meaning!

 

[Robo_Pi]

I note in the above that you use the word (dissembling), it should have an A between the two S'es that spelling you mistakenly used has quite a different meaning!

Thanks for the catch. I corrected the typo.

This is one bad thing about spell checkers. If you make a typo that accidentally spells a valid word, the spell checker isn't going to catch it. And you're right. The incorrect word has a totally different meaning.

I'm going to end up with life imprisonment before this day is over, just due to photographic errors and spelling typos.

Maybe I should go back to bed before I get in any more trouble.

I'm going out to get something to eat. But when I get back I'll probably be in even more trouble anyway. Have you ever started a thread you wish you had never started?

 

[john.oliver35]

Nice job on the shafts - I bet the hay rake won't miss the parts a bit!

I don't care about the chuck key. More interested in how close to center you cross-drilled those cotter key holes

 

[mmcmdl]

I'm just bustin your chops Robo , no harmful intentions . But , nothing good could come of a key left in a chuck . This is machining 101 . You're out free on bail !

 

[Robo_Pi]

More interested in how close to center you cross-drilled those cotter key holes

There's a couple things to mention on this.

First, the shafts I was using were not only bent, but also badly pitted with rust dimples. The rust dimples were acting like center punch dimples. So it was basically impossible to start a hole with just a drill bit, unless, by pure luck, a rust dimple just happend to be in the right spot. I learned this immediately on the very first hole I tried to drill. So I quickly moved to starting all the holes with a center drill. That eliminated the problem entirely. The center drill wasn't affected by the rust dimples at all.

Having done that almost every hole was very well centered. Certainly as well-centered as could be seen by eye.

However, there were a couple holes that were slightly off center. Fortunately these were toward the inside of the shaft so they won't be noticeable on the ends of the axles. The reason for those being off-center had to do entirely with the fact that the shafts simply weren't straight to begin with. I had straightened these in a vice using a hand-held sledge. And while I can boast of having done a pretty darn good job of getting them straight I can't brag of perfection by any means. Still, totally acceptable tolerances for my purposes. These axles are "dead" axles. The wheels just freely turn on their own bearing. So the axles don't need to be perfectly straight for this application.

If you were to repeat this operation with new straight round stock, I'm sure that every hole would be perfectly centered on the shaft.

This assumes, of course, that you had previously set the mill head up perfectly centered with a center in the lathe tailstock.

Also don't forget to lock down the lathe chuck! I failed to do that too on the very first hole and the chuck began to turn as I started drilling. Not under power, but just because it was free to move. That's when I got the mill vice out and mounted it under the chuck jaws so the chuck could not turn. After securing the chuck from turning everything went perfectly well.

There is no way on my lathe/mill to lock the lathe spindle. So placing my milling vice against the chuck and aligning it so that each vice jaw just touched a lathe chuck jaw that insured the chuck could not turn. No need to clamp it tight. The vice jaws are actually in the way of the chuck jaws preventing either one from rotating downward. So the chuck simply could not turn in either direction.

You need to find a way to lock the lathe chuck. Otherwise the shaft you are trying to drill could turn on you while you're trying to drill it. So securing the chuck from turning is paramount to this operation. It just turned out the the vice I had purchased as my mill vice for this machine turned out to be perfect for this job.

Here's the vice I bought for my lathe/mill. It's not the best vice in the world, but it's been working well for me thus far.


Wen vice on Amazon

 

[Robo_Pi]

I'm just bustin your chops Robo , no harmful intentions . But , nothing good could come of a key left in a chuck . This is machining 101 . Your out free on bail !

No problem Dave.

People are right that it's probably not a good idea to post pictures that might give newbies bad ideas. I would have removed the key when taking the photo had I realized it was in there.

I was actually upset to discover it was in the photo after I came in to post the photo. But what could I do? I wasn't about to go back out and set everything back up again just to get a keyless shot. Although if I was writing an article for a machinist magazine that's precisely what I would have needed to do. Either that or get fired.

 

[mmcmdl]

My buddy was written up at a certain spice plant years ago on a LOTO audit . We had pulled the motor and gearbox out of the machine and my locks were fully utilized . He was busted for not having his lock on there . I argued on his behalf saying he was only handing me tools as I was the one pulling stuff . They didn't buy it . 1 years probation .

I went and brought the plant manager and safety SHE manager out to the line . We put our locks on the boxes as well as the electricians . I asked them if the machine was now safe to work on . Their answer was yes , it is properly locked out and safe to work on .

I reached over and spun the spindle / carousel of the filler which turned very freely and asked them " where are your company's line locks ? Goes to show you , book smart isn't street smart . Protect yourself at all times …………...the safety enforcement teams are out in full force .