# Replacement of damaged handle



## Bruce88 (Jan 16, 2015)

Replacement of damaged handle

As I was moving my mill to a new mount I bent/broke the hand wheel handle.

Decided to make a replacement handle.  The original handle was made out of plastic (seemed to be similar to Bakelite) I’m going to make the replacement out of aluminum.  Also there are two other same size handles that are used on my mill and lathe, decided to make 3 new handles and replace all of them.

Did have a small problem finding a M8 – 1.25P X 60mm long Socket Head Cap Screw that did not have the threads cut all the way up the shaft.  I wanted about 25mm or more shaft with no threads for the new handle to turn on.  After going to a number of hardware stores I found some with no threads all the way up the shaft, there’s no standard on this it’s just how the bolt manufacture wants to make them.

I did a quick drawing of the dimensions of the handle I wanted to make.  Also listed on the drawing are some speed and feeds that I used to make the handles, they appeared to work good for me.  I’m teaching my self machining on my small mill & lathe, still trying to figure out what speed and feeds to use with my limited machines.

The finish on the new handles is 400 grit sandpaper, brushed finish.


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## cathead (Jan 16, 2015)

It looks like you are doing a fine job.  All the plastic handles are long gone
on my machines and replaced with a 40's vintage look in steel.  It seems that
the manufacturer is just building the machine with function and low cost in mind.
I must say that it is much more pleasing to operate a machine with nice and smooth
 (even polished) handles.


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## darkzero (Jan 16, 2015)

cathead said:


> All the plastic handles are long gone
> on my machines and replaced with a 40's vintage look in steel.  It seems that
> the manufacturer is just building the machine with function and low cost in mind.
> I must say that it is much more pleasing to operate a machine with nice and smooth
> (even polished) handles.



I agree, I just replaced all the handwheels on my mill a couple of days ago. 

Low cost is one reason, as for my mill the seller stated he has been trying to get the CM to use metal handwheels instead of the phenolic plastic handwheels but they wouldn't agree.

As for the OP, nice job, they look good. May want to consider anodizing or plating the handles as they will turn your hands black on repeated use from your hand polishing it. My speed handle for my vise was bare aluminum & I go very annoyed of my hands getting black from it. I had it anodized & it fixed the problem. The issue might not be as bad since your handles are the rotating type as opposed to the fixed handle on my speed handle.


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## T Bredehoft (Jan 16, 2015)

This inspired me to make a handle for the blade raiser of my table saw, which had been without a handle since I acquired it in the mid '60s.

By the way, think of tool feeds in thousands per rev. .003 is a moderate feed, .005  or 6 for roughing, .0015 for a finish cut.  If  you can set them this way, it won't matter what your rev is, the feed will be appropriate. (these are for single point lathe work, mill work, .001 or 2 per flute is good.


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## Bruce88 (Jan 16, 2015)

T Bredehoft said:


> This inspired me to make a handle for the blade raiser of my table saw, which had been without a handle since I acquired it in the mid '60s.
> 
> By the way, think of tool feeds in thousands per rev. .003 is a moderate feed, .005  or 6 for roughing, .0015 for a finish cut.  If  you can set them this way, it won't matter what your rev is, the feed will be appropriate. (these are for single point lathe work, mill work, .001 or 2 per flute is good.



Hi T Bredehoft

My lathe is geared for .002 per spindle turn at this time for power feed 
For drilling operations I was using 2.2 inches per minute based on my tailstock handle, one hand wheel turn per second will feed the drill at this rate.  And worked backwards to come up with the drilling speeds.


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## T Bredehoft (Jan 20, 2015)

That's great, better than depending on gears.  I've seen "machinists" chain the tail stock to the saddle and drill that way, too. I don't recommend it.


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