# Shop Made Boring Head Project



## Smudgemo (Apr 13, 2014)

It was probably three years or more back when I bought Harold Hall's book "Milling for Home Machinists", and I had always wanted to make the boring head he provided plans for.  A few weeks back I started on the project, but decided that while I'd measure some things in metric to help ensure proper fitting of parts, all of the cutters and fasteners would be of Imperial size.  I don't have a 12mm cutter, but I have 1/2".  Luckily I've got a DRO to easily switch back and forth as needed.  I started by squaring up the stock, cutting to size and boring a hole for the arbor.  Then I began making the channel that would eventually be the dovetails.







The project avoids a dovetail cutter requirement by tilting the workpiece to the proper angle and (in my case) using a .25" endmill.  I initially struggled to find the correct angle, but realized my clamping kit has step triangles that are 30/60/90*, and they'd work fine.  Once that was done, I had to make the gib strip and lay out the cutter carrier lines.  The gib strip material came from the scrap bin.  The third photo shows holes drilled for gib screws, the cutter carrier drilled and bored, and the face plate still in process.






The lead screw was supposed to be metric, but I decided to cut it 1/4-20 on both ends.  This was the project where I crashed the cutter into the tailstock and caused some travel issue with the lathe that has since been corrected.  Last photo is the lead screw in place without its nut.  Another piece of scrap, this was one of three free coffee cans full of nuts and bolts picked up at an estate sale.





Once I got everything cleaned up and in place, I mounted the dial.  By marking it with 50 divisions, I end up with .001" movement per division, right?  { (1 / 20) / 50 = .001  }  My lathe's bull gear is divided by 60, and I suppose there may be some other gear in there I could try to use, but instead I opted for another method as shown in Harold Hall's book "Dividing" (Workshop Practice Series 37) where he has drilled 120 holes from a CAD pattern and used a heavy wire as the stop.  I could have created a spreadsheet as shown in the book, but my mill has a DRO with a bolt circle function, so I input a 4" circle with 50 holes and started drilling.  A handy material for this was a plastic CD cover that you get in a 50 pack (although any unwanted CD or DVD would work as well.)  Once done, I made an arbor from another old bolt and mounted the pattern to the lathe.  A corner from a bed frame and a piece of heavy welding wire completed the setup.  I was able to quite easily run the compound at the same 25* angle of the dial and cut each line.






Unfortunately, I ran the cutter lower than center to gain clearance not realizing my lines would not radiate straight from the center.  Well, no matter as they are still 50 and evenly spaced.  Note that the gold screws are temporary pending my sourcing of real hardware.  I resurfaced all sides for the sake of appearance and mounted the arbor to get a look at the nearly finished project.  The final photo shows the relieved cutter carrier and a bolt representing the 1/2" boring bar I don't have just yet.





Now I'm knocking off the sharp edges with a file, and I will need to do a little fine-tuning to make sure everything works smoothly before I locktite the dial screw in place.  Then I'll need some 8-32 grub screws, a thumb screw and some cutters to call this project done.  I can't say I really needed this tool right now, and it seems silly to spend so much time when the imports are so cheap, but it's great practice and rather satisfying to complete.

-Ryan


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## mhguy (Apr 13, 2014)

Very nice job, Ryan.  I especially like your ingenious technique of making the dovetails.

Dick


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## kizmit99 (Apr 13, 2014)

Ryan, Thanks for posting.  The design you have there seems very buildable.  All of the designs I've seen before seemed a bit out of my league.  

Could you post a little more detail on how the adjustment screw attaches and moves the boring block?  I must be missing something simple, but I'm just not seeing it.
Thanks!


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## Bill Gruby (Apr 13, 2014)

Looks good from here. A boring head is a useful tool. Nice workmanship.

 "Billy G"


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## ozzie46 (Apr 13, 2014)

Making ones own tools can be a real source of satisfaction. Nice job and well presented.

  Ron


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## stevecmo (Apr 13, 2014)

Ryan,

Very nice work!  :thumbsup:

That method of cutting dovetails is what I tried to describe to someone in another thread.  Hopefully they will see it.

Great project, great craftsmanship.  Thanks for sharing!

Steve


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## Smudgemo (Apr 13, 2014)

Thank you for the kind words.



kizmit99 said:


> Could you post a little more detail on how the adjustment screw attaches and moves the boring block?  I must be missing something simple, but I'm just not seeing it.
> Thanks!



Luckily I had it apart again to start a final surface clean-up, so here you go.  The nut is just a bit of drill rod captured vertically by the upper piece.  I believe I used 3/8" so I could drill and tap it 1/4-20 (again, nothing metric on hand and no need to turn something just for this sort of part.)  The cutter carrier is slotted, so it is allowed to move with the screw (which is captured by the removable face plate.)

Here you can see the nut with the lead screw and a seemingly bent extracting screw threaded into it.  Each cutter hole has two 8-32 holes for set screws, and you can barely see some clearance in the face plate for the lead screw.



When you slide the head and carrier together, the nut goes up in this hole and the lead screw gets threaded in.  The nut is threaded so you can extract it at a later date if needed.



And it all goes together like this.  You can see the slot in the carrier allowing the nut to move, and the smaller hole in the head that keeps it stationary.  The larger hole is a countersunk hole for the bolt to mount the arbor.  I used the arbor I had on hand for a 2" face mill that I got from Shars, so I fit the dimensions to it.



If you give it a go, I'd suggest leaving the cutter carrier and face plate as one piece with enough material to cut them apart and face both cut pieces.  It seems I recall the book showing dimensions to make them as separate pieces, but why bother when you can make them both at the same time and not worry about angle not matching. A dovetail cutter would be much easier, but I agree with Mr. Hall that cutting the dovetails this way is excellent practice.  I'm sorta cheap, so I went with it.

- - - Updated - - -



stevecmo said:


> Ryan,
> 
> Very nice work!  :thumbsup:
> 
> ...



Thanks!  I thought to post a photo, but didn't want to hijack the thread or post this project until mostly done.


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## chuckorlando (Apr 13, 2014)

Nice work. Love that dove tail trick


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## kizmit99 (Apr 13, 2014)

Smudgemo said:


> Luckily I had it apart again to start a final surface clean-up, so here you go.



Thanks!  Now it all makes sense.  I'm gonna have to put this on the list of projects to try.


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## David Kirtley (Apr 13, 2014)

At first I looked at the dovetails and thought that it looked odd and why not just use a dovetail cutter. Now that I have been thinking about it, it sure simplifies the gibs and is a lot less stress on the machine to cut. It also lets you make the dovetails at any angle you want. I really can't see any down side to cutting them that way.

Nice job on the boring head.


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## vapremac (Apr 13, 2014)

Job well done !

William


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## RandyM (Apr 14, 2014)

:thumbzup3:


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## smallfly (Apr 14, 2014)

*Re: Shop Made Boring Head Project--a real INSPIRATION*

you are a real inspiration for the rest of us here on hm.  the workmanship on your boring head is excellent .  been looking on internet for plans  to build a homemade boring head and will post links here ----  so others  can surf the net if they wish.  thanks again for the excellent pics and write up. u do excellent machine work.  links   here--http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/mill/boring/boring.html  and also link  here --

http://homepage3.nifty.com/amigos/boring_head/boring_head-e.htm

   another link here--http://homepage3.nifty.com/amigos/boring_head/boring_head-e.htm.  not trying to steal ur thread--just tryin to help others.  enjoy!  re  steve  in  mt.


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## Craftsman1946 (Apr 14, 2014)

Hello Ryan,

A very nice project you've shared with us. Your description & photography during the build made the machining process very clear, especially on your innovative dovetail & gib. My Myford Super 7 lathe uses the same gib system (not tapered). On my lathe I added an additional lock screw in addition the the gib adjustment screws to lock the slide in place during machining that way I don't have to readjust anything once everything is sliding perfectly in the dovetail. Certainly not very important in the overall scheme of things but may further inhance the use of your already superb tool.

Rod Baker


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## Smudgemo (Apr 19, 2014)

Just to wrap this project up, I finally got the boring bars, the hardware I wanted and a thumbscrew setup to lock the gib for actual use.  I haven't ever used a boring head in a mill, so I was hoping this would at the very least work as well as some inexpensive overseas unit.  Well, I can't say whether it's better or not, but it sure works well.  I found a piece of aluminum stock that was bored with some sort of sloppy cut, and gave it a go.  The results were excellent, and the ability to move the carrier by .001" ought to be plenty for my needs for awhile.

I silver-brazed the wheel to the machine screw.  $1.30 or so for the parts at the local ACE.



Front view.  I tried to clean up the machine marks a bit, but didn't take it any further.




Some action footage.  Always with the music on, too.

[video=youtube_share;LAo6ukYaBrE]http://youtu.be/LAo6ukYaBrE[/video]

Now I need to start a project that will need bored holes, I guess.

Cheers!
-Ryan


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## Bill Gruby (Apr 20, 2014)

Is this the book? Loved the video.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milling-for...830?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item48603013be

 "Billy G"


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## Smudgemo (Apr 20, 2014)

Bill Gruby said:


> Is this the book? Loved the video.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milling-for...830?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item48603013be
> 
> "Billy G"



Thanks, Bill.  

That looks like it, but the cover is slightly different.  This is the version that I've got:
http://www.amazon.com/Milling-Home-Machinists-Harold-Hall/dp/1565236947 .  The reviews don't overwhelm you as awesome, but when you take the time to read them, you find people are complaining that the material is reprinted from other books he's done, or too advanced for the absolute beginner.  He also has a lot of stuff on his website including plans for a small boring head and lots of other things: http://homews.co.uk/index.html

I should note again that the book is all in metric, so you need to either convert or work in metric.  I chose to follow dimensions and place holes in metric via my DRO, but changed the fasteners to 8-32, the lead screw to 1/4-20, and any cut to 3/8" or 1/2" because I have those cutters on hand.  So I complicated things, but it seems to have worked out.  The plan that follows this one is a diving head that I may tackle at some point soon just because.

-Ryan


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## stevecmo (Apr 20, 2014)

Here's a link to Harold's website if that helps:  http://www.homews.co.uk/page3.html

The site is a little difficult to navigate but has a lot of useful info.

Steve


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## JoeSixPack74 (Apr 20, 2014)

"Impressive, most impressive.", Darth Vader - Empire Strikes Back on planet Bespin.


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