# My latest project completion



## cathead (Jan 5, 2015)

My latest project:

It's been 20 below zero all weekend so I had plenty of time to devote to
time in the shop.  In the photo is my completed tail stock to use with
a spin index or whatever else it might come in handy for.  Basically the
material is mild steel with the pointer shaft made from some really hard
unknown material.  HSS would not touch it, I had to use  carbide cutters
to machine the tip and the key way.  I was thinking of welding the vertical
mounts to the base but used 6 allen head cap screws inserted from the bottom. 
It would have been ugly and probably crooked so was happy with the results
as it turned out.  I have very little investment in it other than time as most
of the material came from the local recycling yard.     The articulating feature
allows one to machine on shafts and such without having the center in the way
of the cutting tool.


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## tweinke (Jan 5, 2015)

Nice job!


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## 12bolts (Jan 6, 2015)

did you dome those nuts yourself? That gives it a very nice finishing touch

cheers Phil


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## cathead (Jan 6, 2015)

I made the nuts from some rod material and used a forming tool to shape the
domes.  When completed, they were heated red hot and immersed in oil, thus the black.
The stock size nuts looked wimpy so made these with 7/16 inch x14 pitch threads and
7/8 inch wrench size.  A lot of my tooling uses a 7/8 wrench so can do a lot of my shop 
work with only one tool in hand.     Thanks for the compliment. 










12bolts said:


> did you dome those nuts yourself? That gives it a very nice finishing touch
> 
> cheers Phil


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