# An Hour In The Shop On A Cold Morning...



## cathead (Jan 18, 2016)

I'm usually up early to put some wood in the boiler and today was no exception.  The
thermometer read minus 20F this morning, not as cold as the day before.  It's a good
time to spend an hour in the shop and have a cup of coffee and do a little machine work.
Today I made a cylindrical square for on the drill press, a simple thing to do to face off
both end surfaces in the lathe.  It's handy to have several of these made in different
lengths.  It saves moving the drill press table up and down for every operation.

The other project was to add a swivel to the  top of the machinist jack I made a while back.
It's not a big thing but will make a difference when I want to use it.

Both of these items were in a pile of metals slated for the  recycler so was
able to utilize it for something.  I wonder what other treasures might be lurking in that box.
I will have to go over it before it goes off to the junk.

Here's a photo of the two projects:


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## Ed ke6bnl (Jan 18, 2016)

I feel for you at 20 degrees here in So. Calif. I complain at 40 degrees. would like to know more on the cylindrical square. and how accurate are they.


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## kvt (Jan 18, 2016)

they both look nice,   how tall is the jack.   I cannot tell from the picture.


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## FOMOGO (Jan 18, 2016)

That looks like a productive morning. Got down to a bone chilling 74F here this morning. Mike


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## TOOLMASTER (Jan 18, 2016)

-17 here ...


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## uncle harry (Jan 18, 2016)

FOMOGO said:


> That looks like a productive morning. Got down to a bone chilling 74F here this morning. Mike



You can certainly rub it in for an X-Cheesehead !  (HEE HEE)


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## cathead (Jan 18, 2016)

To answer the questions, the machinist jack is about 3 inches tall, the cylinder about 6 inches.   

The cylinder is as accurate as the cylinder is true.  Using the Y axis on the lathe makes a very accurate cut unless the 
lathe us out of whack(square).


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## kplyler (Jan 18, 2016)

You said in the OP its "handy" to have cylindrical squares.  I picked one up in a box at a garage sale this summer.  what are they commonly used for?


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## wawoodman (Jan 18, 2016)

I use it to check tram against the mill spindle. It's good for any round-to-round registration.

I bought mine from Shars.


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## dave2176 (Jan 18, 2016)

You could use a cylindrical square to check your drill press table against a drill bit to make sure the table is perpendicular to the drill bit (spindle).

Those both look great.


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## uncle harry (Jan 18, 2016)

kplyler said:


> You said in the OP its "handy" to have cylindrical squares.  I picked one up in a box at a garage sale this summer.  what are they on how to use c cylinderused for?


.

You can google Superior Tool to watch a video on using a cylinder square including one that is out-of-square. They also describe how they are made.  There are many other useful videos also there.


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## Dorn (Jan 19, 2016)

uncle harry said:


> .
> 
> You can google Superior Tool to watch a video on using a cylinder square including one that is out-of-square. They also describe how they are made.  There are many other useful videos also there.


Yes, I loved that video.  It surprised me that an out of square cylindrical "square" can be used as a square, just by orienting it properly.




and this one on how to repair cylindrical squares


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## kingmt01 (Jan 19, 2016)

wawoodman said:


> I use it to check tram against the mill spindle. It's good for any round-to-round registration.
> 
> I bought mine from Shars.


Exactly what I wish I had one for the other day. Since I can do it with my indicator I won't buy one just yet but my mill was a bit of a pain to get the nod tuned in. I did have to make an arbor to mount my indicator in first tho.


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