- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,647
Postman made my day a few days ago, four packages in one day! Got a center scope, D1-5 8" backing plate from CDCOtools.com, an 8" set-tru style 3-jaw chuck from CME tools in Madison Heights, MI, and an SDA laser edge finder off eBay.
Center scope works fine, throw it in a collet on the mill, flood the work with light and move the table to find a center/scribed line. This one has just one line (no cross hair) so I need to turn the scope 90 degrees to pick up a center.
The D1-5 8" backing plate and 8" set-tru style chuck are for my Grizzly G0709 14" x 40" lathe. I always thought the 6" stock chuck looked small, plus with the jaws flipped the max diameter the chuck would handle wasn't much over 6" (ran out of scroll travel sooner that other chucks I have). Installation and my thoughts on the chuck will be in a POTD posting. The backing plate from CDCO was around $60 plus shipping. Chuck from CME tools was just under $220 off eBay (seller niuniucme). As an aside, the chuck is "self-centering", not "self-centring" as the shipping crate describes it . . .
OK, we have all wondered about the SDA laser center/edge finder. Saw a concentric circle model and cross-hair model for $90 delivered for each on eBay; did a impulse buy on the cross-hair model after watching it for a couple of months. So how does it work? Well, it will not become my go to centering or edge finding device. Could be operator error, so your results my vary. I set a piece of paper with a cross-hair on it and rotated the spindle. The instructions indicate if you are seeing a circle, the center finder needs to be adjusted. The process is like truing a 4-jaw chuck, goes pretty quickly. There is a polarizing filter which when rotated dims the light and shrinks the lines/center point (I'd estimate the lines at about 0.005" wide and the center dot around 0.007"). I trued it and turned off the lights at my mill. Used a 3X magnifying visor and dialed the table onto the cross hair and zero'd my DRO. Then moved the table off center and repeated centering 6 times, and got within 0.003" each time. Not bad, but not great. Then removed the center finder and refit it in a collet. Spun the spindle and saw a circle about 0.015". I hadn't touched the adjustment on the laser, so must be inconsistency in my mill/collets/crap in the spindle? I can see a use for it, but I'll stick with a wiggler for now even though I doubt I'm repeatable within 0.003" with a wiggler.
Bruce
Center scope works fine, throw it in a collet on the mill, flood the work with light and move the table to find a center/scribed line. This one has just one line (no cross hair) so I need to turn the scope 90 degrees to pick up a center.
The D1-5 8" backing plate and 8" set-tru style chuck are for my Grizzly G0709 14" x 40" lathe. I always thought the 6" stock chuck looked small, plus with the jaws flipped the max diameter the chuck would handle wasn't much over 6" (ran out of scroll travel sooner that other chucks I have). Installation and my thoughts on the chuck will be in a POTD posting. The backing plate from CDCO was around $60 plus shipping. Chuck from CME tools was just under $220 off eBay (seller niuniucme). As an aside, the chuck is "self-centering", not "self-centring" as the shipping crate describes it . . .
OK, we have all wondered about the SDA laser center/edge finder. Saw a concentric circle model and cross-hair model for $90 delivered for each on eBay; did a impulse buy on the cross-hair model after watching it for a couple of months. So how does it work? Well, it will not become my go to centering or edge finding device. Could be operator error, so your results my vary. I set a piece of paper with a cross-hair on it and rotated the spindle. The instructions indicate if you are seeing a circle, the center finder needs to be adjusted. The process is like truing a 4-jaw chuck, goes pretty quickly. There is a polarizing filter which when rotated dims the light and shrinks the lines/center point (I'd estimate the lines at about 0.005" wide and the center dot around 0.007"). I trued it and turned off the lights at my mill. Used a 3X magnifying visor and dialed the table onto the cross hair and zero'd my DRO. Then moved the table off center and repeated centering 6 times, and got within 0.003" each time. Not bad, but not great. Then removed the center finder and refit it in a collet. Spun the spindle and saw a circle about 0.015". I hadn't touched the adjustment on the laser, so must be inconsistency in my mill/collets/crap in the spindle? I can see a use for it, but I'll stick with a wiggler for now even though I doubt I'm repeatable within 0.003" with a wiggler.
Bruce
