2020 POTD Thread Archive

[tjb]

Here are a couple of quick-and-dirty's I did:

1. ER spring collet rack - A good friend of mine found a great deal on eBay for an ETM ER 40 chuck and collet set. It was advertised as being very lightly used and in near mint condition. I snatched it up and found it to be just as advertised. Most of the collets were still in the original sealed wrappers. The only flaw (if you want to call it that) is the original wooden case was beginning to separate at some of the glue joints. I didn't want to keep them in that case anyway because it would be cumbersome to open and close the lid from inside my tool chest. I had some leftover 1/4" cast acrylic so I decided to make a rack for the 15 collets in the set. It's now resting comfortably in my tool chest next to my R8 and C5 collets (here's a shot of the aluminum racks I made for them as well).





2. Centering jig rack - While I was at it, I decided to make a smaller rack for my homemade centering jigs which have basically been lying around in a tool chest drawer. These come in handy when trying to indicate a rotary table or a work piece that already has a hole in it.



Regards

 

[Franko]

I had a couple of free hrs for "chip therapy" yesterday. I've seen some of the members have replaced the nut on the top of their toolpost with a handle. That seemed like a good project. Anytime I can do away with a wrench, I'm all about it. I like it so much, I may have to make one for my other lathe.

FWIW.... only reason my handle is the way it is, is because I had just finished my ball turner and was playing with it.

Jim, Chuck, you guys made beautiful wrenches. I'm not clear if they permanently mounted or come off like a wrench.

I opted for a single purpose compact wrench that I could remove while the tool post is locked down to get it out of the way.
It is a modification of a 3/4" combination wrench on the provided tool post nut.
I sawed the open end of the wrench off, leaving about a 7" handle on the closed end and smoothed off the cut.
It is compact and there is plenty of room for it in the top drawer of my stand.

 

[Bill W.]

Jim, Chuck, you guys made beautiful wrenches. I'm not clear if they permanently mounted or come off like a wrench.

I opted for a single purpose compact wrench that I could remove while the tool post is locked down to get it out of the way.
It is a modification of a 3/4" combination wrench on the provided tool post nut.
I sawed the open end of the wrench off, leaving about a 7" handle on the closed end and smoothed off the cut.
It is compact and there is plenty of room for it in the top drawer of my stand.

View attachment 324230

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Franko
Is that a "stop block" I see on your lathe?
I like it... Bill W.

 

[stioc]

I don't know what it's officially called but I saw something similar on Abom79's channel some time ago where he used it to check the shaft for running true and to weld it. I had to have my own...you know because I might use it once in my lifetime perhaps but I had everything to make it with in my scrap pile so why not? Took all of one hr to do it.

One of the bearing mounting holes is a slot so the distance between the bearings is adjustable.

 

[Franko]

Bill, I do have a stop block clamped to the rail, but those pieces of wood are just pieces of wood — because everything has to be somewhere.
I think I used them to protect the ways when I chucked the small chuck for some project requiring a small chuck.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

finished two idler pulleys and a crowned tracking/ tensioner pulley plus shafts for a friends 2x72 belt sander he's building. All made from various bits of scrap.




also trued up and balanced the drive pulley/ flywheel for the treadmill motor he's going to power it with. That was a hell of a job. Had to run the lathe in reverse with a carbide boring bar upside down in the tool post. The pulley is the center part of a truck interaxle I found at the side of the road a while ago.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

here's the mock up of the belt sander - my friend couldn't wait to try it out (he picked up the parts this afternoon)


as for me, I had a happy (sort of) few hours dismantling 2 car batteries and 2 motorbike batteries. The aim is to melt the lead down and turn it into a counterweight for my drill press table.


seriously wouldn't want to do this for money, that's for sure!

 

[stioc]

Another one of those tools I've been wanting for a while but my 2 car garage has no room left for anything anymore so didn't want to buy a floor model. I came across one on Eastwood's website and thought hey I think I could make that in an afternoon. Thanks to the scrap pile I had everything I needed. The machinig portion of the work was limited to truing up the bandsaw cut parts and making chamfers on the 1/2" dowel pins.

It's surprisingly stout- laughs at 1/4" material. I have a shop press I've used to bend things in the past but this is so quick and effortless on the smaller stuff it's just plain fun to use. Seriously I never thought I'd have this much fun making pretzels out of metal. I gotta order some 3/16" and 1/4" rods to play with and I'll make a couple of dies to increase the bending radius.

 

[jwmelvin]

I got pieces machined and welded together for the driving-simulator frame I’m building my buddy, along with updating my frame to include some new features.

I also 3d printed a lathe end stop ...

...to make a bunch of internal stiffeners for the tube.

 

[Tim9]

Nice projects Mat. Both of those are on my list. Kieth Fenner has a series of videos where he makes some real beefy bearing rollers which he uses for big shafts. He’s a true artist when he straightens bent shafts using those rollers and an Oxy-acetylene torch. Keith also sells super nice kits to make pretty damned precision Rollers . He plasma cuts the steel and includes prints to assemble each roller. His rollers are bigger and heavy duty. But in all honesty.... I too wanted a smaller roller. Plus, it’s one of those tools I don’t need right now. Just want it. And have been spending the last 2 days getting my lathe chucks dialed into my newest South Bend 9”.

Every chuck was dialed dialed for my 3-1/2’ bed 1939 model C. And it’s spindle is a little different to my two 4-1/2’ bed model A’s. The C has a pronounced register for the screw on chucks. It’s about 1/8” long and 1.800” diameter.

Longer story there, but....that little Model C is just a joy to use. I had made bigger dials and converted it to a B. New apron and power feed but still change gears. The thing about the 1939 lathe is that the spindle bearing surfaces is super polished cast Iron and the headstock also is just cast iron. Bearing is cast iron on cast iron. But I tell you....80 years later and it’s a beautiful polished finish. Not a mark on both the headstock and spindle bearing surfaces. To add to the argument on bearing surfaces.... this lathe had not been babied. The old C manual apron was absolutely wiped out. The crank literally had about an inch of movement up and down. I don’t think the lathe was oiled much at all. The bed is so damned banged and nicked.And yet....that little lathe is amazingly accurate within a thousandth inch. Anyway....Both of the Model A’s have a bonze bearings. And the Model A’s are War Production lathes. That tells me that Cast Iron on Cast Iron is a good design....but more labor intensive. But, that doesn’t mean cast iron bearings are a lesser design. Cast iron is porous and holds oil. I guess kind of like the sintered bronze bearings. And when they get hot, that oil starts migrating out of the iron.

But, I really need to get those rollers too. I’ve had a few bent shafts, but luckily they were short enough to fit my surface plate. The torch method is really cool. And depending on how straight you need it....it’s fast. Much better results than just trying to straighten a shaft or round bar using a hydraulic press.

And I also like your sander. Just love it when a “dumpster dive” part I had saved ends up getting used like that. I’m constantly setting crap like that in my junk box and regularly looking for a use of said junk when making a tool. I also like your vise mounted bender. Both are good projects non my list too.