- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
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There was some comments on another topic about polishing on the lathe, and the possible issues with getting sucked in if the cloth grabs and wraps around the object while you are holding the paper/cloth.
In the shop we polish small work rolls for our rolling mills in the lathe. This is to remove the oxide buildup from the oils that basically burns away on the metal as it passes through the mill as it is reduced in thickness over multiple passes. The lowest we go to is .0005", just so you know.
Here is a couple pictures of the working end. As you can see it is a set of used crucible tongs that I have installed a leather strap and two wood blocks to pinch the leather and hold the screw that passes through the tong ends. You can not see it too well but the leather has the sand paper fully support all around the roll except at the opening. The tong handles are about 3 ft long, I just used what was at hand. They do not have to be so long. The sanding paper/cloth is simply placed inside the leather strap and the operator slids it over the roll and squeezes the handles together to apply force. If the sanding paper/cloth grabs all that happens is it either wraps around the roll or is spit out the back and falls to the floor behind the lathe. If you really get freaked out just let go and the tongs fall to the ground and that is it, other than maybe your foot gets hit. Tension is released just by opening the handles and even with just a 1" wide strap you can slow the lathe down a fair bit, not that you want to.
We drip the sanding paper/cloth in cutting coolant as a lube and simply move it back and forth along the roll until either the roll is done or reload new paper and coolant and continue.
I used to do it by hand but the tongs give me a better finish as the force required is lower and better control as well. No stress, no muss.
Pierre
In the shop we polish small work rolls for our rolling mills in the lathe. This is to remove the oxide buildup from the oils that basically burns away on the metal as it passes through the mill as it is reduced in thickness over multiple passes. The lowest we go to is .0005", just so you know.
Here is a couple pictures of the working end. As you can see it is a set of used crucible tongs that I have installed a leather strap and two wood blocks to pinch the leather and hold the screw that passes through the tong ends. You can not see it too well but the leather has the sand paper fully support all around the roll except at the opening. The tong handles are about 3 ft long, I just used what was at hand. They do not have to be so long. The sanding paper/cloth is simply placed inside the leather strap and the operator slids it over the roll and squeezes the handles together to apply force. If the sanding paper/cloth grabs all that happens is it either wraps around the roll or is spit out the back and falls to the floor behind the lathe. If you really get freaked out just let go and the tongs fall to the ground and that is it, other than maybe your foot gets hit. Tension is released just by opening the handles and even with just a 1" wide strap you can slow the lathe down a fair bit, not that you want to.
We drip the sanding paper/cloth in cutting coolant as a lube and simply move it back and forth along the roll until either the roll is done or reload new paper and coolant and continue.
I used to do it by hand but the tongs give me a better finish as the force required is lower and better control as well. No stress, no muss.
Pierre
):allgood:
