Adventures of a newbie

[Ben17484]

Got some new tool holders through today. I ordered the AXA XL tool holders as they supposedly allow for larger tooling to be used as they have a thinne ‘shelf’ (probably the wrong term) section at the bottom allowing a lower centreline of the tool.

Unfortunately even using the XL tool holders I can only use up to 10mm tooling as the 12mm still ends up above centreline. I have a full set of insert tooling at 10mm, but I also have loads of 12mm+ HSS that I’d like to be able to use one day. I think at some point I’ll mill off a small amount on the bottom of some of the tool holders to allow for using 12mm tooling.

These AXA XL holders were far cheaper to order from US eBay and have delivered to the Uk than they were to order here. They all seem to fit well, and for £65 delivered for 5, I’m pretty happy with them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ben17484]

I decided to drill two holes 180 degrees apart on my collet chuck to allow for using a Tommy bar that I already had to tighten and loosen the nut. All seems to work well

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ben17484]

A bit more practice tonight making a coupler for my dad. He gave me the old one that had mangled threads and asked if I could make a new one. Pretty simple, but still happy with how it turned out.

I tried threading away from the chuck for the first time and I am now a convert. I was able to run the lathe at 365rpm which made everything a lot faster to achieve and I think made the threads nicer as well. Don’t think I’ll ever be going back to threading towards the chuck.

Old part on the left, new part on the right. It doesn’t matter that the part I made is slightly longer as it’s only a coupler for an air gun, but I had to make it slightly longer to allow for having a gutter to start the thread in. Not sure how to thread right up to a shoulder without a die?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[verbotenwhisky]

The first one appears to be an Alfred Herbert quick change drill chuck

You need a pin spanner to tighten the collet chuck.
View attachment 465986
One of the only times we here in the U.S. call a wrench a spanner.

Nice looking machines...

 

[Ben17484]

Offcuts - lots of offcuts. I keep an eye on eBay as it’s the only place for me to really get good price stock, and there was an engineer selling job lots of stock as he was retiring. The price seemed too good to pass up:

I’ve already box with a fair few offcuts in that I’ve bought in the past, but now I’ll need to figure out a better way to store this.

This should keep me going for a long time with the projects I have in mind. I may need to buy the odd piece of stock for specific projects, but I think I’m fairly well covered for now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ben17484]

Small one today. I have X and Y scales fitted to my mill, but no Z. I had an IGaging scale already, so fit that for now:

I have a quill dro on the mill for setting the cutting height, but this will be good for getting back to the same point if needing to move the head for changing tools etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ben17484]

A UK machining supplier had a sale, and there was a couple of things that caught my eye due to the price:

Letter punch, fly cutter and boring head.

I’m a little confused about the boring head. I’ve never used one before, but having seen A LOT of YouTubers use them, I was fairly confident about how to use one…. Until I saw it.

The description states it can be used in a horizontal and vertical modes.

I don’t see a way to lock it in either position though. There’s also a fairly confusing (to me) two pins that come with it:

I’ve no idea what these are for? The larger one slides in to the boring head and can be fixed in place by a set screw. The smaller pin fits in the larger and is fixed in place by another set screw. No idea what either are for though

My impression was that I’d get boring bits that would lock in to the head and I’d bore with those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[extropic]

I think I see a a setscrew in the OD of the pivoting toolholder. When that setscrew is tightened, against a boring bar, it will expand the pivoting toolholder and lock both in place. The small diameter rod is presumably HSS, or possibly carbide, and needs a cutting edge ground to suit.

I've not seen a boring head like that before. I would say it's intended for light duty work but is very adjustable. I don't have great confidence that the pivot will stay put in anything beyond light cutting. YMMV

 

[Firstram]

Looks like the boring bar needs to rotate to orient the cutting tool horizontally, maybe.

 

[Ben17484]

I think I see a a setscrew in the OD of the pivoting toolholder. When that setscrew is tightened, against a boring bar, it will expand the pivoting toolholder and lock both in place. The small diameter rod is presumably HSS, or possibly carbide, and needs a cutting edge ground to suit.

I've not seen a boring head like that before. I would say it's intended for light duty work but is very adjustable. I don't have great confidence that the pivot will stay put in anything beyond light cutting. YMMV

Thanks extropic. I tested your theory and it works.

Tightening the set screw with a tool inside pushes outward and locks it in place.

I feel that getting this perfectly aligned vertically would be quite hard. Or does that not matter?

As for the two other ‘pins’, are you thinking that the very small pin is HSS and should be ground as a cutter? Seems very small?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk