Ever had "One of those days" ?

GrifterGuru

GrifterGuru

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Ever had one of those days that no matter what you try to do, something always happens to put a spanner in the works? That was my day today!

Decided to finish turning the silver steel down to size so that I could run a die down it to create the 3/8 20 I need for the new leadscrew I am making for my "project" 7x.

7 passes down without a problem taking light 15 thou cuts.. Next cut, power feeding fine then it just stops power feeding. Ok Leave it for a few minutes whilst I have a brew and calm down.

Ok, unplug, spin lathe to access change-gear cover. Lets see whats going on. Rotate chuck to see what the issue is. Reverse tumbler gears rotating fine. Intermediate gears rotating fine. 80/20 set? only the 80 gear is spinning.. WTH? Ok, try to spin the 20 gear.. Nope, not happening.

Remove the 80/20 pair with carrier from the banjo. Remove retaining bolt, go to slide gears off... Hummmm, gears come of the carrier sleeve, key comes with the gears, but carrier sleeve stuck to carrier bolt shaft. 80 gear is spun. It has rotated on the carrier and gouged out the inner bore and is now useless. Well aint that a MF!! Lets try and get the sleeve off. Huh, not moving. Mount in vice, try persuading with pliers. Nope, not moving. Try with stillsons (tool of last resort!) STILL not moving.. Looks like it welded itself together DESPITE being lubricated only yesterday! Replace carrier sleeve and carrier bolt by robbing parts from the project lathe. Perfect, all set to carry on.

1 Hour later after having a break.

Running a 5 thou skim pass prior to checking diameter when the spindle stops rotating but the motor runs on.. NOW WHAT?!?!?! Ok, unplug again, spin the lathe round, remove change-gear cover a SECOND time. Remove cover plate from rear of headstock. check the first obvious culprit, the belt. Ok, belt has shredded about 30 teeth down to flat rubber! Belt was only put on earlier this year ffs!! Grab the original belt I kept as a spare, fit that, put the thing back together and carry on.

Think this carp is over? think again!

Running the third from last pass taking another 5 thou skim pass, I hear a whrrrrrr and the carriage stops moving. Here we go again. Unplug the thing, spin it around for the THIRD time and remove the change gear cover YET AGAIN!!

Given that by this point only three plastic gears remained in the change gear train, I looked at the 80 gear on the leadscrew first. Nope, not that. I know where it is, but which one the little beggars is the culprit? To find out, I have to emove the intermediate gear carrier, then remove the Reverse tumbler. Ahh, the larger of the 2 gears has some shaved teeth. Just what I needed to happen... NOT! Go back to project lathe and rob yet MORE parts... If I am swapping one gear, I may as well swap BOTH so I do not have this problem again. Fit the two metal gears to the reverse tumbler, put everything back together for the third time and go to carry on.

Just as I start the final cut of 2 thou, lathe stops dead, no power.

Walk away. Leave it alone. Go back 30 minutes later. First things first, check the fuse on the panel. Nope, that is fine. Next, check the fuse in the plug by swapping it for a known good one. Ahhh, thats the culprit, great. Lathe up and running, final cut done in less than a minute. at last.

DAMMIT!! Is that REALLY the time??

Lest to say all that cost me at least three hours of lost time. Having never had an issue previously, only to have four failures in the same day seems a bit strange. Not like I was pushing 40 thou cuts, the deepest cut I took was 16 thou.

Ahh well, at least I can carry on tomorrow.
 
Yeah, but did you die?

IMG_6679.jpeg

You know I am joking… on a serious note, glad you know how to take breaks in between the caos
 
Yes, I had a day like that yesterday. I was turning a 5" diameter part, looking for a diameter tolerance of less than 5 tenths. On the last pass, that was going perfectly, a hot chip flew out and hit my right arm. I flinched, with lightning like reflexes, and my hand hit the compound crank and moved it in just a bit, and ruined the cut and the part.

I have not gone back in the shop yet, just shut everything off. I suppose I will get over this in time.
 
@wachuko

Obviously not, otherwise I would not have posted that would I?? :laughing:

Sarky sod! :laughing:

I did end up having a "couple" of fine single malts to calm myself down after I packed up for the day though. I also have a new found appreciation for TCGT and CCGT inserts and how they handle and finish silver steel. Never seen such a clean finish from such a sharp insert (0.2 nose radius)
 
Please! What ever you do. Do not drive anywhere this evening.
Just kidding.:)
When things like this happen to me, I find other activities, reading or watching a good movie until the bad Karma (if there is such a thing) goes away.
 
I get days like that, about 7 times a week.
I was replacing the gear box in a straight 6 Holden station wagon some years ago after replacing the second gear that karked itself.
No matter what I tried it just would not slide in. I was lifting it, lowering it, turning the shaft but it obstinately refused to slide in.
After much wrestling and very very strong language (Gordon Ramsey's got nothing on me) I stopped, went upstairs for a cup of tea and calm down.
Half an hour later I went back to try again.
Miraculously the gear box was fully in place and I just had to bolt it up.
Never did find out why it wouldnt then did on its own.
I blame those cunning little bast***s who keep hiding your tools when you put them down.
 
At this point I'd be looking for a root cause to all the problems with your lathe. It sounds to me like something is intermittently seizing and you've perhaps been fixing the damage, but not the cause.

GsT
 
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