Did a lot of work today on collets and workholding. Bored the spindle taper to a very clean taper, used a fatter boring bar than when boring the tailstock spindle so there was less flex and a nicer finish. It was "perfect" off the machine. As good of a surface finish as I could've asked for. But as soon as you touch it it turns grey!!!! Ahhh!!!
Made a nice collet to test, worked great. Have to make 4 more for a small set. Also need a drawbar.
Boring the spindle taper. Make sure your boring bar is on center with neutral rake angle or you will get a "false" taper.
Spindle taper closeup....a blurry closeup. Sorry for the multitude of bad pictures in this thread, I will try to use a better camera soon.
Made a collet, .182" collet bore and 4-40 threads in the back. If your wondering why a .182" bore, it's the perfect size for those political "vote for me" signs. Dad ran for town supervisor for awhile but never got elected so we have a hundred or so here plus other peoples. Great mild steel stock, and perfect size work for this lathe.
And here it is in the lathe. Tapers match real nice, and the collet has perfect leaf tension. Enough to be squished by hand but not too stiff or it will not grab the part. Worked out nicely.
Making a drawbar using some of that political sign material. Since my 109 won't thread 4-40 because I don't have the right change gears, and they are $11 a gear from HSS, I drilled and tapped 4-40 and used an inserted screw to make the male threads. I've done this on several parts before and it's worked great.
Here is a closeup of the drawbar threads, I know they look bent but that's just refraction from the eye loupe I was using as a camera lense.
Thanks for looking!