Indicator Holders...first Project With Milling Attachment

[thomas s]

Well done and nice job on the knob.

 

[jeff_g1137]

Hi
Nice, if it works, it works, good thinking out of the box. 9 out of 10.

 

[rex21]

That was some great thinking! I don't have a rotary table or indexer either, thats why I was interested in how you did it.
Thank you for taking the time to mock it up for the pics.

In my opinion there is not really a wrong way to do something if the end results are a finished functional part, and you still have all your fingers.

 

[2volts]

That's a nice job you have done there Todd.

I made similar knobs for my mini surface guage. They are only 12mm diameter so I grooved them by hand with a file.
But to get the right "spacings" -
I chucked the knob,
Turned my compound 90 deg to move parallel to lathe axis
put a small spirit level on the chuck jaws to level a jaw facing toward me
scribed a line just feeding a tool along the edge of the knob
Then bring the next jaw around and repeat and repeat again
Then do the same with the levelled jaw facing away from me x 3
Then finally with the jaw facing vertical x 3

Then into the vice and a bit of file work.

I actually prefer grooved knobs than knurled knobs or handles, I don't like the feel of a knurled surface on my fingers.

pete

 

[TTD]

Thank you for the tutorial, Pete...it's greatly appreciated! I like your method...hands down more precise than my "eyeball" version. Will log that one away for future reference, for sure!

I'm actually thinking about possibly purchasing a small, 4" rotary table w/chuck and adapting it to fit on lathe cross-slide for small jobs such as this. Not sure yet, we'll see. At some point though (soon I hope) I have to stop sinking $$$ into my small machine and just bite the bullet and purchase the right equipment (e.g - proper milling machine, bigger lathe).

BTW, I seen your mini surface gauge...very nice job! Well done!

 

[Round in circles]

That has set me a thinking .. I have a 70 or so yrs old British Sphere cum Atlas 10 F lathe the gear side face nearest the chuck has 60 x 6 degree locating holes in it . Just looked in the MOLO had to check I was right ...Hmm interesting ... 1 through to 10 then 12 ,15 ,20 , 30 & 60 positions to get indicator lines from using the tool to scribe lines either across the face of the work piece &/or on a turned round surface.
Now I feel can make some decent knobs for the band saw doors & the belt tensioner clamp on the cheapo drill press . Turning square bar once its been marked and drilled is starting to appeal to me , as I've got several sizes of square bar to play with and loads of big bolts that I can anneal to soften out any hard bits in the head .

All I have to do is try and juggle the to do list to get it near the top , it's all go , is this being retired thing .

 

[rdhem2]

I like your thought process in laying out work to get the job done. Pretty impressive. One point though. Don't under size yourself with a 4" rotary table. Get the biggest you can afford in light of machine space and money. Once you have one, the projects and uses will grow. I have a 12" and half the time it seems too small!

Keep 'er up buddy, you will be one to catch up fast!

Now get back to making SWARF!!!!!!!!

 

[ch2co]

I got my mini mill which was thrown in when I picked up my used lathe. Thought that I'd never use it, but set it up anyway
It has become one of the most used pieces of equipment in my shop. I love the little thing, although I do keep eyeing a larger
bench top mill. My lathe had a very small (and seemingly very used) mining adapter with it, and it still sits on a dusty shelf.
The milling adapper that you show is far better than mine. Then there are those int this forum who made their own adapters.
Savarin on this forum seems to do more milling on his small lathe than he does lathe work, and he's pretty good at it.
Tod seems to be in the same camp. Its a good way to learn both milling and lathe work at the same time.

 

[epanzella]

Pretty snazzy looking milling attachment! Got any more pix of it?

 

[Silverbullet]

Really a nice fully functional build . Way to do it. Others now will copy yours. YUPP nice job