Master precision Machinist level

[Larry$]

I'd be looking at used Polish VIS levels.

I bought one of those, new, 30 years ago, when I was installing equipment. Seems to be an excellent level. But beware of chasing your tail!
For hobby use there are much better ways to spend your $! Lots of hobby lathes are mounted on wooden benches, that move with every change of season or humidity. You can remove most deviations on a semi decent lathe by doing a headstock & tailstock align for the cost of s a couple of pieces of heavy steel rod. If you are setting up on a concrete floor you can avoid some movement issues by not spanning control joints or cracks. Wooden floors are even more inclined to move.

 

[SouthernChap]

certainly more thorough than many who purchase this level of machine.

It's getting the right type and level of "thorough" where I think I (and a fair chunk of other beginners) need the help

Being a programmer will definitely hamper you a bit until you get your sea lathe legs under you.

Yep and especially being a professional, formally trained programmer. Learning by failure is much less of an option there (although obviously that still happens; my masters and customers would prefer that to be kept to a minimum though ).

As for admitting to 'goofs', I will be updating my thread with all of the aforementioned 'learning by failure' incidents fairly soon.

 

[SouthernChap]

Its about enjoying what you are doing. I find machining to be my escape and enjoy servicing and being a bit fiddly with my setup. If there is something I do not like I make it so I like it and the reward for this is making something cool and hitting my measurements. I like it all, the whole hobby, figuring things out, making decisions and seeing what the consequences are.

The one thing I know, if I cannot set things down when I get stressed and walk away for a time to think about it then come back to it when I settle down and have had a chance to think it through and work out the direction I want to go with it; then it isn't a hobby anymore, its become a job and I'll let it go because I already have a job and do not need another.

I do wonder if my writing style has led me to imply greater levels of stress than I intend.

There's a tendency in programmers to use hyperbole for comedic value when describing suboptimal experiences. So when I use phrases like "terror of" I really mean "aversion to"; so less of a 'health damaging stress feeling' but more of a 'tut and a raise eyes heavenwards feeling'. I think I'll try to be more precise in my language in future.

The reason I say the above, is that I actually rather enjoy the 'equipment tuning' aspect of the workshop. There's a particular joy in the work one has to do to get a smooth running, optimised (relative to the capabilities of the machine and work being done on it).

I mean obviously if one keeps tripping over obstacles and makes no progress, that can be frustrating but, as you say, that's often the time to down tools and go read a book or have a walk on the downs or grab your clubs and have quick hack on the local 9-hole course.

And for the really intractable stuff, there's this place and a "Dear God alive, what the hell am I doing wrong?!!!" thread.

 

[tim81]

Looks like good basic kit.

Yes, that is what I am trying to do. Did a few compromises but it will get me going initially to get my feet wet.

 

[tim81]

It's getting the right type and level of "thorough" where I think I (and a fair chunk of other beginners) need the help

Yep and especially being a professional, formally trained programmer. Learning by failure is much less of an option there (although obviously that still happens; my masters and customers would prefer that to be kept to a minimum though ).

As for admitting to 'goofs', I will be updating my thread with all of the aforementioned 'learning by failure' incidents fairly soon.

Well I do IT now,and programming way less now that what I wish. But the way I learned programming was try till you get it right. Most probably but teaching myself. Same with almost everything.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Its about enjoying what you are doing. I find machining to be my escape and enjoy servicing and being a bit fiddly with my setup. If there is something I do not like I make it so I like it and the reward for this is making something cool and hitting my measurements. I like it all, the whole hobby, figuring things out, making decisions and seeing what the consequences are.

The one thing I know, if I cannot set things down when I get stressed and walk away for a time to think about it then come back to it when I settle down and have had a chance to think it through and work out the direction I want to go with it; then it isn't a hobby anymore, its become a job and I'll let it go because I already have a job and do not need another.

Thinking things through is key at times.

I had a lathe with a busted helical gear in the apron I was restoring years back.

The gear was horrendously expensive from the manufacturer (I’m looking at you Clausing) and buying it would have cost more than what I would have been able to sell the lathe for when completed.


I sat on this for 6mo while fixing other aspects of the machine that needed addressed and finally after pondering on it for a long time, I hit on a workable solution I could perform with the equipment I had.

Brazing the busted teeth up and recutting them was an option, but seeing there were three teeth in a row missing on an iron gear brazing them up sufficiently was outside of my skill set at the time.

I would still need a way to index the gear to recut the individual teeth, and kinda had that figured out.

I basically just cut out the bad portion of the gear and made a bronze saddle block to fit where the material was removed, press fit it and pinned it with taper pins. Then I turned this on the lathe to bring it to size.

Then I made a fixture with single tooth blocks that had the same tooth profile that would mesh with the good teeth on the gear, spaced these two blocks 45* apart, and set it on the proper angle to recut the teeth indexing it for every tooth.

Had to grind an endmill with the proper profile, but that was no big deal.

This was a method of repairing this that was doing no additional damage and was repeatable if any step went wrong.

If I would have tried to rush into this I stood a good chance of ruining the gear, but for things like this I employ the physicians creed of “First do no harm”

Thinking like this and simply being patient with yourself goes a long way in dealing with difficult machining processes.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

It's getting the right type and level of "thorough" where I think I (and a fair chunk of other beginners) need the help

Yep and especially being a professional, formally trained programmer. Learning by failure is much less of an option there (although obviously that still happens; my masters and customers would prefer that to be kept to a minimum though ).

As for admitting to 'goofs', I will be updating my thread with all of the aforementioned 'learning by failure' incidents fairly soon.

Don’t mean to pressure you on the goofs, just don’t want to see you make the same mistake again.

You’re doing well going with the tapered rollers, no sense in doing this step incorrectly and causing the exact problem you are trying to avoid.

And even guys who are proficient will make mistakes or run into issues that are a result of their own workmanship.

I had the opportunity to use my mini mill yesterday and noticed something was amiss.

I have about 3-4 hours on it since it was last apart and during the last job I did it seemed to have excessive chatter, but I simply chalked it up to being a tall spindly part on a machine that is not the most rigid to begin with.

When I was finishing up my part yesterday (a simple clearance cut) I noticed a repetitive pattern in the cut that seemed out of place.

This didn’t set off alarm bells right away, but I was trying out a function in Touch DRO and noticed strange readings from the DRO.


I grabbed the table and forced it back/forth and discovered a boatload of slop in the Y axis saddle.

I know this was not there before and I was able to take it out with the lock so it’s a simple matter to fix.

Did I not tighten the gib screw locking nuts sufficiently.

Did the screws not seat in their divots?

Did I just do a poor job of setting it up?

Honestly, I don’t care what went wrong and even though it probably was my fault I’m not going to let it bother me, I’ll just readjust it and move on.

If this happens again, then I’ll scratch my head, but it probably won’t.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Well I pulled the plug and got some tools. I found some more from friend. Now need to get a vise and need to thing about any other tool I might need.

Any advice on a vise. Preferably not to expensive

My 2 cents here, out of all the stuff (tools) the vise is the one thing you want to spend a little more on. You can operate without a vise, you just have to build more fixtures to do so, but a good vise will make things much easier and enjoyable. I am assuming you are asking about a vise for your mill, if so, PM has some reasonable vises and they are good quality, the same can be said for Grizzly and I believe Little Machine Shop. A good set of toe and strap clamps will go a long way also if you do not have the budget for a good machinist vise currently.

 

[Larry$]

it will get me going initially

Something to consider on a new vice... Will parts be available years from now?
My used mill came with a really crappy vice. I tried using if but finally gave up. After much frustration finally bought a new Kurt, 6". Pricy and there are others that will likely work for less$.

 

[tim81]

My 2 cents here, out of all the stuff (tools) the vise is the one thing you want to spend a little more on. You can operate without a vise, you just have to build more fixtures to do so, but a good vise will make things much easier and enjoyable. I am assuming you are asking about a vise for your mill, if so, PM has some reasonable vises and they are good quality, the same can be said for Grizzly and I believe Little Machine Shop. A good set of toe and strap clamps will go a long way also if you do not have the budget for a good machinist vise currently.

Thanks a lot for your help. I got the toe and strap clamp kit for PM also will get a used Kurt 6” from @mmcmdl

Let’s hope I have enough now. If not will wait till next paycheck.

PS: the mill will be home tomorrow afternoon I just got the call.

Tim