- Joined
- Dec 5, 2017
- Messages
- 481
Spent the bulk of the day in the shop. Using my tools to make parts for my tools...
Removed, disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled and reinstalled the 3 jaw chuck on the lathe. The jaw action was notchy, and the reason was apparent: beaucoup dirt, grease and chips inside the chuck. Scroll was filthy, jaw tracks were full of dried grease. All better now.
Then I made a set of soft copper jaw covers as I expect to be working with a fair bit of aluminum/brass/delrin.
Third project was to make a new set of jaw inserts for the ancient Craftsman 5" vise that came with the welding table I bought off Craigslist 3-4 years ago. Been gonna do that for a while, just never got a round tuit. Original inserts were hardened (file just skidded off them...) but it had been used for welding and beating on stuff so they were all beat up and the screws holding them to the vise jaws were worn out or plumb missing. Cut new ones to rough size out of scrap mild steel then milled them to finish size and drilled the mounting holes. Just waiting for some screws from McMaster-Carr to mount them.
And now the question: I suspect it would be better to have hardened inserts. Having already machined them, if I try to harden them are they likely to warp/distort/change dimensions (hole centers...)?
Removed, disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled and reinstalled the 3 jaw chuck on the lathe. The jaw action was notchy, and the reason was apparent: beaucoup dirt, grease and chips inside the chuck. Scroll was filthy, jaw tracks were full of dried grease. All better now.
Then I made a set of soft copper jaw covers as I expect to be working with a fair bit of aluminum/brass/delrin.
Third project was to make a new set of jaw inserts for the ancient Craftsman 5" vise that came with the welding table I bought off Craigslist 3-4 years ago. Been gonna do that for a while, just never got a round tuit. Original inserts were hardened (file just skidded off them...) but it had been used for welding and beating on stuff so they were all beat up and the screws holding them to the vise jaws were worn out or plumb missing. Cut new ones to rough size out of scrap mild steel then milled them to finish size and drilled the mounting holes. Just waiting for some screws from McMaster-Carr to mount them.
And now the question: I suspect it would be better to have hardened inserts. Having already machined them, if I try to harden them are they likely to warp/distort/change dimensions (hole centers...)?
