What to practice on lathe

Creativechipper said:
I was wondering the same, so many items seem to require a mill in addition to a lathe.

Can I mount a mill table vertical on the lathe and accomplish the same thing?
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There's a reason most of us own a lathe and a mill. :) I ran into the same problem. You can do a milling attachment on the lathe, and get an adapter to use milling cutters in the lathe headstock. I've always read not to try holding end mills in the chuck. You can use end mill holders or collet chucks though. Milling attachments have issues with rigidity, so wind up making poor substitutes, but it can be done and works fine if you keep within the limitations. I bought one shortly before I found a mill, so if you want one let me know and I'll make you a deal.

So, as I see it there are 2 issues here to make a square ended shaft in a lathe, starting from round stock. Without more "fancy" tooling..

Indexing the sides
Cutting flats

There are only 4 sides for most chuck keys I've seen, so you can index using the 4 jaws on a 4 jaw chuck against the ways with a square. For cutting, you could use a toolpost mounted grinder. Maybe something like a dremmel tool with a cutoff wheel? You would need some way to prevent the chuck from rotating while cutting/grinding.

You can also come up with some way to hold the stock in the toolpost and the cutter in the headstock. Perhaps an endmill holder and use a boring bar holder for a QCTP to hold the round stock. Cut one flat and index against it with a square like above, use the set screws to hold it. Probably need light cuts.

You would want to find the size of the required square and calculate the size to cut so it fits the chuck. So you can use a micrometer to measure against the round to determine proper depth.


If I were to make one today, I would use a square collet block in the mill. But it's an interesting thought process.
 
Had to face and drill the ends a 2" diameter X 110 1/4" long D2 tool steel bar before I left today. Had to remove the spindle stop for this so these pictures will give you a better idea of what it is.

An aluminum round counter bored to fit the end of the spindle and is held by set screws, a 3/4" hole is drilled through to accept the stop rod also held with set screws, the rod itself is 3/4" plain CR steel with a 1/2-13 thread on the working end. The thread allows you to screw adapters on the end because one can not stop a 2" ID tube with a stop that fits through the bore (-: The white plastic piece keeps the rod in the center of the spindle bore and is positioned with 1 set screw. I hope this is a clearer explination for you.

The spindle end




In order to do this afternoons work I held the part in a steady, the chuck and a spindle bushing, a spindle bushing does the same thing as what people here tend to call a "Spider" but is much simpler and requires little adjustment, I use a 3" OD piece of plastic stock that is a sliding fit in the spindle and bore it to a sliding fit for the stock then cross drill and tap on hole for a set screw to keep it in place, simple as pie lathe work and also a useful project for practice

A spindle bushing looks like so, the stop rod holder is held by the groove in the spindle end but this is not a requirement on a small machine


Make them for different sized stock diameters, I use dozens in various sizes.


Good luck
 
ttabbal said:
So, how are you making a chuck key in a lathe? Start from the right size square stock? It's easy with a mill, or even a milling attachment on the lathe. Just not sure how I would do it with only a lathe and "normal" lathe tools. I'm always interested in learning techniques.
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Add a file to your arsenal! :)
 
mikey said:
Add a file to your arsenal! :)
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But I was trying to make it way more complicated!! :)

I really do need to look into getting some good files though. The ones I have are cheapies. OK to break edges, but not good for much else.
 
I would also look at Grobet Swiss and Pferd.
 
ok now I see its like a spider, I thought it looked weird, like the back of the lathe vs the business end. So it's for hanging extra stock out the back of the chuck side. Not sure why I would do that but ok.
 
I'm with you Chipper. So far I made the t-nut for the QCTP. Today I made a release knob for my 20 ton shop press (the hydraulic jack pressure release knob) I really want to make a carriage lock but don't really understand how they 90 degrees angle of the ways is cut into lock on lathe. Really need to work on looking at the lathe differently. I see it as a rotational cutter....for round things. Somehow people make things with right angles all the time!
 
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