Author Topic: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill  (Read 15109 times)

Offline 75Plus

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Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« on: October 24, 2009, 05:06:28 PM »
As I stated in my introductory post I wanted to explore the possibility of using my X-2 mill to turn ball knobs. This thread is a report on my findings.

The first thing I did was make a ball turner similar to the ones found on this forum. I then mounted it on a piece of heavy, 1/2", angle iron that I had on hand. What I have now I consider a prototype. It works well with wood, which I intended it for, but is prone to chatter badly with brass or aluminum. Here is what it looks like:





I found out after I had completed assembling the turner that some changes had to be made. First there was on room to operate a control lever that was in the conventional location. The control point had to be moved to the base of the main body. Since I was stuck with the short spigot I drilled and tapped the retaining nut and put in a soft pointed, long, grub screw. I was able to slip a piece of brass tube over the grub and it operated the turner smoothly. A bonus feature is that your hand is safely away from the spinning parts.

Now I will try to explain my how I completed the project. I started with a piece of 1 1/4" dowel rod 3 1/2" long in my lathe.



I turned 2 1/4" of it down to fit in a 3/4" R-8 collet.



After that was done I went to the mill to see if my idea really worked.



It DID!!



I took the blank back to the lathe for sanding and drilling the hole to make it into a knob. I did not make pictures of that operation but this is where it ended up. The contraption it is on is a tool to service the mainsprings in old, and some new, 8 day, wind up clocks. These springs can be difficult to work with without special tools.



What do you think? I know the entire project could be done on a lathe but then I would not know if it could be done on a mill.

And... did I post enough pictures? 
Joe

bogstandard

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2009, 05:14:05 PM »
Joe,

As far as I am concerned, you have done a great job there.

If you don't want to do it on a lathe, try something else, and you have come up with your own solution that works great.

A very nice post indeed. Informative with a good explanation and piccies.


Bogs

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2009, 05:21:01 PM »
hi Joe

A nice bit of thinking out of the box, just goes to show what you can do with a little bit of imagination, lovely work  :thumbup:

Thanks for showing and sharing

 :beer:
Stew
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Offline dsquire

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2009, 05:37:40 PM »
Joe

Great job with that ball turner. Nice also to see it done on the mill. I like your tool to service the mainsprings. It goes to show that some good tools can be built out of wood and be quite serviceable. The pictures are great. :ddb: :ddb:

cheers  :beer:

Don
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Baldrocker

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2009, 07:05:32 PM »
Joe.
What a great combination of wood and metal your special tool is.  :clap:
Like the idea of the ball turner too.
BR

Offline tinkerer

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2009, 07:38:15 PM »
Very good job of describing what you wanted and depicting the steps to get there. Way to go. Someone had asked about a spring winder not long ago. Maybe a different kind of spring though.
Tink

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tumutbound

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2009, 09:32:23 PM »
Was it just me that couldn't see any pictures ??

Offline ChooChooMike

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2009, 12:09:51 AM »
I can't see the pictures either :(

Hmmmmm, the HTML <img> tags ARE present in the source code, but the images aren't showing up for me here.

Mike
« Last Edit: October 25, 2009, 12:12:24 AM by ChooChooMike »

tumutbound

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2009, 12:56:03 AM »
The URLs (photobucket)  in IMG tags work OK if I cut and paste.

Offline dsquire

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2009, 12:57:50 AM »
tumutbound and  ChooChooMike

The pictures are working ok for me now and they were ok several hours ago when I first read the post. Don't know what else to say.  :(

Cheers  :beer:

Don
Good, better, best.
Never let it rest,
'til your good is better,
and your better best

Offline Gerhard Olivier

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2009, 04:23:27 AM »
Neat idea and a very nice wood and metal tool (even MRS sayd its gorgeous)

Gerhard
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Channel Islands

Offline jim

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2009, 04:40:35 AM »
i like it :clap: :clap:
if i'd thought it through, i'd have never tried it

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2009, 05:49:03 AM »
Proves there`s more`n one way a skinnin a cat!  :thumbup:

Well done Joe!   :clap:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

tumutbound

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2009, 07:59:48 AM »
tumutbound and  ChooChooMike

The pictures are working ok for me now and they were ok several hours ago when I first read the post. Don't know what else to say.  :(

Cheers  :beer:

Don

Pictures worked OK with Opera browser but not Firefox
??

Offline Darren

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2009, 08:07:55 AM »
Pictures work fine for me in Firefox in both Vista and Linux ...  :thumbup:
You will find it a distinct help… if you know and look as if you know what you are doing. (IRS training manual)

Offline 75Plus

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #15 on: October 25, 2009, 11:18:45 AM »
Thanks, guys, for the kind comments.

Another reason I wanted to use the mill for turning wood was the need for speed. The max I can run the lathe is 1550 RPM which is slow for wood. Having my hand near that 6" chuck spinning at that speed causes a bit of concern. I can run the mill at 2500 with no concerns.

Joe
« Last Edit: October 25, 2009, 11:48:13 AM by 75Plus »

Offline CrewCab

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Re: Turning Ball Knobs on A Mill
« Reply #16 on: October 25, 2009, 04:00:41 PM »
Nice Work  :dremel:

CC