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My FIRST lathe project!
zetec7:
Thanks, Divided he ad!!
After looking at your previous thread, the following occurs to me...with this type of ball turner (basically, Steve Bedair's design & clones), it doesn't matter whether you work with the cross slide or the carriage...as long as you use ONLY ONE of these! Divided's method (if I may paraphrase!) is to set the cutting bit up at the center of the end of the shaft, then back the carriage up to where the cutter tip just touches the end of the shaft the ball is to be cut on, and slowly work your way along with JUST the carriage until you have a ball. My method (so far...I may adopt Divided's method!) is the opposite, working from the center (of the intended ball) outward toward the ends using JUST the cross slide. Both should work - well, mine has so far, and Divided's obviously works great!
If you move the carriage (in my method) or the cross slide (in Divided's method) you're going to end up with something...uh...lozenge shaped?...flat-knob shaped?...well, not what you were looking for :bugeye:. And if you DO move the wrong one, it's very difficult to accurately get back to where you were before. If this happens, and hopefully, the exact size of the ball isn't crucial, you could lock things down again after moving the cutting bit for a slightly smaller ball, and cut it down to a slightly smaller size to fix the lack of concentricity (is that a word?).
Have fun! I've reached the point where I look forward to chucking up a piece of work & attaching the "Zetec7 Ball Cutting Attachment, Mod. 1" to my lathe.
Divided he ad:
Zetec,
I think there is a little confusion over the carriage (saddle) and the cross slide usage?
The saddle is used to touch the tip to the end of the workpiece and then locked in position. The cross slide is used to draw the tool back towards yourself clear of the workpiece. Then the lathe is started and the cross slide is advanced slowly as the ball turner is swung in an arc thus cutting the desired shape.
There is a video of me turning a ball on youtube. Posted in a thread on here - http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=282.0 - it shows the saddle locked and the advancement on the cross slide only.
(until I start playing with the collar, then it looks wild and odd till you understand the camera is attached to the saddle)
I'm saying this just in case we're going to confuse Johnny or anyone else?
Does your carriage/saddle lock? as this will help avoid being able to turn the wrong wheel.
Mine is still the best tooling I ever made and own :dremel:
Happy that you're enjoying the machining :thumbup: Now for some :proj:
Ralph.
zetec7:
Okay, I WAS confused! As it turns out, I guess we were using the same method after all. I just didn't express it as well as you did - hope I didn't confuse Johnny!
Divided he ad:
Glad we figured that out :beer:
Ralph.
zetec7:
Ralph -
I just watched your Youtube video again - interesting comment from one viewer on what to use it for! I'm not sure if he meant to be serious or just silly. I thought your response was very thoughtful, and good-spirited. Well done Ralph!
I've watched your video probably a dozen times. It's what prompted me to build a ball turner in the first place... :thumbup:
- Mike
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