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My FIRST lathe project!
tony ennis:
That's very nice. I find it amusing - and fitting - that the first object made using the jig is the handle for the jig. :thumbup:
zetec7:
--- Quote from: AdeV on September 11, 2010, 05:37:20 AM ---Zetec - looks really nice, and you built it using only a lathe? Respect...
Q: How did you cut the cutout where the three cap-head screws go? Was that a milling cutter in the chuck & the ball turner clamped to the cross-slide, or some other technique? Enquiring minds want to know...
--- End quote ---
Unfortunately, I had to go to a machine shop to get that done! Thus, my desire for a milling attachment (I'm negotiating for one from one of the fellows on the Practical Machinist site who has one to spare). That little bit of machining cost $86 +taxes :bang: The most "involved" bit of machining is inside the turner, though - the profile of the Saab throwout bearing is tall and fairly complex, so about half of the relief went into the puck and half into the base. That took me a while! One day, I'll take it apart & photograph the innards...
johnny123:
That is a fine looking turner you have there! I had to do some hmm's and hahh's because of the limited height there was to work with. Overall I am happy with mine other than setting the darn thing up so I am not making eggs...lol. Anyone have some advice on this detail?
zetec7:
Thanks!
AS for making eggs, well, my second attempt was an egg as well! I finally figured it out (it's pretty bad when you build your own tool from scratch, and THEN have to figure out how to use it!). Find the center (left-to-right, not up & down) of where the ball is going to be (basically, the point nearest yourself on its circumference), and lock the carriage! Then, just back out the cross slide until rotating the tool by its handle just causes the bit to start cutting at the left and right extremes of the ball, and slowly advance the cross slide in, but ONLY the cross slide. Gradually, the cuts on the ends will move inward, towards each other, meeting at the equator of the ball. If you move the carriage even a smidge after you start cutting, you'll make an egg, or at least an oval. Ask me how I know... :bang:
Anyway, when I followed my own advice ( ::)) it worked like a charm. Here's a little part I made for a friend's motorcycle (it's a helmet hanger - threads into a disused mirror mount on his handlebar - you just hang the helmet by its D-ring on the strap, and it doesn't fall off). It's made of T6061 aluminum, so it's easy to turn - a good practice piece, I figure...
The ball on the end is concentric within .0005", although it may not look like it in the pic (darned flash!)...
Divided he ad:
Nice looking tooling there Zetec :thumbup:
Same as myself, the first tooling I made, I made all the turned parts then tried to use my vertical slide (milling attachment) and scared the hell out of myself when I shattered a cutter (my fault entirely) but I waited for a couple of months then got a second hand milling machine off e-blag and finished it with that.... Expensive, yes. Worth it, oh yes!
if it wasn't for the postage you could have my vertical slide for next to naff all!
Johnny and anyone else wishing to stop turning eggs, the set up is quite simple and I explained it in a thread over on the HMEM site a while back...
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=1721.45
Hopefully this will shed some light on it for you?
Zetec, you're going to find a never ending stream of things that can have balls concaves and all manner of somewhat spherical things added to them..... Enjoy :thumbup:
Ralph.
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