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| Bezalel:
This is more of a record of my machine shop learning experiences. ::) Hopefully other beginners like me can learn from my unintended outcomes and the old timers well they might just get giggle. :lol: For my first turning project I went ahead and made my first tool. which was a fly-cutter to bolt to the face plate. On an 8 inch face plate it covered a large surface. Machining up my second project (which was a much needed angle bracket) I count both these projects a success as well as being very educational. Having bought a lathe without the benefit of 20/20 hind sight I soon discovered it is difficult to mill anything on a lathe that has no T slots in the cross slide. (you'll see in later photos). :doh: I don't think Mrs was quite as easily convinced :poke: but it was obvious to others, This Workshop Needs a Mill. Of course the type of mill drill I could afford, typically comes with a drill chuck but no collet chuck So the start of my next Project #3MT Collet Chuck Now on with some milling! What .. No T Nuts! :scratch: Oh well! lets make some .. on the mill? At this point there is a song stuck in my head. ### With what shall I hold it dear Eliza? with what? ### :palm: by chance I have a few ½ Whitworth cap head bolts, (what a shame there not 5/8 I think they would fit even better) any way, if I file a few mm off each side of the head they should do nicely to hold the vice down while I mill a piece of bar to make some T Nuts (with light cuts of course, I don't want to rip a chip out of my nice new mill table) Now where were we – thats right making a #3MT Mill Collet Chuck. The first hurdle is the #3 taper. The book says the Taper starts at a diameter of .778 and for 3-3/8ths of an inch it tapers out 0.0502 per inch on the diameter. :smart: I don't know about you but as a novice I'm struggling to understand what it means let alone measure it with a ruler and calipers. :zap: But I have seen something that could help, on the cover of one of Tubal Cain's books. See below if Nexus Don't mind the plug so from this example, if I mount the 3MT centre between centres ( at the head end center drill a piece of very old round bar) and then line up the side of the compound slide with the edge of the taper, it has to cut a 3MT right? Worked out o.k. in my head but when I went to the lathe there's two problems :doh: 1.the edge of the compound slide is well below the center height and 2.tail stock is in the way. If I make a parallel block (on the mill) I can sit that on the compound slide and measure the gap at both ends of the center at centre height. The rest is is just threading and turning. :coffee: Except the collet tightening handle and the bluing, I'll talk about them another time. |
| Rob.Wilson:
Nice going bezalel :thumbup: Nothing better than making ones own tooling :med: ,,,,,,,,,,, i like your tapper setting block ,, good idea :headbang: :clap: :clap: :clap: Rob |
| Bernd:
Ya, I kind of know how that goes. Very interesting and amusing story. :thumbup: Bernd |
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