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PeterE adapting a CES fixed steady to fit the C3 lathe
PeterE:
I just set up a mock-up for using the steady to show how it looks on the machine. (Excuse the piles of swarf, but I am currently working on other bits.)
The support fingers are not completely done yet, but I think you can get the idea. The steady seems really ridgid and fits well onto the bed/machine.
This steady came as a set of castings from College Engineering Supply and cost me some 12-ish pounds at the time I think it was. Very good castings I might add, no hard spots or other suprises (other than my own bloobers of course :doh:) A really nice little project ending with a very useful piece of tooling.
BR
/Peter
PeterE:
A short report along the way.
I have come to one of the final steps before being ready, and what do I find :bugeye: One of the seats for the support fingers are out of angle :bang: This means that the fingers does not meet nicely in the center as they should.
I think this is a result of my initial measuring out of the hole positions. I do not (yet) have a rotary table so I had to use a pair of dividers to step around the pitch circle. That went quite OK (I thought) but I forgot to check with a paper template made in the computer. It is very easy to make a triangle with a specific diameter and to cut it out to check. I did that now and realize that one of the three holes/seats are approximately 5 mm out of angle along the PCD.
So, now the misplaced hole is plugged with an epoxi-glued M7 piece of screw to allow a new hole to be drilled in the proper location. Following that, the seat will be re-milled to fit the support finger, and finally a small pad will be screwed and glued to fill up the distance towards the bottom of the seat.
Apart from this, the steady will work admirably! It fits like a glove on the bed and feels very ridgid. It has turned out exactly (well all right) as I anticipated and I think it will serve me well over time.
I did check the price again and it is around £16 at CES, see link below:
http://www.collegeengineering.co.uk/Castings/562.htm
BR
/Peter
PekkaNF:
--- Quote from: PeterE on July 02, 2011, 08:59:05 AM ---.... hole is plugged with an epoxi-glued M7 piece of screw ....BR/Peter
--- End quote ---
What? You have a french car? Only two places I see M7 thread are "metrificated" imperial drawings and some of bolts in Citroën. That M7 needs a little clarification...on the other hand I just bought 7/16 UNC 6" bolt.
Pekka
PeterE:
He, he, no I do not have a French car :D
The M7 tap and die were just parts of a tap and die set I bought a bunch of years ago, and incredibly enough I found use for it in this application. The hole is 6,3 mm (1/4") from the beginning so an M7x1 tap is perfect to make the threads without re-drilling the hole.
BR
/Peter
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