14-12-2011, 12:07 PM
Hi,
As I feel too perished to venture into the garage this morning I thought I’d add an update.
Thank you David for your continued support it is much appreciated. I would have a heart attack if I was faced with a bill of £125 for an abrasive belt and would certainly require oxygen whilst parting with the money. I like razor sharp tools and I’m aware that many wood turners use their turning tools directly from the grinder whilst the small burr still remains; others like to “stone” or hone the burr away. The burr is very beneficial though on a scraping tool. I’m interested to see just how sharp I can hone my skew chisel to once the new machine is completed; this is the most feared of all wood turning tools but once mastered is unsurpassed for providing a beautiful clean cut finish especially on pommels.
You certainly are not a novice when it comes to wood turning David in fact we have some of your exemplary turned items on display all turned to gallery standards. What you know about wood turning though you bring to metal turning owning and operating your first metal turning lathe it being the delightful small Lorch clock maker’s lathe. You are off to a flying start with your metal lathe because you already know what to look out for. It’s possible to turn wood in a woodturning lathe to quite high precision using nothing more than hand turning tools and a good eye. Many years ago I tuned a pair of small wooden lidded boxes and when the lid was removed it gave a very pleasant “pop” indicating a close fit.
Metal turning though unless just roughing is all about precision and with a great deal of care and much patience I can turn on my very worn and battered Myford lathe to very high precision in fact if I use my 0”-1” micrometer this measures to one tenth of a thou (0.0001”). If I wanted to work to closer precision then I would be into “lapping”.
My late father used to tell me stories of his WW2 days whilst he worked on final assembly of Lancaster Bombers. He too used to mention that unskilled women were being trained and one of the favourite things they would do would to be having a jolly good natter and lean on their hacksaws breaking many blades. It’s a good job they didn’t have mobile phones in those day.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours in the garage making a bit more progress. It was so cold I switched on the oil filled radiator and was working in my coat which goes against all my training; loose clothes and sleeves whilst working on machinery is highly dangerous but then so is freezing to death. Everything I did whilst working on the lathe took longer as I exercised caution before touching anything; a lathe in motion will quickly grab and pull the operator in causing serious injury and I don’t like hospitals.
The headstock on the Myford is through bored at 5/8” dia and just to be awkward I wanted to face/centre/drill and tap both ends of a 12" long ¾” dia bar of bright mild steel (BMS) This will be the main drive spindle for the bottom roller.
I know my lathe has been used by vandals and not operators previously as it is badly abused; I’ve never used the fixed steady before on this lathe so now pulled the steady out and wasn’t surprised to see even this has been vandalized. The clamping area had a section broken away; it did clamp closed but would not be safe to take heavy cuts with. To add to my grief this fixed steady sported two small clamping levers one each to two of the guide rods but the third (top) was secured with a socket screw. Another thing I don't like about this fixed steady is that the guide rods don't have micro adjustment by screw; such adjustment is very useful but it's better than nothing. I sincerely wish the engineers who taught me could have been standing behind the uncaring vandals who had caused so much damage to this lathe; their lifespan would have been considerably reduced.
I set everything up then faced the bar end and followed with the centre drill. A deep hole was bored at tapping size and this was then tapped at 8mm to accept a set screw upon final assembly. The hole was bored extra deep as I didn't want the tap to bottom out or it would possibly fracture as tapping like this in a lathe is much more brutal than hand tapping. I don’t own a sensitive tapping attachment for the lathe so instead chucked the tap in the tailstock Jacobs chuck and leaving the tailstock to slide freely this being a well tried and tested method giving perfect results. I ran the tap in to full depth. The bar was then treated exactly the same at its other end. I don’t own a left hand tap but doubt I’ll suffer any problems as I hope with all the care I’m putting in the new belt grinder will be sweet running with little vibration. If the set screw does loosen then I can always “Loctite” a threaded stud and add a “Nylock” nut.
Drilling and tapping to 8mm.
Next job I wanted to crown the alloy drive roller and had intended to secure the roller to the new ¾” dia spindle but given the condition of the fixed steady I resorted to using the dummy mandrel method as explained previously when I crowned the idler roller. This was enough for one day and I was fed up of bumping into things as the car remained in the garage due to snow being forecast.
The two 1.2kg bars of honing compound and the 4” dia x 1” wide sisal mop arrived from The Polishing Shop. What top class service I’ve received from this company; firstly they generously sent me three large samples of compound then when I placed the order the service was brilliant. The picture shows the order together with the three samples.
Honing compound; sisal mop and free samples.
The ten new grinding belts are expected very soon and these have been made especially to my size; the money has left our account so this indicates imminent arrival.
Even more good news; I’ve now sorted out the leather honing belt supplier problem. I phoned Econ Abrasives in Frisco USA on Monday and gave them my debit card details. The new leather honing belt is now being made to my size and will be shipped to me shortly. It beats me why the UK is now unable to supply even such a basic item as a leather honing belt and I’ve ended up buying from the states. Econ are excellent people to deal with.
In spite of the weather this project is moving along slowly and I now need to do some serious bench work. I don’t have a dimensioned sketch to work from but intend to make it up as I go along to suit what offcuts of steel I have to hand so it should prove interesting as well as a challenge.
Kind regards, Col.
As I feel too perished to venture into the garage this morning I thought I’d add an update.
Thank you David for your continued support it is much appreciated. I would have a heart attack if I was faced with a bill of £125 for an abrasive belt and would certainly require oxygen whilst parting with the money. I like razor sharp tools and I’m aware that many wood turners use their turning tools directly from the grinder whilst the small burr still remains; others like to “stone” or hone the burr away. The burr is very beneficial though on a scraping tool. I’m interested to see just how sharp I can hone my skew chisel to once the new machine is completed; this is the most feared of all wood turning tools but once mastered is unsurpassed for providing a beautiful clean cut finish especially on pommels.
You certainly are not a novice when it comes to wood turning David in fact we have some of your exemplary turned items on display all turned to gallery standards. What you know about wood turning though you bring to metal turning owning and operating your first metal turning lathe it being the delightful small Lorch clock maker’s lathe. You are off to a flying start with your metal lathe because you already know what to look out for. It’s possible to turn wood in a woodturning lathe to quite high precision using nothing more than hand turning tools and a good eye. Many years ago I tuned a pair of small wooden lidded boxes and when the lid was removed it gave a very pleasant “pop” indicating a close fit.
Metal turning though unless just roughing is all about precision and with a great deal of care and much patience I can turn on my very worn and battered Myford lathe to very high precision in fact if I use my 0”-1” micrometer this measures to one tenth of a thou (0.0001”). If I wanted to work to closer precision then I would be into “lapping”.
My late father used to tell me stories of his WW2 days whilst he worked on final assembly of Lancaster Bombers. He too used to mention that unskilled women were being trained and one of the favourite things they would do would to be having a jolly good natter and lean on their hacksaws breaking many blades. It’s a good job they didn’t have mobile phones in those day.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours in the garage making a bit more progress. It was so cold I switched on the oil filled radiator and was working in my coat which goes against all my training; loose clothes and sleeves whilst working on machinery is highly dangerous but then so is freezing to death. Everything I did whilst working on the lathe took longer as I exercised caution before touching anything; a lathe in motion will quickly grab and pull the operator in causing serious injury and I don’t like hospitals.
The headstock on the Myford is through bored at 5/8” dia and just to be awkward I wanted to face/centre/drill and tap both ends of a 12" long ¾” dia bar of bright mild steel (BMS) This will be the main drive spindle for the bottom roller.
I know my lathe has been used by vandals and not operators previously as it is badly abused; I’ve never used the fixed steady before on this lathe so now pulled the steady out and wasn’t surprised to see even this has been vandalized. The clamping area had a section broken away; it did clamp closed but would not be safe to take heavy cuts with. To add to my grief this fixed steady sported two small clamping levers one each to two of the guide rods but the third (top) was secured with a socket screw. Another thing I don't like about this fixed steady is that the guide rods don't have micro adjustment by screw; such adjustment is very useful but it's better than nothing. I sincerely wish the engineers who taught me could have been standing behind the uncaring vandals who had caused so much damage to this lathe; their lifespan would have been considerably reduced.
I set everything up then faced the bar end and followed with the centre drill. A deep hole was bored at tapping size and this was then tapped at 8mm to accept a set screw upon final assembly. The hole was bored extra deep as I didn't want the tap to bottom out or it would possibly fracture as tapping like this in a lathe is much more brutal than hand tapping. I don’t own a sensitive tapping attachment for the lathe so instead chucked the tap in the tailstock Jacobs chuck and leaving the tailstock to slide freely this being a well tried and tested method giving perfect results. I ran the tap in to full depth. The bar was then treated exactly the same at its other end. I don’t own a left hand tap but doubt I’ll suffer any problems as I hope with all the care I’m putting in the new belt grinder will be sweet running with little vibration. If the set screw does loosen then I can always “Loctite” a threaded stud and add a “Nylock” nut.
Drilling and tapping to 8mm.
Next job I wanted to crown the alloy drive roller and had intended to secure the roller to the new ¾” dia spindle but given the condition of the fixed steady I resorted to using the dummy mandrel method as explained previously when I crowned the idler roller. This was enough for one day and I was fed up of bumping into things as the car remained in the garage due to snow being forecast.
The two 1.2kg bars of honing compound and the 4” dia x 1” wide sisal mop arrived from The Polishing Shop. What top class service I’ve received from this company; firstly they generously sent me three large samples of compound then when I placed the order the service was brilliant. The picture shows the order together with the three samples.
Honing compound; sisal mop and free samples.
The ten new grinding belts are expected very soon and these have been made especially to my size; the money has left our account so this indicates imminent arrival.
Even more good news; I’ve now sorted out the leather honing belt supplier problem. I phoned Econ Abrasives in Frisco USA on Monday and gave them my debit card details. The new leather honing belt is now being made to my size and will be shipped to me shortly. It beats me why the UK is now unable to supply even such a basic item as a leather honing belt and I’ve ended up buying from the states. Econ are excellent people to deal with.
In spite of the weather this project is moving along slowly and I now need to do some serious bench work. I don’t have a dimensioned sketch to work from but intend to make it up as I go along to suit what offcuts of steel I have to hand so it should prove interesting as well as a challenge.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
