The Machine Work Thread

[kazlx]

Bought some 6AL-4V Ti today to experiment with. Rings are an easy round object to make on the lathe.

 

[kazlx]

Phone doesn't do macro so well...

 

[ez-duzit]

Nothing fancy here. Just some tooling I needed. But, except for slotting a couple holes, this is my first job for my new/old Index mill. A great first experience.

In order to bend a mirror polished 1-1/2" 316 stainless pipe, I had to replace the steel rollers in my HF pipe bender with saddles, so there would be no point contact to damage the polished finish.

Beginning with a large block of steel, 2" thick, I first bandsawed the block in two. Then milled about 1/2" off the long edge, so it would fit inside the bender's frame. As one face of each block was pretty beat up, I fly-cut those. Centered on each block I drilled a 7/8" hole, which I then bored to 1-1/2", because my boring head maxed out; here I cheated and had a friend open the bores to 2.08. After cross drilling them for the bender axles, I bandsawed both blocks in two. This made two sets, so I could pair them when used for clamping.
note: So the blocks could accommodate both 1-1/2" pipe (1.90 OD) and 2" tube (2.00 OD), I chose 2.08 for the nominal bore size, so I could line them with .030" thick aluminum shims, as required, to protect the polished surface.

Photos show the blocks used for clamping in the mitering bandsaw; tape holding aluminum shims. Bender.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nothing fancy here. Just some tooling I needed. But, except for slotting a couple holes, this is my first job for my new/old Index mill. A great first experience.

In order to bend a mirror polished 1-1/2" 316 stainless pipe, I had to replace the steel rollers in my HF pipe bender with saddles, so there would be no point contact to damage the polished finish.

Beginning with a large block of steel, 2" thick, I first bandsawed the block in two. Then milled about 1/2" off the long edge, so it would fit inside the bender's frame. As one face of each block was pretty beat up, I fly-cut those. Centered on each block I drilled a 7/8" hole, which I then bored to 1-1/2", because my boring head maxed out; here I cheated and had a friend open the bores to 2.08. After cross drilling them for the bender axles, I bandsawed both blocks in two. This made two sets, so I could pair them when used for clamping.
note: So the blocks could accommodate both 1-1/2" pipe (1.90 OD) and 2" tube (2.00 OD), I chose 2.08 for the nominal bore size, so I could line them with .030" thick aluminum shims, as required, to protect the polished surface.

Photos show the blocks used for clamping in the mitering bandsaw; tape holding aluminum shims. Bender.

Nice.

Do you mind me asking what mitering bandsaw to you have?

Mike.

 

[ez-duzit]

The bandsaw is made by Vectrax (Taiwan) and sold by MSC.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00923011
It is identical to the Baileigh here, except for color.
http://www.baileigh.com/horizontal-and-vertical-band-saw-bs-712ms

Mine was purchased as an eBay auction, in new condition, with the blade wheels missing and of course no blade, for $800 + $400 shipping from a Florida based industrial recycler. The blade wheels were ordered through MSC for ~$150, and shipped from Taiwan. It has a geared head, so speed changes are the flip of a lever.

I am so very pleased with this saw. And glad that I was careful to properly break in the Starrett blade. The cut it produces looks like it was machined. And it will cut extremely thin slices of structural shapes, like slicing bologna.

The only drawback I have found is that the machine, though incredibly heavy, really needs outriggers for stability when cutting more radical miters.

 

[zmotorsports]

The bandsaw is made by Vectrax (Taiwan) and sold by MSC.
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00923011
It is identical to the Baileigh here, except for color.
http://www.baileigh.com/horizontal-and-vertical-band-saw-bs-712ms

Mine was purchased as an eBay auction, in new condition, with the blade wheels missing and of course no blade, for $800 + $400 shipping from a Florida based industrial recycler. The blade wheels were ordered through MSC for ~$150, and shipped from Taiwan. It has a geared head, so speed changes are the flip of a lever.

I am so very pleased with this saw. And glad that I was careful to properly break in the Starrett blade. The cut it produces looks like it was machined. And it will cut extremely thin slices of structural shapes, like slicing bologna.

The only drawback I have found is that the machine, though incredibly heavy, really needs outriggers for stability when cutting more radical miters.

Awesome. Thank you. I have been looking at the Baleigh BS210 miter head saw to replace my Jet 7x12.

Mike.

 

[therickster]

I've been wanting a vertical mill for a while now. I came across a Lagun FTV-1
It was in an R&D shop . It has a DRO ,vice and a few other parts. Its a 10 hr drive
$1800 what do you guys know about Lagun.

Thanks!
Rick

 

[kazlx]

I'd pay $1800 for that thing in a heartbeat if it's in as good of shape as it looks....Lagun mills are nice.

DRO, variable speed head, power feed on the X, looks like a power draw bar. Good stuff, you'll love it. Just getting the vise and tooling with it is worth probably half of that.

 

[ez-duzit]

I'd buy it for that price. Looks like it takes readily available R8 tooling. Believe they're still in business; I drive past them on occasion. Here are some specs.
http://www.machinetools4sale.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=1559

edit to add: kaz--I was typing when you posted. That machine looks immaculate.

Rick--you'll probably want a professional rigger to move that...2700 lbs.

 

[zmotorsports]

I've been wanting a vertical mill for a while now. I came across a Lagun FTV-1
It was in an R&D shop . It has a DRO ,vice and a few other parts. Its a 10 hr drive
$1800 what do you guys know about Lagun.

Thanks!
Rick

Great score and the Lagun is a nice quality mill.

Mike.

 

[Hephaestus29]

Turned these Radiator Support Brackets out today for a guy building a race car.

 

[kazlx]

Can't help but play with the new BP, even in it's temp spot. Working on an idea I have for a little cigar kit for my FIL. Something to bust out on special occasions. 304SS, I think it was 5.5" across? Got the speeds pretty dialed on the lathe, the ball milling could use some work.

 

[Boost Creep]

so how much would you want to build another one? lol

 

[Jawn]

Bought some 6AL-4V Ti today to experiment with. Rings are an easy round object to make on the lathe.

That's pretty cool. How hard to machine is it?

What else would make a good ring?

 

[kazlx]

That's pretty cool. How hard to machine is it?

What else would make a good ring?

As far as metals? The only ones I would use would probably be stainless or Ti. Aluminum is too soft, and most other machinable metals would corrode being on your hand.

 

[zach540]

Building a trophy for a road rally, still a work in progress:

 

[Hephaestus29]

I'm trying to figure out where to mount the bracket for my Digital readout, anyone have any better ideas ???

I have drawn two rectangles in the approximate places I would like it. I would really prefer it on the right side but there seems to be a little more room on the left.
There is enough room on the right if I mount it on the ram, but not enough room on the turret of the right side.
There's plenty of room on the turret or the ram on the left.

It's just below eye level on the turret and again that much more on the ram.
If I mount it on the ram It could travel out towards the front if needed but I'm wondering if it might pick up more vibration being mounted on the ram versus the turret ? Any thoughts ???

 

[macgyver37]

Almost all of the ones I have messed with have the arm bolted on top of the ram where it looks like you have a tube mounted already then it hangs on the right side. The right side is the 'normal' spot and feels natural to me. What is on the 1x2" ish rect tube bolted to the top of the ram?

 

[Hephaestus29]

Almost all of the ones I have messed with have the arm bolted on top of the ram where it looks like you have a tube mounted already then it hangs on the right side. The right side is the 'normal' spot and feels natural to me. What is on the 1x2" ish rect tube bolted to the top of the ram?

That has the collet rack on it, but I did think about using it, and doing something else with the collets.

 

[macgyver37]

Can you just make a bracket to hold the collet rack under the dro? Most I have played with have the rack on the left, BP even made a rack to fit the column, I am sure you have seen them.

What dro kit did you get?

 

[Hephaestus29]

It's a 3 axis DRO Pro I got off ebay.

 

[Hephaestus29]

I started covering up the ways on my mill but have a ways to go yet.
I still have another piece I'm going to connect to the table to overlap what's connected on the saddle.

I haven't figured out the front part yet, and I still have the DRO to mount too.
Here's some pictures.

I machined a piece of 6061 aluminum flat stock to clamp the EPDM to the saddle, it works good but took the better part of the day to get to this point.

I had to drill and tap additional holes in the saddle, then drill and countersink the aluminum for the bolts, but not before measuring and measuring again to make sure I got it right the first time. I also made a guide piece to make sure I was drilling the holes straight in. I had one drill bit break but luckily it wasn't a problem to get out.

 

[longlivepunk]

Super slow at work right now, so took some scrap and made a soft-face hammer. Brass handle, non-mag stainless steel head, brass spacers, and plastic and aluminum replaceable faces. Sounds like a guy I know might buy this one off me though, so I'm making a new one (It's going to be even cooler )

Sorry for the ****** pictures.

https://scontent-sea1-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/11666047_10153440951774581_7351846186237896232_n.jpg?oh=5142635677804dea7ad5c640dca945e8&oe=5626A8FB

https://scontent-sea1-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10501802_10153441939209581_2138555416661399194_n.jpg?oh=ef2a28c6a8c0d7833ed7284731d3397c&oe=5615BF19

 

[zmotorsports]

Super slow at work right now, so took some scrap and made a soft-face hammer. Brass handle, non-mag stainless steel head, brass spacers, and plastic and aluminum replaceable faces. Sounds like a guy I know might buy this one off me though, so I'm making a new one (It's going to be even cooler )

Sorry for the ****** pictures.

https://scontent-sea1-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/11666047_10153440951774581_7351846186237896232_n.jpg?oh=5142635677804dea7ad5c640dca945e8&oe=5626A8FB

https://scontent-sea1-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10501802_10153441939209581_2138555416661399194_n.jpg?oh=ef2a28c6a8c0d7833ed7284731d3397c&oe=5615BF19

Beautiful work.

Mike.

 

[sanddan]

Beautiful hammer.

How do you thread to a shoulder without a relief groove?

 

[iajonesy]

Wow.... What a cool hammer. If you were to sell one, how much would it cost? I love one-off tools like this.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Beautiful hammer.

How do you thread to a shoulder without a relief groove?

I don't know how he did it on that job but when I have done it I use one of two methods. I either spin it reverse from left to right or I thread it traditionally and use a soft stop to disengage the lead screw or turn it off and thread the last turn or so by hand.

I am curious how he chose to do it as I am always up for new ideas.

Mike.

 

[zkling]

Super slow at work right now, so took some scrap and made a soft-face hammer. Brass handle, non-mag stainless steel head, brass spacers, and plastic and aluminum replaceable faces. Sounds like a guy I know might buy this one off me though, so I'm making a new one (It's going to be even cooler )

Sorry for the ****** pictures.

Very nice. One thing to possibly consider for future renditions. Use a threaded stud in the hammer head. That way all you have to do is tap the back of the face vs turning down and threading. Granted it is a catch 22 as with the one piece faces you can turn them down to reface numerous times without worrying about hitting a tapped hole.

Beautiful hammer.

How do you thread to a shoulder without a relief groove?

Low speed, quick hand on the half nuts and cross slide. A indicator on the ways or a DRO helps as most thread dials don't high resolution. If the machine has a ton of back lash in the cross slide screw/nut it can be a pain to do.

 

[sanddan]

So yesterday I decided to spray some blackberrys. I have a sprayer that's mounted to my ATV and when I started spraying the hose where it connects to the spray wand started to leak. When I tightened the hose clamp the plastic fitting broke spraying Crossbow on me. After cleaning up the mess I took the broken fitting to the house for some quality time on the cad machine. This morning I machined up the new replacement fitting and it works like a charm. Nice to have $$$ equipment to make a cheap part. LOL

 

[paranoid56]

some neat stuff here. I recently picked up my first mill. bridgeport clone from what i can tell.
1997 supermax mill with dro
came with lots of extras too.
kirt vise, bunch of endmills, full collet set and some extra tools. not bad for 500 bucks (well, then i had to pay another 400 for a moving company to move it)

 

[kazlx]

Not bad, that face mill would cost you probably $200+.

 

[longlivepunk]

Beautiful work.

Mike.

Thanks, Mike! I take that as high-praise coming from you, I've seen some of the stuff you've made and am always impressed.

Wow.... What a cool hammer. If you were to sell one, how much would it cost? I love one-off tools like this.

Mike

I didn't really work out a price at all, but I've had a few people ask. I'm saying $100, most custom hammers I see are more, so I figure it's fair. Plus I didn't really make it to sell necessarily, just for fun. If you'd like it let me know.

Beautiful hammer.

How do you thread to a shoulder without a relief groove?

I don't know how he did it on that job but when I have done it I use one of two methods. I either spin it reverse from left to right or I thread it traditionally and use a soft stop to disengage the lead screw or turn it off and thread the last turn or so by hand.

I am curious how he chose to do it as I am always up for new ideas.

Mike.

Low speed, quick hand on the half nuts and cross slide. A indicator on the ways or a DRO helps as most thread dials don't high resolution. If the machine has a ton of back lash in the cross slide screw/nut it can be a pain to do.

Haha these are good guesses, but the answer is much MUCH simpler: I used a thread-die. I wanted to make sure that even if I some day don't have access to a lathe it would be manageable to make replacement faces if I needed to, so the answer was to just tap the head and use a die for the faces. That way I know that I can always just go out and grab another die (I used 3/4-10 UNC)

Very nice. One thing to possibly consider for future renditions. Use a threaded stud in the hammer head. That way all you have to do is tap the back of the face vs turning down and threading. Granted it is a catch 22 as with the one piece faces you can turn them down to reface numerous times without worrying about hitting a tapped hole.

Thanks! Yeah, the studs wouldn't be a bad idea. I made it so that I could just use a die for the faces, so it will be easy to make them in the future, although I suppose you do still need to turn down the diameter for the threads. Oh well, I plan on getting a small lathe before too long anyways.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks, Mike! I take that as high-praise coming from you, I've seen some of the stuff you've made and am always impressed.

Thank you. I appreciate that.


Haha these are good guesses, but the answer is much MUCH simpler: I used a thread-die. I wanted to make sure that even if I some day don't have access to a lathe it would be manageable to make replacement faces if I needed to, so the answer was to just tap the head and use a die for the faces. That way I know that I can always just go out and grab another die (I used 3/4-10 UNC)

Spoiler alert!!! I thought for sure that you single pointed those threads. Nice work anyways, even if you didn't use the lathe for the threads.

Thanks and I thought you single pointed the threads.

Mike.

 

[jar944]

Haha these are good guesses, but the answer is much MUCH simpler: I used a thread-die.

That was my first thought, mostly since that's the only way I can stop the thread like that. I assume you used a die holder in the tail stock?

Way faster, especially on a metric thread (8x1.25) like here.

 

[longlivepunk]

Haha sorry to disappoint, Mike! [emoji14] I would have rather used the lathe to do the threads since I could use the practice (still pretty new to all this) but this just made sense for this project.

Jar, you must think I work at a better machine shop than I do. [emoji14] We don't have a tailstock die holder, I went low-tech and used a regular die handle.

Thanks again guys, I didn't have a chance to finish the second hammer yesterday but I'll post it when I do.

Sent from my B15 using Tapatalk

 

[bczygan]

Haha sorry to disappoint, Mike! [emoji14] I would have rather used the lathe to do the threads since I could use the practice (still pretty new to all this) but this just made sense for this project.

Jar, you must think I work at a better machine shop than I do. [emoji14] We don't have a tailstock die holder, I went low-tech and used a regular die handle.

Thanks again guys, I didn't have a chance to finish the second hammer yesterday but I'll post it when I do.

Sent from my B15 using Tapatalk

OK,
Time for measurements and how you did the head to handle!!!

Bill

 

[bczygan]

OK,
Time for measurements and how you did the head to handle!!!

Bill

OK,
Tried to do some screen measurements:

Head diameter: 1 1/2

Head overall length: 3 3/4

Face depths: 5/8

Washer thicknesses: 1/8

Head center section: 2 1/4

Handle large (Knurled) diameter: 1

Handle large (Knurled) length: 4

Handle small (Smooth) diameter: 1/2

Handle small (Smooth) length: 4 (assuming 1/2 into head)

Close?

What machines and techniques did you use? How did you knurl?

Bill

 

[ebonyswan]

some neat stuff here. I recently picked up my first mill. bridgeport clone from what i can tell.
1997 supermax mill with dro
came with lots of extras too.
kirt vise, bunch of endmills, full collet set and some extra tools. not bad for 500 bucks (well, then i had to pay another 400 for a moving company to move it)

$500? Around here anything like that goes for an extra zero - like $5000. You did well.....

 

[iajonesy]

Paranoid56, the Kurt vice and the face mill were easily worth the $900 you have in that mill. I'd double your money without hearing it run.

Mike

 

[doidge]

Watching for later