Built a Lathe Part Stop for Repeated Parting

[dr_clyde]

Hey Guys,

Thought you guys might find this nifty. I made this the other day because I had to part off about 50 of a small little discs. I don't have any CNC equipment yet so I had to do this job old school in the manual lathe. I didn't want to dial in each one, so I made a tool. The tolerances were pretty loose, they were for little threaded bosses on some tubes so I figured this would be the perfect tool for the job.

Simply put, its a sliding arm inside a housing. Put the tool in the tailstock, and put the tool to the "out" position where it needs to be. Then lock down the tailstock and pull your stock out. Once it touches, clamp the stock down in the chuck or collet and retract the stop. Part off, repeat.

Material is 304 stainless steel.

I made it so the peg will fit a 1/2" chuck should I ever decide to retire the 3/4" chuck from service.

I got the idea from Tom Lipton's book "Metalworking: Sink or Swim". If you haven't bought Tom's book yet, do it. Its a great read and full of great tips and tricks.

Thanks for looking.

 

[kazlx]

Sweet, I dig it.

 

[sanddan]

Very nice workmanship!

 

[iajonesy]

WOW, very clever,yet simple idea. Also very nicely done.

Mike

 

[itsme_Bernie]

What a great idea! And so beautifully executed!

 

[Kevin54]

It's early, and I'm just getting my coffee down, but I read the description, and looked at the pic, but I can't figure what the sliding outer sleeve does. I know it serves a purpose, but can you maybe explain it differently or show a pic at to how it works? The workmanship is great. I'm just a little slow this morning.

 

[jimgood]

I'm with Kevin. I'm fascinated but I know nothing about machinery so I can't understand what it does.

 

[HammerMechanic]

He pulls the shafts out and puts it in the lock position. Then pulls his stock out from the lathe chuck until it touch the shaft. He tightens the lathe chuck and retracts the shaft of his tool. Now his material is at the right length to be parted off. He doesn't have to touch off his parting tool to the end of each piece he needs to cut off.

 

[Kevin54]

He pulls the shafts out and puts it in the lock position. Then pulls his stock out from the lathe chuck until it touch the shaft. He tightens the lathe chuck and retracts the shaft of his tool. Now his material is at the right length to be parted off. He doesn't have to touch off his parting tool to the end of each piece he needs to cut off.

Got it. I was looking at the sleeve as a separate tube, and not as a tube with a stem that gets chucked up. Once I get my 3 or 4 cups of coffee down in the morning, I start to function a little better

 

[joncrane]

Wouldn't you do the same thing by cutting and facing a piece of bar stock and just holding it in place while you advanced the material to the right length (bar stock gage) from the lathe driven side?

 

[Kevin54]

You don't want a solid piece in the tailstock that is not moveable because it will let your part ride on it, and then possibly pinch things, hence the reason for the retractable tailstock piece. That's what was throwing me off was not knowing the head was retractable.

Looking closely, the socket head cap screw is in the end of the head piece, and it retracts into the tube with the stem.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice job. I used one similar a few months back but it was rather crude and nowhere near as nice as yours. Mine was just a rod held in the tailstock with a short section that I would hold by hand, advance the work, remove the small piece so it didn't touch the work being turned in the chuck, part off and repeat. I should have spent a little more time like you did. I like it.

Mike.

 

[dr_clyde]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I like making little widgets like these for my toolbox. I like to think that someday one of my grandkids or someone will want to have it.

Plus they're fun to make and useful to boot.

 

[theknurl]

don't you think it'd be smarter to mount the stock stop to the carrige? most have threaded holes for a follow rest

then you could extend the stock and cut several without moving the stock forward because the relationship between the carrige and the cross slide doesn't change.....

using the tail stock is too much monkey motion

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I like making little widgets like these for my toolbox. I like to think that someday one of my grandkids or someone will want to have it.

Plus they're fun to make and useful to boot.

I can agree with that. I have many shop made tools that I am quite impressed with that will someday be handed down to my son.

Mike.

 

[Capt Chrysler]

don't you think it'd be smarter to mount the stock stop to the carrige? most have threaded holes for a follow rest

then you could extend the stock and cut several without moving the stock forward because the relationship between the carrige and the cross slide doesn't change.....

using the tail stock is too much monkey motion

Please explain in more detail. As I do own a lathe, but seldom ever use it.

Thank You

Capt. Chrysler

 

[Capt Chrysler]

dr clyde,

Nice work. Looking at this it reminds me of a bolt for a rifle!

Capt. Chrysler

 

[dr_clyde]

don't you think it'd be smarter to mount the stock stop to the carrige? most have threaded holes for a follow rest

then you could extend the stock and cut several without moving the stock forward because the relationship between the carrige and the cross slide doesn't change.....

using the tail stock is too much monkey motion

I probably could, but this way I can use it on any lathe, and not have to worry about holes lining up and so on. It really doesn't take that long to pull the tailstock up and clamp it in the chuck. No fasteners...

 

[larry_g]

don't you think it'd be smarter to mount the stock stop to the carrige? most have threaded holes for a follow rest

then you could extend the stock and cut several without moving the stock forward because the relationship between the carrige and the cross slide doesn't change.....

using the tail stock is too much monkey motion

Your method assumes you have a thicker stock and a short cutoff and it would work good for that. But if you were cutting smaller stock in a longer length then having enough sticking out to do two cuts or more could cause problems. Each system has its place.

lg
no neat sig line