The Machine Work Thread

[racer-john]

Much nicer than your original concept. Good work.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

ECosta, beautiful work!

 

[king nero]

Its A2 air hardening tool steel - UNS T30102

That explains a lot - Thx!

 

[Monza Harry]

I posted the large 91D tap wrench I made a couple years ago. I just finished the copy of the Starrett 91B I have been working on. Made from hardened and polished A2.

Eric, I have wanted to build Starrett matching Die Stocks for years it just can't complete for first place on my priority list driven by whims and distractions

Progress on the micrometer carriage stop I'm making for my Clausing 12" lathe. If I had to do it over again, I would not have the round portion sticking out on the right side of the main body. I'd stop flush with the part that mounts to the bed, and have the dial in the spot where that round tube section sticks out now. When it's all assembled it just feels to long.

Again Eric,I built a far less fancy looking one for a shop I used to work at and I wasn't able to get it to lock in acceptably. If you succeed, please share as I do want one for my own Lathe.
Both projects are turning/turned out Excellent! [Pun intended] Harry

 

[Hephaestus29]

Bought a Dake 15 Ton Arbor Press, been
working on the top end a bit. Hand wheel had
been broke previously, so I bought a new one.
Drilled then bored the hole to size, now it’s
set up to drill and tap the set screw hole, then
one more hole for the handle.
Handle will get powder coated black, and I’ll
probably paint the rest of it gray eventually.

Thing has about 6 coats of paint on it that
were contributing to it not working properly.
I’ve stripped the paint off some of the upper
parts and dug paint out of the root of the
gear so the pawl engages properly in the teeth
of the gear.

 

[txvwnut]

One of my veedubs had a constant exhaust leak from the high quality import exhaust I used. I didn’t feel like pulling the exhaust and lengthening the tube that slides over the heater box so I made a full circle exhaust clamp.

 

[whateg01]

Ever since I watched Stefan Gotteswinter make his indicator stand, I've wanted to make something that uses knobs like those he made. Finally found a use! Bought a boom to mount my microphone on the desk for webinars that I teach but wanted to put the webcam next to the mic. Decided to make my own dual adapter because I don't like those I've found online that I can buy. Still going to loctite a screw in since it was easier than threading the knobs. I like the look!

Temporarily finished the adapter itself. Might heave the rotab up on the mill and make the ends round. Might not. Pretty happy with how it turned out though.

 

[Garage-ist 2]

Well done.

Where were you able to source the replacement wheel?

 

[Garage-ist 2]

That message was for Hephaestus29.

 

[Hephaestus29]

That message was for Hephaestus29.

FYI. It’s not a direct replacement from Dake.
It looks similar but it’s about a 1/4 larger in
dia. than the original.

If I had it to do over I’d make sure and get
an offset hand wheel so the outside doesn’t
come as close to the main body of the press.
If you use the outer ring to raise it up or down,
it could pinch your fingers if you’re not careful.

This wheel is 10” in dia., I’d move up to at
least a 12 if I did it again with the offset.

It seems to be good material without inclusions
and is supposed to be made in the USA but I
doubt it, because when the package arrived
and I opened it, it was from MSC.
I actually ordered it from govets.com for 43.98
which is a discount from MSC pricing.
They do have other wheels, you just have to
search, maybe call them?

 

[kazlx]

Some recent parts I've been making.

Brackets for a civic of some sort.

Tube bending rotation gauge of my own I make.

Drawer pulls for a custom dresser.

Magnetic V-blocks for a fab table.

Close repro of a door handle that's not made any more for a fish tank to match the other furniture.

 

[Hephaestus29]

Well done.

Where were you able to source the replacement wheel?

Sorry, I’m just now seeing this message.
The same one I bought is listed for 53.24 right now on govets.com

 

[MushCreek]

I finally broke down and bought a 5C chuck for my lathe. It's from CDCO, and was cheap, as was the set of collets I bought. Adapters for my lathe are made of unobtanium, so I modified a faceplate that I had. I machined a shoulder to fit the chuck with a slight press fit, and drew it on with the mounting screws. It should stay pretty accurate that way. The inside of the chuck ran out about .0003", not bad for Chinese. I mounted a gauge pin in one of the collets, and run-out was about the same. Really pretty darn close for cheap stuff. Plenty close enough for garage work. I forgot to take pictures as I went, but here it is mounted up.

 

[slowtwitch73]

I bought one of those too and was also impressed with it.

 

[dutchgray]

Those Chinese 5c collet chucks are really good for what they cost, considering a decent non Chinese made one seems to be around 5 times the cost. You really should take them apart and clean all the grit and metal dust out of them that they come with from the factory however.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Not bad at all considering most people don't have the ability/capability of measuring that small of runout.

 

[MushCreek]

Retired tool maker here. My indicator reads to .00005" (50 millionths). That used to be my daily norm.

 

[bsaint]

Learning on the Haas at work. No one knows how to run it. I'm not a machinist but can program G code for laser so thank God carbide is 5 bucks a pound in scrap I'll have beer money in no time. My first two projects handed to me. I did ok for 2 months crash course and no tooling.

 

[Swervyjoe]

Retired tool maker here. My indicator reads to .00005" (50 millionths). That used to be my daily norm.

Damn! +/- a couple ten thousandths was as tight as I have had to hold.

 

[gorilla]

Mush, Are you willing to share what brand and type of indicator measures that close?
Tenth indicators are common but I've never seen one that measures in millionth's.

 

[fartymarty]

Mush, Are you willing to share what brand and type of indicator measures that close?
Tenth indicators are common but I've never seen one that measures in millionth's.

If I'm understanding Mush' correctly it actually measures to half of a" tenth'" , that is 1/2 of one ten thousandth.
Because he put "5" at the 5th place to the right of the decimal instead of "1" I'm assuming that if it were to increment
upwards that the next mark would be .00010 then .00015 ... not .00006 and .00007....is that right Mush'? Sounds like it might be electronic?
Regardless, that is some very fine work....if size tolerances were in the same ballpark as run out, then maybe even the kind that would require temperature compensation if the total size of the part was significant.

 

[MushCreek]

Just a plain old Brown and Sharpe that reads in half-tenths, as fartymarty said. When I was in the trade, we had electronic ones (maybe Federal) that read down to 6 millionths that we used when precision lapping components.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Had to finish up some metal door latch hardware this morning. Recently, my 4yo keeps asking if she can help me on my "machine". She came out to the garage in her "work boots" and asked for a pair of safety glasses. She "painted" on the cutting fluid and I tapped 3/8"-24 holes in these stainless brackets. She said the "paint was for the wood chips". Close enough, I wasn't going to argue.

On a different note, I got the YG "General" HSS Bottom tap on Amazon, sold by Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised with its performance for $15 delivered. I've got other YG tooling and have always been impressed. People are always looking for good taps for the money, and I think these are my new recommendation. Spiral fluted taps are the ticket on a mill.

 

[ttpete]

Nice 2J!

 

[ez-duzit]

Cute helper.

Spiral flutes are the way to go for stainless.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Nice 2J!

Thanks man, it's definitely a prized possession of mine. It needs a little work, as do most things it's age, but it's been a ton of fun. I know I'm at least the 4th owner; the last owner was a gunsmith that specialized in high end muzzle loaders.

Cute helper.

Spiral flutes are the way to go for stainless.

Thanks, she's a little whacky at times, but the way her mind works I think she'll make a great engineer someday. Both my girls love the old Bridgeport. I let my 6yo drill holes and other basic operations and she thinks she's hot stuff.

I don't ever work with SS, but I remember from my manual machining classes that it's a ***** on tooling. These brackets were only .125", which was enough to spin my cheap Chinese chuck (only used for power tapping) on the arbor. I really thought the tap would be junk by the time I was done with it, but to my surprise it showed no wear. Unfortunately, they don't offer these particular spiral fluted taps with a taper. YG is the only import tooling that I buy (always Korean, no Chinese), so I was happy to find them being sold by Amazon.

 

[DocsMachine]

When I saw the pic but before I read the text, I was going "you didn't put an endmill in a drill chuck did you?!?"



Doc.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

When I saw the pic but before I read the text, I was going "you didn't put an endmill in a drill chuck did you?!?"



Doc.

The Chinese chuck definitely wouldn't like that! It would be a fun experiment in my Albrecht, but I can't stomach doing it........

 

[ttpete]

Thanks man, it's definitely a prized possession of mine. It needs a little work, as do most things it's age, but it's been a ton of fun. I know I'm at least the 4th owner; the last owner was a gunsmith that specialized in high end muzzle loaders.



Thanks, she's a little whacky at times, but the way her mind works I think she'll make a great engineer someday. Both my girls love the old Bridgeport. I let my 6yo drill holes and other basic operations and she thinks she's hot stuff.

I don't ever work with SS, but I remember from my manual machining classes that it's a ***** on tooling. These brackets were only .125", which was enough to spin my cheap Chinese chuck (only used for power tapping) on the arbor. I really thought the tap would be junk by the time I was done with it, but to my surprise it showed no wear. Unfortunately, they don't offer these particular spiral fluted taps with a taper. YG is the only import tooling that I buy (always Korean, no Chinese), so I was happy to find them being sold by Amazon.

What if you ground a flat on the tap shank and drove it with an R8 end mill driver?

 

[zmotorsports]

Had to finish up some metal door latch hardware this morning. Recently, my 4yo keeps asking if she can help me on my "machine". She came out to the garage in her "work boots" and asked for a pair of safety glasses. She "painted" on the cutting fluid and I tapped 3/8"-24 holes in these stainless brackets. She said the "paint was for the wood chips". Close enough, I wasn't going to argue.

On a different note, I got the YG "General" HSS Bottom tap on Amazon, sold by Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised with its performance for $15 delivered. I've got other YG tooling and have always been impressed. People are always looking for good taps for the money, and I think these are my new recommendation. Spiral fluted taps are the ticket on a mill.

Nice Ryan. I miss those days when my son was by my side all day long in the shop. Cherish them my friend as they will be gone before you know it.

 

[Everett33]

I got a good deal on a manual lift Genie forklift for putting things up on the pallet racking in my barn because it was a bit older and worn. All of the factory rollers were no longer smooth on the OD and the shoulder bolts to attach them were rusty and pitted. The shoulder bolts were not a standard size so I made my own using flanged Bronze sleeve bearings and some custom turned Nylon rollers.

 

[kazlx]

New machine incoming at 8am tomorrow morning.

 

[LeonardY]

I already posted it in my garage thread.
Did this during the lock down. 40th Anniversary of Empire Strikes Back.

 

[kazlx]

That’s awesome!

 

[LeonardY]

That’s awesome!

Thanks!
It's been quite an adventure.

 

[slodat]

Manual lathe on one end, CNC mill on the other. First time making soft jaws. Had a lot of fun and it will do the job. Making more next. The holes will be machined in OP3. Did away with the rounded corners.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Thanks!
It's been quite an adventure.

So next step is making one you can ride in.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I'm going to revive this thread with a rant......

Bought a carbon fiber bicycle fork (used) online and a sub component of it came cheesed up. I never saw a picture of this prior to me buying it (my fault) and the seller never said anything. It appears he used a standard allen key instead of a metric key to tighten this down. Keep in mind, any bike manufactured in the last 20+(?) years has used metric fasteners. This is not a part that comes OEM on a new bike, and it's a racing specific part, so this guy had to have had a $9 metric allen key set, right? The damage was too deep to blame it on a slipping tool bit.

Rant over..... I dialed it in the Bridgeport and used a chamfer bit to clean it up. There's no way I could be on a starting line and look down at that halfassedness and go into a race level headed.

What it's supposed to look like:


What it showed up looking like:



Post cleanup:

 

[Hephaestus29]

Looks like it cleaned up.

 

[RoninB4]

Looks ok now....even.....custom. "Yeah I took off a few grams of needless weight/mass to improve my time". You'll be the envy of others.

Out of idle curiosity what was the hex size? Some are only a few .001's difference between inch and metric.