Had to make another reamer ... taking very nice shavings.



Lathe turning.



A Justice 87 action going together. (If it's yours, you know it. If not - I'm sorry - I'm working. It's now 9pm Sat. night and I just came in from the shop).



gonna be a barrel clamp ...



a neat cake that was brought to our party!



and ... the gopher fell off the perch ... and took on the look of Cesar! haha.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2009 09:08PM by barnespneumatic.

That cake look good. It's peach season here. Dory



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2009 02:01AM by Dory.

Hmmm... an integral weaver mount, raidiused corners on the loading port and who knows what other improvements to the original Justice (basic hunter) design? That looks great Gary. I wonder if folks realize that the guns just keep getting better as you go?

You're pretty quick on the uptake Jerry, it took me a while to notice the new touches. Nice work as always, Gary.

Thanks Guys,

Yeah - I can't seem to help myself. I refine as I go. It's a curse.

Gary

Gary,

Funny how we all see different things.

Now that I'm into my lathe I was more interested in your reamer, quick change tool post and tha wirey shavings coming off the part.

I just installed my QCTP and did my first perfect "facing".

Oh, gun looks cool.

Good for you. Glad you are enjoying the lathe.

Tips: Speed is extremely important. The faster you run - the smoother the cut (but you have to balance it with much lighter cuts). If the cut leaves a ragged toothed surface - it was most likely taken with too slow a spindle speed.

Most important wisdom for the day: Sharp cutters. Little known facts ... NEW lathe cutters, right out of the box ... are dull. Every one I've ever purchased was. But my luck is poor - you might do better. Sure ... they will "scrub off" metal shavings ... but they won't cleanly "cut". You must become an expert at sharpening tools, BEFORE you can learn anything about machining. Now .... drills and mill cutters arrive sharp. Some very small tools (hobby sort - Dremel, etc.) might be OK. Lathe tools over 1/4" always need to be sharpened to do good work - my experience.

Gary

Gary,

I'm sure it's just good luck but so far you've been right on the mark!

I stumbled onto the fast spindle/smooth surface thing through trial and error while waiting for your all emcompassing reply to my e-mail on lathe operation. I'll check my tools, I did expect them to arrive sharp.

Hey, can you whip up a small set of reamers for me when you get some spare time?

P.S. "You must become an expert at sharpening tools, BEFORE you can learn anything about machining"

Aw com'on, don't you want a few laughs out of my learning curve?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2009 09:43PM by Bigbore.

Lon,

A couple of laughs .... sure.

It's not fun though when a dull tiool grabs the work and jerks everything half way to Sunday. Breaks tools, ruins the parts, loosens machine tool settings, and can throw things. Nothing is more dangerous than a dull tool bit/cutter.

Get yourself a small "block" diamond sharpener. One I have has a groove down the center (I think actually for fish hooks). The thing is only about 3" long and an inch wide. Medium aggressive diamond drit. You can float a film of WD-40 on it, turn it over and strop the top of carbide cutters. That will freshed the actual edge. Diamond will eat carbide. Amazingly fast, even by hand. A grinder really won't touch it (unless it has a diamond wheel). And ... that diamond wheel on a cheap grinder you'll want has the grit on the SIDE of the wheel - NOT the face of the wheel. You set up a water drip on the side of the sheel (actually - into the hub area and it will coat the wheel) ... that's the lube for the diamond grinding.

Gary

love the mounts , no chance of a shift there , as ever its really nice to see the work in action shots , even if its frustrating stopping to show the action .
its still hard to believe that a few lumps of steel and a plank finish as a sum total greater than the individual parts.
looking good as ever.
thanks tom

I seem to remember making a lot of short, dark orange sparks on the grinding wheel back when. Mostly I was just making long bars of tool steel into short bars of tool steel, one grind at a time. Sometimes they'd even work OK on the lathe, most often not.

So with the new diamond wheels and water for lube there's no sparks at all, I'd assume. Do you keep an old-fashioned silicon carbide wheel around just for checking out the carbon level on steels?