Everything in my apartment has to do double or triple duty. I bought some cheap grinding wheels from Harbor Freight in a variety of grits to grind and sharpen lathe bits and I needed to make some arbor/spacing disks so that the wheels spin as true as possible in the lathe when chucked. Since everybody has been emailing me incessantly about my lathe - - to ask me what has become of it I thought I would post this.

After trueing up the headstock chuck, installing a quick change toolpost and a quick release tailstock mod I completed the last setup trueing up the tailstock to the headstock, chucked up a piece of Delrin round stock and jumped right in, I needed 4.

This was an opportunity to practice with a productive project as opposed to just wasting material. It required drilling, turning, facing the next part and parting; all of the basic lathe operations.

I will be partnering with Gary to help with special high tech R&D machining so expect to see some amazing things coming out of the shop soon.

Hi Lon,

It was difficult to see the full detail of your project, with that lifesaver throat mint on top of it, but the likness to Jefferson is striking! Well done!!!



Gary

Gary,

I had to really slow down the lathe to get that kind of detail; it was tough.

Those are 1cent Lowes plastic spacers, not Lifesavers.

Lon

Hi Lon,

Glad to see you doing your part. Maybe in a few months you can open the new Barnes Pneumatics Miami Branch...

Julio

Julio,

It's keeping me out of trouble and from going crazy. My imaginary friend was a huge help.

Nice hearing from you.

Lon

Well done Lon. All skills start with the basics and you're getting those down.

Jerry,

Yes, basics.

It was quite a project just getting the lathe set up with the "necessary" mod's like the quick change tool post, quick release tailstock and getting it onto a rollaway cart before doing any projects. I've been working up to this day for many, many months.

I fooled around for hours just making a dozen of those arbor/mandrel spacers. They had to be "just so" ya understand. .

It was cool just firing it up in finished form without throwing the chuck key across the room after leaving it in the headstock by mistake and actually having a legitimate purpose.

My 2nd project is Crosman valve work.

Lon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2010 05:19AM by Bigbore.

Well done Lon. Basic lathe work is way beyond me!
I'll just stick to shooting...
Cheers
Neil

Neil,

Thanks.

It was beyond my talents 2 weeks ago, now I'm only bad at it. You should see the pile of curly plastic that it took to get 6 good ones.

Hi Lon,

Just a tip, if you'll allow. I think I understand that you plan to chuck up some grinding stones to sharpen lathe tools. Meaning, you chuck them in the lathe and grind there. Innovative thinking. However; consider that the worst thing you could ever do would be to get the sluffed off grinding stone particles anywhere near your lathe. Those particles will get everywhere. Stick to any oily surface. And, grind the heck out of your ways and any moving parts.

I may have misunderstood. If not, consider getting a cheap fifty dollar Harbor Freight grinder, and use the thing out on the balcony. Any grinding is a really filthy job ... and you really want a water drip on the tools to keep them from being burnt too.



Gary

Gary,

You understood correctly, I planned to grind tool bits on the lathe. I was going to put tin foil down on everything before grinding to contain the the abrasive particles. No serious grinding, just a little practice. I've read about the water dip.

I only have $6 invested in the grinding wheels so it wouldn't be a huge loss to scrap the whole project so I'll reconsider based on your advice.


Lon

Hi Lon,

It can be done, but I think you'd find it to be a pain. I do have one small lathe that I "die grind" on. But - I've given it over to that operation, and have no illusions about it's future. You'll be amazed at how much grit and ground steel is produced. And, when mixed with water, it forms a paste that sticks like glue to everything. If it gets between the carriage and the ways, it will just grind away your lathe bed. In addition, unless your wheel is enclosed back and top, you will have an exceptional rooster tail of filth on wall and ceiling.

It's been my expoerience that "multi-use" tools are a required evil - to be avoided if at all possible. In this instance, when small grinders are so relatively cheap - I think you might avoid the issues this time.

Glad you are enjoying your tooling. Please share more. Perhaps you can produce some Kennedy halves next time ... hehehe.

Gary

yip , look what carberundrum grinding paste does to hard faced valve seats , and thats only at hand speeds , i do like the train of thought though .
just wouldnt be trying it.