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wannabe
20th Nov 2008, 12:26 PM
Thought this might be an interesting topic to see what others have made for their Hercus. I know I'd be interested in seeing a pic of the steady rest that Jomac6 made up.

As per the request from Penpal here's some of the things I've made for my old girl. No comments about the mess please :roll:

A QCTP: This consists of the toolpost and 12 holders in the AXA size (thanks to Penpal for lending me a holder to ensure the AXA size) . The holders can take up to 16mm tooling. One of the 20mm holder offcuts has been used for an indicator holder. One of the blanks pictured is still to be made into a parting tool holder. Toolpost and most of the holders still have to be blackened using a parkerising technique described on here by Grahame.

Other tooling:
ER32 collet chuck
Carriage stops. One for each end. Brass rod can be replaced with a dial indicator.
Ball turner along the Steve Bedair design.
Self releasing crank handle.

Other things not pictured:
Threading stop.
Carriage lock.
Bed clamp for Taper Turning Attchment.
Way felt holders.

bitza500
20th Nov 2008, 07:32 PM
Hi Peter, I must have missed the thread about blackening as I am interested in getting some parts done can you tell me what date and what thread it was please ???

Brilliant job that is true craftsman work keep it going and do you have any plans made to make it ???

all the best Derek bitza500

neksmerj
20th Nov 2008, 07:56 PM
Hi Bitza.

Grahame's article on parkerizing is here.Parkerizing instructions - Woodwork Forums (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=42220&highlight=parkerizing)

If you do a search on this forum re parkerizing, you will turn up a bit more info.

Wannabe, lovely job, obviously you also have a mill, unless you filed out the dove tails by hand etc. I didn't think so.

Well done, if only my lathe was finished! Grrrrrr......

Ken

neksmerj
20th Nov 2008, 08:17 PM
Interesting bit of trivia,

Some time ago I made a knurling tool very similar to the one Wannabe made, and fitted it with straight knurling rollers.

I found to my surprise that if the whole assembly is rotated, say 15 degrees, a diamond knurl will result. A universal tool, one might say.

Just thought I'd chuck that in.

Wannabe, give it a try.

Ken

wannabe
20th Nov 2008, 09:19 PM
Thanks for posting that link Ken. I knew it was there somewhere. I'd tried oil blackening before but didn't want to do that on the QCTP because there are a lot of close tolerance parts in there and I was afraid if I got it red hot something was going to warp. Saw Grahame's post and decided to give it a try. Wasn't fussed in cutting up batteries so got the manganese dioxide from a pottery place. Finding the steel wool was harder. Very difficult finding that fine stuff now. I knew painters used to use it so tried Bunnings paint section and found it. Cooked it up in a small stainless steel container on the barby. Tends to look a little flat but a dose of WD40 gives it a nice gloss.

Yeah I've got a mill. Don't think I'd like to try filing those dovetails out by hand. Enough work doing them on the mill. They took ages to do and stressful too. One moment of indescretion and you've got to an interesting paper weight.

Derek. I draw up plans for everthing I do. I tend to change things as I go along but always start with some form of a plan. Anyone is welcome to any of them if I can get them into a compatible format that you can read. From memory I think the QCTP was about 10 sheets. It came about from two design I found on the internet plus AXA sizings plus things I changed to make it more functional. I made it AXA sizing so that if the toolpost didn't work out I could throw it, buy one but still use the holders I had made. That's called covering your ar.e

Don't have any straight knurls to try that one Ken. I made that knurler early in the piece. It's a bit rough around the edges but it serves the purpose. I've been tossing up whether to make up a dedicated one for the QCTP using one of the holder blanks.

Penpal
20th Nov 2008, 11:26 PM
Thanks mate I have seen some of the articles you have made they are most innovative and professional. in keeping with the spirit of your post I submit the tool with holder . I made the base from Aluminium, the plate from Corian plus other bits and pieces. The base follows the same taper and base to fit in the lathe where the toolholder fits and can be changed in a minute. The Dremel is variable speed and I use the black Dremel cut off disk and have cut both tool steel, ordinary steel and brass on the lathe with ease. The dremel holder is a manufactured extrusion used to hold the tail gates on trucks, it is ideal for this purpose.
Hope you like it Peter:2tsup:

wannabe
25th Nov 2008, 11:03 PM
If you haven't figured it out yet I've got loose with a camera out in the shed lately. While I was at it I took a pic of some of the other things I've made for the Hercus but forgot to include in the first one.

Left: Taper turning attachment bed clamp fabricated from pieces of steel welded together and machined.
Middle: Thread stop. Got carried away with this one seeing if I could do some curvy thingies.
Right: My attempt at a Dremel tool holder. It's not clear in the pic but there's an internal thread which allows the Dremel nose to screw into it. Not a great success. Penpals version is a far better solution.

footz
30th Nov 2008, 02:18 PM
Well no laughing (I could have sworn I have already done this) it is something for my hercus so it falls in the category LOL
I made a spacer to support the retaining bolt for a mt3 collet holder. I know its no biggie soon though something better.

wheelinround
30th Nov 2008, 02:39 PM
Thanks mate I have seen some of the articles you have made they are most innovative and professional. in keeping with the spirit of your post I submit the tool with holder . I made the base from Aluminium, the plate from Corian plus other bits and pieces. The base follows the same taper and base to fit in the lathe where the toolholder fits and can be changed in a minute. The Dremel is variable speed and I use the black Dremel cut off disk and have cut both tool steel, ordinary steel and brass on the lathe with ease. The dremel holder is a manufactured extrusion used to hold the tail gates on trucks, it is ideal for this purpose.
Hope you like it Peter:2tsup:

Nice work Peter:2tsup:

bitza500
30th Nov 2008, 04:43 PM
Hi Gene, I hope you own this panel shop as the amount of time you have spent on the old girl you must have some good workers who can do their job while you are playing Lathes

It is still brilliant and can only get better when you use it

all the best Derek bitza500http://www.woodworkforums.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

bitza500
30th Nov 2008, 04:58 PM
Hi Gene I asked awhile ago about what you used to clean up the lathe bed and all the bare metal parts that are so clean on your old girl
I am now ready to attack the bed with something and as you have found something that works very well Can you pleas share your secret as the bed is a bit awkward to use on the polisher as it is a bit heavy to hold

So what was your secret formula to get the lathe bed so clean ????????????????????

all the best Derek bitza500

footz
30th Nov 2008, 05:30 PM
Ill post the instructions in other thread that ken has started. I need a camera dammit.

wannabe
1st Dec 2008, 09:59 PM
Footz wanted to know about the magnetic pickup tool I'd made. Not sure where to post it so here's as good as anywhere. I use it on the Hercus.

I got the concept for this off the internet somewhere. It's rough and ready but you can see the general concept of how it works. This is version 1. I intend to make a couple more of them and refine the idea one day. Very useful tool. I'm lost when I misplace it.
The outer tube is a piece of something non magnetic. I used non annealed 3/8" copper pipe and soldered a copper plug in the end to seal one end off. The rest as you can see is a aluminium plunger with a steel end plug, a rare earth magnet magnetically sticks onto the steel endcap on the end of the plunger, a steel crossbar, spring and brass plumbing end cap. A rubber gromet (or in my case a spark plug lead boot) fits onto the tube. This stops the swarf dragging up the tube as the magnet is retracted up the tube. The magnet is 10mm x 3mm and very powerful. I got them at Jaycar but you can get them from a number of different sources.

footz
1st Dec 2008, 10:57 PM
Cheers Peter I see what you mean now looks handy I see thats another thing I have to make. I will start scrounging around in shed should have some of them bitz laying around.

aljunk
27th Dec 2008, 06:25 AM
Made this as my first threading project. 12-28 L/H thread capscrew for feed knob. Was missing when I got the machine.

aljunk
27th Dec 2008, 06:57 AM
Dial Read Out.... lol
Bet u thought some has fitted a digital read out on their machine!!!
Mine has the small dials and my old eyes are not that great anymore for read little stuff so I fabbed this setup for getting really accurate settings when working in fine tolerances. Also works great for reading thread depth when threading.

wannabe
27th Dec 2008, 01:45 PM
Ok. Here's my effort at being a tight ???? and not wanting to fork out $250 for a second hand Hercus steady rest or southbend clone. Excluding paint and bearings I'd say I'm out of pocket $15 - $20. Don't ask about labour though:rolleyes:. Hell of a lot of work involved.

Frame is 20x20mm bar. Finger retainers are are 25x25mm bar. The base is a piece of 100x40x40 questionable parentage steel (got harder the more you worked it). A lot of welding, grinding, filing and milling later and this is what I ended up with. I havent used it yet. Still waiting for the paint to harden up a bit more but it seems really solid.
Still have to do the ball bearings on the fingers yet. They should arrive next week.

blackfrancis
27th Dec 2008, 10:32 PM
That came up looking really good Peter. Like a bought one, only larger capacity

Nice dial readout aljunk. My lathe doesn't have the back of the saddle machined for the taper attachment. No threads or anything. Maybe it's because it's so old. I'm thinking of making an extra big micrometer dial for the cross slide screw.

Steve (http://www.woodworkforums.com/member.php?u=28896)

blackfrancis
27th Dec 2008, 11:13 PM
I've been doing a stack of stuff on the lathe for the first time in a very long time. I've made a whole heap of ball handles for a quorn tool and cutter grinder, see first two photos. In the second photo you can see the Radford ball turning tool I made many year back, it's caught a bit of rust since I last looked at it but still works.

Then I got really sick of the stupid tumbler reverse on my very old hercus which requires a spanner to operate. For anyone not familiar with this woeful piece of penny pinching I show a picture of the original in photo 3. I started making a detent type a long time ago, from some casting I bought off someone (I have no idea where you could buy such things these days, sorry), but haven't done anything on it for the last 20 years. I finally cracked and decided I'm finishing it off. The state it was in until some days ago can be seen in photo 4. The set up I used for drilling the 3 detent holes can be seen in photo 5. I just drilled the holes using a hand held electric drill with the hole in the piece that holds the spring loaded knob guiding the drill.
I had to make a spot facing tool for the back of the casting where the nuts which hold the two tumbler gears seat. I made the spot facer out of 7/8" silver steal using a hacksaw and file after turning the basic shape. This can be seen in photo 6, two edges filed, two to go (sorry, it's blurry). Photo 7 shows the spot facer after doing the first of the two holes. I'm going to hopefully finish it off tommorow. Will post the finished item when it's done.

Steve

blackfrancis
28th Dec 2008, 07:37 PM
To finish it off I had to cut a keyway to hold a piece of felt for lubrication, photo 1, then turn up the shaft and knob. The finished contraption is shown in photo 2 & 3.

Steve

wannabe
28th Dec 2008, 08:04 PM
Looks good Steve. So how did this thing work before. Did you have to loosen a bolt, move it and retighten the bolt?
Are you doing a Quorn? Great toy. :2tsup: I'd love one of those.

Aljunk: I like the idea of the dial indicator but I don't have anywhere to attach it on mine. Looking at it today and I think I may be able to mount it off the Follower Rest mounting holes.

blackfrancis
28th Dec 2008, 10:01 PM
Yep you had to loosen the bolt Peter, there are two adjustment grub screws to control the depth of gear engagement. The gear guard is always in the way of the bolt.

I'm sort of building a quorn. My dad started building one 20 years ago, then the garage burnt down and he stopped. If he wants to build the rest of it he can, otherwise I will. Anyway he didn't want to make all the ball handles so I made them up. I might make the spindle up for it soon.

Steve

aljunk
29th Dec 2008, 02:12 AM
Looks great Steve, you're going like that a lot better!
Here's how I mounted mine Peter. Looks like I was in a hurry cuz I always knock off the sharp edges, will do that today tho! lol As I recall I was making a backing plate for a new 4 jaw and was threading the internal threads and was fighting the backlash so I made this up. My next project was the new cross slide nut and shaft!

al

blackfrancis
30th Dec 2008, 10:04 AM
Yep, I'm liking it better already Al.

jmk89
31st Dec 2008, 12:58 PM
Ok. Here's my effort at being a tight ???? and not wanting to fork out $250 for a second hand Hercus steady rest or southbend clone. Excluding paint and bearings I'd say I'm out of pocket $15 - $20. Don't ask about labour though:rolleyes:. Hell of a lot of work involved.

Frame is 20x20mm bar. Finger retainers are are 25x25mm bar. The base is a piece of 100x40x40 questionable parentage steel (got harder the more you worked it). A lot of welding, grinding, filing and milling later and this is what I ended up with. I havent used it yet. Still waiting for the paint to harden up a bit more but it seems really solid.
Still have to do the ball bearings on the fingers yet. They should arrive next week.

Looks great! Thinking of making something like this for the Zyto. Any chance of drawings?

wannabe
31st Dec 2008, 02:00 PM
Looks great! Thinking of making something like this for the Zyto. Any chance of drawings?

No problems. Just give me a bit of time to get them in a presentable format. Things I design tend to evolve along the way so the drawings are a bit messy at the moment. I'll have another look at the hinge side of things too. In hindsight I think I could have devised something that would have looked a little better there but got impatient and starting making rather than designing.

I got the bearings mounted onto the fingers yesterday and gave it a test run. Had to free up a couple of the fingers a little to get them to slide a little easier but after that it worked like a bought one. Solid as a rock and I'm very happy with the way it's turned out.

wannabe
5th Jan 2009, 01:48 AM
Looks great! Thinking of making something like this for the Zyto. Any chance of drawings?

Here's the drawings for the steady rest Jeremy. I think they are correct but check all measurements before proceeding. Let me know if you find anything wrong and I'll amend the drawing.
I've had a fun time trying to get these into PDF format. Things are still a bit all over the page but I think they are at least readable. The last page in the doco is a 1:1 scaled template I used to position the pieces for tack welding. There is also two lines parallel to the axis that I used for squaring up off the mill table when doing the finger guides.

jmk89
5th Jan 2009, 01:31 PM
Many thanks for that

jomac6
5th Jan 2009, 10:38 PM
The cheapest magnets Ive got are from old radio speakers (try revolve), put one inside a plastic bag pick up all the swarf etc plus the small things you lost in the debris, turn the plastic bag inside out remove magnet, no mess no splinters.

jmk89
6th Jan 2009, 10:04 AM
Here's the drawings for the steady rest Jeremy. I think they are correct but check all measurements before proceeding. Let me know if you find anything wrong and I'll amend the drawing.
I've had a fun time trying to get these into PDF format. Things are still a bit all over the page but I think they are at least readable. The last page in the doco is a 1:1 scaled template I used to position the pieces for tack welding. There is also two lines parallel to the axis that I used for squaring up off the mill table when doing the finger guides.

Wow those drawings are great! There is so much I have to do with the Zyto before I get to use them, but the fixed steady is on the list and your drawings are excellent!

brittleheart
9th Jan 2009, 02:42 PM
My A type hercus always had a sloppy feel to the tailstock screw shaft. I decided to have a better look.
A previous user had bent the end, machined it down and drilled new holes for the handwheel (not much left).
Knowing it would be impossible to get a replacement, I thought it might be more fun to fabricate the screw shaft from scratch.
Several hours of careful machining later, I managed to fit the thread into the tailstock end.
While slowly machining the acme thread, I also decided it would be an improvement to fit a thrust bearing inside the shaft.
To allow for the thrust bearing thickness (1/4"), the thread is reduced in travel, while still being able to eject the MT2 tools on full retraction. See pics.
All ready to assemble? Problem: No 7/16" thrust bearings exist in the country.
Thankfully the 1/2" FL type bearing would fit inside the housing tailstock (a couple left).
Used this, made a small brass bush to adapt, machined a brash washer for the outer and pinned handwheel with a 3mm rollpin.
All works fine, better for end drilling and no backlash at the expense of 1/4" travel.
All the best
Peter


See pics.

neksmerj
9th Jan 2009, 03:41 PM
Good on ya Peter, gives you a nice sense of achievement, nice job and probably better than the original.

Ken