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24th Nov 2022, 09:15 PM #1Diamond Member
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Strange ways to hold things before machining them?
1) A restaurant needs some meat clamps. I bought some stainless u-bolts, and wing nuts, but to make it easier to push through the meat, the ends need to be pointier than this:
IMG_3584.jpg
Now, a sensible person would just grind a point on them and move on.
I'm not sensible. I want to use a lathe.
Have a chat with the toolmaker. We throw ideas around...
V block on a rotary table? Rod chamfering cutter? Tiny chuck in larger chuck on the lathe?
Then I spy a little collet chuck:
IMG_3585.jpg
which I can just mount in Adam's old Taylor chuck:
IMG_3586.jpg
(oops, that cutter will foul on the other side of the u-bolt)
IMG_3587.jpg
(and that one won't work on my Hercus because the spindle only goes forward)
IMG_3588.jpg
Yep, that worked:
IMG_3589.jpg
2. Reducing the size of a spade terminal. A 5x20 fuse holder melted. I bought a 3AG holder to replace it, but it has 6.3mm wide spades. Wiring has 4.8mm wide terminals. Spades are copper. I don't want to grind it.
A sensible person would cut it narrower with some sharp cutters. I try to mill it. The spade rotates around, in the holder. Time for a tricky spacer behind the terminal:
IMG_3597.jpg
(hard to see, but that is a C shaped car engine bearing between the back of the space and the jaw)
IMG_3598.jpg
The second cut was a bit trickier to position a spacer.
End result was acceptable. Not perfectly straight, but the smaller terminal locked on well enough:
IMG_3599.jpgIMG_3600.jpgIMG_3601.jpg
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24th Nov 2022, 09:53 PM #2
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24th Nov 2022, 10:33 PM #3Most Valued Member
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Glad the chuck is getting used, although I’m currently rueing my decision to sell it.
The forward placed jaws and scalloped body on the Taylor certainly help make that setup possible
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25th Nov 2022, 03:33 PM #4Senior Member
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- Jun 2011
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- Melbourne, Australia
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Strange ways to hold things before machining them?
Glad all went well, but to my way of thinking, that U-bolt looked like it was just waiting to take off a finger
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25th Nov 2022, 06:24 PM #5Diamond Member
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Nothing
That is usually the first tool I grab to use, but this copper was fairly thin, and then there is the difficulty of grabbing it:
IMG_3608.jpg
A smaller vice might have been able to grab it. Like maybe a pin vice:
IMG_3609.jpg
Anyway, a sharp milling cutter did each cut in 20 seconds. A file might have taken a minute or two
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25th Nov 2022, 06:56 PM #6Diamond Member
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Maybe. The u-bolt was 65mm wide (inside), so 77mm total, or 154mm swing.
Hercus 9 can do 235mm around bed+saddle. Can nearly fit a fist in between there!
The outer u-bolt end just fitted in a sweet spot under the left compound lock screw.
I could have gone a few mm closer?
Probably about as unsafe as any oddly shaped thing bolted to a lathe faceplate.
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7th Jan 2023, 10:30 PM #7Diamond Member
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3. Turning down a large rod, without steadies.
14mm diameter stainless, over a metre long. Needs to become 12mm diameter.
The big lathe is too close to the wall, and the rod has a handle and gear on one end,
so I have to use the Hercus:
IMG_3828.jpg
Now, I have no steady for the Hercus, so I machine about 60mm at a time.
Which means the rod hanging way out of the spindle:IMG_3829.jpg
and whipping around a little. Hence the cardboard tube and rag.
Lathe spindle was on its lowest non-back geared speed,
next fastest would whip excessively.
For the next few sections, I tried to reduce this whipping so I could turn/machine it faster.
I happen to have a strange 14mm collet (thanks Peter), so:
IMG_3830.jpg IMG_3831.jpg
Cable tie didn't hold it for very long
As the rod got further through the spindle, I put a bearing on the end, to hold onto it:
IMG_3832.jpg
That would be a human vibration damping system?
I also worked out that the other end of the collet fitted in the end of the spindle well enough to stay in place:
IMG_3833.jpg
Getting there:
IMG_3834.jpg IMG_3835.jpg IMG_3836.jpg
I will eventually have to clamp that bearing - effectively making a stready.Nigel, from a cave FULL of unfinished projects and lost tools.
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8th Jan 2023, 02:10 AM #8
1m without steadies is way beyond my comfort level and I would never dare to do it
Glad your improvised attempt worked.
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9th Jan 2023, 05:31 PM #9Diamond Member
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comfort level???
Kafie, it was a bit beyond my comfort level, too!
Eventually I mounted the bearing in the tailstock. It just fitted in an ER32 collet holder:
IMG_3839.jpg
With the tailstock all the way along my (short bed) Hercus, the slight bends in the rod became problematic. I had to grip the middle with a suede palmed glove:
IMG_3837.jpg IMG_3838.jpg
Today I borrowed a pair of Myford steadies (fixed and travelling),
so I don't have to do the next rod 60mm at a time.Nigel, from a cave FULL of unfinished projects and lost tools.
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9th Jan 2023, 05:48 PM #10
I never knew that the Myford steadies fit Hercus 9” beds. Are they a snug fit?
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9th Jan 2023, 06:33 PM #11Golden Member
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So your Hercus is working again, what was the problem with it?
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9th Jan 2023, 06:45 PM #12Diamond Member
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9th Jan 2023, 06:57 PM #13Diamond Member
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Oops. Come to think of it, it might be a Boxford.
Always get those two confused - similar names!
e.g. Boxford mk3 Boxford AUD Lathe Photo Essay
So far, have only tried the fixed steady. The V and the flat fitted OK.
The locking plate (that clamps underneath the steady) was a little tight.
The gap in the casting, between the V and the flat,
which is usually underneath the tailstock,
might be a fraction larger on the lathe I borrowed the steadies from.Nigel, from a cave FULL of unfinished projects and lost tools.
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9th Jan 2023, 07:23 PM #14
Hi Guys,
The Myford "Travelling" steady is secured to the saddle with a single screw, 1/4" whit I think. Mine is sat in a box somewhere along with other bits and pieces that I haven't seen for years.
02-03-2017-002.jpgBest Regards:
Baron J.
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10th Jan 2023, 12:04 AM #15Most Valued Member
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What's the bet, that the box is right on the bottom, of the last row you look through.
It's usually the case for me anyway.
KrynTo grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
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