Smitty's 9x20 lathe

Phase II Machine Vise With Swivel Base

2012-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

My Dad gave me my milling machine some twenty years ago. I had just opened a business, and he thought I needed it more than he did. My Dad was that kind of a guy. I've been using the vise that came with the mill for years now. It wasn't the best vise when it was new, and it was new about fifty years ago.

I've put off buying a new one for some years now because I could not decide which I wanted. I knew I wanted one of the so called "lock down" variety, but a Kurt or Parlec was out of my price range. That left a foreign made knockoff. The problem is that not all are made the same. I also dithered over what size to purchase. What I had was best described as 3 1/2". That meant I could go with 4", 5" (there are a few of those out there) or a 6" vise.

To compound the problem, I had stumbled across a few internet horror stories about poor quality ranging from ground surfaces that weren't flat to weak and porous castings to fixed jaws breaking off the back of the vise. The websites selling such things as vices weren't much help either. They usually gave a sketchy description of their product, sometimes written in Engrish, with a single photo about the size of a postage stamp, and of poor resolution.

So, I bought a four inch Phase II with swivel base. Yeah, short and sweet. Here's why. After pouring over the available dimensions, I concluded a five or six inch vise was simply too big and heavy for me, and my little mill. That left a four inch vise, if I wanted to go larger than what I had. I settled on Phase II for two reasons. I have purchased other parts and tooling from Little Machine Shop in the past. They carry a three inch version of the Phase II vise. Everything I have purchased in the past from them has been of good to excellent quality for the price. If they felt that the Phase II vise was a good cost/quality compromise for hobbyists, then who was I to argue. I also considered that the Phase II rotary table and quick change tool post I had purchased earlier were, in my eyes, excellent products. I like them both, especially the rotary table, and have had zero problems with them.

So, a four inch Phase II machine vise with swivel base was ordered from Get Machine Tools.Com. Little Machine Shop didn't carry one that large, and GetMachineTools.COM is on the same side of the continent as I am. The vise was here in two days, standard ground.
I've published a few photos here, more that I was able to find elsewhere on the internet. Enjoy. As always, click to embiggen. My initial eyeball assessment of the vise is that it's well made. I know, that's not terribly critical of me. I've made a few measurements, and have to make more. The fixed jaw is square with the base, and all the surfaces one would expect to be ground, the bottom, the base, the jaws fixed and sliding, and jaw inserts are ground. Right out of the box, things were sort of stiff and bumpy, but cleaning and oiling cleared that up. For now, it's nice to have something that isn't fifty years old and full of holes. The size is right for my Clausing mill. Anything larger would have been a mistake. The vise can be used with or without the base, of course. I will rarely use the base, but it never hurts to have it, especially that one time you need it.

I was taken aback by the handle that accompanied the vise. It's massive. The smaller handle is what fits the old Enco vise. It's always been sufficient for the amounts of torque I'm accustomed to using. Maybe that's because my hands and arms are huge and freakishly strong (kidding) or because I baby my old mill and tools(more likely). Anyway, a smaller handle that fits the vise better must be had. Cool, another project. I'll be back with more photos of the vise and base, and an opinion as to whether I've made a good investment or not later. For now, I'm going to use my new vise.

Update: Andy at Workshop Shed has asked in the comments about the vise's main screw collecting chips. For the most part it's covered by the threaded casting that carries the moving jaw forward against the workpiece. You can see this, and the underside of the moving jaw in the photo that accompanies this update. The angular projection on top of this threaded casting bears against the underside of the moving jaw, and carries it forward while forcing it down (hence lock down vise), once it meets resistance from the workpiece being clamped.

There is a hemispherical bearing that barely shows in the photo.It's inside the moving jaw and it allows for some some jaw misalignment to accommodate a odd shaped workpiece, and bears against the angled projection on the threaded carrier.

The last photo is my best effort to show this bearing and the cavity it occupies in the underside of the moving jaw.The bearing is sitting in a lump of white lithium grease to hold it so its' half round shape shows well. The bearing is rough as a cob, and so is the cavity it occupies, which is cast in place, not machined. I've polished the flat portion of the bearing, and as soon as I figure out how, I'm going to polish the bearing cavity as well. I'm somewhat disappointed that a part critical to the proper operation of the vise was left so rough.

Cold Air From the Glove Compartment of a Ford Explorer

2012-01-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

If your Ford Explorer has suddenly started blowing freezing cold air from the glove compartment, here's why. There is a duct (or plenum, if you prefer) installed under your dashboard, behind the glove compartment, and the passenger side air bag. Inside this plenum is a swinging door controlled by a vacuum device that moves it from one side of this plenum to the other. You can see this door clearly in the second photo. When swung towards the rear of the vehicle, it allows cold air from outside the vehicle into the blower that distributes air to the rest of the vehicle's HVAC system. When swung towards the front of the vehicle, it allows cabin air into the blower, and blocks the freezing cold air.

Now, here's your problem. Your door has broken off, and fallen to the bottom of the plenum. The result is that now, this door is lying across the fan intake, and freezing cold air from outside your explorer in now screaming unhindered through the grilles on either side of the plenum, pressurizing your glove compartment and the underside of your dashboard. This also has the effect of turning your passenger into a giant blue icicle. I know, it happened to Mrs. Smitty about halfway through a 150 mile trip.

Well, no problem. This plenum is available from your friendly local Ford dealer for somewhere in the neighborhood of $68.00, complete with swinging door, and vacuum actuator. Oh, wait. Did I mention that this cheap plastic box is buried under your dashboard in such a fashion that the only way to gain access to it is to remove the whole dashboard? Well, no problem, if you're willing to spend two days ripping apart the interior of your truck to replace this poorly engineered piece of cheap plastic crap with another identical poorly engineered piece of cheap plastic crap with exactly the same life expectancy, and the same failure mode. Or, you could leave it in the hands of your friendly local Ford dealer who will only require ten hours (estimated) as the the technicians there are well acquainted with the procedure. They said so. For a mere $800 (estimated parts and labor) you can have your truck working again.

Ford tough, my a$$.

Or, you can do what I did. Before writing this post, I purchased the failed plenum and door assembly for the purpose of making clear photos. It is not necessary to buy a new duct assembly, or remove your old one. The procedure I describe here can be done with the duct in the car. It helps to be manually adroit, and have a spine like a slinky, but you don't have to to remove and replace your duct. You only have to remove the glove compartment door, a vacuum reservoir, and the cabin blower motor.

All of the work I'm about to describe takes place directly below and in front of the passenger side air bag. Nothing I describe doing should cause the airbag to go off, but it's prudent to disarm the air bag before continuing. If you've read this far you're already screwed, and don't need the additional expense of replacing an airbag.

Remove the glove box. It swings completely down to the floor if you press in on the rear corners of the box. Three screws hold it onto the dashboard. Behind it you will see the blower motor down near the floor. Remove the blower motor. It's held in with three screws. You may have to remove a vacuum reservoir first. It looks something like a giant black suppository (which is pretty representative of this whole episode). Disconnect the vacuum line connected to it and move it out of your way. With the blower removed you can lie on your back, squirm under the dash, and look up into the hole where the blower was. Or, use a small mirror and flashlight. You will see the door in question lying on top of the hole where air should enter the blower. If not, you have a different problem.

Use a pocket knife to cut the plastic screen at the bottom of the plenum out of the way. You can live without it. This screen is visible in the second photo.This will allow you to reach inside, and push the door up where it belongs. It may have turned over when it fell, and you may have to turn it over for it to fit. I did.

Now you need a way to secure the door such that it seals the cabin side of the plenum, and allows outside air into the blower, permanently. I used a piece of aluminum to fabricate a bracket for this purpose. As I had purchased a replacement plenum from my local Ford dealer, and could use it as a model, I had no problem shaping a bracket to fit the inside of the duct, and secure the door. I have traced the bracket as you can see in the photo. If anyone out there should want the bracket's dimensions, contact me through the comments, and I'll publish dimensions.The next photo shows the bracket placed as it will be installed inside the truck. It will be held by the two sheet metal screws

I also made a template to enable me to locate holes for bracket screws outside the plenum. You can drill the holes with any electric drill by access provided by the cavity in the dash board where the glove box used to be. Install the bracket once you have drilled holes. This requires you to palm the bracket in one hand and use the fingers of the same hand to position the door, then place and hold the bracket while driving the screws with the other hand. I did it. So can you. It helps if someone stands by to hand you tools and screws. The next two photos show the template in place prior to marking and drilling holes for the screws, and the screws in place, securing bracket and door.

Reassemble your vehicle. What you will have is a permanent repair takes a couple hours, costs you almost nothing and deprives Ford of any additional revenue. I call that a win-win. Your truck's HVAC will work as before, with the exception that the door if fixed in place. This means that the door will always be in the "vent" position and will allow air into the cabin interior, through the blower. If the blower is off, very little air will enter the cabin, even going down the road at 70 mph. It the blower is on, everything will work as before. The only other time the door would have moved is the Max Air setting, (or recirculate). Your AC will still cool the interior, only with vented air instead of recirculated air. If your Exploder is equipped with front and rear AC, you'll not notice the difference, unless you live someplace like Arizona.

The reason this door breaks and falls is that the crank on the driver side of the plenum is loosely attached to the door with what appears to my untrained eye to be nothing more than an ultrasonic weld. Now, if the geniuses at Ford had used a screw to secure this crank, like the screws they used to fasten the two halves of the plenum together, then this failure most likely would never have happened to my vehicle, or judging from what I'm able to find on the internet, many others. It seems to me that if you're going to bury a component that operates every single time a customer drives his truck, sometimes multiple times, in a location where it takes something like ten hours to get at it, you would take pains to see that it's reliable, and not likely to fail for the life of the vehicle, instead of depending on a cheesy ultrasonic weld, or glue, or whatever.

Unless of course, your goal is to cost your customer a fortune, and drive him to purchase a vehicle from another manufacturer. That sort of thing does happen. The last photo is Mrs. Smitty's new Camry. She likes it a lot. I like it because it doesn't have Ford duct assembly 12LZ-18B259-AC under the dash.

Silver Soldering a Crankshaft Assembly

2011-06-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, my original plans were to press fit the crankshaft parts together, and use setscrews to secure everything. That didn't work out so well. After the parts were pressed together, I discovered there was way too much runout (or wobble if you prefer)in the cranks. So, what to do? Nobody likes a wobbly crank.

After much thought I decided to try silver soldering the crank parts into one crank. The bigger problem was figuring how to hold everything in alignment while soldering. What I ended up with was two Vee blocks clamped down on the bed of my mill. I aligned the blocks by first clamping down one. Then, using a straight piece of drill rod clamped in the vees of both blocks as an alignment device, I clamped down the other.

Soldering depends on proper clearances between parts to work properly. As I had originally machined the crank parts with a press fit, I had to increase clearances by filing the round crank parts a little. I did this by clamping them in the lathe and holding a file to the crank ends and crank pin. The parts to be soldered are 1/4 inch in diameter where they fit in the crank discs. For a part that size, .001" clearance is sufficient. If you have too much clearance between parts, you'll get a weak joint. If you have too little, capillary action will not be enough to draw the solder into the joint, and again, you get a dry and weak joint.

The parts have to be clean shiny metal, with no rust, oxides or grease or oil. I used a silver solder paste, which is tiny beads of silver solder in a thick resin type flux, as best I could tell. It was purchased at a local building supply store (OK. Lowes.) According to the manufacturer's specification, this particular paste contained five percent silver, with a melting temperature of 450 degrees. There are a lot of different formulations of silver solder, some as high as 20 percent silver, with higher melting temperatures. I chose the lower temperature because I didn't want to change the temper or coloration of my crank parts, and I didn't feel I needed the strength of the solders with higher soldering temperatures for a model engine crank. It was also locally available. I have another project in the works that will depend on this sort of soldering, so my cranks served as a chance to practice.

The purpose of silver in solder is to improve the wetting and flow characteristics of the solder, by the way.

The first photo shows the crank disks and the crank pin installed in my jig with a solid piece of drill rod through the bottom of the discs. This was to insure that the two discs were aligned at the crank ends. I used the holes that originally were intended for the setscrews as a place to apply the solder paste. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the grey paste filling the holes. I heated the parts with a propane torch, the resin melted, and the solder flowed. After the parts had cooled, I rolled them over, removed the solid drill rod, installed the crank ends, clamped everything down, and soldered those using the same procedure. All went well except for the last joint on the last crank, which simply refused to flow. I had a very old tin of resin flux in the top of my tool box, and decided to try some of that. I disassembled the joint, cleaned it one more time, and painted it liberally with the new/old flux. This time the solder flowed really well. Hmm. Maybe I should have used additional flux on all the joints?

The second photo shows how I measured the runout at the crank end. I got about .002" on either crank. I can live with that. If you look closely at the area where the crank end meets the crank disc, you should see a bright white line. That's silver solder drawn through the joint by capillary action. That's what you want to see.

The last photo shows the cranks installed in their bearings and the engine bases. The silver solder is in the syringe in the middle, above the tin of flux I bought years ago for a purpose I don't recall. If I have to do this again, I'm going to try to find a similar low temperature silver solder in a wire form, and spend more time investigating fluxes.

Turning a Tru-stone Pen.

2010-08-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

My son's pen turning interests have persisted, and here he's turning a material called Tru-Stone. This material is advertised as being made of powdered stone mixed with "gem" resin. Judging from the smell it gives off while turning, it's a polyester resin similar to what's used for laying up fiberglass. If you read the instructions and warnings on the web sites where this stuff is sold, it's promoted as being difficult to turn, harder than other materials, requires super sharp tools, etc. Our experience is that brazed carbide tools like it. Zip through it like butter while making a nice sizzling sound, in fact. It does tend to chip when first rounding the square blank if you hogg off to much material at once. We turned it with a spindle speed of 1000 rpm, using a 60 degree tool of the sort usually used for threading. The point of the tool was given a smallish radius like you might use on a finishing tool. This worked just fine, could cut in either direction while roughing, and gave a nice smooth finish. In the photo you can see chips from the material flying off the point of the tool. It's sort of fun to take photos of stuff flying around while someone else operates the machinery. I've always wanted to Direct. The swarf this stuff makes is just awful. It's a coarse powder that has a static charge, and clings to you, the lathe, and everything else, like Styrofoam beads, except smaller. Sanding and polishing is the same as with acrylic materials; 400 grit, followed by 600 grit, followed by white rubbing compound. It is harder to polish than the acrylic, and a lot less forgiving where fine scratches are concerned. It also make lots of fine dust, which we have been breathing with reckless abandon. We'll probably grow antlers or something as a result. Once polished, it looks even better than the acrylic. I have some other polishing compounds that I want to try, left over from decades ago when I did some metal polishing, but they're salted away in the attic, and I've been too lazy to hunt them down in the heat. I've got to get up there and find the box they're in. The finished pen is ostensibly of Persian Turquoise, with brushed chrome hardware. It's resting on a piece of Tru-Stone Malachite, destined soon to be another pen. It's been turned round and polished, just to see what it will look like. I personally like the looks of the Malachite a lot better than the Turquoise. You may have gathered that I have my doubts about the composition of the Tru-Stone material. I'm having a hard time believing that it's really made out of powdered stone, particularly considering the ease with which it's worked. But, that's what the people selling it and, I assume, the people manufacturing it claim, and I have no reason to doubt their veracity, other than my natural skepticism, which I've been told is extensive. I would like to see how it's made, though. One last comment. The Tru-Stone feels warm in your hand compared to the acrylic, which, to me anyway, feels cool to the touch. It's also considerably heavier. Hey, it's made out of real stone!

Update: GoatRider has sent a photo of his latest creation. Marble Tru-Stone, it is. Nice looking, too. As always, click to embiggen.

Verticle Steam Engine Model, Part Four, Crank Assembly

2010-07-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

The crank assembly is comprised of two matched crank discs, and crank ends and a rod journal. The discs were machined just as were the discs for the simplex engines I made three years ago. My, how time flies. The only real difference between the crank discs for the two engines is that the crank discs for the simplex engines were machined from round stock, and the discs for the current effort were machined from square stock. In the first photo, a square piece of material has been drilled for the crank ends and the rod journal, and turned round on the lathe. The workpiece has then been placed in the mill, and is being machined so as to form the counterbalance portion of the disc. The odd looking clamp arrangement you see in the photo is my version of a mill work stop. It is made by placing a a long bolt through a clamp and an appropriately sized length of square tubing, and bolting it down on the mill bed with a "T" nut. This arrangement is positioned so as to stop a workpiece as it is slid along the back jaw of the mill vise. It allows a competent machinist, or even a miserable hack like me to install multiple workpieces in the vice in the same position repeatably. It's practically free. It works, and it's ridgid. No adjectives necessary. I digress. The next photo shows the fully formed crank discs out of the mill. All that remains is to part off the discs from the parent parts. This has already been started on the workpiece on the right. As always, click to embiggen. That's where I ran into serious problems. Since I finished my version of the Pitkin doughnut mount and matching four bolt clamp for my compound rest, I've had zero problems parting, to the point that I hardly give it a thought anymore. Not so here. Things went smoothly till I was about halfway through, then the parting tool started to chatter, and then the tool locked itself into the work, and the lathe stopped. Period. Happened several times. Nothing broke. Nothing bent. Nothing smoked. The bottom of the groove where the workpiece was being parted showed a lot of chatter, and of course the divot where the parting tool finally augured in. Nothing helped. I finally cut the discs off using my band saw. I have since parted brass, bronze and steel with the same tool, not re-sharpened, without problems. The only thing I can figure is that I was using the four jaw chuck that shipped with the lathe. I've heard lots of criticism of this chuck. For now, it's the only one I have, so I do and will continue use it. It's the only variable that I see that would be the cause of my parting problems. Maybe it isn't rigid enough, and was the source of the chatter. Time will tell.... Anyway, once the discs were sliced off and faced in the lathe (described here with photos, just scroll down) , I had only to drill and tap for setscrews, and make the crank ends and rod journals. These were made from drill rod, because it's hard, round and precisely ground to dimension. It's the same material from which twist drills are manufactured, only not hardened. There are three types as far as I can tell. They are; Air hardening, Oil hardening, and Water hardening. Drill rod can be hardened by heating to the proper temperature, and quenching in the appropriate fluid, as designated by it's type. You can do it in your shop if you have an acetylene torch or a forge. The hardened rod can then be "drawn" or annealed by heating again to the proper temperature and cooling slowly. This makes it useful for a variety of purposes, as you no doubt have concluded. This link to the ENCO online catalog (page 840 until they decide to change it) is a good, one page tutorial on drill rod and the heat treatment of the same. I digress, again. The previously mentioned drill rod is cut to length, and a shoulder turned on the ends to match the holes in the crank discs. The shoulders are cut so they are a light press fit into the crank discs. The cranks are assembled with setscrews, and blue locktite. It's important to assemble the cranks so that the crank ends are properly aligned. I do this by placing a piece of drill rod through the holes for the crank ends, then pressing and screwing the rod journals in place. Then the drill rod can be removed, and the crank ends installed. The two chunks of metal that served to hold the discs while they were being machined are not wasted. They are now properly sized and destined to become flywheels for the engines. Aren't I clever. I think that's what I'll be working on next. This post has rambled on all over the place and I apologize. One day I'll figure out how to write in a concise and organized fashion. Many years ago, my eighth grade English teacher Mrs. Sutherland insisted that every composition start with an outline. She also insisted on walking around the room with a giant toothbrush, singing , "This is the way we brush our teeth!", and using it to whack hell out of students that she perceived to be screwing up. The woman was certifiably bug nuts crazy. It's a miracle I can write at all. I'm certain she's dead now, and can't reach me with her effing toothbrush, except on Halloween, maybe. I'm not making this up!

Vertical Steam Engine Model, Part Three, Steam Chest

2010-06-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

The steam chest components are for the most part finished. The photo shows parts for two engines, with one flipped over so you can see both sides. I have yet to drill the holes in the steam chest that will allow fasteners to pass through the chest and its' cover, holding both to the cylinder. That's because I have yet to locate the fasteners I intend to use. I also have to make the packing nut that will screw onto the brass bushing at the bottom of the chest. I don't have hex brass stock, and will have to buy or make some first. The brass bushings at the top and bottom of the steam chest were a lot of trouble. They are threaded and screw into the chest. Figuring out how to hold them while they were being threaded without crushing them or tearing them up was a challenge. No, I didn't thread them on the lathe. I wish I were that skilled. I used dies to cut the threads. Once everything was made, I had to spend some time filing and fitting to get everything to work smoothly, but they eventually did. My son informs me that I'm on standby this weekend for more pen turning. Woot!

Pen Turning

2010-06-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

So, here's what happened. I was looking for hardware for my "Most Useless Machine Ever", and dragged my son along with me into a local woodworking store (Woodcraft, if you're wondering). While I was rummaging around in the hardware department, my son was looking at the pens, and kits for making pens that were on display in the store. He sort of has this thing for expensive fountain pens. We left with a pen kit, and a nice red and black acrylic pen blank that happened to be on sale, and that he had to have. That was a month ago. For some reason he decided this was the weekend to make a pen. That's him standing in front of the lathe. It was the first time he had ever used the lathe, and I think he was a little tense, especially with DAD breathing down his neck. Actually, I'm a pretty easy going guy, regardless of what you may have heard. The second photo shows the pen blanks mounted on a mandrel which we made instead of buying one. You can do that sort of thing if you have a metal lathe. Pens are usually made on a wood lathe, as far as I can tell. Judging from the number of pen kits, and turning blanks of various exotic woods and man made materials, this pen making thing is a 'really big deal' among wood turners. My son stuck with it all day and in about five hours turned out a really nice looking pen. That includes the time to make the mandrel and figure out the instructions. It was the first time either of us had attempted this. I think it turned out really well. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's in his school colors too. Doesn't hurt. By the way, if your son or daughter takes an interest in doing something with their hands, I'd encourage you to encourage them. I got to spend the day in the shop with my son, listening to the lathe run, even if I wasn't running it, and he got a really nice looking pen for cheap, and the satisfaction of making it himself, all of which is worth a lot. From time to time I see requests for starter projects on the 9x20 Lathe Group. I had never thought about it, but making a pen is a great metal or wood lathe starter project, if you're looking for one. I imagine these might make really nice gifts too. If you're starting out, I recommend the acrylic material. It turns really easily, and doesn't splinter like wood might. It does smell really odd while it's being turned, though. My son polished the finished turnings starting with a file, and moving to progressively finer grades of sandpaper, ending with 600 grit wet or dry. He finished with white rubbing compound of the sort used to buff automotive clear coat finishes, because I had some. It worked, and brought the finished pen to a really nice sheen.

Vertical Steam Engine Model, Part Two

2010-04-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my vertical stationary steam engine model, in spite of numerous distractions, like replacing brakes on my son's motorcycle, and repairing the roof, in case it should ever rain again here, and working on the "useless machine". In an effort to break things loose, and get the project moving again, I roughed out several parts for the engine this weekend. I also managed to finish the crank bearings, and the vertical supports that will hold up the cylinder and cross head guide. The squarish looking parts you see in front of the engine bases will, with some luck, one day be the steam chests, the steam chest covers, the slide valves, and the cylinder supports, one of which is supporting a cylinder blank. It gives one the idea of how the finished engine might look.

"Useless Machine" Part Three

2010-04-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

I searched the local hobby, and craft stores and found nothing that I felt was appropriate for installing the works of my "useless machine". So, I built my own box. Uh, I am not much of a carpenter. That is obvious from the appearance of my box. It's made out of scraps of the cheapest luan plywood, glued together with plain butt joints, with glue smeared all over the outside of the box. It looks just awful, but it served the purpose of letting me check fit and function, make adjustments and determine the smallest size box I could practically fit everything into. It is a prototype, and looks like one. At this point, I am ready to start thinking about what kind of wood I want to make the real boxes out of, and how to assemble them. I have never made box joints, but this page shows how to make a jig for making box joints that looks pretty straightforward and simple. I won't learn any younger, and it should be a useful skill to have. Yes, I do own a Sears table saw that is at least thirty years old still in serviceable condition. The second photo shows the mechanical part of the machine out of it's box, still attached to the box top. The cam on the back of the actuator arm has been relocated, and the arm itself has been made in two parts by cutting it in half, and joining the two halves with short pieces of 1/4" dowel rods so as to offset the arm by about an inch. This allowed me to offset the GM2 gear motor towards the center of the box, keep the toggle switch in the center of the lid, and reduce the total width of the box. The dowels still stick out to the side because I haven't cut them off yet. I wanted to keep the box as small as possible because I didn't want something the size of a shoebox sitting on my desk. Oh, the box's outside dimensions are about 3.5"x3.5"x5.5". I have motors and other parts for four of these things, and they already have found homes, once they're finished.

Cutting a Threaded Part With a Dremel Tool

2010-04-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I wrote about making a tool post adapter for a Dremel tool. Today, I needed to cut short pieces of #6-32 all thread rod. I wasn't looking forward to it at all, not because cutting threaded rod is particularly hard to do, but because cleaning up small threads after cutting is a pain. I used the Dremel tool adapter and my Dremel tool with a thin abrasive wheel to cut the parts. The rod was chucked up gently so as not to damage the threads, and the lathe was run at slow speed, while the Dremel spun like mad, which is what Dremel tools do. This worked just great. The abrasive disc whizzed right through the rod, and threads weren't damaged at all. I was done in no time. Even the ends of the parts had a nice finish, not that it mattered. They won't be seen. The parts started in their threaded holes with no problem, and screwed right into place. Terrific. As always, click on the photo for a better look.

I Found This in the Attic

2010-04-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

I got this Erector Set for Christmas when I was something like twelve years old. The rocket launcher set. How cool. Obviously kid's toys have changed a lot since then. I spent hours in my bedroom floor building models, and got yelled at for leaving them around the house for too long. I made everything in the instruction book that could be built with my particular set, then moved on to my own creations. The book showed models for all of the available sets, not just this one, so I couldn't build them all. I haven't been quite right since. Parents, it pays to be careful what you put in your kid's hands during their formative years. Most of the parts are still in the box, including the rocket, and the motor with gearbox, and the box is still in good shape, with just a little corrosion at one corner. The illustrations are a hoot. It's a miracle it survived this long.
It has occurred to me that I'm still bolting together erector set projects forty some odd years later, except now I make most of my own parts. This has nothing to do with lathes or mills or metalwork, but I thought someone might enjoy seeing it.

Here's an Quick Fix for a Sticky Tail Stock

2010-03-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

The tail stocks on many 9x20 lathes have an annoying habit of sliding, then sticking, unless the operator loosens the nut that clamps the tail stock more than half a turn. This doesn't seem like much of a problem, unless you're doing some job that requires lots of tail stock movement. Making that extra quarter turn with a wrench becomes vexing in a hurry. The slide/stick phenomena occurs when the bolt that passes through the tail stock cants forward or backward depending on direction of motion, and causes the clamp under the ways to tighten when you don't want it to. The definitive answer is a cam lock for your tail stock. I have every intention of having one, some day. Until then, the easy solution is the addition of a bushing and spring as shown in the photo. The outside diameter of the bushing should be large enough to keep the bolt from canting and grabbing, but small enough not to bind in the slot in the tail stock casting. If it does, you'll have trouble offsetting the tail stock. For my lathe, the outside diameter of the bushing was one half inch. Your lathe may be different. The spring shown is actually about a turn and a half cut from the end of a longer spring.

This is a quick fix, an easy project, even if you're a beginner, and it works!

'Useless Machine" Part Two

2010-02-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

How's that for an imaginative title? It's meant slogging back and forth in the snow and ice between the house and my shop, but I have a working model of my version of the "Useless Machine", and a video. Now on YouTube, and embedded here. It views much better in YouTube, and can be embiggened. The video is, like all of my videos, just awful. One of these days I'm going to buy a decent camera, but not today. As you can see if you squint and look really closely, the GM2 gear motor worked just fine, and so did the plywood actuator arm, and the switches. The whole business is mounted on a piece of 1/4" plywood, so viewers (that's you three guys) can better see how it works and how it's constructed. Eventually this will go in a box. The 'C' clamp in the back is there to hold the whole thing vertical while I photographed it.

As almost always occurs with projects I throw myself into with no plan, some refinement and and improvement is in order. In particular, the lever switch that 'parks' the arm in the withdrawn position by killing power to the GM2 gear motor, doesn't play nice with the cam on the back of the wooden arm. The cam wants to crash into the switch, and rebounds slightly when it does, and that's not how a cam and follower are supposed to work together. So either the switch has to be repositioned or the cam redesigned or some of both (the most likely scenario).

There Have Been a Few Changes

2010-01-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Nothing major. I have a new picture in my profile. Sort of a caricature. My son says it's "spot on", an expression he probably picked up at the range. I think it's the hat. That's beer in my hand. Spaten Oktoberfest, if you must know. I've also had to change commenting so that word recognition is required to comment. It's irritating, but the mailbox was filling up with comment spam, which is a bigger irritation. Hard to believe for a blog this obscure. Comment spammers are like internet cockroaches.

I also discovered that I have followers! So I've added the followers widget to the right sidebar, so I can see you guys, and you can see each other. I'm still a little fuzzy about what the whole follower/following thing means, but there you go.

I have my version of the Useless Machine operating, and will have a photo and video later. I've also still making slow progress on the vertical steam engine. The weather here is not cooperating at all, and my shop is freezing.

Way Back in March...

2010-01-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

..I announced with uncommon (for me) conviction that I was building a new vertical steam engine. Since then, events have conspired to keep me out of the shop. When I was able to spend time there I was working, not playing. Even so, I've managed to finish the bases for the new engine. I decided to build the engines from the ground up. Fabrication was straightforward. All of the work was done on my Clausing mill. The white styrene cleats are there to provide clearance for the flywheel, keeping it off the table top. Crank bearings are next, I think. Drawings for the engine can be seen by clicking the image of a vertical steam engine at the top of the right sidebar.

Components and a Schematic for 'Useless Machine'

2010-01-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

I've collected the components I'm planning to use to construct my version of "The Most Useless Machine...Ever". Video of this machine is in the previous post. The version of the Machine documented on the Instructibles Website used a servo motor. Servo motors of that type require power, ground, and a positioning signal consisting of a square wave of variable duty cycle. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that. A servomotor was used because that's what the builder had on hand. This requires circuitry designed around a LM555 integrated timer to generate the postitioning signal that makes the motor move in the desired manner. How bothersome.

I've opted to go a simpler and cheaper route (I hope!). I'll be using what's called a GM2 gearmotor manufactured by Solarbiotics. That's part of what you see in the first photo. The motors cost somewhere in the neighborhood of six bucks depending on where you purchase them. Mine came from Robotshop.us. I also purchased mounting brackets, and wheels that fit the double flatted shaft on the GM2 gearmotor. The rest of the components are a double pole, double throw (DPDT) miniature switch, and a micro switch with actuator lever. That's the rest of what you see in the photo. The switches came from a local RadioShack. I've also included a second motor in the photo to show the parts from a different perspective, and how they look prior to assembly.

For those of my three readers that might find such as this interesting, mechanical drawings of the GM2 Gearmotors, Mounting Brackets and Wheels can be viewed at the links provided. Enjoy.

A commenter at the Instructables site named sungam3D has drawn a combination schematic and circuit narrative that I'm reproducing here with his permission. That's the second photo. sumgam3D drew this using a program called Crocodile Clips, by the way. It's exactly what I'd intended to do, and it's a better schematic than I can draw. In fact, I think it does an excellent job of describing how the Machine should work. No point in reinventing the wheel. Click to embiggen. Yes, it's a perfectly cromulent word.

Now I'm going to go away and build stuff for a while. Feel free to amuse yourselves with the links and photos.

If This Doesn't Make You Smile...

2010-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

then you're probably at the wrong Blog. It's billed as the Most Useless Machine Ever. You be the judge.

I must have one of these. Instructions are here.

Update: Motors have been ordered. I'm using GM2 gear motors by Solarbiotics. I ordered four, along with a few other bits and pieces. Everybody I know wants one of these, and the minimum order without service charge was 30 bucks, so four it was. How's that for an excuse? They are being delivered by Brown, and should be here in a few days.

The machine in the video was built using a servomotor that required a square wave control input, which complicates the electrical part of construction. Servomotors are also more expensive than the gear motors which are costing me $5.29 each from RobotShop.

I'll have more when the motors, etc. arrive.

How to Use an Edge Finder

2009-06-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

I purchased a new edge finder a few months ago. Until now I had been using a wiggler type edge finder. Today was the first chance I'd had to use the new one. In the photo you can see a piece of aluminum that will eventually be an engine base in the mill vise, and the edge finder. I think I have managed to embed an excellent video (not made by me) showing how this type of edge finder is used. Enjoy.

Well, That Took Long Enough

2009-06-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished the valve rods for the engine I'm working on. They were a bear to do too. I started with hardware store material, and gave up. The stuff was just awful. Better material yielded better results. The parts are by my standards small, and I was worried about being able to finish them at all, which is why I started with these particular parts. Had I been unable to finish them, I would have had to revisit my design.

The threaded portions of the rods are number three threads, and they're a bit less than an inch and a half long, to give some idea of size.

With luck, these little rods will be the valve rods that pass through the steam chest and operate the valve that passes steam into opposite sides of the cylinder, once the engine is finished. As usual, I'm building two engines at once, hence two parts.

The second photo shows one of the rods being turned with its' free end supported by a live center. When turning such small diameters, tool height becomes hypercritical. If your tool is too low, the part rides over it and bends. If it's too high, the cutting edge is held off the part by the metal below it, resulting in high cutting forces that deform or break the part. Either way, you get garbage. You can see some of the fallout from failed efforts at the top of the first photo. I used a steel tool instead of carbide. It gave a better finish on this particular material, and could be honed to a sharper edge.

I've been gone for some months. The entire time wasn't spent making these two little parts. Hopefully, I'll have more time to spend in the shop over the next few months.

OK, I'm Going To Build This

2009-03-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm going to try to build this. It's a model vertical double acting single cylinder stationary steam engine of my own design. Bore and stroke, .750 inches. Wish me luck. I'm concerned about some of the smaller parts, and I'll do those first to keep from getting a lot of parts done and discovering that I can't finish things. I'm expecting Brown to deliver not one but five packages in the next few days containing tools and materials from various and assorted sources. It seems there are always a few more tools needed before starting any project, doesn't it? So, in the next few days my three readers should see me making parts. In the mean time, enjoy the pretty picture. If you click the picture, it gets bigger.

A Toolpost Adapter for Dremel Motor

2009-02-11T14:14:00.001-08:00

Google Analytics has been telling me for some time now that many people are coming to the pages of this blog looking for a way to attach a Dremel motor to their tool post. Here's one way to do it. The nose of many Dremel tools have a ferrule attached by threads in the motor housing. The Dremel people use these threads to affix different attachments to the tools. You can too. I've provided a drawing with dimensions showing how to make an attachment that will allow you to fix your Dremel tool to your tool post. The odd shape of the part allows it to be held in a three jaw chuck for boring and threading. I made mine out of half inch thick aluminum, using my mill. If you don't have a mill, you can do the same thing using a band saw or even a hack saw, if you have the time and patience. It doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough to be securely held in the three jaw chuck. I threaded mine using a tool with a 60 degree point installed in a boring bar. It was the first time I had made any internal threads using my lathe. I did practice on a few pieces of scrap before trying it on my part. If you make one of these, do be careful while turning your threads. The "tail" of the part sticks out from the chuck, and can hit you or the ways or the saddle if you don't pay close attention to setting up your lathe and tooling prior to threading. Always turn things over by hand before starting your lathe with any setup, make sure you have stops installed to keep the saddle from traveling too far in towards the chuck, and keep your fingers out of the way. The last photo shows the Dremel motor installed in the tool post attachment, which in turn has been installed in the QCTP. Keep in mind that this is, after all, just a Dremel tool, attached by it's plastic housing, and have realistic expectations for what you can do with it. As always, you the reader are free to make whatever changes to this design that you please. If you do, I'd very much like to see your results. I'm also interested in seeing what you guys are planning to do with this attachment.

Larger Cross Slide Handwheel

2009-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

If you are doing any amount of facing with the typical 9x20 lathe, you will soon notice that the hand wheel on the cross slide is just too small. Several other lathe owners have built larger wheels. Now so have I. This particular modification is really easy, and greatly improves the usability of the cross slide. My new hand wheel started out as a piece of half inch thick aluminum, three inches square. I laid out the lines for the features of the parts, and roughed it out with my modified ten inch woodworking band saw. That particular project has worked out really well. I've cut up to three quarter inch thick 4140 steel with no problems, and with reasonable enough speed through the part that the work didn't become tedious. The band saw seems to be handling metal cutting just fine. The rough work piece was held in my three jaw chuck using a 3/8 inch bolt. The head of the bolt is trapped behind the chuck jaws, and passes through the part. The part is clamped to the front of the chuck jaws with a nut. This method works fine to bring a rough part into a mostly round shape, so it can later be held in the chuck jaws, but it's not terribly accurate otherwise. In the photo there are rough areas still on the outer circumference of the part. Those will be removed later while holding the part from the inside recess that has yet to be cut. The part is next held with the outside jaws in the three jaw chuck, and a recess is turned to fit the factory hand wheel. I'm sure sizes will vary from lathe to lathe. I made my wheel so that the factory hand wheel was a sliding fit into the recess. Others have made these replacement wheels so they are pressed on or held in place with a grub screw that bears on the outer surface of the factory wheel. There are certain situations where the new wheel can interfere with the compound slide hand wheel, so it's desirable for the new wheel to be easily removable. Mine slides on easily and is held in place by a button head screw that fits into the threaded hole in the factory wheel where the handle originally fit. The original hand wheel does not have to be pounded or presses into place, is not modified in any way and is not marred by a grub screw. It fits securely, and has no play between the factory wheel and the new hand wheel.

Pitkin Donut Base and Clamp

2008-12-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Update: Well, I've been taken to task in the comments by Andy at Workshop Shed about being unclear as to the purpose of these parts, and he's right. They are a new base for the compound rest for my Jet 9x20 lathe, and a new four bolt clamp to match the new base. There, fixed.

In the previous post I mentioned what's being called the Pitkin Donut base on the Yahoo 9x20 lathe group. Mine is well underway, along with a four bolt clamp to match. The drawing shows what they will look like if all goes well and everything fits. I'll have some dimensions and photos of the parts being made later. The clamp is not absolutely necessary. The compound base as designed by Mr. Pitkin used four bolts and four independent clamps. I wanted a single four bolt clamp to hold mine down, just because. I had some problems with interference between the clamp and the rest of the compound rest, so I'm holding off on giving dimensions till I know I have things right and everything fits. Until then, enjoy the drawing.

Update: Things are coming along nicely. I still have to bevel the top of the clamp ring and drill a few holes in the base, but I'm almost done. The original two bolt clamp is at the top of the second photo. Obviously, the new mount is substantially heavier. I think I've also managed to build the new ring clamp so as not to interfere with any part of the upper half of the compound rest, and to make the bolts accessible regardless of it's position.
Last update: The new base is finished. The third photo shows from left to right the original mounting base and two bolt clamp, what has become the standard four bolt clamp, and the Pitkin donut base and it's new four bolt clamp. The last photo shows the compound rest with the new base and clamp installed on the cross slide. It's important to say here that the bottom of the compound slide does not touch the bottom of the recess in the Pitkin base. The compound slide rests on and is supported by the three inch ring at the top of the base. That's where the added rigidity comes from. You can see this in the last photo, and that's why I included it. I'll end by saying that I made this base and ring out of 4140 annealed, which is considearably more difficult to machine than 1018, which is what I've been accustomed to using and what the first four bolt clamp is made of. 4140 is considerably harder on your tools and bits as well. It is stronger though, and strong is what I was after. I've also updated the first photo with dimensions. All lathes are different, use these dimensions at your own risk.

The Things One Will Do

2008-12-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

to stay in the good graces of his Mother in Law. The cross shaped part with one arm broken off is the cutter out of an ancient meat grinder/sausage stuffer that had the misfortune to go down the drain into the garbage disposal. The new one is alongside. It's made out of 4140 annealed, and no, I'm not going to bevel the surfaces like the original. It works fine as it is. I've tried it. The healthy chunk of 3/4 thick steel under the parts will soon be a new base for my 9x20 compound mount. I'm going to make what is being called a Pitkin donut mount after a member of the Yahoo 9x20 Lathe Group that designed it. If you have a 9x20 lathe, or smaller, or larger, it's a great group to join even if all you ever do is lurk. There are a bunch of very knowledgeable, helpful guys, and a very active group. Lately they've been discussing alternatives for keeping the shop warm in cold weather, moose in the backyard, and fixing play between your lathe saddle and ways. Something for everybody. I'll have more on the new mount as work progresses.

New Compound Rest Gib and Screws

2008-09-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I had some trouble with sloppy behavior from my compound rest while trying to make a short Morse taper. I have decided to improve my compound slide gibs and screws. The photo shows the original gib and two part (?!) gib screws on the right. The original gib was made from a cheap piece of skinny oval shaped rolled steel. The three original gib secrews were in two parts, a setscrew with a locknut, and a pointy little nib seemingly designed to wobble around on the end of the set screw. I discovered this two piece business earlier, and replaced the original screws with one piece versions. I have finally gotten around to making a new gib. It's machined out of steel and properly shaped and sized to fit the space between the compound slide and the base. The new gib is on the left in the first photo. The compound originally came equipped with three gib screws. As you can see from both photos, it now has six. I know it looks a little busy, but it does remove the tendency for the slide to rock around when at either end of its' travel. Time and use will tell if this modification was worthwhile. As for now, the slide does seem smoother to operate, with less play. The lathe's saddle slide has also been equipped with only three gib screws. I may eventually look into new screws and a new gib there too.

Model Steam Engine Cylinder Experiment

2008-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is another one of my experiments to see what I can and can't do. As I said in my previous post, I'm contemplating what my next engine building project will be. Along those lines, I decided to try to make something shaped like a cylinder casting out of a piece of 1 1/2 inch aluminum round. The piece of round was first faced in the lathe to square it and smoothe the ends. I then used the mill to machine three flats on the round to help locate it in the chuck later. I also drilled an offset hole 1/2 inch in diameter. This hole was used to mount the part on what I'm going to call an arbor for lack of a better word. The first photo shows the part on the arbor, installed in a chuck mounted on my rotary table. I've just started milling the square projection that will become the base for the steam chest. The second photo shows the part with the square projection finished. I've started machining the round outside of the cylinder that intersects the square projection. I ran into a little trouble here because I wasn't working from a drawing, and I hadn't really thought through what I was trying to accomplish. As a result, I did end up with a round cylinder, with a square projection on the side, but by the time I had figured how to get a round shape with a good and flat surface finish, I had a smaller cylinder than I had wanted, by about .050". Yeah, I know, that's a lot. The third photo shows the finished part, and the arbor I used to mount the part in the chuck. The projections on the arbor cylinders are very slightly tapered, and are drawn tightly into the hole in the aluminum cylinder by the threaded rod. Other than the part being smaller that I had planned, because I got ahead of myself and didn't plan enough, I did get what I wanted. I'm working in the dark here, so if any reader has suggestions, or can provide a link showing the right way or a better way to accomplish what I want, your input is welcomed. Had the cylinder turned out exactly right, I would have bored the center hole out to 3/4 inch and proceeded to cut steam passages for the steam chest.

Model Steam Engines and Bandsaw Blades

2008-04-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

The bandsaw blades I've been waiting for arrived yesterday. They're Lennox Diemaster and they fit and they cut great. The bandsaw goes through half inch steel round in a few seconds, and half inch aluminum like a knife through butter. It even leaves a pretty good finish. It's great. As you can see, the steam engines are coming along nicely. I've still got a few of the simpler parts to finish, but I should have them running by the weekend. The twin cylinder big brother to the two little guys is in the back. I didn't make a left hand and right hand version this time. That way lies madness. One of the new engines already has a new owner, as soon as it's finished. Oddly, some people are fascinated by these things. The Texas quarter in the foreground gives some size reference. I'm thinking about what I'm going to build next. I have several sets of plans, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a vertical, double acting stationary engine of some sort. I just don't know what sort.

Back to Steam Engines

2008-04-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting on Brown to deliver my new bandsaw blades, I decided to get back to building engines. It's been almost a year (tempus fugit) since I last worked on these. I wrote a number of posts documenting how I built a pair of single cylinder engines, from plans by Workbench Miniatures and then combined them on a common base and crank to build a twin. Links to those posts are listed on this page for easy location for any readers that are interested. I had leftover parts, such as cranks, bases and flywheels from the original engines, and rather than let them sit around, I decided to use the leftover materials from the bandsaw project to rebuild the two singles. I'm keeping one and the other is going to a friend. I'm also going to finish out the twin, which runs great, but has never been dressed up. I'll let you know how the bandsaw blades work out when they get here.

Bandsaw Belts Are Here and Installed

2008-04-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

The J section belts arrived yesterday afternoon. To my amazement they fit and worked. There was one fly in the ointment. I failed to correctly predict the path one of the belts would take, and it rubbed one of the motor mount nuts. The easiest way to fix this was to relocate the motor and it's mounts. So, two new drilled holes and a little grinding and welding later and everything's going around and around in greased grooves, no pun intended. No shake. No wobble. No unpleasant noises. High speed is 2780 ft/min and low speed is 217 ft/min as I calculate it. Now I've got to find blades somewhere.

This Bandsaw Project is Almost Finished

2008-04-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

The stacked sheave I made in the last post has been mounted in the frame that holds it, the motor and it's stacked sheave, and an arbor, with sheaves on each end, one of which is driven by a belt, the other driving the bandsaw blade. I've included a photo which isn't very clear. It's difficult to photograph this because there's so much stuff in such a cramped space, and the frame itself obscures some of the details. The shaft holding the triple sheave is a little wimpy. It's made of 3/4" round stock from the hardware store that's destined to be replaced by a piece of 1" round material as soon as I can order some. It's also got to have something put on the end sticking out to the left to secure the sheave so it doesn't wander off the end of the shaft, although it's pressed in place, and probably wouldn't move anyway. I'll say for the benefit of anyone starting out that material you buy from the hardware store or one of the big box stores is nasty stuff to turn. You can use it, but it's ugly. It's also not terribly strong. I'm waiting for Brown to deliver belts from Applied Industrial Technologies. They have (or can get) J section belts from 18 inches up. So, when they arrive, I'll know whether this project is going to work out or not. Cross your fingers.

OK, This is the Last One.

2008-04-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

The last sheave , I mean. I saved making this one till last, because it was the most difficult one. Its' a triple stacked J section sheave, made from three pieces of aluminum pressed and bolted together, with a bearing installed in a recess machined in both ends, though it's hard to see from the photo. This assembly will rotate on a fixed shaft between the motor and the arbor that drives the bandsaw blade around in a circle, or maybe I should say in an oval. I promise in the next post to make clear the need for all these sheaves and shafts. In the mean time,enjoy the photo. Isn't it shiny?

More About J Section Sheaves

2008-04-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

In my last post I showed a finished "J" section sheave. I've received a few questions and comments about it, so I thought I'd show some of the steps in making the second sheave. The first photo shows the parts used to make a sheave roughed out. It's a 1/2" x 4" flat and a 1 1/2" round about 1 1/2" long. I've scribed the center of the flat, and a one and a half inch circle on it as a guide for later.

In the second photo I've roughed out the flat so that it's mostly round, and I'm using my rotary table to drill pilot holes for the cap screws that will eventually hold the two parts of the sheave together. You can still see a flat spot on the part near one of the chuck jaws. Using the rotary table for this is overkill. It would have been sufficiently accurate to manually mark and drill the holes, but the rotary table is new, and the novelty of it hasn't worn off yet.

The third photo shows the two parts with a shoulder turned on the round, and a matching recess turned into the flat. The shoulder is about .002" larger than the recess, with a generous radius at the end. This helps get the two parts started when they are pressed together in my shop vise. If done right, the two parts have to be driven apart if you want to disassemble them. The hole in the center of the flat was used to hold it in the lathe chuck with a through bolt while it was turned round. The pilot holes drilled in the second photo are on the back side of the flat. The fourth photo shows the two parts pressed, drilled, tapped and screwed together with M5 socket head cap screws. Blue locktite doesn't hurt.

One of my three readers suggested that I might make these sheaves from castings, and he's absolutely right. It would certainly involve less work, and result in a sturdier sheave. Unfortunately, I know of no foundry in this area at all, and none that would be interested in casting the few parts I would need. Given my living situation, I doubt I'll be doing any of my own casting in my back yard, however small the foundry, although I understand some hobbiests do just that. Maybe next year. In any event, once the parts are at the stage shown in the fourth photo, turning a sheave is the same as if you were working with a rough cast part.

The fifth photo shows a one inch diameter sheave being turned on the small end of the assembly. There will be a four inch sheave turned on the other end, with space for a set screw to hold the whole thing on the motor shaft in between the two sheaves. The last photo shows the finished double sheave. I've got one more of these to make, and I'm done. This morning I welded together the frame that will hold all this stuff together and bolt onto the back of the bandsaw. I'll be showing that later on. Last word here is that Michelob Amber Bock isn't half bad for cheap American beer. Anyway, that's my excuse for any misspellings or grammatical errors.

4" Diameter J Section Sheave

2008-03-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

I've just finished a four inch diameter sheave, (or pulley if you prefer) meant to drive a "J" section Vee belt. It's made from a piece of half inch thick flat aluminum, machined to press fit onto a hub machined from a piece of one and one half thick aluminum round. The two parts are securely held together using socket head cap screws (I hope). I have two more to make, as part of my speed reduction for my woodworking bandsaw. My next post will show the steps involved with making another pulley.

Plans for Lathe Saddle Stop

2008-01-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

An earlier post about making a saddle stop generated some degree of interest. The weather here has been miserable. I've got a rotten cold. The result is that I've been house bound and too sick to do anything but sit in front of the computer. So, mostly out of boredom, I learned to use Google Sketchup, and managed to draw plans for the saddle stop. The dimensions are a little strange because I started with a piece of scrap that was the size it was. This thing wasn't really planned. The photo is a 3D drawing, with dimensions and if you're so inclined, it makes a good simple project for beginners, like me. As always, click on the drawing for an enlargement. The link above has photos of the finished saddle stop in use.

Chuck Adapter for Rotary Table

2008-01-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

I'm making the chuck adapter out of a half inch thick, four inch square piece of 1018 steel. In the first photo I've drilled the plate with mounting holes, and drilled and bored a hole in the center of the plate to fit the Morse taper stub I made in the previous post. I've made the first pass or two to cut the relief for the outside of the chuck body. The chuck is face down on the mill table to the right. The idea is to machine the inside diameter of the round projection to as perfectly as possible fit the inside of the chuck body. This means moving the center of the rotary table closer to the center of the quill in very small increments till the diameter of the projection in the center of the adapter is the same as the inside of the chuck. The second photo shows the adapter with the milling finished. It has to be drilled with three holes for the chuck mounthing screws, and it's ready to mount the chuck. If you look closely, you can see that the morse taper stub in the center of the adapter has a deep countersink, and has been threaded. The countersink can be used with a drill or countersink mounted in the mill spindle to help center the rotary table under the spindle. A bolt can then be threaded into the taper, and it can be pulled out of the adapter to allow a long workpiece to extend past the bottom of the chuck. The last photo shows the finished adapter without the chuck. The #2 Morse taper stub that's used to help center the rotary table and the adapter is above the adapter.

Turning a (Short) #2 Morse Taper

2008-01-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've recently purchased a 6" rotary table. One of the first things I'm going to do is make a chuck adapter that will allow me to use the chuck from my lathe on the rotary table. The plan is to make a part with a #2 Morse taper on one end, and a straight stub on the other to center the adapter on the rotary table.

There are two ways to turn a taper (or maybe more). One is to turn a piece of stock between centers with the tailstock offset just the right amount to get the taper you're after. The other is to use your compound mount turned to just the right angle. The problem to solve is how much is just the right amount.

I decided to turn a short version of a #2 morse taper using my compound mount. It's short because the compound travel on most 9x20 lathes is in the neighborhood of an inch and a half. As long as you can live with a short taper, it's the easier of the two methods.

The photo shows me setting the angle on the compound. I used a MT#2 dead center to provide the proper angle for the compound. I installed the left end in a piece of drill rod that had been center drilled and clamped in the lathe chuck. The right end fit in a live center installed in the tail stock. This procedure works if your subject taper has a countersink in the end. Mine did. I used a 1-2-3 block held against the side of the compound slide to extend a surface parallel to the slide up to the subject taper. Yes, 1-2-3 blocks are flat, square and parallel. Then all you have to do is crank in the cross slide till the block touches the taper, and tighten your compound clamp. This is a little fiddly, and you might have to do it a couple times to get it right, but it can be done.

Once you've got the compound set, use it to turn your work to the desired diameter. I was turning the large end of the taper. The only problem was that it didn't work. After three tries, and setting up three times, I still had a wobbly taper when I installed it in the socket in the center of my rotary table.

I finally got out my dial test indicator and set it up to measure the distance from the tool rest to the subject taper as I moved the compound slide back and forth to see how far off I was. As it turned out, the problem wasn't the setup, it was the compound slide. There was .005" play in the slide at the far right end of travel. That's too much for turning a taper.

The short term solution was to tighten the gib screws to the point that operating the compound slide was difficult as a result of the screw tension, and then turn the taper. This time it worked as planned. When I installed my QCTP I wrote that the weak link in the compound rest was the gib and gib screws. This just reinforced that opinion. Shortly I will be building a new gib and new gib screws, but that's a post for another day. It's time to finish my adapter.

Boring Heads and Brown and Sharpe Tapers

2007-12-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

The Brown Santa (UPS) dropped off a 2" boring head at my house just before Christmas, along with a few other toys. Yes, I've been a good boy. The photo shows the boring head along with a set of boring bars, and two boring head shanks. The shank on the left came with the head. It's 3/4 inches in diameter and straight, which makes it useless to me because my Old Clausing mill uses a shank such as you see on the right of the head. It has a #7 Brown and Sharpe taper on the top end, and is threaded to match the boring head on the other. That's 7/8" x 20 tpi, I think. I spent a lot of time locating one. As far as I can tell, they're about as common as unicorn-zebra hybrids. Mine works great. Many thanks to the guy at Criterion who took the time to rummage around their storeroom and found this one. Criterion has no more. The second photo shows the assembled head and shank mounted in my mill, boring two intersecting holes in a 1/4 inch steel plate.

As I've said before, this is a new hobby for me. For the old timers and long timers out there, this is pretty boring stuff (bad pun alert). So the point of this post is to show a few photos for the new and curious so they might have a better idea of what's going on with boring heads and boring bars before they commit to buying one. This was the first time I'd used a boring head, or even held one in my hand. Things went much better than the first time I tried boring on the lathe. That effort resulted in expensive noises and a ruined workpiece. Things have gotten better with experience. The boring operation went without a hitch, and my old mill had no problem with the interrupted load presented by the intersecting holes.

The last photo shows the plate I was working on mounted on the back of my band saw. The oblong hole was made by milling down the peaks between the intersecting holes I was boring in the second photo. The plate is part of my everlasting, ongoing project to reduce the speed of my miniature band saw. It will eventually hold an intermediate stack pulley in the vertical slot at the top of the plate and the motor.

J Section Sheave Cont.

2007-12-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

After convincing myself that I could reproduce the right groove profile with the right spacing for a "J" section poly vee belt, I proceeded to make a sheave that I could install in my band saw. It's more or less a duplicate of the one already there, with a smaller one inch diameter. The spec for "J" section belts says that the smallest effective diameter allowed is somewhere around 3/4 inch. So the belt should have no problem making it's way around a one inch sheave. I've installed the new sheave on my bandsaw, and it's being used until I am convinced it will work, and not eat belts, or slip under a load. I will say that the dial indicator mount I made was great for stepping off the spacing between the grooves.

J Section Sheave, Tested

2007-12-03T16:41:00.000-08:00

The photo shows a test part I made to see if I could turn a sheave for a four ribbed "J" section multiple Vee belt. It seems that I can. It was also an opportunity use the new clamp/micrometer mount that I made in the last post. It makes stepping off the grooves in the sheave easy. I'm holding the belt off my bandsaw (turned inside out) against the workpiece. It fits nicely. You can see the 40 degree cutting tool below the workpiece. It's ground the same as a threading tool, just at 40 instead of 60 degrees. The cut grooves are about .115" deep. I think they could stand to be a little deeper, and the tip of the cutting tool could be a tad sharper as well. Since this experiment went as well as it did, (Believe me, it could have gone a lot worse.) the next step is to try to duplicate the sheave on the end of the motor that drives my bandsaw. By the way, the material is T6061 aluminum which is wonderful stuff to machine.

Saddle Stop and Dial Indicator Mount

2007-11-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

I have finally completed a combination Saddle stop and Dial indicator mount that clamps to the ways of my lathe. I say finally because I've seen several versions of just such a mount, none of which would do exactly what I wanted. Now that I've said that, I should credit a gentleman on the Yahoo 9x20 lathe group that published photos of his version of a clamp/mount in a photo album there titled "Chippie's stuff". His version of a saddle stop got me started. What you see in the photo is what I ended up with. As always, if you click on the photo, it will expand for better viewing. The clamp is shown with a dial indicator mounted between the headstock and the saddle. The second photo shows the clamp still with the dial indicator attached, on my workbench. If you already own a 9x20 lathe, you will recognize the profile of the front way reflected in the contours of the clamp. The last photo shows the clamp back on the lathe, with the dial indicator removed so you can see better how it clamps. The brass and chrome button at the bottom is the shoulder screw that has been machined to closely fit the mounting lug on the back of my cheap dial indicator so that it attaches without wobble. It's made out of part of an old plumbing fixture, hence the two tone finish. The countersunk socket head set screw at the top of the clamp tightens things together. There is nothing but aluminum bearing on the ways, so the chance of marring the surface is greatly reduced. The clamping force acts both vertically and horizontally, pressing the overhanging "finger" against the rear angle of the ways, and drawing the bottom half of the clamp in and up against the bottom sharp corner of the ways. The result is the wobble free attachment I was after. This arrangement also allows for mounting the dial indicator below the ways at a 45 degree angle which keeps it out of the way, and makes it easier to read. I think I need two of these. The second will have a horizontally mounted locking screw for fine saddle travel adjustments.

Phase II Quick Change Tool Post Installation

2007-11-14T08:22:00.001-08:00

Well, I finally did it. I got off my wallet, and bought a quick change tool post. I purchased a Phase II, Series 100 QCTP set from ENCO. There's already a link to Enco in the right sidebar. The "set" part means that it comes with five tool holders as well as the tool post.

The tool holders area lined up to the right side of the photo. In order to see the photo full sized, just click on it. The first holder accomodates a turning or facing tool, or a small boring bar, as pictured. The boring bar is held centered by a small vee groove in the bottom of the tool recess. Next is a parting tool holder, tool installed. Third is a knurling attachment, which also can hold a left handed facing tool. Fourth is a turning tool holder. It differs from the first only in that the vee groove has been omitted. Last and largest is a monster boring bar adapter which will accept boring bars with shanks as large as 5/8 inch. I don't own a boring bar that large, and doubt I ever will. All of this, less the tools I installed for illustration purposes, for $90.

The fly in the ointment with this tool post is that you have to modify your compound slide to accept the tool post. Or, I should say to accept the tool post mounting stud. The mounting stud that is supplied with the post is 16mm in diameter, and too long. That's it just to the left of the cross slide. I've read that the way others have installed it is to remove the original toolpost stud, drill and thread the compound slide, and you're done. My problem with this method is that you're drilling an awfullly big hole in your already smallish compound slide. Also, if for some reason you want to use the original tool post, you have to drill a too big hole through its' center as well. I opted to install a 12mm stud made from a 12 x100 mm bolt purchased at the local hardware store.

The hex head on the bolt was turned round, then turned to match the flange on the original tool post stud. That's it resting on the right hand side of compound slide. The threaded part is 8mm, pretty wimpy. Remove the original stud by giving it a couple raps with a large shop hammer. It falls out. You might protect the threads by installing a nut on it's end, if you think you'll have a use for it later. Measure the flange carefully in several places. Then reinstall it and use it to hold your original tool post while you turn a matching flange on the new bolt. Then again remove the original mounting stud, and drill your compound slide to accept you new stud.

I used a 29/64 inch bit to drill the hole for the new stud, after much measuring of the new stud, and the drill bit. I also drilled a test hole in a piece of scrap, just to be sure. The problem is that the resulting hole must be about .002" smaller than the diameter of the new stud for a tight fit. If the hole is too small, you can turn down the radius of the unthreaded portion of the new stud to meet requirements, but only so far. Or you can bore the hole out to the right size using your mill and a boring bar, if you've got one. If you make the hole too large, you're screwed. As it turned out, my drill made a perfectly sized hole, and the new stud went in with a few solid taps from a two pound shop hammer. Be careful here. You can damage your slide if you're too enthusiastic.

I then made a bushing for the inside of the new tool post to make up the two millimeter difference in the hole and the 12mm stud. The bushing is just in front of the new tool post. If you look closely, you'll see a small step in diameter on the rightmost end. That's to match the step inside the bore through the tool post. To fit the original tool post, I drilled out the center hole to fit the new 12mm stud, and made a spacer, seen in front of the original tool post, to make up the difference between the height of the original post and the new tool post. The original tool post handle and nut was drilled and tapped to match the new tool post stud too. Done at last.

The second photo shows the new tool post mounted on the lathe. It's incredibly rigid. The weakest link now between the ways and the cutting edge of the tool bit is the compound slide. I believe it's because of the slide gib and the way the gib screws are designed and installed. It's a real mickey mouse arrangement, and will be the next thing I address as far as lathe modifications go. Also in the second photo is the original tool post, with the new spacer on top as it would be if the post were installed.

Source For Bando Belts

2007-08-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

I got a spare set of Bando belts today from Fastenal. My understanding is that most of the Chinese lathes have Bando belts. The belts for the Jet are 170XL050 and 5M710. The 5M710 is the little skinny "V" belt that looks like it will break if you breathe on it hard. The 5M in the part number means the belt is a metric belt 5 mm wide. The 710 means it's 710 mm long. Obvious, right? The cogged belt is type XL, which means a cogged belt with .020" pitch on the cogs, IIRC. The 170 means it's 17 inches long, and the 050 means it's a half inch thick. At any rate, I found a supplier for belts other than ordering them from Jet, and they were cheap. $4.12 for one, and $11.22 for the other. I'm tickled. I've added a link to Fastenal on my links list on the right sidebar.

I've tried both belts on my lathe to be sure they fit before I need them. No problem. If you're contemplating purchasing a set of belts for your lathe, be aware that whereas many parts for these "made in China" lathes are the same, there are variations in belt sizes required. So, be sure what you order is what you need for your particular lathe.

Speed control, VFD, and Pulleys

2007-08-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I wrote that I had a new band saw. I bought what I bought for several reasons, and I have used and do like my saw. The problem is that it's a woodworking saw, and as such, the blade speed is too fast for cutting metal. A metal cuttng blade moving at that speed would overheat, the teeth would lose their temper, and shortly I'd have a smooth steel band going around and around in a circle instead of a saw. So the task is to find a way to slow down the saw or better still make the speed variable. The photo is of my ancient Clausing mill, and the stacked pulleys and belts that allow for speed changes. That's the standard, ancient, tried and true method of changing speeds.

I've spent some time lurking around the Yahoo 9x20 lathe site and other related sites as well. A number of people have converted their lathes or mills to variable speed throught the use of either a dc motor and controller, sometimes recovered from a treadmill, or with a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) and a three phase motor. I have looked long and hard for a VFD that will drive a single phase motor. They do exist. If it were possible to find one for a reasonable price it might be feasible to use one VFD to drive either my mill, or my lathe or my bandsaw.

What I have found is a VFD by Anacon Systems. The model I would need is priced at only $500.00. Keep in mind that I paid just a little more than $100 for the band saw. There's also a single phase VFD by Control Resources Inc., very reasonably priced at about $150.00 if I recall correctly. It's not able to power 3/4 HP motors at 120v however. I can rewire my lathe and mill motors for 240v, but not the band saw. The specs on both controlers leave something to be desired in the way of information, and I'm not particularly keen to use my motors as guinea pigs.

So, no decisions yet, and no easy solutions. I'm leaning towards a multiple belt stacked pulley fix now, even if it's for the short term.

New Activity, New Blog

2007-05-25T04:29:00.000-07:00

I have a new interest, and a new blog to go with it. That doesn't mean that I won't be here any more. It means that I'll be two places at once. I'm working on designing a treadle pump for use in Haiti. I'm blogging about it here, along with others that are participating in the design efforts as well. My three readers are invited to stop in and see what I'm up to and what a treadle pump is for.

New Band Saw

2007-05-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

In the last post, I threatened to buy a new band saw. Well, here it is. I've built a stand for it that puts it above my welder. That way it takes up no new floor space, which is at a premium in my shop, and it can be rolled around just like the welder, to get it out of the way, or in a better position to be used. It needs a metal cutting band, and the band speed has to be slowed down, or preferabley made varaible. I should be able to figure out a way to do that. After all I have a lathe and a milling machine and a welder. I should be able to figure out how to do lots of things. And that leads to the next post.

Simplex Twin Video

2007-04-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Simplex Twin, Double Base

2007-04-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

After much thought and worry, I decided to make a double base from a whole piece of aluminum rather than try to use the original engine bases joined together with another piece of something. I decided by the time all the differences in frame height, base thicknesses, mounting holes location, etc. added up or subtracted, I'd never get the crank bearings to line up. So I made a new double base from scratch. If I had this to do over, I'd build the double base, mount the frames with crank bearings installed, and then ream the crank bearings both at once using a reamer chucked in a portable drill. That way, I'd have a better chance of getting the holes through the crank bearings straight. As it turned out, the frames screwed right on, and with a little fiddling, everything worked out. I had to remove a little metal on each side of the monster flywheel, because it turned out a little tight between the frames, but other than that, everything fit and worked. The next time I place an order for tools, I'm going to get a ball end mill, or a bevel cutter, and I can dress up the base and the corners of the cylinder blocks, which look a little ... blocky. I've also got to decide what to do about a wooden base to mount the whole thing on for display purposes.

I need a new project now, and I'm pretty sure it is going to have something to do with a bandsaw. I'm tired of roughing out aluminum parts with my table saw, and steel parts with a cutoff blade installed in my angle grinder. What a grind.

Simplex Twin, Twin Crank

2007-04-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

The twin crank is the same as the first two cranks, just built with valve recesses machined on both ends, at 90 degrees to each other. When I built the first two cranks, I made a holder to help me rotate the crank exactly 180 degrees. The same fixture was used again to hold the twin crank. That's what you see in the photo. I assembled the two engines with their new crank and flywheel, sat it on a piece of flat steel, and it ran. Simple as that. I still have to build a new twin base, or something to hold the two original bases together, but other than that, the Simplex Twin is done. I just have to decide what the base will be made out of. But, that's another post.

Simplex Twin, Monster Flywheel

2007-04-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

I decided that my twin Simplex engine needed a larger flywheel. One of the two original flywheels would have probably worked just fine, but I wanted a bigger one. I laid out the new flywheel on a piece of half inch thick steel, just as I did the originals, and turned it round in the lathe. The only difference from the original flywheels is the diameter is two inches, and there are eight holes instead of six. The center hole was drilled and reamed 5/16". I turned a piece of 3/8" brass to make a hub for the flywheel, with an interference fit through the flywheel center hole, and a brass collar to fit on the side of the flywheel opposite the hub. The collar is purely cosmetic. It makes the flywheel look the same on both sides. The hub was cross drilled and tapped in the mill for a #4 set screw before it was pressed into the flywheel.

The second photo shows the pressing operation. Nothing fancy here folks. The hub and flywheel are clamped in the bench vise, and squeezed together. The shiny thing on the right hand side is a 3/8" drive socket, to allow the hub to pass through the wheel without hitting the opposite vise jaw. The collar was pressed on the same way, with a smaller socket. I'd recommend the liberal use of locktite. Nothing moves later that way.

The finished flywheel has to have the hub faced in the lathe on both sides to project 1/4" from the surface of the flywheel, and a center hole drilled and reamed 3/16". The "monster" flywheel is done.

I have to make a twin crank now, and some decisions about what to do for a new engine base.

What's Next?

2007-04-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

When I started studying the plans for the Simplex engines I decided that I would build two engines. As I've said before, it's not much more work to build two than it is to build one. While I was setting up the mill to mill and drill the engine frames, it occurred to me that if you weren't careful, you could make the frame backwards. If you did, all the other parts would still work, and you'd have a left hand and right hand engine. I thought it would be kind of neat (I happen to be left handed.) to have mirror image engines. So, that's what I did.

While the engine parts were assembling themselves on my workbench, it then occurred to me that the next step would be to build a larger flywheel, and a common crank, and you would have a two cylinder engine.
I was discussing this with someone more knowlegeable than myself, and he indicated that if I machined the crank recesses at 90 degrees to each other, the engine should also be self starting.

That's what's next.

As you can see from the photo, it's the only logical thing to do.

I have to figure out how to make a base that allows for some adjustment of the engine frames to compensate for misalignment of the crank bearings, but I think I can do that.

So, next time I post, I'll probably be making a monster (2") flywheel.

Simplex Engine Video

2007-04-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

Simplex Build, They're done!

2007-04-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

They're done, and better still, they run! These two little oil slingers still need some cosmetic work, but they're whole engines and they run like little tops. I'm driving them using compressed air. If I can figure out how, I'll try to provide a movie of the two of them doing their stuff a little later on.

Update: The next post is the best I can do for a video given the camera I have. It's my fourth try, and as good as it's going to get. It does have sound now. I can't embed the video with this post. I tried, and things blow up.

Simplex Build, Pistons

2007-04-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Before I jump into building cylinders, I wanted to say a little about building your first engine. My two readers will note that through this build, I've trashed a number of parts, and made other "practice" parts using pieces of scrap, etc. I chalk this up to my lack of experience and the fact this is the first real thing other than a four bolt compound clamp I've ever made.
I was advised early on by someone with a lot more experience than me not to start building engines from castings. This..was...good..advice. If I had started with a casting set, you'd be reading right now about how I was waiting on Brown to deliver replacement castings for the ones I had ruined. Instead, as I blog this, I have two running engines on my workbench.
The construction notes indicate that it may be necessary to start with a piece of brass larger than the cylinder bore and machine it to fit. As it turned out, a piece of 3/8 brass round was a tight fit for my cylinders. That's what I wanted. I cross drilled for the wrist pin in the mill, drilled the recesses in the inside of the pistons on the lathe, then parted off the pistons and faced them to length. I removed no material from the outside diameter of the pistons. I then made a piston holder out of brass rod turned to just fit the inside of the piston, and held the piston in place with a wrist pin. This arrangement was clamped up in my bench vice. I beveled the top of the piston using 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper to get it started, and used the piston to "form" (read wear) the cylinder bore to fit the piston. No abrasive was necessary. This works because the piston's brass is just slightly harder than the aluminum of the cylinder, and the aluminum will move before the brass will, if you use reasonable force, and a slight twisting action. Also use lots of light oil, and clean the piston from time to time. It will be coated with oil full of aluminum flakes. What resulted was a piston that was still a little tighter than I thought it needed to be, but traveled the length of the bore. That's fine. The first five minutes of running will work out, or wear out, this last resistance.

Time to assemble some engines.

Simplex build, Cylinders

2007-04-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

The cylinders caused me some problems, sort of like the connecting rods. I tried boring cylinders using some pieces of scrap, and I just could not get the accuracy and finish I wanted. I'm sure this was my fault. I just don't yet have the experience I need with a boring bar. I think given the small diameter (3/8") of the cylinder bores, I'd have been better off drilling them and reaming with a 3/8" reamer, but again, I didn't have one. I did have a 3/8 two flute end mill though, so I used it like a reamer. I drilled first to the proper depth with a 23/64" drill, and then reamed the hole with my end mill. I guess this is sort of outside the realm of standard practice, but it worked fine. I got two cylinders with nice smooth bores and flat bottoms. If you try this, make one pass with the end mill, top to bottom. Don't worry. The end mill can take it.
Or, you could buy a 3/8" reamer.

Simplex Build, Crankshaft

2007-04-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

The crankshaft is made out of 3/16" drill rod, with a hole drilled into one end, and a few flats and another hole cross drilled in one of the flats so as to intersect with the end drilled hole. All these holes and flats act to form the valve gear that feeds steam to the cylinder and piston. That's the real beauty and the simplicity of the Simplex engine. The valve gear and crank are all one part.

What you see is two crankshafts built end to end on one piece of drill rod. That big steel slug in the middle is a problem solver. The construction notes said to mill the flat on one side of the crankshaft, rotate the shaft 180 degrees, and mill the other flat. My problem was how to rotate the shaft exactly 180 degrees, given the equipment I had on hand. I used the left over round from building the crank disk. I end drilled it with a 3/16" drill on the lathe, then milled four flats on it and installed a socket head screw in the middle of it. A set screw that fit flush with the surface would have been better, but I had a socket head screw. I used this to hold the drill rod for the crankshaft in the mill vise, milled and drilled the flats on one side, then rotated the whole thing and milled the flats on the other side. Problem solved. After that, I cut the two cranks apart, and faced them to length. I couldn't resist fitting things together at that point. All of these parts are starting to look like two engines.

Simplex Build, Crankpin

2007-04-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

It was kind of a busy day today, so I didn't do much. What I did do was to improvise a little where making the crankpin was concerned. The plans called for steel hex stock. The problem is that I don't have any steel hex stock. So, I turned down a piece of drill rod, drilled it through the center large enough to pass a #3 socket head cap screw, then parted it off the parent piece so as to leave a shoulder for the head of the cap screw to bear on. The dimensions of this shoulder bushing where it contacts the connecting rod are the same as called for in the plans, so as far as the connecting rod knows, I didn't cheat. I think it'll work fine, and when I have the proper stock, I'll do it right.

I apologize for the crummy photos lately. Some of these parts are quite small, and my camera is straining to provide the close focus to depict the parts. What you see are the two crank disks, one with the rod attached, and the other with just the capscrew and the bushing in profile. They're both sitting on a 3/8" HSS tool blank, so that should give you some idea of the scale.

I'm building cranks next.

Simplex Build, Crank Disk

2007-04-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning with some time on my hands, and decided to proceed with making crank disks. Yesterday I made a tap guide so I could tap the holes in the disks nice and square, so I was ready to go. To start, I turned down a piece of round stock about an inch and a half long to the diameter required by the plans. I laid the work down in my mill vise , supported by parallels, and milled four flats on the waste part of the work. This isn't required, but I feel better about clamping round things in my vice if there is a flat surface there to give the vice better grab. I drilled the holes, tapped one with my new tap guide, and then stood there contemplating how to mill down both sides of the work to the same distance when I discovered that my mill has bed stops. Who knew? I also discovered there were a couple of fittings for oil under there too. Who knew? The "T" slots the stops slid in were full of crud, some of it mine, and the rest from prior owners. I spent about half an hour cleaning things up under there, and lubricating the bed. I set the stops, and proceeded to mill the crank disk recesses with no sweat. Stopped every time, right where it should. Another miracle. I milled the recesses about twice as deep as they needed to be, because I'm making two of everything. The third photo shows the work in the lathe ready to be parted. Before I could put it back, I had to reverse it, and turn off my flats. I'm using a 123 block as a square to insure my parting tool is at right angles to the spindle. Yes, 123 blocks are square. I talked about parting earlier. All I'm going to say here is, Square tool, Sharp tool, Proper Tool Height. All are critical. Two crank disks parted off, no sweat. At the start, it's an interrupted cut too. The only surprise was when the first one came off before I expected it to. I had forgotten there was a hole down the center. Scared myself.

The fourth photo shows how thin parallels are used to place the disk flat in the chuck. You MUST remove the parallels before facing off the disk to the proper thickness. If you don't they will remove themselves with considerable velocity, while making expensive noises. No, it didn't happen to me. The last photo shows the finished disks, and my threading tool. I had to chase the trash out of the threads after parting and facing. You'll notice the the chuck has been replaced with a collet. My Dremel tool came with a collet holder and several collets. It turns out that one of them is the perfect size for taps from #0 up to #6. The collet is slit in such a fashion that the corners formed by the flats on the end of the tap fit into the slits perfectly. No wobble, no slip, smaller size,and it frees up my chuck for other things. It couldn't be better.

Perpendicularity and a Tap Guide

2007-04-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's a big word, perpendicularity. The next part of the simplex engine I'm going to be working on is the crank disk. That's the part of the crank that the big end of the connecting rods I just made connect to, with a #3 threaded fastener. If I don't thread this hole for the fastener in the crank disk absolutely perpendicular to the surface of the disk, the connecting rod will bind, and the engine won't run well or won't run at all. Hence the need for perpendicularity, achieved with a tap guide. (The word square would work just as well here, but perpendicularity is a lot more fun.)

This morning I didn't have one. Now I do.

In an earlier post I made a pair of arbors that fit a chuck made for a Dremel tool. This morning I cross drilled one of them to fit a piece of 3/16" drill rod, and chucked up a piece of 3/8" drill rod in my lathe. I end drilled it an inch deep and reamed it to 5/16 which is the dimension of my Dremel arbors. The arbor is a slip fit into the end of the 3/8" sleeve, which fits a 3/8" collet for my mill. It provides for about 3/4" travel, which could be better, but it will do.

Perpendicularity has been achieved. Drill rod is great stuff. Everybody should have some lying around.

Now that I have arrived by accident and necessity at where I needed to be a couple months ago, I'm going to build a couple of these things from scratch one day when the engines are finished, just to have them.

By the way, thanks Bill.

Simplex Build, Connecting Rod, Second Try

2007-03-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally found a hole in my work schedule, and got started again. One of the problems I was having on the first rod was being able to measure where the various parts of the rod started and ended. So what I did was to set up the lathe with the compound rest turned at 90 degrees to the cross slide, and then used the compound slide to step off the distances for each end of the rod and what will be the narrow center section. That's what you see. I used my parting tool to make a groove to locate each step in the finished part. The two middle grooves were cut almost as deep as the finished part will be. It is necessary to take into account the thickness of the parting tool, and helpful to make make a chart to show how far to move for each cut. Measuring problem solved.

After parting the grooves, I turned the center section of the connecting rods down to the required diameter.The next photo shows the work with what's starting to look like a connecting rod shaping up on each end. The last time I tried to make these rods, I had a lot of trouble holding the work in my worn mill vise. I didn't have a parallel exactly the right height. Now, I have two. That's what the shiny pieces of aluminum are in the photo. They're made out of hardware store aluminum, and milled to hold the rods at exactly the correct, convenient height in my vise. This allowed me to use a half inch end mill to mill the flats on each side of the rods which was easier for me than working between the jaws with a smaller mill. After that the rods were returned to the lathe, and the small ends were turned down as required by the plans. The big end of the rods were almost parted off till things got wobbly, and then removed from the stock with wire cutters. I thought this was better than having my almost finished rods go flying around the room.

By the way, up till now, all work on the lathe has been supported by a live center installed in the tailstock. The tailstock should be moved for parting or bad things could happen.

This left me with connecting rods with a topknot on the small end and a nub on the big end. The rods were returned to the mill and these were milled off each end of the rods.

After that, I did a little careful polishing with #400 wet or dry sandpaper, to remove some flash and tool marks.

So, I've got two connecting rods. They're not perfect, but they are close, and I think they'll work.

Simplex Build, Conn Rod

2007-03-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see, I've finished a connecting rod, and a nasty little mess it is too. It doesn't look as good in real life as it does in the picture. The only thing I got right was the material, and I'm afraid to check the plans again for fear that's wrong too.

There's nothing wrong with the equipment, and nothing wrong with the plans. The only excuse I have is that my lathe is a little large for something this small, and my tailstock and compound rest are fighting for the available space.

I have learned a few things though, all of them having to do with how not to make a connecting rod. So tomorrow, or the next day, I'll try again. I have three feet of 1/4" brass rod, and I'm willing to turn it all into powder if I must to get my two rods. I'm not tired yet.

Simplex Build, Crank Bearing

2007-03-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted to turn some brass, and the simplest brass part is the crank bearing. You start with a 3/8brass rod, turn down the end to 5/16 as per the plan, end drill it, ream the hole to 3/16, and part it off, which is what the picture shows. After that you turn it around, face off the end you just parted to the proper length, and cross drill and counterbore a hole in the large end. With any luck, this part will be a light press fit into the engine frames. I guess I was lucky, because these parts fit with a squeeze from my bench vise.

I went to the hardware store this morning, and bought what I think is all the hardware I need to assemble the engines. So, I couldn't resist assembling the frames and bases, and sticking a short piece of drill rod through one of the frames and flywheel to see what it would look like.

I still have a long way to go. I think connecting rods are next. Turning brass is great, compared to some of the stuff I've been working with.

Simplex Build, Engine Frame

2007-03-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

I had finshed the frames to their basic dimensions earlier, so what remained to be done was to drill holes and finish shaping. The frames are maybe one of the more complicated parts of the engine. It's the part with the most holes, anyway. The plans indicate that holes should be located from the right rear corner of the frame. It finally occurred to me that if I zeroed the mill to the back jaw of the vise, and the right edge of the rear vise jaw, I would have a starting point that would never move, and I could quit finding edges, as long as I mounted my parts properly. The edges of the vise would locate them for me. After that, it was a matter of mounting the work, making sure it's edge was flush with the edge of the vise, and then turning cranks and drilling holes. I did make one small mistake,but you'd have to know where it was to find it.

The first photo shows me drilling the long air passage through the frame. It's about an inch and a half long, which meant that I didn't have a lot of drill left to chuck up. I did get the holes drilled in both frames, without breaking a drill. It was slow going though, taking lots of time to clear chips so as not to jam a drill in the hole. To make the recess under where the cylinder will eventually go I mounted the frame sideways in the vise with one end hanging out in space, and started cutting. Again, thin parallels under the part insured that it was parallel to the mill bed. I wasn't crazy about the way I did this, but it was the only way that came to mind, and it got the job done. After that all that was left to do was to mill the 45 degeree flat at one corner. I used my combination square this time, instead of my

wood "V" block. So, the frames are done, as you can see. The astute reader (I have two readers, I think)will note that I'm making a left hand and right hand version of the engine. No, it was not by accident. The only part that has to be different is the frame, I think.

I'm going to start turning some brass next, and wait a while to do the cylinders.

Simplex Build, Engine base

2007-03-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

I squared up the rough parts for the engine a few posts back, so all that's left to do to the engine bases is to put a chamfer on the top edge, and drill and counter bore two holes in each. This shows how I got a 45 degree chamfer. I clamped each base in the vise on top of a precision "V" block made out of ...wood. Now, this is highly imprecise, and precision ground blocks for such purposes are available, but I don't have them yet.

My wish list grows every day.

I resorted to making my own block out of wood on my Sears and Roebuck table saw. I can get away with this because the purpose of this chamfer is just to make things look nicer, and it does. It does not have to be particularly accurate.

This photo shows me using a wiggler to locate the edge of one of the engine bases prior to drilling. I wish I could describe to you how a wiggler works, but I don't know how using just words. It would require a movie, and I don't know how to do that here. Whoever thought of this is a demented genius. This device allows you to locate the edge of your work piece to within a thousandth of an inch if well used. You can't do that with your eyeball. Your eyeball is a liar.

If you don't have one, get one. It's worth the price just to watch it work. Once you've located the front and side edges and zeroed your dials, it's fairly simple to crank the proper distance from each edge to drill holes at the proper locations.

This shows starting a hole using a center drill. A center drill is a short stubby drill that starts a hole where you want it instead of wandering around the top of the work till it finds a home. Small drills are fairly flexible, and can move a surprising amount before they start drilling a hole. This can cause broken drills, and ruined work. If you're interested in accuracy, and don't want to make things twice, use center drills.

Last photo shows the finished and counter bored bases. The other parts you see will be the cylinders and the engine frames once I'm finished with them. My wooden "V" block is at the top. By the way, 6061 aluminum is wonderful stuff compared to what they sell at the hardware store.

Next post I'll try to finish the engine frames.

Milling Vise Alignment

2007-03-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Part of what I had to do in order to accurately drill the engine bases was to align my mill vise on the mill bed. I mounted my dial test indicator in the spindle of my mill, centered the bed on its ways, and clamped one of my thin parallels in my vise. I guess if my vise was newer and the jaws were in better shape the way to do this would be to use the back jaw itself, but my vise is near a half century old, and has too many dings, so I clamp a parallel in the vise, and register on the parallel.

The vise has to be clamped fairly tightly to the bed. Adjust the bed front to back till the dial test indicator is near the center of its' travel and then run the bed from side to side so as to cause the ball on the end of the dial test indicator to move from side to side of the parallel in the vise. Unless you 're the luckiest person in the world, the needle of the indicator will show some variation. You then adjust the position of the vise on the bed till you achieve a position that reduces the variation to an amount you can tolerate.

I should mention here that cleanliness is important. That means no chips, and wipe the oil film off your vise jaws and parallel. A heavy oil film is .001". A red hair is .0015".

If I'm in a good mood, I can get my nasty old vise on my ancient mill to align to less than .0005" over four inches of travel. I usually measure on the back side of the parallel, but I used the front side for the photograph to better show what I was doing. The hammer you see in the foreground is my alignment tool. I know that sounds insane, but as I said, the vise is fairly tightly clamped down. If it's not, it is impossible to move things just enough to get where you need to be. I very lightly bump the tail of the vise till it comes into alignment. Then I torque it down, check one more time, and leave it alone.

So, I guess a shop hammer with a short handle can be a precision alignment tool.

Simplex Build, Flywheels

2007-03-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, flywheels. Early on it occurred to me that it's almost as easy to build two of everything as it is to build one, so that's what I'm doing. The plans call for the flywheels to be made from round brass stock, but I haven't been able to scrounge any. I did have some nice half inch thick 1018 steel however, so I'm making steel flywheels.

What you see is a flywheel blank. I roughed it out using a cutoff wheel in a four inch angle grinder, and turned it into an octogon shape with the mill. I then used the carbide scribe you see and a compass to mark the surface of the blank with a center and six radial holes as per the plans. The construction notes indicate that the way to machine the flywheel recesses and holes is with the mill and a rotary table, and I'm sure that's a better way, but I don't have a rotary table, so this was the best I could do. The holes and recesses don't have to be there at all, but I wanted the visual interest they provide.

I drilled my seven holes with a 1/8" bit, then wondered how I was going to hold this in the lathe chuck to turn the outside surface. It was easy. I drilled and reamed the center hole out to 5/16", mounted the blank to the lathe using a 5/16" bolt as you see in the next photo, and turned it round. Once I had a round outside surface, I chucked the flywheel in the three jaw chuck, and proceeded to make a huge mess trying to machine the recesses with a boring bar.

Here's the problem. The boring bar makes a nice sharp shoulder in one direction. To get a nice shoulder in both directions, you have to machine the outside shoulder with the bar in front of the spindle, and machine the inside shoulder with the boring bar on the back side of the spindle with the motor turning in the reverse direction, if you don't forget. Needless to say I forgot more than once.

Shortly I became frustrated, and Frustration is the Father of Invention. What I came up with is what you see in the next photo. I ground a two faced cutting tool on the back side of my parting tool. I was able to cut a nice clean shoulder on both the inside and outside of the recess, although progress was slow. If I had to cut deeper than .050", I'd have been out of luck.

Now, the only problem I had was what to do about the 5/16" hole in the center of my flywheels that was supposed to be 3/16".

The answer was to machine a brass insert .002"larger in diameter that the hole I was trying to fill, and press it into place. That's the last photo. The flywheel on top has yet to have the shoulder on the insert faced off. If you click on the photo, you can see a few curls of brass that sheared off the insert as it was pressed into place. This is a good thing. It means your insert is tight.

The bottom flywheel has had the insert faced off flush with the surface of the flywheel. If not for the fact that the flywheel and insert are made from dissimilar metals, you would be hard pressed to find the seam. After facing off the insert, all that remains to be done is to center drill and ream the insert to 3/16".

Next post, I'll be finishing the motor bases.

Simplex Build, Roughing Out

2007-03-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

OK. I'm actually starting to build this time. What you see are the pieces that will eventually be an engine roughed out. That is, cut out of the big piece of aluminum in back. They are pretty rough, and cut larger than finished size. I used a hack saw, and my table saw (!!) equipped with a carbide blade. Yes, you can use a table saw to cut half inch thick aluminum, but you have to make multiple passes, raising the blade each time. Scary stuff.

I'm in the market for a good bandsaw, by the way.

The next photo shows me squaring up and sizing the 1" x 2" piece of stock that will eventually be the engine's frame. The part is clamped in the milling vise and it's sitting on top of what's called thin parallels. I don't know who thought of these, but they're great. They're nothing but pairs of thin metal precisely ground so they're the same height and the sides are parallel. Hence the name. They are purchased in sets of different heights. Mine are in one eighth inch increments. They're used to adjust the height of a work piece in the vise so that it's at an appropriate position to be machined, and still held parallel to the bottom of your vise, and hopefully parallel to the bed of your milling machine also.

So, for the next little bit, what you're seeing is what I'll be doing until I have all the parts machined to the basic dimensions required by the plans.

Tail Stock Offset Adjustment

2007-03-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

What you see here is a steel rod mounted between centers and clamped by one of the lathe dogs I discussed in the previous post. The dog clamps the piece being turned, and the dogs tail fits in one of the slots in the faceplate. The idea is that the lathe holds the center, that holds the piece you're turning. The lathe also turns the faceplate. The faceplate turns the lathe dogs tail, which in turn drives the workpiece around and around. That shiny round thing you see at the bottom left of the faceplate is the head of a carriage bolt. It's about an inch long, and it holds three or four washers and a nut on the back of the faceplate. It's purpose is to balance the weight of the lathe dog's tail. You can adjust the balance by adding washers or removing them. That way your lathe doesn't want to tap dance around the benchtop.

What I was doing here was making a test bar to determine if my tailstock was centered. The idea is that you make light passes at each end of the bar. After each pass, you measure the diameter of the bar. If your tailstock is centered with the headstock, the bar diameter should be the same at each end. If not, then move your tailstock until each end of the bar measures the same after making a light cut. At that point your tailstock is centered.

Now, keep your bar. The next time you need to center your tailstock, mount the bar between centers, and use a dial test indicator mounted on the cross slide to check the position of each end of your bar. Move the tailstock till the dial test indicator reads the same at each end, or as close as you can get it, and your tailstock is centered, again.

I meant to have a picture of the dial test indicator in use, but I forgot to take one. I'll fix this first chance I get.

Lathe Dogs

2007-03-12T11:32:00.001-07:00

While I was waiting on Brown, I did have time to make a pair of lathe dogs. You can buy lathe dogs, and they're pretty cheap, but making them gave me something to do and an excuse to use my four jaw chuck and to make a test bar to check my tailstock offset. That's the next post.

The lathe dogs are made out of half inch square stock. Cut one long piece and one short one. The short one is about three inches long, and the long one is about seven inches. The size is determined by your lathe and your faceplate size.

The two pieces are drilled so that they can be bolted together, and then a hole is drilled centered between the two pieces. Hole size is determined by what size stock you intend to turn. I think the holes you see are 5/8 and 3/8.

Next chuck up the longer piece in your four jaw chuck, center it and turn the end of it round. This doesn't have to be perfect, so don't knock yourself out trying. It just has to fit through the slots in your faceplate.

Next, you heat the round "tail" of the dog you just turned with a torch, and bend it about forty five or fifty degrees. You're done. See the next post for how to use it.

Dremel Tool Adapter

2007-03-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

While waiting for Brown to show with my materials, I realized that I don't have a small chuck to hold the smaller number drills I'll be using. I did have a dremel tool with a nice little chuck that will hold up to 1/8 inch bits. So this morning I made an arbor to hold the Dremel chuck.

Update: Those readers looking for a way to attach your Dremel tool to your lathe toolpost, go here.

That's what you see in the three jaw chuck. The nose of the Dremel tool is next to it. It is a seven millimeter diameter with 40 threads per inch. That's right. Metric diameter and English thread pitch. Kinda sneaky. You won't find that at the
hardware store.

I started with a 3/8 diameter drill rod, turned it down to 5/16, then turned it down the last .460 inches of it's length to 7mm. I then tried to turn 40 tpi on the 7mm diameter, got it wrong because I misread the chart, started over, and got the gears right the second time. I kept moving the threading tool in until the chuck would just screw on nice and snug.

The next photo shows the chuck on the arbor holding a number 60 bit, the smallest I have. A dremel collet and holder are on the cross slide. I used a center drill to start a hole in the end of the arbor, and chamfer the inside end, to match the dremel tool. Then I drilled the end of the arbor to accept the diameter of the collet's shank.

The last photo shows the arbor installled with the drill chuck in a 5/16 collet with a #7 B&S taper which is what my mill uses. I'll eventually cross drill the end of the arbor so I can install a "T" handle and use it with the chuck to hold small taps. So, now I can attach any dremel part to either end of my lathe or to my mill. I don't know how handy that will be, but we'll see.

I wasn't real happy with the appearance of the threads I made, even though the chuck went on just fine and held tight. I'm going to try it again and pay attention to how sharp my threading tool is, and maybe use a dowel pin next time instead of drill rod. Maybe material will make a difference.

Waiting on Brown

2007-02-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

This post was originally called, "Simplex Build Part One", but parts deliveries and then work held things up. So the title had been changed.

Today, hardware, materials, and tools were ordered for the Simplex engine. Things will have to wait till the big Brown truck shows up on my driveway. I'll update this post as boxes arrive, and when the first real work starts.

Update: Well, taps and die are here. Reamers are here. Drill rod is here. So is a nice group of carbide tipped boring bars. Hardware (most of it anyway) and some of the materials are here. I have received E-mail that indicates that Brown has the rest of my stuff.

Waiting on Brown.....

So, Here's the Plan...

2007-02-24T04:51:00.000-08:00

The plan is to build Workbench Miniatures' Simplex engine from their plans. The plans arrived last Thursday. I received five sheets of plans, and three pages of construction notes, which I think are the better part of this documentation. For someone starting out, being told how you do something is as important as being told what to do. The writer can't stand at your back and look over your shoulder while you work, but his notes are the next best thing. They also cover assembly and run-in instructions for after the engine is finished.

The plans themselves are clear and well executed CAD drawings with thorough dimension information. If you have any experience at all reading mechanical drawings, you should have no problem.

I've spent the last couple of evenings reading over the plans and notes, and discovered I don't have quite all the tools as I need. I also have to collect the required construction materials and hardware. So, it will still be a few days before I can get started.

Workbench-Miniatures

2007-02-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I met a guy named Bill Lindsey through the Yahoo live steam group. Bill has been building scale models of stationary steam engines for some years now. He's been great about answering some of my many questions about models and machining in general.

As it turns out Bill has a webpage called Workbench-Miniatures. The photo you see is of his Engine Test Bench. Bill's test bench was recently featured in an article in "Live Steam" magazine. Congratulations Bill.

Bill offers plans for four engines and other projects with more on the way. I'm considering building Bill's Simplex Engine as a first project. First, I have to be sure I have the tools I need.

I've added a link to Workbench-Miniatures in Helpful Links in the right sidebar.

Cutting/tapping Fluid.

2007-02-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

I've got cutting fluid. There wasn't a lot of information about cutting fluid around my usual internet haunts, so I struck out on my own. When I was boating in Florida I had good results with products made by LPS, in particular corrosion inhibitors and water displacing products. I never bought anything from them that I wasn't completely satisfied with. So, I looked them up on the internet, and they make cutting fluid, too. Their customer service department responded to my email inquiry as to dealers in my area within a day. There are two, Dillon Supply, and Motion Industries. I have done business with both companies before.

Motion Industries is closer, so I called. The gentleman that answered the phone indicated that in fact they were Distributors of LPS products, but had none in stock. (??) The warehouse in Birmingham had it, and they could put on the regular truck, and I could have it the next day.Price was nine bucks. I said, "OK".

Motion Industries called the next day to say the fluid was here. I drove down, and presented myself at the sales counter. They produced the cutting fluid, and said,"Fourteen bucks." Apparently I was expected to pay five dollars freight to have a sixteen ounce bottle of cutting fluid placed on their regular delivery truck. That would have been fine had they informed me of that when I called in the first place.

I didn't feel like a scene, and I wanted the fluid, so I coughed up fourteen bucks and left with my fluid. It will probably take me a year to use it up.

Next time I'll try Dillon supply. They are distributors too, and maybe they actually stock what they distribute, or maybe they can at least provide 16 ounces of product without expecting me to help buy them a new truck.

By the way, it works great. Smoother finish when turning, less chatter on heavy cuts, and a marked difference in pressures required when drilling. Drawbacks are lots of smoke (their literature said it would), and it smells funny.

Ways protector, Dial Indicator adapter, and Collet adapter

2007-02-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

The piece of plywood you see in the photo is a ways protector. It's nothing more than plywood cut to fit over the ways with a cleat installed at the front and back to hold the plywood in place. It can save your ways should you drop a chuck or faceplate while making a change, which can cause a lot of grief.

I've mounted a dial test indicator in an adapter I made out of scrap for practice with the new carbide tools from Grizzly. You can buy an adapter with a nice magnetic base for about twelve bucks. Mine screws into the T slot in the cross slide and it cost nothing. I've got it set up to measure runout on a piece of drill rod chucked up in a three jaw chuck.

The stepped cylinder on the ways protector is a collet adapter that lets me install the dial test indicator in the spindle of my mill regardless of what collet I'm using. The steps are sized to fit all different sizes of collets. You can buy these too, but I made this one, again for practice.

Tool Height Gauge

2007-02-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

After the last post, I thought it might be a good idea to show the tool height gauge in use. Click on the photo at left to enlarge it. As shown, the parting tool is just a little low and in need of another shim. I shamelessly stole this idea from someone's web site. Again, my memory fails me. His was much nicer than mine. It was made out of a nice thick piece of aluminum with a slot milled in it at the proper height. I'll give credit if I ever encounter the other guy's site again.

What's important here is that the height gauge can be made out of almost anything, as long as it tells you, "this is the right height."

Parting School

2007-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

While I wait for UPS to deliver my Grizzly order, I decided to practice parting this morning. I learned a few things.

A sharp tool is important. After grinding a fresh edge on my parting tool, I checked what I had with the 10x eye loupe in the photo. Lots of burrs and a wire on the top edge. The diamond stone took care of that, and gave me a keen edge. I bought the stone, which isn't really a stone at all but a flat steel, with diamond grit fixed to it's surface somehow, for sharpening woodworking tools. It stays flat, instead of wearing out in the center, so what you sharpen gets a straight edge instead of a curved one. It's at least ten years old, and hasn't worn out. It works great on tool bits. We'll see how diamond grit works on carbide when the Grizzly order gets here.

Parting tool height is Critical. The steel cylinder standing on end is a tool height gauge. It's just a piece of steel turned round and faced off to the precise height (or as precise as you can make it) of your lathe's spindle center. To use it, stand the gauge on your cross slide bed, rotate your tool rest around till the tip of your tool is adjacent to it, and then adjust tool height till the cutting edge of the tool is flush with the top of the gauge. Maybe some people can "eyeball" tool height, but I can't.

If you're fortunate enough to have a Quick Change Tool Post (QCTP) tool height adjustment is easy. Just turn the knurled nut. Those of us that are QCTP challenged must resort to using shims. Go to Sears and buy a set of feeler gauges. They're cheap. Take the gauges out of the holder, and you've got shims of all sizes.

Tool height should be "on center". That's what works best with my lathe. Maybe something else will work for you. Try on center first. See what happens.

Machining speed counts. It's different for different materials. I dragged out some charts and found I was going way too slow. My parting tool was pushing the metal out of the way instead of cutting it. For a fixed rotational speed, in rpm, cutting speed in surface feet per minute decreases with decreasing work piece diameter. On a large workpiece, you may have to increase rotational speed as the parting tool cuts it's way into the work.

Finally, my text book says use cutting fluid. I'm using kerosene, because that's what I have. It's not the right stuff. I've got more research to do. I'll let you know what I settle on when I do.

Backshield is Done

2007-02-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

I got the vinyl runner this morning, and it's installed. It runs down the back, curves forward and comes out in front. I cut it out where it interfered with the lathe's base. I was a little worried about the black color, but it 's OK. It cuts down the glare. Having the light there is just right.

Time for a real project.

Homemade Lathe Back Shield

2007-02-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of building a shield to go behind the lathe to protect the wall, and give me a place to mount a work light. I'm making one out of one inch light angle that I had under the house, left over from some other project. It clamps onto the back of the lathe bench. I'll cover it with vinyl carpet runner. It's available at any hardware store, and it's dirt cheap. Someone, somewhere on a web page did the same thing, and I wish I could remember who it was so I could give him credit. I'll eventually permanently attach the clamp on work light so it can't vibrate loose and fall on me or the lathe.

Grizzly Order

2007-02-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

I placed my first order with Grizzly Industrial this morning. I ordered a 20 piece set of 3/8"carbide tipped tool bits and a boring bar. Making my four bolt compound clamp would have been much easier with a boring bar. Now I'll have one.

I've never done business with Grizzly before. A lot of lathe owners got their machines from them. I've mostly heard good things about the company. I'll see how their stuff holds up.

I'll update this when the tools arrive.

I've put a link to Grizzly in the sidebar.

Update: The Grizzly order is here. The photo shows what you get from Grizzly for $40.10. Twenty carbide tipped 3/8 inch lathe tools, a double ended boring bar with holder and tool steel bit, and a couple spare 1/4 inch steel bits. I'm happy. A word of warning. Throw the allen wrench that comes with the boring bar away. It's too small and almost rounded out the inside of one of the set screws in the end of the boring bar. I had the same problem with the smallish allen wrench that came with my parting tool holder. I don't know why, but the smaller wrenches are a poor fit. Throw them away, and buy a good set of metric wrenches. Last word, Carbide=Good.

Four Bolt Compound Clamp

2007-02-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

While I was waiting for Northern Tool to ship my lathe, I spent a lot of time looking at Little Machine Shop.com. A link to their store is in the right sidebar. If you don't know what's out there for mini lathes and mills, their site can be very informative. I bought some of my stuff from them. I also found the Yahoo 9x20 lathe group. Lots of good information there too.

The most common complaint and the most recommended modification for these lathes is that the two bolt compound clamp, that is the part that clamps the compound rest to the cross feed table, is weak. It is. Parting is a panic with a two bolt clamp. I have to give a lot of credit to a guy named Steve Bedair. He has a first rate web page. I'll add a link to his page as soon as he gives me permission.

The photo above shows the original clamp and the new one with the compound rest attached. I took great advantage of Steve's instructions. I got a much steadier compound rest. Parting is much better, and there's less chatter and vibration otherwise. A smoother finish on parts all around.

I made the clamp out of a piece of half inch thick by four in wide cold rolled 1018 from Metal Express. Good people there, and only a day away from me by UPS standard ground.

Update: Steve Bedair's site has been added to "Useful Links". Check it out.

First try

2007-02-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

I got my lathe home, set it up, and leveled things.

Prior to purchasing the lathe, I bought a copy of "Machining Fundamentals" by John Walker that was out of print, but still available at Amazon, for cheap. There wasn't anything in there I couldn't do or understand, so I went ahead with the lathe purchase.

I read the book, read the owner's manual that came with the lathe, and decided to try to cut a thread. I used a piece of scrap that used to be part of a ground rod, and ground my own threading tool. Here's what I got.

Yeah, I know, it's a crummy picture, but I got threads, that looked pretty good and held a nut. The thread form is a little off, but I think that's because I didn't have the compound rest set at exactly 29.5 degrees. The scale on my rest is not very accurate, and hard to read. If anybody wants to tell me how to set it, I'm all ears.

The point of all this is that if you buy the book, read the book, and do what it says, the lathe will work.

Why I got a Jet.

2007-02-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

This is my shop.

First, let me say that I've wanted a lathe since the first time I got to use one in Howard Newby's eighth grade shop class. At least I think that was his name. It was a long time ago.

About ten years ago my Dad got his hands on an old Clausing vertical mill when it came up for auction when the plant where he had worked for 35 years closed down and moved production to Mexico. Dad got to help with the opening of the new plant, the closing of the old plant, and was standing in line when the mill came up for auction. Then he got to retire, with a decent pension, which was better than a lot of his fellow employees got.

Dad passed away on Sept. 9 of 2001. I got home from the funeral in time to see video of the twin towers coming down. It still shocks me to think about it.

Dad gave me the mill because he felt I needed it more than he did. Dad was generous to a fault with all his kids. He was the smartest and most decent man I ever met. Thanks Dad.

I used the mill at my business for eight years, and finally brought it home.

Of course, if you have a milling machine, you need a lathe.

So, I looked and looked, and finally bought a Jet BD-902N from Northern Tool and Equipment. It's made in China like all the rest, and yes, I would have liked something better and American made, but I could afford the Jet, barely. That and the fact that Northern Tool has a store here that they would ship it to free of charge saved me a bunch of money. It also saved me dragging it off the back of an 18 wheeler.

My wife, who has been very understanding about my need to make round things out of square things, and dohickeys, and whazzits, found a workbench at Northern Tool that was sitting in the warehouse. Someone else's wife had bought it for her husband, and it wasn't what he wanted, so I got it without shipping charges too, and it fits the space in the shop and the lathe perfectly. I took the casters off, since they were a bad idea on a lathe bench, and put them on the bottom of my welding machine, so I could roll it around when necessary.

Thank you, Dear wife.