Printer rods

[darryl]

I needed a shaft with a cam on it to adjust play in a mechanism. A piece that looked about right to start with was a carriage rod from an old printer. It sure did machine nicely, and the cam was easy to make. I took a piece of sheet metal, put a bend in it of about 120 degrees, and put that between the rod and two of the jaws. With a little care to make sure the cutter cleared the work to start with, it went fine. (on my first try, I forgot about the rod being eccentrically chucked- the cutter dug in and I had to remount the rod) I turned it until I was just barely taking a continuous shaving off. I don't know if there's a formula for this, but I don't suppose it would be hard to figure out.

[wierdscience]

Formula?I don't need no stinking formula

I just do the same as you,but only under one of the jaws.
I regularly turn 2" od shafting with a 1" eccentric using a piece of 1x1 cold rolled under one jaw,works good.

You can do the same thing in the four jaw just using an indicator to set the offset.

[darryl]

Well, I quit that stinkin formula stuff years ago. Not sure if I was past my first b'day or not. Must have gone on to something stronger, 'cause here I am now, munchin metal.
I should have titled this thread 'working with recycled materials', as I just wanted to relate my experience with printer rod. I didn't know what to expect from it, but it was nicer to machine than most of the stuff I mangle in the lathe. The other thing I haven't tried, but have some now, is shock absorber shafts. I have what might have been a solid drive shaft, or an axle shaft, that's been sharpened for use as a poker, or a pry, something like that. I wonder how it would machine- I also have a piece of what looks like a silvery tinted bronze (phosphor bronze?) and it's a bitch to machine. I would throw it away, but it intrigues me. I have some aluminum plate from the war era, and it's interesting to work with. It kind of hisses as it's being cut, but isn't hard to work with. This was front panels for some kind of equipment on a destroyer. The ****tiest stuff I have worked with is soft aluminum plate, I never want to use that again.

[wierdscience]

Ah a materials tasting efficiando

Yes the electronics boys like soft free machining stuff,I had a whole stack of 1/8" heat treated cast aluminum plates once,stuff cut easy but was really strong.

Them shock rods are good too,but the ones I have had were tough,they use nitro-bar for most makes,little bit cheaper than chrome rod and don't scratch.

Oh one other thing to look for in the printer/copier dept is stainless,I had some big coilators come it that were full of 303 stainless shafts,fun to work with.

[ben78]

I use shock rods for some things I do, got a set of monroe ones I pulled apart, chuck it up, took a cut - hrmm this goes nicely, then all of a sudden hit the part of the rod that was hardened - it stopped machining and the HSS bit started reducing in size!!! And the lathe made bad noises so I stopped. That piece is now sitting on the shelf waiting for me to fire the furnace up - I'll heat it until glowing and let it cool in the furnace, see if it gets soft again. Best thing about shock rods is once they are machined, they can be polished up a treat!!!

I have been working with a bit of 304 stainless lately, I have no idea why people don't use this stuff by the truckload - certainly a lot nicer to machine than that 1018 cr#p they sell at the local steel place! Maybe cos it costs more or something, either way I'll use stainless a lot more now!

Ben