Shop Made Tools

[jhe.1973]

Looking good! I need to make a tiny steady rest one of these days, but still haven't really settled on a design.

I don't know if you saw this over at the NAWCC forum but if you are so inclined, feel free to copy this design I made ages ago for a watchmaker's lathe.

Here it is from the headstock side. Notice the pins are offset to allow the frame to sit over the spindle nose:



Flipped around on the bed to view the rear hinge detail:



Opened but still reversed on bed:



Perhaps not tiny enough, but at least it's not as bulky as some on the market.

[jhe.1973]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the kind words!

Max,

I had an idea that I am going to build into the next steady rest I have to make for the 10mm lathe I now use.

Besides being offset, if the pins are angled with the inner ends outward (towards the tailstock) the tips could actually support the work flush with, or even slightly forward of, the front face of the frame.

This would really be handy for tiny work & different pin tips could be made for different applications.

The loads are so small in clock & watch work that I am sure that this would work great, allowing work right up to point of support.

I wanted to pass this on ‘cuz it might be awhile before I can get to making my next one.

I wouldn’t advise this idea for big lathes turning heavy shafts unless the sliding arms (what I call pins in this case) were beefy enough to resist the outward springing that may occur.

[j king]

Started a new project. Couldn't seem to bring myself to pay 450 for a steady for my monarch sooo..here we go.

Update..boy this took longer than the larger steady I made for the 16" lathe.heres a few pics.all I need to do is prime and paint.



Wanted to round things to look kinda like the 10 ee,s shape.made the fingers heavier than needed but it will be solid.also added bronze bushings in the bores to keep from galling

[j king]

Couple more.took me a lot of beers and thinking to decide on all the design .then kept changing my mind. Lol

[j king]

Looks like it belongs now.real happy with the outcome. : )

[Hopefuldave]

That steady's beautiful, and really matches the Monarch.... Very Art Deco. I may try to imitate it for my Holbrook, just a bit bigger!

Is it built from castings, or welded? If castings, I'd better get going on building the furnace... Another project, oh no...

Dave H. (the other one)

[Zero_Divide]

Got a cnc lathe and ever wandered if it could do its own bar feed operation?
I thought.

And here is a lil sketch.


Later i will upload another picture here
http://zero-divide.net/index.php?pag...rticle_id=4356

[Jim2]

Here's a tangential flycutter that I finished recently. Someone else had made one that was similar by setting the shank at an angle to the body, and then went on to describe the design process, angles, etc. I chose to modify the design by including all the angles in the body of the tool and setting the shank at 90 degrees.









Jim

[Stern]

Got motivated this winter (as the mother in law moved in) and decided to spend all my time in the garage. Always wanted a mill so I decided to build one



It sure isnt pretty, but works actually really well. Was able to cut 1/2" x 1/2" hog cut in a single pass to make T-nuts.

Now working on an Indexing/Divider head

[sasquatch]

Stern that is quite impressive. Unless i missed it in the pic, how do you lower the quill? (With the height adjustment rod at the rear?)

[Stern]

Yes, the entire head moves up and down, and below (not in the pic) is a 12" crass slide with a dual channel T bed. Its surprising if you have plate steel, a welder and a lathe you can make just about anything lol. The first version used a reducing head (30:1) but the motor wouldn't turn it (think it was from a conveyor belt and used a 5HP 3PH 347 motor). So, removed the head and did it with just pulleys and upped the motor to a 220V 2HP magnetic start one.

At that point I decided to use the reducing head to make an indexing head, which is almost done





Once I get the mill fixed up I can finish the index head and move onto the next project, which will probably be one of the ones shown in the shop tools section of this forum, some really great stuff there I posted most of the work on the mill on another forum Im on (which is a CX500 motorcycle forum), but think I may take all the pics I have and make a blog others can follow if they want. Wasn't hard to do, and most of the stuff was scrap steel plate bits I got from a machinist buddy.

[Toolguy]

What is the CX500 forum? I have a '79 CX500 Custom.

[Stern]

http://cx500forum.com/

I bought a 82 CX500C 3 years ago (first bike I ever had and ever rode) and found this site. Has the greatest bunch of people I have ever had the pleasure to meet (some in person). Site deals with anything you ever wanted to know about the CX/GL line, and how to fix anything. Thanks to the people there I did a complete tipple bypass (cam chain, stator and mech seal) and restored the bike to a well running machine. Has members all over the planet, and never had issues with fighting or snobby behaviour, everyone is really nice.

This is one of the reasons I got back into playing in the garage (that and the mother in law moving in), making bits for the bike (also picked up a GL1000 to fix up), and now all I want to do is use the lathe and make more shop tools with the great ideas here on this site I can make a lot of usefull tool without having to spend a fortune (as work is dead and cash is something that rarely comes in lol)

[dian]

"here's a tangential flycutter that I finished recently."

can you explain the angles, please? is the edge round or does it have a "wiper"?

does it reduce the preassure on the work peice?

[Jim2]

"here's a tangential flycutter that I finished recently."

can you explain the angles, please? is the edge round or does it have a "wiper"?

does it reduce the preassure on the work peice?

I modified the design that I found here: http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/tang...flycutter.html I used the design suggestions that he has at the bottom of the page.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "wiper". I sharpen the bit at 30 degrees across the corners, and stone the edges a bit--nothing too complicated.

It seems to cut real well. I actually tried it out on a piece of A2 tool steel. I was facing a piece that was 2" wide and removing 0.008". That wasn't pushing it at all. I like it for how easy it is to re-sharpen the tool, and that it seems to stress the mill less than the commercial flycutter that I had been using. The angles on the bit in my commercial sharpener weren't as good though either. . . .

Jim