Shop Made Tools

[rcaffin]

Precision drilling jig for a simple little lathe.

The cross saddle provides one axis and the aluminium optical slide with brass knob provides the other axis, to align to the real centre of rotation of the chuck.
With this I can routinely drill 0.3 mm holes in stove jets by using the main feed wheel. So far, having drilled >100 jets, I have not broken a single drill bit. These days I don't even bother using any sort of centre drill first. But I DO use a head mounted magnifier to see what I am doing. The Swiss drills are excellent.

Cheers
Roger
PS: my avatar pic is the same as this, but smaller.

[Bented]

Unfinished gang tool holder for an old CNC lathe, one more hole to be drilled and reamed then the set screw holes drilled and tapped.
Left handed boring bar for light facing and OD turning, drill, bore then an internal retaining ring groove tool (not shown). Give each tool a number and then touch them off, write the program and have at it, do not call the wrong tool number at the wrong time as this makes for spectacular crashes (-:

The parts were POM so it did not have to be very rigid.

[elf]

If you make the connection between the chuck and the tailstock(adaptor) solid, you can turn thin parts in tension instead of compression doing away with the need for a steady.

[J Tiers]

That seems much handier than the typical solution of a plug in the end of the tubing that is centered. Or even a bull-nose center, since they are great, but always the wrong size for what is wanted.

Good idea, one I never considered.

[ezduzit]

Yeah, this was an inexpensive imported chuck that I have found useful for things like starting thread dies, etc.

[The Metal Butcher]

Ez,

I was thinking about something like that but I'm not sure I absolutely need it anymore. I may still make one someday, but that is far more involved for marginal gain. This also works with every 1.5-8" chuck I have.

[ezduzit]

TMB--I see how that would come in handy. What I have used is a small (4"?) chuck that is bearing mounted to a MT2 stub shaft that fits the tailstock.

[The Metal Butcher]

I'm cross-posting this here because this is seriously one of the best tools I've made, at least in terms of input to output benefit.

I made this Friday while I was busy dropping micrometers, a tailstock chuck adapter for some upcoming tube work. Pretty simple, just a 1.5"-8 thread to mirror the one on the Rockwell, and a center hole on the other end. Two options for removing it, a pin spanner or 2" wrench. Threads came out a little tight, but it goes in. I did it all except face it off on the Sidney lathe as I'm a masochist who likes a challenge. That and it's really fun to thread on. Finish cuts might as well be rolling a die as far as how much it takes haha. Does peel off 0.2" quite nicely though. I used carbide for my threads this time and got less tearing on the 1018/A36 or whatever. Always hard to get a good finish on.





I still plan to make a proper one with a bearing someday, but this is a good stopgap I could make in 1/2 a day.

I'm not even sure if I want to make a proper one anymore. This one worked so good I might be set. Highly recommended for anyone that does long, > spindle bore work.

[Dave C]

With my lathe (Taiwan 9 x 20 Lathe) I can cut metric and inch threads. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cut module threads with the supplied change gears. However, with the formula 22 : 7 it is possible to get close to this.
I can neither fit a 22 tooth gear, nor a 7 tooth gear. one must then just expand.
I have expanded the number of teeth with 4. This gives a combination of 88 : 28. The gear with 28 teeth was included with my machine. I only had to make a gear with 88 teeth.
From a waste piece, a truck transmission shaft blank was cut a disc and made from it the gear. Another possibility is to combine a gear with 73 teeth and a gear with 31 or 29 teeth in combination with my Norton gearbox.
These gears were also made from the same material.
All gears have module 1 teeth.

German innovation at work. Good job Bruno

[Bruno Mueller]

With my lathe (Taiwan 9 x 20 Lathe) I can cut metric and inch threads. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cut module threads with the supplied change gears. However, with the formula 22 : 7 it is possible to get close to this.
I can neither fit a 22 tooth gear, nor a 7 tooth gear. one must then just expand.
I have expanded the number of teeth with 4. This gives a combination of 88 : 28. The gear with 28 teeth was included with my machine. I only had to make a gear with 88 teeth.
From a waste piece, a truck transmission shaft blank was cut a disc and made from it the gear. Another possibility is to combine a gear with 73 teeth and a gear with 31 or 29 teeth in combination with my Norton gearbox.
These gears were also made from the same material.
All gears have module 1 teeth.

[Tim Clarke]

[QUOTE=BCRider;n1928422]Nice job there Tim. I saw that on one of his videos too and thought that there's been a couple of times where I could have used a plate along the same lines for small parts.

Super job on the long finger clamps. I don't recall those of Joe's video. His were a little shorter, no? Your adaptation?

The clamps were some leftover parts from a parallel clamp project. I'll make shorter clamps as needed.

[rcaffin]

have a way to mount the plate vertically in either orientation.

I have one good commercial angle plate. I mounted it on the bed of the CNC mill.
Then I took a bit of well-aged 100x100x6 mm MS angle and clamped it to the angle plate, upside down.
Then I surfaced the top face. That relied on the other face of course, so I flipped the angle and repeated on the other face.
Then I added a few mounting holes and slots on both faces, including ones for the T-Slots.
Finally, I did very light grind on both faces (microns), still using my original commercial angle plate for support.

Now I have several fairly good secondary angle plates which are good enough for most situations.

Cheers
Roger

[rcaffin]

Hi Tim

I made up a stack of clamps just like yours, in various lengths, but with the head of the bolt on top rather than recessed. It was easier that way ...
I used 12 mm square and 16 mm square MS bar: it was to hand.

One difference though: I found that the ends of the cap-head bolts at the ends of the clamps made ring marks on the bed, so I put the end bolts in upside down. That puts the smooth bolt head on the bed, and there are no marks made any more.

Another difference is that in many cases I used M6 threaded rod and wing-nuts instead of cap-head bolts for the hold-down. That gives me a huge range of adjustment without having to continuously change the bolt lengths. In those cases I also use M6 threaded rod for the rear-end bolt, but with a little brass cap on the end to protect the bed. You can buy the brass caps on ebay.

Cheers
Roger

[gambler]

bcrider, check your messages

[BCRider]

Nice job there Tim. I saw that on one of his videos too and thought that there's been a couple of times where I could have used a plate along the same lines for small parts.

Super job on the long finger clamps. I don't recall those of Joe's video. His were a little shorter, no? Your adaptation?

Part of what I'd like to do is also have a way to mount the plate vertically in either orientation. To that end I was thinking I'd give myself a way to mount it to the short end of a 1-2-3 block. The block could then be held vertically on the 1x3 edge in the mill vise. Or perhaps clamped down directly to the table along the 1x3 edge with the sub plate screwed through on the 1x2 edge. .... Or just attach it from behind through the slots of an angle plate into a couple of spare holes. Or did you have another idea along this line?