Shop Made Tools

[bborr01]

Just want you all to know that you all are bastards!

Here I was getting my to-do list down to a size that I would get done before I die, and then there is this thread with lots of great ideas for tools and stuff, some of them I didn't even know I needed.

Thanks Brian for starting the thread and to everyone else for keeping it alive. As soon as I remember to take the camera out to the shop, I'll add a couple of my own tools.

Scott

Hi Scott,

You are very welcome.

I hear you on the to-do list thing.

One thing at a time.

Brian

[darryl]

A few pics of this simple project. The morse tapered stop piece with threaded adjustment bar, and the wrench to adjust it-

[IMG][/IMG]

Inserted into the spindle taper-

[IMG][/IMG]

With chuck in place- here it's set to give about 1/2 inch of material in the jaws behind the face of the jaws.

[IMG][/IMG]

The diameter of the face on the adjusting bolt is just under 1/2 inch. There will be another adjusting bolt made if I need it to be a smaller diameter. The bolt is a friction fit, which I got by choosing a galvanized bolt over a chromed one. I polished up the bolt so it wouldn't chew up the threads in the pvc piece, and gave it a bit of grease. This was a carriage bolt, chosen to give enough of a head that I could machine it to give me a decent sized flat on the end. I also machined away the squared portion directly behind the head, reducing that diameter to 5/16 for this 3/8 bolt. That way I can screw it right in til it touches the plastic. It goes about as deep as I'll ever need it to, but if I do need it to be deeper, I can just cut off some of the plastic. The threads go in a bit over an inch, and the bore is drilled out from the other end to 3/8. No need to thread it all the way.

I could have simplified this and just used a normal bolt, but I wanted to be able to grip material down to about a half inch. This would have meant turning off the hex on the bolt head, leaving no way to adjust it. Otherwise I could simply have used a socket wrench. An alternative would have been to re-grind a hex head for a smaller socket, but I chose the pin wrench instead. If I need to use a smaller diameter adjusting bolt, I'll be forced to grind a hex onto it so I can adjust it. No way I'm going to cheap out and put a simple slot on the end of it. I hate those slippery flat blade screwdrivers-

[gr8life]

I am sure a lot of people use this but I have not seen it here before. This is a piece of brass or whatever you have in your scrap bin cut to fit the T slots in your mill table. The top end has a countersunk SHCS to lock it in place and a rounded head to insert into the hole in the bottom of most vices. I mount the vice on the brass piece and it makes the vice easier to tap into place when you are tramming. I made the captains wheel or speed wheel because I hate the handles that come w/ vices. The spokes are threaded so you can remove one if they stick up in the wrong place.
thanks
ed

[davidwdyer]

SouthBend 5C Collet Chuck

I imagined that a 5C collet could be pushed in instead of pulled. In this way, the operator would not need to always be messing with a collet closer on the back end of the lathe.

So here's my try for my SB 13 lathe.



View of the two tapers in the body of the chuck.



Here's a little tool I made to tighten the "closer."



And the tool in the lathe.

[Jack F]

David,

What a great idea, one more thing for my to do list.

Jack.

[AllThumbz]

I assume the tiny setscrew on the side tightens against the slot in the side of the collet.

What a fantastic idea which saves time on setting up a handlever or handwheel collet closer.

[davidwdyer]

In fact, the tiny screw is supposed to just slip in the slot of the collet to keep it from spinning. In practice, I don't think I really need it. I just copied it from some collet blocks I bought.

Is that a crack in the casting of the headstock of my lathe I see below the collet closer? I must run to the shop tomorrow and check it out! I sure hope its something else!

[oldtiffie]

Just needs a bit of fine-tuning

David.

I have no concerns about it other than the lateral forces or "chatter" causing the MT taper to "unlock" and for the adaptor to either slip in the MT taper or to "walk forward".

I'd prefer to see a draw-bar from the back of the lathe holding your adaptor in.

There is no reason why the draw-bar should not be as big as will fit through your lathe spindle and bored (or made from a tube) so as to fit the biggest part you can through the tube.

I'd support leaving that job on this thread - no need to remove or move it at a;;.

[davidwdyer]

David.

I have no concerns about it other than the lateral forces or "chatter" causing the MT taper to "unlock" and for the adaptor to either slip in the MT taper or to "walk forward".

I'd prefer to see a draw-bar from the back of the lathe holding your adaptor in.

There is no reason why the draw-bar should not be as big as will fit through your lathe spindle and bored (or made from a tube) so as to fit the biggest part you can through the tube.

I'd support leaving that job on this thread - no need to remove or move it at a;;.

Hey Oldtiffe,

When speaking about hijacking the thread, I was actually talking about bringing up what appears to be a crack in my lathe casting.

On the subject of loosening or walking, I guess the fit and tightness would be about the same as a drill press chuck or some other such thing which uses a taper. When it is clean and dry I see no reason it shouldn't work.

The bore of the lathe is certainly big enough for a draw-bar. But the whole reason for the project was to get rid of having to use a draw-bar.

In my case, the taper seems to be quite a good fit if I pop it in quite firmly. I did quite a but of maching, ie. boring, turning drilling with up to a 1" drill while the project was fixed in the lathe taper. Absolutely no problems with coming loose or walking. Of course (disclaimer) that doesn't mean that nothing could ever go wrong. I have no qualms about using it the way it is.

[oldtiffie]

It stays

David.

I meant the draw-bar to be attached to your adaptor - not the 5C collet - as the collet is retained and closed/opened by the nut - not too unlike the case of an ER collet.

But as you've proved the concept to your satisfaction, I'd agree with you leaving it "as is".

And leave it on this thread too.

[davidwdyer]

Aha! Now I see what you are suggesting. Not bad. If there is a problem with loosening, I'll try to do something like you mentioned.

Another possibility on the South Bend would be to arrange some kind of retainer which screws on the threaded end where the chuck goes.

[John Stevenson]

Is that a crack in the casting of the headstock of my lathe I see below the collet closer? I must run to the shop tomorrow and check it out! I sure hope its something else!

David,
Mended your lathe for you

[davidwdyer]

David,
Mended your lathe for you

Sir John,

Your machining skills never cease to amaze me. Even at such a long distance! (Shame on you, visiting Brazil without even telling me).

Actually, that is true. I'm really such a noobie that many on this forum intimidate me. For example, on this project the external thread is the second one I have ever cut on a lathe as is the internal thread on the "cap."

[davidwdyer]

I couldn't resist. It just kept bothering me and so I had to go out on a Sunday morning and travel 1km (the only miles here are the frequent flyer ones) to the shop just to see if the lathe had a crack or not.

And... lo and behold Sir John is really amazing. He somehow sneaked over here during the night, broke into my shop and fixed the casting on my lathe.

Well.... forehead slap, Uff da (Norwegian expression) what a dummy I turned out to be. The problem was just the angle of the picture showing the joint(s) between the cap and the lathe body which hold the spindle bushing in place. The angle made it look like the "crack" was towards to bottom and not on the side.

[lane]

Metal Bender

Here is another shop made tool . A scroll bender for bending stuff . Dont have any thing to bend ,but what the heck it was something I did not have and was easy to build in a weekend. The big chunk with all the holes was 4140 HT and the pins and bushing the same the rest is CRS with the bending point case harden . it broke off on first try get it harden too deep about 1/2 inch. But ground it out and welded it back on and all works ok now. If it brakes again will just make another out of 4140 and flame harden the tip.




Sorry for the clutter in back ground but it was cold out the other night when I took photos.