Shop Made Tools

[metalmole]

Some stuff I made to make things easier

[Rich V]

Lathe tool post for power feed drilling & reaming

I made this for my 9 in SouthBend lathe a few years back.
It allows you to set up a power feed for drilling/reaming with almost no alignment setup headaches.

Made this from a scrap piece of aluminum I had in the shop.

True up your starting block then turn the inverted cone that will mate to your cross slide. Then measure and drill the index pin, for my SB there was already a hole in the saddle but if needed you can drill one if yours does not have an index hole.
Mount the post to the saddle and tighten it down securely. Run the cross slide to center the tool block with the lathe bore, mount an appropriate sized drill(s) in you chuck and drill the block using the power feed on the lathe. Once this is done replace the drill with the appropriate reamer and power ream the hole to size. In my case I went with a 0.750 bore.

You now have a hole perfectly matched to your saddle/lathe center bore.
Drill and tap some screw holes on top to hold the tool in place and you are ready to go! I use a straight shank Jacob drill chuck mount for a drill chuck.

When remounting in the future the only setup alignment is getting the front to back saddle position centered with the lathe bore, height and angle are set by design. It is very rigid as well.

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

I made this for my 9 in SouthBend lathe a few years back.
It allows you to set up a power feed for drilling/reaming with almost no alignment setup headaches.

Sorry no photo of this one, but I have done a similar "toolpost" except I turned a Morse taper sleeve (MT5/MT4) straight on the outside between centers and slid it in that sort of tool post that had the reamed hole with a nice amount of Loctite. The end of the sleeve was cut off first with an angle grinder so that you can hit the inserted Morse taper tools tang end to remove it.

[Chris S.]

snip:

Sorry no photo of this one, but I have done a similar "toolpost" except I turned a Morse taper sleeve (MT5/MT4) straight on the outside ........

Jaako, that's a mighty big hole. Please describe how you bored it out while the block was mounted to the CS. Did you use a boring head? Also, did you really have a reamer that large in your tool box?

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

Jaako, that's a mighty big hole. Please describe how you bored it out while the block was mounted to the CS. Did you use a boring head? Also, did you really have a reamer that large in your tool box?

Drilled with power feed and used a boring head to get a nice round dimension (doesn't matter what it is), then measured it and turned the outside of the Morse sleeve to be a slight interference fit

But yes, I do have such reamers also, the biggest is 65H7.

[Chris S.]

But yes, I do have such reamers also, the biggest is 65H7.

Unless I stumble upon a garage sale with a box full of them I'll just have to be content being jealous.

Oh, you still need a camera.

[fuzzy]

Love the tools!

Please show us what you have done. I have made special tools when what I had wouldn't do the job. Some of them are so crude I wouldn't show them, but they got the job done. I even cut up an open end wrench when working on a Jaguar exhaust manifold with my young daughter.
Those angle plates look great! I don't think that I am up to making something like that, but maybe will try sometime.

[tinkertoy41]

8" cut off wheels

Speaking of grinders and various attachments, has anyone added a thin cut-off wheel to one and if so, what kind of a rest did you add? I have a spare 8", 3,450rpm grinder and some 8" cut-off wheels (discs) with a 1.25" centre hole that fit my surface grinder that I want to put on this spare bench grinder to use with a tool rest to shorten bolts/screws as needed. I'm thinking of a block that is tapped to fit all the common thread sizes which slides on an alignment glide into the cut-off wheel. Maybe someone has already built one? Cheers, Bill

In the 1950s we used an old small table saw with cutoff wheels, used the cross slide with a miter gauge for angles & for multiple cuts we used a stop. We were cutting "HSS" tool bits & carbide tool holders that were very tough on the metal saws. A small vise was used to hold rounds & odd shaped parts worked as good as using the surface grinder at time when just needed to rough the shape a HSS tool bit 1/2" X1/2" instead of the bench grinder.

Tinkertoy41

[Griper]

Indicating parts in the lathe chuck

This is my first post, I've been soaking up many of ideas from a lot of you guys but I had to share this one. This is not my idea but has helped me in countless ways.

I hope I'm not wasting any of your time with a tip picked up as an apprentice.

youtube link-indicating parts in the lathe quickly

[ZINOM]

Thanks Griper...that's pretty slick and just about my speed.

Now I just gotta get a QCTP and I'll be all set

John

[Ron of Va]

I wore out my fingers pulling burned out bulbs, so I made a bulb puller, and stuck it in box with the Christmas decorations so I will not loose it. I had to write on it because next year I won't remember what it's for.

[noah katz]

youtube link-indicating parts in the lathe quickly

Thanks.

Couple of comments.

Results on the stepped cylindrical piece would have been better if he put the bearing against the end.

Also, I think the method would be improved by leaving the indicator in contact while turning the chuck by hand.

That way you could see when you're there, without going too far, which would seem easy to do, as the part could be several thou past center but prevented from wobbling by the bearing.

[Chris S.]

Thanks.

Couple of comments.

Ditto! I didn't particularly like seeing the DI indicating the piece running at that speed either. Some may do that but not me. It didn't serve any purpose anyway, except wear and tear on the DI.

[jugs]

I saw this on another forum, thought it such a good idea I would share.

Nb - most c/h pumps have 3 speeds

graffian



Grabbed an old heating pump that was being chucked last year. But the pump had to be in/below the suds to work so wasn't really suitable as I wanted to dunk it in an old detergent container of suds.
Eventually got round to extending the aramature and putting some distance between the pump and motor. It works a treat, I can shut the flow down to a proper trickle and it's dead reliable or turn it right and have loadsasuds.

[ArkTinkerer]

OK, I'm clueless--what did the unmodified pump come out of?