What did you do today?

[jmarkwolf]

A buddy of mine bought a new fancy expensive barbecue. As you can see below, the end of the spit shaft doesn't fit in the drive motor very well due to the pointy end bottoming out before the square spit shaft engages the square hole in the drive motor.

[IMG][/IMG]

He wanted to leave the pointy end alone for spearing the meat, so we scampered down to the used tool store and bought a deep well socket that fits the hex stock of the spit shaft nicely. I milled down one end of some 3/8in key stock to fit the square hole in the drive motor. The other end of the key stock fit the deep well socket nicely enough. I then drilled and pinned them together with a roll pin.

[IMG][/IMG]

I haven't seen the barbecue yet so I'm not sure how well it will stay put when pulling the spit out. Will have to reconnoiter... say... over some barbecued ribs or chicken!

[IMG][/IMG]

[jdedmon91]

It is labeled as a "Swivel Metal Cutting Band Saw", which appears to be the same as this HF model which is shown working in horizontal as well as vertical positions:

From jdedmon91's video:


From the other video I found:


In vertical position:

As you can see I can’t go vertical. So I found after a year my portable bandsaw doesn’t have enough throat to cut over 6” so I wanted something different. So I started the process. What I was showing is recycling materials. There is a whole series of videos on the build because it’s still in progress


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[ulav8r]

Got the stitches removed, will be a scar but does not look too bad.

[wierdscience]

The cross slide nut on our 24x120 Italian lathe gave up.Turns out the previous owner had crashed the feed a couple times which had split the nut and caused the top half of it to split off from the body.No parts to be had,so ordered up a chunk of 954 Bronze and got started on a new nut today.Chucked a blank I machined up in our other lathe and single pointed the thread. Leadscrew measures 22mm x 5 tpi pitch.Threaded hole is 80mm long.



Last few days,Also machined up a mini-pallet out of a drop leftover from a water jet job. 8"x9"ish x 7/8" thick hot rolled steel bolted to a 2"x3"x4" block of cold rolled.3/8-16 threaded holes on 1" centers.



Final job was milling a 1/2" keyway in a 60" long piece of 2-3/16" 1045 tgp shaft material for a conveyor drum replacement shaft

[Cenedd]

After much (interrupted) effort I've managed to turn what amounts to a disc of EN3 steel 65mm X 10mm. Will be an over-engineered spindle (guide rather than load-bearing) for my bench vice as it currently slips all over the place when you swivel it.
Turned nicely, faced nicely. Devil's own job to part though.
Not sure if it's just because it is the largest thing I've tried to part or some other reason. I've parted EN8 in smaller diameters (25mm) with no problems but this chattered like a gossip-queen in a bad soap opera. Eventually managed to get as deep as my carbide parting tool would go (about 28mm if I remember) by cutting a second slot next to the first so the blade wasn't in full contact all the time. Also helped keeping the pressure up and keeping it in. Parting tool was on centre. Was down to about 100rpm (slowest it goes) and faster was worse but it didn't always have the torque to hack it and could be stalled quite easily. Am I just hitting the power limits of my lathe here or have I overlooked something?

[PStechPaul]

A properly designed and sharpened parting blade should have significant clearance on both sides, and the cutting point should be wider than the rest of the tool, so there should be no friction from deeper cuts. And the torque should actually reduce as it cuts a smaller diameter. But if the tool tip is slightly above center, the front edge could start rubbing, rather than cutting. Other reasons for difficulty could be chips getting caught between the tool edges and the cut, or a built-up edge, heat, and work-hardening.

[Cenedd]

Thanks Paul. I'll have to check whether there is any relief behind the blade. Given the entire width is 2mm, it's going to be slight if there is. Trouble occurred on first contact though. I had stock of 70mm and I'd turned the last 10mm down to 65mm so I was trying to part it from the 70mm section to keep the whole 10mm I'd turned. At half the thickness of the parting blade it was fine but at the full engagement of 2mm, it started chattering. Had the same with a 45 degree chamfering tool (square insert) chattering with much less engagement than I would have expected. Could be the steel I guess; haven't ordered from this supplier before (although it was very nicely and squarely cut and even had the edges chamfered so it didn't slice me or the packaging - it's the small things that make a difference) or it could be the much larger diameter than I'm used to. Previous largest (excluding much softer delrin) was 1" (25mm) stock.
Tool tip was at least by eye on the centre eye of the stock when faced - and not removed from the chuck. Haven't adjusted the height since I happily parted something smaller using power crossfeed.
Wasn't sure on work hardening. Couldn't find anything that suggests EN3 work hardens but it did seem like if you pushed through the initial chatter and then gave it consistent pressure, it behaved a bit.

[mattthemuppet]

do you have a mini lathe? If so, the above sounds normal. 2mm is reasonably thick for a small lathe, though you need that thickness in an HSS blade to stop it bending in the cut. I usually start off with a 1mm wide blade in steel for the first 15mm or so, then switch to a 2mm blade and keep extending the blade out of the holder as the cut gets deeper. Cutting a wider slot helps too. To be honest, at that size you're better off using a bandsaw or hacksaw to cut the rest off as you'll need to face the cut side anyway.

[jdedmon91]

The video is OK, and the project may be worthwhile, but 15 minutes just to cut and weld a few pieces of bed rail and steel tube is a bit too much. Some of my earlier shop videos are also too long, but now I know that a complete (simple) project can and should be condensed into about 10-15 minutes, or less if possible.

Also, the 4x6 bandsaw can be used in the vertical position, perhaps by adding a table plate and cutting fence. The differences between wood cutting and metal cutting saws seem to be mostly blade width and type, guide bearings, and blade speed. It may be interesting to see what the end result is supposed to be. The drawing at the end of the video doesn't show very much. But thanks for sharing your shop adventures

Other discussion:

https://forum.millerwelds.com/forum/welding-projects/2434-wood-cutting-vs-metal-cutting-band-saws

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/differences-between-metal-wood-band-saw-225681/

http://forums.finewoodworking.com/fine-woodworking-knots/power-tools-and-machinery/metal-cutting-vs-wood-cutting-band-saw

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/metal-cutting-blade-on-wood-band-saw.804945/

Thought I show you the 90% finished project


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[Cenedd]

do you have a mini lathe? If so, the above sounds normal. 2mm is reasonably thick for a small lathe, though you need that thickness in an HSS blade to stop it bending in the cut. I usually start off with a 1mm wide blade in steel for the first 15mm or so, then switch to a 2mm blade and keep extending the blade out of the holder as the cut gets deeper. Cutting a wider slot helps too. To be honest, at that size you're better off using a bandsaw or hacksaw to cut the rest off as you'll need to face the cut side anyway.

Sort of mini. It's not the really tiny one, it's an SC4. So about half a metre between centres and 1000W of brush less power....which having started with a 500W mill, felt like loads. But with this piece it did bog down and hunt somewhat as it tried to keep the speed constant.
2mm is about the thinnest carbide parting tip I've seen. I started with a cobalt blade but kept snapping it and I'm not sure it was much thinner. Might give it another go but have enjoyed (up til now) parting without worrying about it.

Don't have a band saw unfortunately. Ended up hacksawing it off and then facing it like you said....but damn it felt like it was a long way through! Also had to do it with it held in the chuck still as my vice is in pieces (this is one of them) so it was somewhat higher than was comfortable. Also, I'm a paragon of strength and fitness *cough* *wheeze*

[PStechPaul]

Something possibly worth trying would be to mount a piece of a hacksaw blade in the toolholder, set at an angle, and run the lathe at a fairly high speed. It will certainly remove less material than a parting blade. If it is not stiff enough, put it in with teeth in the opposite direction so it pulls, rather than push, and run the lathe in reverse. I have also heard of people using a small carbide circular saw blade, which will essentially provide a dozen or more cutting points, and if it grabs, it will just rotate (assuming it is not mounted too tightly).

[Cenedd]

Thanks Paul. May give that a go for the next chunk I have to do - 4" drive wheel for a belt grinder. Being aluminium though, it should be less problematic. Did try running the lathe against a held hacksaw but only at fairly low speed and it didn't make much of an impression - wasn't going to be spinning it at 600rpm whilst holding the saw by hand though It does rather look like I could do with a bandsaw though. I'm looking to reorganise half the house so I can get a few more feet of workspace in my shed. Might have to try planning for a low-profile bandsaw in that plan.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Final job was milling a 1/2" keyway in a 60" long piece of 2-3/16" 1045 tgp shaft material for a conveyor drum replacement shaft

Nice... You-da-man. I did the same years ago, except on a 1" shaft, 48" long, and 1/4" key way.

[mattthemuppet]

Sort of mini. It's not the really tiny one, it's an SC4. So about half a metre between centres and 1000W of brush less power....which having started with a 500W mill, felt like loads. But with this piece it did bog down and hunt somewhat as it tried to keep the speed constant.
2mm is about the thinnest carbide parting tip I've seen. I started with a cobalt blade but kept snapping it and I'm not sure it was much thinner. Might give it another go but have enjoyed (up til now) parting without worrying about it.

Don't have a band saw unfortunately. Ended up hacksawing it off and then facing it like you said....but damn it felt like it was a long way through! Also had to do it with it held in the chuck still as my vice is in pieces (this is one of them) so it was somewhat higher than was comfortable. Also, I'm a paragon of strength and fitness *cough* *wheeze*

still in the same ball park though. I'm guessing no back gear? that makes a world of difference on my 618, but not much of a help in your case. I'd still suggest a couple of plain HSS T-shaped blades, one 3/64 (~1mm) and the other 5/64 (~2mm). Get them nice and sharp with a hone, set everything up as square as possible and start with the thin one with no more than 5mm stick out. Then extend it to 10mm, and 15mm. Swap it out for the wider one with 20mm stick out, then extend as you go, maybe cutting the groove a half width wider as you go. You should be able to go up to 40mm stick out at least with the wider blade. Also remember to increase speed as you get further in so the SFM stays the same. Keep an eye out for blade wander too - you'll notice it when you back the blade out as it will start cutting again on one side.

[mattthemuppet]

fixed a small fan in my bike charger

picked up a 4ft teddy bear from the side of the road and carried it 20 odd miles on my bike


(sorry for the rotated pic, can't figure out a way to fix it on this laptop)