Making a float-making lathe.

Made some other form of traditional fishing tackle.
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MGs
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Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Post by MGs »

Simply stunning
Old car owners never die....they just rust away

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GarryProcter
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Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Post by GarryProcter »

Fantastic work wm+ - as ever!

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Beresford
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Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Post by Beresford »

Everything you turn your considerable talents to turns out utterly beautiful. I don't suppose you've ever thought of building a fixed spool reel have you?
The Split Cane Splinter Group

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Watermole+
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Watermole+ »

Part 12. A little woodwork

..Again I have to apologize for such infrequent posting on this topic, -and to those who are patiently waiting for their work to be completed. Pressure of work over the past few months has meant that home life, hobbies & pastimes-including fishing- have had no alternative but to take an enforced backseat. However, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel so hopefully, I will be able to get something more done in the not-too-distant future.. (famous last words!!!)

Regarding the possible fixed-spool reel; believe it or not, I started to put some ideas for this together some 30 years ago, to the stage when it was actually partly drawn up. It was going to be something like an Altex, but without the inherent weaknesses. I realize that this may cause umbrage but although the Altex is indeed a beautiful reel, it does have areas for improvement, such as the entire bail-arm spring & return system and-in my opinion-is a little too low in the gear ratio for anything other than static fishing. However, I did not have any practical manufacturing experience then and the Allcocks 'Duco' was far better for fast-river spinning, so the project was sort-of shelved and has remained there ever since! I don't go spinning anymore now so hadn't thought about it until it was mentioned..but who knows...?

However, a little more progress has been made on the float-lathe, by way of making the base unit.
I can honestly say that, I did not have to buy any wood at all for this; it all came from scrap pieces which were thrown away by others and rescued from skips etc. It may be seen as scrounging by some, but I cannot understand why on Earth, people will throw away perfectly good and useful materials?! Perhaps it is because of being brought up in an era of great austerity but nevertheless, in my book, such wastefulness is appalling when everything today is so expensive..

..Anyway, rant over and on with the baseplate!
I offer no excuse for bad woodwork & what passes for joinery. No-one is going to look inside afterwards and it's not going to fall apart so it doesn't matter.

The first step was to correctly position the centre rail on the top plate and drill the fixing holes. I took my time on this and got the marking-out right this time!

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Next, the holes were through-drilled 3.1mm then counter-bored from the back to 'bury' the cap-screw heads & washers.
There were some other holes to put in; the square-ish hole for the electrical wires and connector from the motor, plus the through-holes for the motor fixing blocks, the latter being 4.5mm. The motor mounting screws are M4 cap-heads and 4.5mm will allow a bit of adjustment on assembly.

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The pieces of strip wood you see are for making the sides and drawer. I cut these to length and mitred the corners, then glued then in place, using blocks & clamps to ensure squareness. The 'Titebond' glue was bought. This is expensive glue and to be honest, I don't think it is as good as 'Cascamite', but you live and learn..

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The next thing was to make a separate electrical compartment. This was done with short pieces of the same strip-wood..

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Now the drawer was made in situ to guarantee size & fit; again, all from the same strip wood. The floor being from two sections glued together edge-wise and sanded down flat.

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The wood for the base-plate was also a scrap which had been thrown away. By careful marking & cutting, it did the job-just!

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I finished this by planing flat, chamfering the edges and sanding down smooth.

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The main part has also now been sanded down and cleaned up. This will be fixed to the base-plate by means of an M5 machine screw in each corner to facilitate removal if necessary. You cannot put good threads into wood so I glued corner pieces in place.
These were cut out from some scrap 'Tufnol'..

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...and glued into place. When the glue was dry, I carefully marked out the hole positions in the base-plate and spot-drilled through on to the tufnol, which were then drilled 4.2mm and tapped M5 thus..

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.This completed all the wood work.
Next, the inside of the electrical compartment was painted with heat-resisting paint and the outside was then given a good polish! I forgot to mention that other holes were also put in for the Power-on neon light, Power and speed switch and of course, the Power-in socket at the motor end! The base-unit is now ready for assembly..

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The electrical socket was made from a salvaged socket from a scrapped CD player in a skip and the little insulation plates made from thin, fibre-glass sheet. The electric connection will be from any standard 2-pin CD player/camera/etc. mains lead. As you see, I have already soldered some cables on to the socket terminals..

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All the wiring is now complete and has been thoroughly tested. The little Power-on light is a 1-watt indicator salvaged from a scrapped cooker!!

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This is of course, upside down as you see it. The next stage will be to start putting all this together and start making the tooling and other parts..-the end is in sight...!!

More next time,

Regards from wm+
Last edited by Watermole+ on Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet one of them shall not fall without your Father knoweth" ..Jesus of Nazareth, King James AV

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Nobby
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Nobby »

Good grief! I await the next episode with the usual bated breath!

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MGs
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by MGs »

Excellent quality as ever
Old car owners never die....they just rust away

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Mark
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Mark »

Lovely work wm+, yet another great episode.
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The most precious places in the English landscape are those secretive corners,
where you find only elder trees, nettles and dreams. (BB - Denys Watkins-Pitchford).

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Loop Erimder
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Loop Erimder »

Cor blimey guv great stuff can I order one please
Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish

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Kingfisher
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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Kingfisher »

You've done some lovely work there WM Sir. It's been great following the story.

Thanks for sharing with us all.

Now can I put an order in for 100 balsa float bodies please? :Wink:

Good stuff, well done. :Hat:

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

Izaak Walton

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Re: Making a float-making lathe.

Post by Crafty Carassius »

Quality!

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