Page 5 of 19

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:40 pm
by Mark
Coming along very nice wm+. :Hat:

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:46 pm
by Loop Erimder
Very good, I want one

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:57 am
by Martin
Top thinking for clamping the the job to the cross slide and using the slot mill in the chuck.

I'm currently drilling a duplex case having just traversed 30' milling the jointing face flat on my 5 axis cnc that has both turning and milling functions

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:45 pm
by Estaban
Exemplary work WM+. Do you have the competed lathe sketched out already or are you designing the components as the build progresses?
I fully agree with your statement about not being afraid of making mistakes....sometimes it's the mistake or problem that becomes solution

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:23 pm
by Watermole+
Part 5. The Tailstock, continued..

Firstly, apologies for not posting on this for such a long time. Have been overtaken by events and other issues and anything to do with hobbies has had to be kicked into touch for a while. That, and what with the cold weather, it has not been exactly encouraging to work in a freezing cold garage in the evening!
However, yesterday I managed to do a little more to the Tailstock so here a a few pictures of progress so far..not much, I'm afraid, but it keeps the project ticking over.

The object is to make something which will allow you to do the drilling of float bodies and also to be able to support long, cane-stemmed floats of different sizes, whilst the body is being turned.
It will be very similar to a full-sized lathe, but in miniature.
Last time, we were using the lathe as a crude sort-of mill, to hack out the unwanted metal from the block of steel. Continuing on from that then, the next step was to cut away the middle to make a 'waist'. (All will be clear as you will see..)
The block was again set up on the lathe bed and clamped to it. Using such a big cutter, it was only possible to make very light cuts of about 0.005" at every pass, so it took a little while.
In answer to your question Estaban; yes, I do have a drawing of the project, but that is being constantly updated as we go along! Certain things are hard and fast of course, otherwise we would never get anywhere.

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After a lot of setting-up & taking down, we eventually arrived at this..

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The next thing was to put it up in the lathe, clock up true to the sides and base, then drill & bore a hole through for the thread.

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Whilst it was set up in this position, I turned a boss on each end, using a boring bar on the opposite side and running the lathe in reverse.

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Now it was time to start filing..

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..starting by radiusing off the top (roughly at this stage) to blend in with the end bosses.

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This was then roughed out.

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The block was then again set up on the lathe bed to make the chamfered edges..

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The radii were then filed in..

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..and the waist. I did this with a 14" 'Rat-tail' file to start with, then second-cut with a half-round.

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I then cut the thread. In this case, a standard M12x1.75p.

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The tailstock is now starting to take shape but there is still much to do yet to complete it. ..Couldn't resist a trial fitting..!

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The next thing will be to make the centre 'quill' and the means of locking it in the desired position.
More next time..

Regards from wm+

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:30 pm
by Snape
Extraordinary work and outstanding ability WM+ :Hat:

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:32 pm
by Kevanf1
It's those little things that make all the difference. Others may not radius the edges but in so doing it gives a far more professional finish. It's certainly much more than the one I cobbled together. Mine is all wood and not very well finished at that. I doff my hat to you sir :Hat: :Ok:

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:42 pm
by Richard C
:shocked: Stunning workmanship to the tailstock WM+. A wonderful piece of engineering. Might I make 1 criticism....... :Scared: :Hide:

Not your work but your quote regarding description "Last time, we were using the lathe as a crude sort-of mill, to hack out the unwanted metal from the block of steel."
Words like 'crude' and 'hack' have no place describing your work. Absolutely blown away by your talent sir! :Hat:

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:23 pm
by MGs
Great work as usual

Re: Making a lathe..for making floats!

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:50 pm
by TemeLAD
Awesome! - I could have done with you as my metal work teacher at school WM+ :Thumb: