Shop tool projects

My Clausing lathe came to me without a steady rest. Lately I have needed one a lot. This week I attempted a project and had to stop because I wasn't able to do the job without it.

So that said this is a means to an end, not an end. As much as I would love to take my time and build the best tool as I can, I am making this so I can continue a job for a customer.

A trip to the steel yard resulted in some off cuts that should do the trick

Start by making that tube concentric

off by 0.118"

I tried to part it in the lathe but it was just too much for the little guy. So on to a sketchy bandsaw operation

23 minutes of pucker, waiting for that 1/8" grip I had on it to let go. It didn't!

Trued up the saw cut and flycut a flat.

At this point I am pretty satisfied with the surface finish and way it is turning out.

OK. Now on to that 1.5"X2" piece of cold rolled. Into the Mill to start roughing

Crude but should work

The angle of the V on the ways is too steep to mill the groove with a standard end mill so that is why I just hogged that area out.

And for what it is it will be just fine

I recently got a cheap import indexing head. I am already in love with it

I drilled pilot holes 120 degrees apart

And checked out the progress

(note: at this point a person walked up and asked if I was building a stargate)

Back on the mill

That tap has been discarded. It was incredibly dull and took all I had to cut the threads.

and then I flycut some flats at the threads.

And then tipped it up to mill a flat where the way clamp bolt will be

OK. Where was I?

The offcut pile rewarded me with a chunk of 5/8" Oilite bronze

That was parted into 1" chunks. Bored 1/2" ID, 3/8" deep and shaped to a blunt point

Some 3/4-16 grade 8 allthread was cut into 6" chunks and the end was shaped into a 1/2" button 3/8" long with a groove in the middle to accept a set screw

The set screws are not fully tightened. The caps rotate on the rods.

and in the stargate

Checking for center.

Good enough for who its for

The clamp piece under the ways is simple. Chunk of 2" cold rolled with a tapped hole.

I figure this will be the first upgrade when time allows. I want a cam lock

OK. I need to go get the camera and upload more photos

more in a bit.

Some more rifling through the piles resulted in a piece of 1.5" brass. That got a light cut on the lathe and a trip through ball end mill on the indexing head

and that was parted into chunks, carved, drilled and tapped. A few minutes in the vibratory tumbler did a good enough job deburring.

And that is all the parts. Assembled and already pressed into service

Loctite holds the end hand wheels in place, the inner ones are to lock the threads

I ended up carving away a bit more of the base to make room for hand tightening things.

Now I have a steering column to fabricate!

Nice work. Having no machining experience whatsoever, I had no idea where you were going with this at first - but it came out great.

Is the oilite bronze on the tips the preferred material for this sort of thing? Again, my lack of expertise is showing, but wouldn't a bearing of some sort be preferable?

What holds the circle to the mount?

I love the Stargate comment -- it does look very science fiction-y!

So pretty.

Nicely done.

codrus wrote: What holds the circle to the mount?

There are two heavy duty 5/16" spring roll pins that locate it and the bolt that clamps it all together is what supplies the strength.

In reply to Jumper K. Balls:

Heavy duty? 5/16th"?!

You've been out of the Glue Factory for too long, my friend!

Very cool! Very well done!

While looking for something in the garage I stumbled upon a container of powder that looked like it might match what little was left of the paint on the lathe so I powder coated the steady rest. And with that I am calling that project done

But there is always more to do. We had recently moved the lathe and it is now sitting right on top of some cracks in the concrete and therefore isn't level. This manifested as a vibration at higher speeds and a slight taper to cuts over 10" long. The original feet are long gone and waiting for some nice ones from McMaster to arrive didn't seem prudent.

So I grabbed some elevator bolts from the fastener shop next door and drilled and tapped the ends 10-24.

Which allowed me to bolt these hard rubber feet in place

And level it out. The head of the machine had to come up 1/2" the front of the tail stock side needed almost3 3/4"

But it runs smooth now

Jumper K. Balls wrote:

This is a work of art by itself, I can't wait to see the steering wheel you create!

Next project!

We need a larger bandsaw for sheet metal. We use a portaband now but the size is limiting. I am remaking a frame section in 14ga right now and that is more than our shear can take. A little horse trading with Burrito should result in a gearmotor to slow down a wood saw and I just happen to have one of those.

Behold the glory of a $20 Craigslist sourced King-Seeley Craftsman! I got this a decade ago because it was cheap and may have stored it outside for a year

I have had a handful of these exact saws over the years. As a matter of fact we use one identical to this for wood and plastic in the shop now. I am well versed as to how crappy they are

Mmmm... Crusty! But that engine turning is awesome!

It has a fence. I guess that is a good thing

Ugh! the worst guides in the world. I will be upgrading these/

So I blew it apart.

The water pump style lower bearing is fine. The uppers have a little lump in them and will be replaced.

When the case came out of the parts washer I was shocked to find it took the paint off. So now I have to paint it. It is too big for my powder coating oven

Anyhow. Step one is done. I need to hook up with Burrito for some beers and handing off of bits, order some new urethane tires and start reassembly after paint, then comes machining new ball bearing guides, welding up a base, dialing it in and cutting some metal.

That must be a big ass parts washer.

But now you can paint them a metallic mint green.

I will do a proper update at another time but for now

DRO installed on the lathe!

Not sure how I survived without it. A life changing moment.

Nice Clausing. I have a Clausing-Colchester 13" gear head. Absolutely love it.

Man, you'd fit right in over at the Tinkers Guild forum with stuff like this.

-Hans

Great steady rest! and killer scrap pile. That stuff looks like some expensive mistakes/drop.

I need to make one for my little lathe and have been pondering what the base should look like.

How does a steady rest work? Or, why do you need one?

In reply to wvumtnbkr:

It provides support for the piece you are working, especially longer pieces. Much like an extension for a table saw when cutting long boards, it helps to prevent shifting.

wvumtnbkr wrote: How does a steady rest work? Or, why do you need one?

It works like this

It provides support for longer pieces like the tailstock does, but it allows you access to the face of the piece. The piece of tubing in that photo needed a bore in the end to hold a bearing. Had I attempted it without the steady rest it would have flexed and flopped around like it was a twizzler at best giving me am inaccurate and ugly cut and at worst breaking my tooling and possibly part of my person.

Man turdbucket really berked this thread. I will see about rehosting some of the images.

In the meantime I gave up on waiting for the painter and sprayed the band saw in Austin Healey engine green. New bearings, new urethane tires and back together. Now to design my ball bearing guides

I was scratching my head trying to decide on a suitably vintage styled base for the saw. I searched through recycling centers and junk shops and then it hit me I had a vintage base under an old jointer that I had never used. Turned out to be a 50's Craftsman unit. Then a trip to the Restore rewarded me with a chunk of nice Maple butcher block for the top

It looks so nice I am hesitant to drill into it to mount the saw.

Cool shade of green. Of course, everything looks better with a vintage Fiat in the background to lend some distant patina!

Screw Photobucket. That's all.