Impressed yourself lately?

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OddDuck
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Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
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Impressed yourself lately?

Post by OddDuck »

I impress myself sometimes. If you are someone who likes to make stuff you have an idea of what I really mean, especially if you have to do it with a lack of plans or even the "correct" tools and materials. It's not a braggy thing, it's more of a "Wow, that actually worked..." kinda thing. So, I impressed myself yesterday.
I was working on turning the wheels for my bobber caboose. Faced the fronts and backs, bored the axle hole, etc. I don't have a reamer for the axle hole, so the as-bored one will have to do. And, due to the ancient and sloppy nature of my Atlas lathe there is a few thousanths difference between the four bores. My machining techniques probably don't help either. So, close enough is good enough. Just turn the axles to match. No big deal there.
The problem arises now that I have to turn the tread and flange. I made myself a arbor jig for that a year or so ago, but the center holddown bolt is only 3/8". The bores are appx. 9/16". Problem. Hmm.
My first thought was just to make a simple bushing to take up the extra space, but the bores vary enough that this would be even less accurate. I know a lot of builders make themselves expanding arbors to do their wheels, but I didn't want to make a whole new one. So, I decided to combo my bushing idea and the expanding arbor idea and use my existing jig.
After a couple hours of headscratching and relatively simple turning, here's what I came up with. The surface finish is a bit rougher than it looks in the pic, but it worked. Well, whaddya know. It even self-centers the wheel. Sometimes I impress myself.
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"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
RSG
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Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:59 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Impressed yourself lately?

Post by RSG »

Good for you OddDuck! It's nice to challenge yourself and see a positive outcome. I challenge myself all the time and for the most part have been very pleased with the results.
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
Russ Hanscom
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Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: Farmington, NM

Re: Impressed yourself lately?

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Good thinking!
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NP317
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Re: Impressed yourself lately?

Post by NP317 »

Good solution. Thanks for sharing.
~RN
SteveM
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Location: Wisconsin

Re: Impressed yourself lately?

Post by SteveM »

When I did the bores on my Atlas, I reamed them and they came out tapered due to tailstock misalignment.

I made the attached "shoes" so that I could rebore all the wheels concentric with the outside diameter.

Image

Steve
OddDuck
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Re: Impressed yourself lately?

Post by OddDuck »

Those look like a solution waiting for a problem. Neat idea, Steve. One thing I would like to have is a three jaw chuck, although I'm getting pretty good at eyeball centering stuff in my four jaw. The bushing worked great, by the by, all four wheels turned and none of them budged while being turned.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
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