The Home Machinist!

I recently worked on a good sized Harrison lathe, it and its sister lathe were both ordered new in 1978. For some reason the then owner of this shop had one of the lathes built with the cross slide dial left of the carriage feed. That isn't all that uncommon. Many years ago I operated a 24"/48...

At least one more (me) feels the same way about it. Out of curiosity I clicked the first link and found absolutely nothing that made sense. I closed the link and moved on to matters of more importance. I don't understand the appeal that Fakebook has for folks, and do not spend my time there as a res...

If you intend to buy the material, you won't go wrong selecting phosphor bronze. It's a little tough to machine, but has excellent qualities. Strangely, if you make your choice leaded phosphor bronze, it goes from being a little tough to machine to being one of the best machining materials you'll ev...

apm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 12, 2024 6:44 pm (is it a spindle even if it doesn't spin? I don't know the word for it).

Generally referenced as the quill or spindle.

H

need to re-plumb the one shot lube lines, I own a Bridgeport, purchased new in '77. It has the Bijur one shot lubrication system. The machine sat idle for a few years so the one shot system didn't get used. From this experience I learned that, if one is using Vactra (in my case it's Vactra 2), the ...

Bill Shields wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 12:54 pm Some bushings can be adjusted on the fly (hydraulically) to really grip the stock for specific operations,

Not exactly new technology. Cincinnati used that feature with their precision grinders. They called it a Filmatic bearing.

H

Something else to try would to be to indicate the ID of the jaw surfaces - e.g. mount the chuck on the spindle, turn the chuck slowly by hand, Unless the jaws are rigid in the slides, that's a worthless test to perform, as they won't be loaded against the scroll so they most likely will occupy spac...

The triangle that forms (on the gripping surfaces of the jaws) appears to be roughly the same size on all three sides, so I don't think I'd worry too much about the gaps you speak of. They have nothing to do with the operation of the chuck aside from determining the minimum size the chuck can grip. ...

I was asking if other people use calculators like these, or reference books, or do they just wing it? Wing it? As in "re-invent the wheel"? Seems it makes little sense to do that when others have already been there, done that. Why not use the information at your disposal and save the time...

I would advise that you not use your lathe if you have an alternative. Reason? Tailstock alignment with the spindle is rarely dead on. Any misalignment will result in a broken drill and/or an oversized and bell-mouthed hole. That's especially true when using a large diameter shank, as the one displa...

Harold, I have 3hp on my machine, the one thing I find interesting is your discussion of concentricity here. I'm not sure what running speeds are on this engine, but in the scheme of things I would think it's pretty low under a few hundred RPM. Are you sure the methods you're suggesting are necessa...

as I'm thinking it's sidewall clearance on the cutters that's causing me more trouble than anything else. Plain and simple. So long as you are holding the part as you are, it really doesn't matter. If you fashion a tool that is capable of removing material, you still won't be able to take advantage...