Winter Project (milling machine)

[websterz]

..."if I can draw it, I can make it."...

Jim

That's going to be printed out in BIG BOLD type and hung over my workbench.

[browne]

i like that south bend lathe you were using i have one just like it

[randyc]

Very nice work, several ideas that I will retain from this thread, the tapered bushing used to hold the handle part and the clever idea of using the boring head as a ball-turning tool !

For years, I've used a time-consuming ball turning technique using a parting tool. It involves moving the carriage in .005 increments and plunging the parting tool by moving the cross-slide slide to the calculated "Y" dimension (using a spreadsheet to compute the "Y"). Finish by bluing, filing and sanding until bluing is removed ... the production of a single knob can require well over an hour !

For some reason, I could never summon the motivation to make a ball-turning tool. Next time I make a ball, I'll have Jim's idea in mind.

Cheers,
Randy

[jim rozen]

Thanks for the compliments Randy.

Interestingly the brass bushing, that's purely cylindrical. The OD is the same diameter
as the largest ball, and the ID is the same diameter as the medium sized one.
So the chuck grabs the largest ball and the bushing, and the bushing collapses
down to grasp the center ball.

I thought I would have to slot it to get it to hold the work firmly - but was able
to skip that step as the wall thickness was small enough, and the six-jaw chuck
provided very even crush to the bushing.

Honestly I was amazed at how well it worked, for so little effort.

[randyc]

Jim, you remind me of a longtime regret: not buying a good 6-jaw (when the home business allowed me to deduct for tooling). For my needs that would be the most useful workholder for a small lathe and would remain installed on mine for 99% of the time !

Cheers,
RandyC