# Stuart engineering Lathe



## coopertje (Oct 2, 2010)

Dear All,

Since I am new on this site let me introduce myself for a moment. My name is Jeroen, I am 38 years old, I am from Holland and have an electronic background. Mechanics always had my interest, so in 2007 I bought my first machines and started to build a 17cc one cylinder IC engine. Since then I have added a lot of machines and tools, I spend the last 2 years in getting my things organized and converted some machines to CNC (mach3). Further I did a project with some friends on using hobby CNC machines to make a IC engine, the OTTO from Jan Ridders. The article series has been published in model-engineering magazines here in Holland. In March this year I started a big project, a 1to8 scale Stanley steamer. I am making some progress on this one, but not as much as I would like, my hobby time is limited. Well, enough about me. 

Before starting the Stuart Lathe story I would like to compliment all of you for putting so much effort in this site! It has been a real source of information and inspiration for me. I know better how much time it takes to take photos during machining. Most of the times you are having fun machining and then in the end you realize that you forgot to take pictures. As said before, my hobby time is limited, so this will be a long tread. But that's why its called a hobby if you ask me. Since I learn and enjoy a lot from this site I feel its my obligation to share some project with you and let you learn from my mistakes and bloopers (and trust me, I am an expert in this!).

Well, here we go. I could not longer resist to purchase the casting kit for the Stuart engineering lathe. Below whats in the box:







I never worked with castings before, so where to start ??? I choose the machine bed, that part did not looked too complicated. First step is convert all the dimensions to millimeters, I really cannot work with inches! Next step is to face mill all sides of the casting to get it square and somehow near the correct dimensions.

1st the top is faced






Then the bottom






Next will be the sides of the machine bed, I hope to post this soon!

Regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Oct 2, 2010)

Hi Jeroen, and welcome to the site. As you have found there is a lot of information available here and the members are some of the nicest and most helpful you will find.
I have seen the pictures of the Stuart lathe but have never seen one finished. Yours will be a first. I have built many Stuart kits and they are very nice castings and quite compete kits.
gbritnell


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## tel (Oct 2, 2010)

Welcome Jeroen.


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## swilliams (Oct 2, 2010)

Welcome, I'll enjoy watching your project develop

regards Steve


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## coopertje (Oct 3, 2010)

Thank you for your welcome gentlemen. And I agree, the Stuart kits are not cheap but you get nice quality back for it. The castings look very nice and the material machines very nice.

I found a little time and worked on the sides of the machine bed. 






Started with checking my vise with a micrometer to see if it was still straight on the machine. Even though this machine will not produce any chips at all I would like it to be straight and accurate. When the vise was within 0.01mm straight I placed the machine bed in it. There are 3 runs to do for each side. First is to bring the smallest width to its final dimension. In the same cut I want to end with a thickness of 4mm for the upper part of the bed (the part where the carriage will run and that will get a 60 degree chamber later on). I did this cut with a 20mm end mill.

After I took a 6mm end mill to rework the pocket on the side. The depth is set to just have the casting marks/structure to be removed and for the rest I just followed the contour of the pocket in the casting. 

Last is to reduce the width of the carriage guide. The final width will be 40mm, height 4mm. Since I just needed to take of a little more then 1mm I used the same 6mm end mill for this cut. 











Next machining will be the T-shape in the middle of the bed and bringing the bottom and sides of the part to the final dimension. It will have a nice symmetric shape around the side pocket of 4mm. 

The bed is placed in the vise with top facing up. Then determined the exact middle to make the basic shape of the T (8mm deep). I used a 6mm mill for this, the final width is 8mm. So I have 1mm left on each side to clean up the cutting surface, or make some re-adjustments in the set-up in case I made a mistake somewhere. 






With the basic shape formed, I toke a T-cutter, 16mm diameter and 4mm height. I found this operation a little scary, never did a T-cut before. Normally I am quite careful with cutting depth etc, with this operation you have only one choice and is to have the mill completely in the material. I set the machine to a slow 200 rpm and carefully tried the 1st part by hand. I was surprised how well it went, so I finished the cut on the autofeed (40mm/min). The fear was ungrounded, it all worked out well and I am happy with the result. 
I took the 20mm end mill again and finished the outer ends of the bed. 






Afterwards flipped the part in the vice and brought the bottom to its final dimension. 






Thats all for now.


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## coopertje (Oct 4, 2010)

Tonight I worked on the headstock base and tailstock foot. There is not so much work on these parts, they need to be faced on top and bottom sides and get some holes so they can be fixed to the machine bed.

On the picture below the top of the headstock base is machined. I did not machine the bottom side yet, first I wanted to machine the upper side of the tailstock foot. When this job is done I can put the bed on the parts and check and measure how much material I should take away from the bottom.






The tailstock foot is irregular shaped and therefore difficult to setup in the machine. I tried it straight in the machine vise and it felt quite rigid. Even though my feeling told me this is NOT a good setup, I guessed if I take a light cut it should not be a problem.






I still had the big mill (40mm diameter) in the toolholder, started the machine and tried carefully by manual feed to see and feel what would happen. The mill eated the material away nicely and there was no shatter at all. Scary, but not bad I started the autofeed and while milling the upper surface I was watching the process holding my breath. The most critical part was the end, the point where the mill is already trough the middle and you just have 2 pieces of rest material left on the outer edges (I hope you are able to understand my English!). At this point the mill does not cut in a linear way but starts to hit the material. Also this critical part went without any problem until all material was removed. I was relieved and satisfied, thought just let the mill run over completely so I get equal machining marks over the surface (completely useless, they will be hidden by the machine bed!). I turned around to grab the vacuum cleaner (do not like to have castingchips over my machines) and at that moment I heard a terrible sound th_wtf1  th_confused0052  :redface2:  :wall: Even though the mill was already completely trough the material somehow it grabbed the tailstock foot, bended it and eventual broke it into 5 separate parts. After 5 minutes of calling myself all kinds of things that I will not write down here (why do I always continue while my feeling tells me it will not work) When I got myself together again I took a bottle of 248 lock-tide and started to glue the pieces back together. Maybe with some filing, plaster and sanding I could save the tailstock foot. It came out terrible and was completely out of shape and even worsetwisted. After thinking over several plans to rescue the part I surrendered and admitted to myself I screwed-up. I should have known better, my feeling warned me but I continued and now I have to accept the result. I will consider this learning money and up to now this has been much less than a educational course in metal working ;D The good thing of a Stuart kit is that you can order separate spares, and thats what I will do.

Here is the result after gluing the bits together.











While waiting for the spare to arrive I have enough time to think on a good setup. Probably I will make a dedicated jig to machine this part. Ideas are welcome!

Next will be to fix the head- and tailstock to the bed.

CU Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi Jeroen,
After looking at your photo of the broken piece I think I figured out what might have happened. The part where you clamped in the vise has draft (a casting angle) on it and it's a rough cast surface so you didn't have much clamping area even though the vise was tight. Before you cut the next one, clamp it horizontally and clean up that small edge then when you stand it upright put a piece of paper between the casting and the vise jaw. This will give some friction between the vise and the casting and help prevent it from slipping. 
gbritnell


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## coopertje (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi Gbritnell,

Thanks for the idea! I am not sure if I will follow this way, I would like to have the same casting structure all around the foot. Looks better for me. Also I got afraid to machine the part standing upright in the vice. I am sure that using a much smaller mill (6mm for example) and take several cuts would help a lot. I was thinking to machine the new part horizontal in the vise and try to clamp it from the side (near the to be machined surface, then I will have minimum moment/force on the casting during machining). The difficulty with this set-up will be to get top and bottom planes parallel and to have sufficient "grip" on the casing sides. The tip of putting paper will surely help also in this set-up. Thanks for that, I will use it!

BR Jeroen


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## mklotz (Oct 4, 2010)

My take on it is that that big slot in the middle says, "run a bolt through me and clamp this part to a sacrificial plate shimmed such that the top and bottom (of the foot) are vertical". Then use a side cutting endmill to finish the top and bottom, cutting into the plate in order to cut across the entire top and bottom.


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## coopertje (Oct 4, 2010)

Thanks Marv. This feels good to me, to have the casting horizontally in the vise. The set-up with the bold trough the slot will do. I will add some material so support the sides of the casting, with such a setup it cannot go anywhere. 

I will try to get over the fact to sacrifice a piece of aluminum, I am Dutch remember.... :

BR Jeroen


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## hobby (Oct 4, 2010)

You wouldn't have to sacrifice aluminum, you can make good fixtures using wood.

Or

If you have a spin jig, then an unusual arbor can be made to bolt through the middle opening, then you could mill the top, spin it 180* and do the bottom.

That would ensure the top and bottom would be parrallel, with eachother.


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## steamer (Oct 4, 2010)

Yes a piece of hardwood sure.....As George has said, it's hard to start with castings due to draft. The vice just doesn't like hanging on to tapered parts.  Paper may certainly work here!

When I started my launch engine, it had lots of draft to contend with...I got around it by using a piece of sheet lead used for roof flashing. When I clamped it in the vice with the lead liners, it conformed to the irregular surfaces and the roughness of the casting and really hung on to the part long enough to get a good flat surface on one side....it got easier from there.

I understand that most European countrys REALLY frown on any use of lead, so a piece of soft copper or soft aluminum flashing might work.  Just don't tighten too hard!.....it's a small part


Saying that...
Marv's comment about bolting it down is a very good one.It may be a lot less stress on the part...I'd be torn as to which way to go unless I could see the part first hand.

Additionally, you may want to use a smaller cutter and take light cuts until you have two sides flat and square to each other. 


Hang in there, it's a process...and the best way to learn is to do.....if you do this long enough...this event will happen....ask me how I know this.... ;D


Best of luck to you and keep the pictures coming!


Dave


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## swilliams (Oct 4, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the part going bad Jeroen, but as Steamer says "hang in there". You've got some good advise, I'm sure you'll get there soon enough


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## coopertje (Oct 5, 2010)

Thank you all for your effort to supply ideas and (mental) support! They are very helpful, I never thought of using wood or lead! It brought light in the dark, I am sure I will find a suitable set-up so I do not damage the new part again. Never realised that the draft or rough casting shape affected the clamping. So logical when you think of it afterwards......

I have ordered the spare today, hope it will not take too long to have it in hand. 

I decided to make some changes to the original drawings for the lathe. One will be the tailstock. In the plans they mention a treaded bar going straight through the hand wheel (http://www.stuartmodels.com/inprod_det.cfm/section/casting/mod_id/64). I do not like it, I never saw a lathe in real live having this construction. Second change will be the cross slide. According to the plans the hand wheel is fixed to the cross slide, meaning it will move in and out together with the cross slide. I will change it to a spindle and nut principle so the hand wheel position is fixed to the saddle of the lathe instead. Think I will put the lathe in CAD to have the correct dimensions for the parts. By doing so I can also change the dimensions to metric and pre-fit the parts in software..... more easy to adjust and correct in software then on a machined part!


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## coopertje (Oct 7, 2010)

Today I did some work on the head- and tailstock.






I started with securely clamping the tailstock in the vise and used a 3D indicator to find the middle of the piece.






Took a cut on both sides such that the remaining width in the middle was 8mm






Then I reduced the height to 3.9mm. The bed is 4mm so in this way I am sure that the tailstock is fixed when it is tightened!
As last operation on the tailstock (at least for today) I drilled a hole of 4mm for the tailstock clamp.

For the headstock I used the same procedure:
















The tailstock clamp consists of a square plate with a treaded pin and a nut. I chose to use a 4mm pin with M4. From the square rod, included in the material kit, I made the following.

Put the material horizontally in the vise and face mill the edge until the saw cutting marks are gone.






Mark the middle of the square and put the material straight in the vice. After center drilling, drill a hole of 4mm, 3mm deep.
I used a saw to cut off a piece of 2mm thickness. 






The 4mm rod is made of silver-steel (can be any other type of steel). I put the M4 tread and after cut it to length.






Then the 2 parts are joined by silver-solder.






Finished clamping feature for the tailstock.






Since things went well and I had some time left I decided to drill the mounting holes to fix the headstock base to the bed. The headstock base is mounted with screws through the bed and fixed in the headstock. In other words, the machine bed is clamped between the headstock and headstock base. 
I put the headstock in the correct position to the bed and fixed it with clamps. This assembly is placed upside down in the vise. I marked the drill positions and center drilled them. Then drill trough with a 2.5mm drill (pre-drill size for M3). Be careful to not drill too deep, the holes in the headstock are meant to be "blind holes". I stopped drilling approximately 2mm before the point where the drill would go completely through. In this same setup I drilled the holes in the bed to 3mm.











After tapping the headstock with M3 the headstock base can be mounted. Below the status at this moment. In the background my "in progress" 1906 Stanley Steamer.  






Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Oct 9, 2010)

Guess its not my weekend! Yesterday my Heidenhain TNC121 broke down. Its a position controller on my big mill, very nice device. Today I disassembled the unit and replace the capacitors and resoldered the components. In most cases this help with a piece of electronics of 30 years old. Unfortunately it did not help, I was afraid of this already. Well, at least I can use it as DRO unit, lets see what the future will find on the second hand market.

After struggling with the controller I decided to mount the gear-rack on the Stuart (bad idea when your mind is not clear!!).

I started with making a nice 3mm radius on the gear-rack with a radius mill.






Then mounted the rack on the side of the machine bed and clamped both parts together. Calibrated the first drilling (there will be 4 in total) and made a center mark with a center drill. Then I start drilling the 4 holes completely trough with a 1.5mm drill, the gear-rack will get a M2 treading. While drilling the last hole I looked at the bed and though.....how will I get a screw in here scratch.gif ......and only after 30 seconds it hit........ *club*  :wall:  I was drilling on the wrong side of the bed!!! Definitely not paying attention on my work!






Swapped the Gear to the other side and clamped it. The good thing was that the center drillings where already there...






Next step was to remove the gear-rack and drill the holes in the bed to 2mm. 






Took the bed out of the vise and glued small pieces of 1.5mm wire in the wrong drilled holes. 






It can be machined after 30 minutes, so enough time to make the M2 tread in the gear-rack. This is quite a delicate job, these small sizes break very easily....(still need to make a piece of equipment to help in this operation). I did it very carefully and slowly and luckily it went well. Time to fit it on the bed. 






At least the fit was very nice, no gaps around. Last machining for today was to machine the glued in pieces of wire. 






After painting it will not be visible that anything went wrong here, so if you guys do not tell anybody nobody will know!

Jeroen


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## swilliams (Oct 10, 2010)

Looks good Jeroen

At this rate you'll finish everything else before the new leg turns up


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## coopertje (Oct 10, 2010)

Thanks Steve. I am not so sure, I hope to receive the part next week. Too bad I will be abroad for work almost the complete week, so no progress next week.

Today I was able to spend some time in the shop and drill the holes in the head and tailstock. I started with measuring the center of the hole to be drilled. Since I do not have a flat table yet, I use the machine vise instead. Although it is a little small, it works very well and perfectly flat!






Then placed the bed in the vice and checked if it was parallel to the spindle with a dial indicator. Found the middle and center drilled it very slightly. Then check with a magnifying glass if it was in the correct position. At this stage it is easy to make corrections if required. Next I drilled the headstock true with 4mm and in the same drilling made a center drill in the headstock.






I drilled the hole in the headstock in the following steps, 4mm, 8mm, 12mm and 16mm which is the desired final diameter. My machine did not have enough height, so I had to remove the tailstock from the bed and move the headstock down. Luckily the setup was and remained straight, so this did not cause any issue in re-referencing the setup.






With a successful drill in the headstock, it was time to attack the tailstock. The plan is to drill 4mm, 5.9mm and then ream to 6mm:











The backside of the tailstock needs a pocket 8mm in diameter and 6mm deep. I used an end mill to drill this pocket.






That's all for today, next will be to make the internal parts for the tailstock. I am looking forward to make then, finally something that moves on this lathe.

CU Jeroen


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## coopertje (Oct 17, 2010)

There is a little progress in the lathe. I am putting it into a CAD system to have a good feeling about dimensions (I am changing them from imperial to metric). It is not finished yet but below is what I have up to now:






Since I did not like the original construction of the tailstock I changed it. 






In the exploded view you see from left to right:

- Tool holder, 6mm outer diameter with a 3mm reamed boring inside
- Treaded bush, 5mm outer diameter, M3 internal 
- Tailstock casting
- Spindle 
- Handwheel
- Handwheel handle

I made the toolholder from 2 separate pieces because M3 needs a predrill of 2.5mm and I only have a conical reamer of 3mm that needs to go completely trough. Gluing in the treaded bush after reaming the toolholder to 3mm solves this issue.

I started making a 6mm diameter rod to 26mm length. Then center drilled it, drill 2.5mm, drill 2.9mm and finally reamed it to 3mm.






Then drilled a 5mm hole, 10mm deep using an end mill. In here the treaded bush will be glued later on.






The 5mm bush was cut to length of 10mm and after center drilling drilled with 2.5mm. Put the M3 tap in the tailstock and made the first part of the internal tread. When it is stable enough (or deep enough) I removed it from the tailstock and finished it by hand. 






Since I am a lazy machinist I made the spindle from 2 pieces. First is a piece of 3mm drill rod with M3 on one side.






I took a piece of 8mm drill rod and cut a groove of 3mm wide. When mounted in the tailstock a set screw in this groove will keep the spindle in place.






When the grove was finished I drilled a 2.9 mm hole and cut the piece to a length of 6mm. Last operation was to ream the internal boring to 3mm.











Below the separate parts before and after gluing. I use Locktite 648, after 30-45 minutes it is impossible to get the pieces separated!











As you can see below the hole in the tailstock is above the center of the casting. I accepted this because the visual line up with the headstock is ok. Later I will put the tailstock in the rotary table and make it centric around the drilling. 






Next I drilled 2 holes from the top of the tailstock and tapped them with M3. 






Time to fit the parts together and test the movement!






All the parts fit well, and the toolholder moves in and out nice and smooth....

Finally I made a groove in the toolholder with a 2mm end mill. I took 2 cuts of 0.5mm.






Some days ago the new leg for the lathe arrived. I have the setup already in mind (thank you all for the tips!) and hope to make some chips on this part soon. 

Thanks for watching, CU Jeroen


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## AndyB (Oct 17, 2010)

Hi Jeroen,

Thank you for sharing your project...and your mishaps! :-\

I am only new to this hobby and your (and others) obvious professionalism tends to overwhelm me so that I am afraid to make a start. :bow:

The fact that you can get it 'wrong' too gives me great incentive to push on through and not worry about it. As Bogs says, you don't know unless you try.

It is good to hear your comments on the Stuart castings as there are many criticisms; maybe they have an 'export quality'. 

Please keep posting as this model has fascinated me and 'her indoors' for a while.

Andy


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## coopertje (Oct 17, 2010)

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply! I must admit it hurts a little to post my mishaps, but on the other hand its all in the game. The mishaps are an important issue when learning something. When I started 3 years ago I had no clue how to put a tool in my lathe, never heard of center height etc. But I was determined to make my IC engine and after one year of remaking parts that did not work out the first time I got it running. I cannot describe the feeling I had when it first run, incredible woohoo1 When it goes wrong with me its because I am too fast. I keep forgetting that you spend at least as much time in a good set-up of tools and machine (and check them again) then in the actual cutting operation. 
This is the engine I started my metalworking career with (probably not the best choice for a beginner, but it also proofs that if take the project part by part it can be done. And why make it easy if you can choose the difficult way!).







My advice is just start. The good thing of this hobby is that everybody is having fun with metal on its own level. What can be a boring/dull operation for one, can be a big challenge for the other one! Just enjoy and do not feel that you need to compete with anybody here. Further it would be good to start a post on your build, there are a lot of people here that can help you with all questions you have. 
Are you working on some project already? And by the way, if you need a nice quality of Stuart castings I can order them for you in Holland and ship them to the UK.... ;D

Have fun and hope to see a build from you soon!

Jeroen


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## coopertje (Oct 21, 2010)

I received the spare tailstock foot and gave it a try again. For the setup I used a combination of all tips I got. A friend of mine advised me to forget about the machine vise and put the thing straight on the machine table. And so I did. 
Here's the setup for machining the top part of the tailstock foot:











I used clamps to clamp the tailstock foot to the machine table. Then I run a screw trough the workpiece in a big piece of wood. It felt quite rigid, and with sweat on my forehead and nicking knees I started the mill. I took some cuts with a 10mm end mill. I could still hear some vibration so I stopped, took an additional clamp and mounted one end on the head of the screw and the other end at the back of the piece of wood. That made a difference although I was still not confident to bring it to a good end. Luckily I did this time and had the top milled to the desired dimension. Then I flipped the part over and milled the bottom of the tailstock foot to dimension. 






I was really glad and relieved when the part was finished without braking, for my feeling this is the most critical part of the lathe (up to now). 
I remounted the machine vise and drilled two 3mm holes in the tailstock foot.






After I took over the dimensions on the lathe bed, center drilled and drilled with 2.5mm to a depth of 10mm. Put the M3 tap in the chuck and by hand made the first couple of revolutions such that I was sure that the tap went in straight. 






Took the tap out of the chuck and finished the tread by hand to full depth. 






Then it was time to bring the headstock foot to its finial dimensions. I clamped it in the machine vise using 2 pieces of soft red copper. The result is amazing, I tried to see if I could move the part sideways with a rubber hammer but it was impossible. So after the delicate cuts of the tail stock foot it was time to make some real chips and I mounted a 75mm mill. 






I tried to get a balance between remaining thickness on top and bottom to match as good as possible with the tailstock foot. Its not possible to make them equal, the dimensions of the both castings are different.
When finished I took a parallel block to check the heights of both parts. Good enough for me!






Here is the lathe standing on its finished (and in one piece.... : ) foots






Think that next will be to make the center to put in the tailstock and make the bearings for the main spindle. There are 2 pieces of bronze supplied in the kit, but they are so short that I probably will spend more time in making temporary hubs then that they are worth in money. A well, lets see what happens next....

Thanks for watching, Jeroen


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## steamer (Oct 21, 2010)

Glad it worked out for you Jeroen

Looks great!.....watch that big cutter!.....ITS BIG! 

Like I said, my launch castings didn't move a bit with the lead sheet in the vice....glad copper works too!

Dave


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## gbritnell (Oct 21, 2010)

Hi Jeroen,
It's really starting to take shape. I have found the same thing with the materials that Stuart supplies. There's just enough to make the parts but nothing to chuck to. You would think that being in the machining business they would realize this and add at least .50 to the stock. Heck they could even charge $1.00 more. Usually I just throw their stock in a box and use my own.
George


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## coopertje (Oct 22, 2010)

Dave: I will search for some lead and then test what works best. Probably both are OK, at least copper was good enough for me. Thanks again for the tip, being able to use the big mill saved me some machine time....

George: I though we Dutch are the only once afraid of "giving away" more material then necessary, but it seems that the English are even worse..... ;D But anyway I think I will use the Bronze from the kit for the bearings, first drill the hole in the middle, put it on a mandarin/madarel? and bring the OD to shape and dimension.


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## rleete (Oct 22, 2010)

Looking very nice. What are your plans for a finish? Painted? Color?


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## coopertje (Oct 22, 2010)

Thank you. I was thinking about dark green, it will give a nice contrast with the metal parts. Do you (or anybody else) know what color they used in the old days for lathes? I have an old clarkson tool grinder and that one is light grey.


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## steamer (Oct 22, 2010)

Basic Black was very common over on this side of the pond. ;D
Dave


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## Maryak (Oct 22, 2010)

My experience with US machine tools has all been good, so colours I remember are 

Cincinnati - Light Grey Gloss

Milwaukee - Darker than Royal Blue but not Navy Blue Semi Gloss.

Hope this helps

Best Regards
Bob


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## coopertje (Oct 23, 2010)

Hi Dave and Bob. Thank you both for your ideas. Mmmm....black. I find black so...how should I say....black! I tend to go to light grey, think that will give it a nice authentic look. Glad I have plenty of time to think about this, I am far away from the point of painting the lathe.

I was planning to do the bearings today, but today I have the dog of my brother over for visit. He is 3 months old and has much more energy then me for playing. I am afraid that I will not be able to do anything today.

Have a good weekend! Jeroen


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## zeeprogrammer (Oct 23, 2010)

Hi Jeroen. I just did a quick tour of your thread. Very nice!
I always appreciate people posting their mishaps - I (and I'm sure others) learn from it. That makes it worthwhile in and of itself. But it's also nice to know that others have mishaps.
I saw that pic of the Stanley Steamer 'in progress'. That looks great! Are there more pics or a build thread somewhere? Is it operational?
The lathe is turning out great. I like models of any kind.


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## steamer (Oct 23, 2010)

Yes I've been meaning to ask about the Stanley too!....of course....I was intriqued with the mill though.....Deckel?....NICE scraping job on it!

Dave


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## coopertje (Oct 24, 2010)

Hi Zee. Thank you (all) for your kind words, its a stimulation to keep posting my progress. Although it hurts to post mishaps, I find it gets easier every time I post one.... :big: I started the Stanley (1906 model, 2 cylinder steam engine, scale 1:8 ) in March this year, its a lot of work! And since this is my 3rd project (the lathe is my 4th) I have a lot to learn and experiment. I have never done sheet-metal so this car is a big challenge for me. I did not start a post on this, I think after I finished the lathe I will start one. I have plenty of pictures form the beginning and since this will be my first steam engine for sure I will need your help here! Below some pictures of the status as it is now.
















Dave, the mill is a Thiel 140. This is a German build machine and is similar to a Deckel. I was lucky to ran in to this machine, although its from 1979 its new! It was owned by a rehabilitation center before and almost not used. Its a real quality tool makers mill, all axis have autofeed and it has a SK-40 spindle. It was not so cheap but I enjoy every minute I work on this machine. I hate to fight with my tooling, I prefer they do the work for me instead!

Here are some pictures of the mill (excuses for the mess around it.....need to clean my shop!)











Need to go now, will be abroad for work until saturday evening....damn....no machining this week.... 

Best regards Jeroen


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## steamer (Oct 24, 2010)

OH OH OH

TILT rotary table with swivel head......Tell me you have the overarm attachment for the horizontal spindle...Oh Oh .......I need a stiff drink now

SERIOUS tool envy..... ;D :bow: :bow: :bow:

Dave


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## zeeprogrammer (Oct 24, 2010)

Thanks for posting the pics of the Stanley Steamer, Jeroen. That is a fine looking model.


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## coopertje (Nov 1, 2010)

Hi Dave,

I do not have the overarm attachment, but I do have the one to cut splines 8)

After spending one week on an exhibition I just started up machining an easy part. I made the center for the tailstock. Started with a piece of 7mm silver steel and made the point (60 degree angle). I just looked at the center from my real lathe and copied the shape by eye.






Flipped it over and turned the shaft back to 3mm






Here how it looks finished






Next will be the headstock, the bearings and main spindle axis.

Have fun, Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 1, 2010)

Hi Jeroen,

I'm glad I've just found this thread, I've never really had a close look at any of the Stuart machine tools in the past but this is really interesting. Sorry to see your mishap but I've seen some of your amazing workmanship so it's nice to know it can happen to anybody!

This is also of interest to me as I've never really machined castings, I too have heard good and bad about Stuart castings but I must say, despite the cost I am tempted to try one of their engines.

Lovely work :bow:, this little lathe will actually be a precision tool by the time you've finished!

Nick


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## swilliams (Nov 2, 2010)

Still watching. Still liking it th_wav


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## coopertje (Nov 2, 2010)

Hi Nick, 

Thank you for your kind words! Mishaps are part of the game, and I learn a great deal out of them. I can only say good things about the kit up to now, the quality of the castings is really good! You could start with a cheaper kit from Stuart to see if you like it. I think single cylinder engines are quite affordable. The good thing about a casting kit is that you get a nice and realistic shape very quickly...... and as a lazy machinist I like that advantage a lot... ;D

Thanks Steve, I am glad I am not boring you with this post. You are doing perfectly well too with your engine, I like every post of it!

Tonight I did some work on the headstock. There were some edges to be removed from the casting and I drilled some holes for the oil pods.

Before starting the mill






After carefully cleaning each side it looked like below











Above you can see what I meant with short pieces of brass for the main bearings...... :-

Next was to drill 2.5mm holes in the top of the headstock and put some M3 wire in it. After I finished I realized that it would have been better to do this step with the main bearings installed, then I could use the oil pods to lock the bearings from rotating. Nothing that cannot be fixed but I will cost me extra time afterwards.....






Tomorrow the bearings, now I will creates some G-code for the CNC lathe. I want to make the pully using CNC because there are some nice radius in this part. Saves me a lot of time and trouble to grind a special tool..... 

Have fun, Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 3, 2010)

Jeroen,

Yes it is the single cylinder engines I have been looking at. I'm just a little scared of wrecking a casting, I know there are certain ways you should work with castings from looking at projects / taking advice on these forums but I'm not sure I have the skills to do it yet.

You're right though, the engines do tend to look very realistic without a lot of finishing which I detest as I'm not very patient - you'll see on my engines everything is functional rather than cosmetic but with a casting kit I guess I could get both.

Nick


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## coopertje (Nov 3, 2010)

Hi Nick,

The single cylinders are very nice! For sure you have the skills to make it work, if you take it step by step nothing can go wrong! And the good thing about stuart is that you can buy a spare incase of a mishap. I found that working with castings is not so much different then to build from stock material, you just need to think a little harder on a good setup before machining the cast. 

I am looking forward to see your 1st single cylinder build appear on my screen!

Could not resist, start-up my CNC lathe and made pully tonight. My PC is converting the movie of the process, will post the link tomorrow. Below a picture of the result.







Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Nov 3, 2010)

It finished quicker then expected, here is the movie

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME8128i2Yp0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME8128i2Yp0[/ame]

My excuses for the mess in my shop (too much machines or too little space, or both??) and the bad video quality. My "making videos" qualities are even worse then my machining qualities..... :-\

Regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Nov 3, 2010)

That was very cool Jeroen, turned out very nice. 

I like the way you drilled and bored the hole with an endmill. That would have been an instant disaster in my lathe which has a generous amount of backlash in the tailstock.

You sure have some nice stuff in your shop. Anyway must get to work, (late) :-[


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## coopertje (Nov 4, 2010)

Hi Steve,

Hope you were not late at work this morning! 
Must admit I like this machine a lot! Even though it's quite old, somewhere early 80's, its mechanically in a new condition. I came from a school and the paint inside was not even scratched. Those are the machines to have. I bought it without main motor and control electronics. Made all electronics new myself, mounted a 2.2kW main motor, spindle runs 4000 rpm! Its very stable, accurate and repeats within 0.01mm. I do not have more wishes ;D

Tonight I was able to finish the pulley and make the main bearings. 

To lock the pulley in place (using a set screw) I drilled a hole and tapped M3.






Time to part the pulley off and clean it up











I cannot fit it on the lathe yet, need to make the main spindle first. The plan for the bearings is to drill and ream a 10mm hole in the middle and after place it on a mandrel to bring the OD to size. 






I pushed the bearing against the chuck using the live center in the tailstock. When taking light cuts this works well and its a quick method.






With the OD turned to the correct size, swapped the part in the chuck and brought the outer flange to dimension.






Below the lathe with the 2 bearings installed in place






Next will be the main spindle, I want that pulley installed!

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 5, 2010)

That is looking superb Jeroen, :bow: It's a little bigger than I thought too. Will you be powering the spindle? How will you make the chuck or does it have a faceplate?


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## coopertje (Nov 5, 2010)

Hi Nick,

The length is 190mm, width 50mm and height 130mm. Its indeed not so small. I will not power it, maybe in the future I can put it in a miniature steam plant. I just like the little lathe and want to put it on the dressoir in the living room. My wife is so lucky with me and my junk.... :

In fact I will make both. Hopefully I can start with the face plate this weekend, the chuck will take a little more time. I made a scan of the plan for the chuck






As you see the construction is quite simple, if the actual machining will be the same I doubt..... lets see, think I leave the chuck until I have the lathe completed.

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 7, 2010)

Ha, mine are all taking space up in our book case! :big:

Thanks for explaining the chuck, looks quite complex to me! 

nick


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## coopertje (Nov 7, 2010)

Hi Nick,

Nice to see that all around the world it's the same. I think for the chuck the jaws will be the most difficult to make. The other parts is just drilling holes and mill some slots. 

On Saturday my wife went shopping with some friends in another city. Poor me, home alone all day, nobody to talk to.... to run away from my sadness I spend whole day in the shop.. woohoo1  and make some progress on the lathe.

I decided to make the main spindle out of 2 separate parts. That enabled me to use silver steel, which is very accurate to dimension. If you buy 10mm, you will get 10.00mm! 

Started to turn down from 10 to 8mm and make a relieve for the treading






I choose Meteric fine 8 tread for the spindle nose and drilled the complete bar with 4mm internal.






Next was to make a ring, 16mm OD 4mm wide that will be soldered over the 10mm axle






After soft soldering and clean up here is the result











In the kit there was some hex material. From this I made the 2 nuts to keep the mainspindle in its position. 






After drilling and tapping M10 (did not have the MF10 tapping set, would have been better, M10 is quite rough in size) time to make a chamber to give the nut a nice look






Parting off 2 pieces






Mounted together and the stock for the face plate






Ow, by the way, here is a pic with the pulley mounted!






Next I made the face plate, it was really fun to make this little thing.

First faced one side, swapped it and used a parallel to align it in the chuck (dont forget to remove before starting the lathe!!)






Drilled and tapped MF8






Placed it on a mandrel and brought the OD to dimension






For the slot in the backside of the plate I move the part over to the mill and put it in the rotary table. With light cuts of 1mm deep at a time I made the backside to dimension






Swapped the plate in the chuck and made a small CNC program to make the slots in the front of the plate because I need 6 identical shapes and the machine is much better in receptive work then me! The came out nice, I am always afraid to ruin the part by a programming error.











Then took the plate back to the lathe and gave the front a nice look with rings and polished it with some sandpaper






This is how it looks mounted on the lathe






That's all for now, next I will make the carriage. Decided to follow the original Stuart drawing on this one, meaning the complete carriage shape need to be machined from out a solid block of steel. I have my fingers crossed....

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Nov 7, 2010)

The face plate looks great Jeroen, what diameter is it? The chuck should be fun to make


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## BenPeake (Nov 7, 2010)

Great project you have on the go there Jeroen! I'm watching with interest as I'd like to take on a similar project at some point. Keep up the good work,
Ben


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## NickG (Nov 8, 2010)

Looks brilliant Jeroen, really nice. Have you thought of a colour scheme yet? 

I'm glad you mentioned about removing the parallel before starting the lathe! I've forgotten once, I was lucky it just wedged itself into the bed and probably rendered the parallel useless now, no noticable damage to machine though hopefully.

Nick


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## coopertje (Nov 8, 2010)

Thank you all for your nice comments!!

Steve the diameter is 38mm, thickness 6mm. I am looking forward to make the chuck, the only thing that I do not have clear yet is how to make the jaws. The front part of the chuck (number 52 in the drawing) I will make out of one round piece, drill the holes, mill the slots on both sides and finally cut it in 4 parts. For the jaws I could take a piece of square bar, make the basic shapes and cut it in 4 pieces. If anybody has a more efficient way I will be glad to hear.

I can really advice you to start one Ben, its so much fun to make this little lathe. Something completely different and for me so nice to do something conventional again after a CNC based project. Love to control the wheels myself for a change.

Nick, I am doubting about the colors. Originally these kind of machines were black or light gray (I learned). I tend to use a dark green glossy paint, I think it will give a nice contrast with the aluminum and brass parts. Although I did not decide yet, I still have some months to go before arriving to this stage.... Luckily I did not have the experience of forgetting the parallel yet, I just forgot the chuck key once  :- Also in my case no damage to myself nor the machine!! I think you need this experience to really realize that these machines are serious tools and that mistakes can cause great harm!! From that moment I always check if everything is clear before starting the machine. Wisdom come with age and experience they say, I am patiently waiting for mine to arrive :big:

Not so much progress tonight. I made the 60 degree chamber on the bed of the lathe tonight.

Started with very accurately checking the setup of the bed in the vise. I changed the position of the vise until the dial indicator showed less then 0.01mm when running along the side and over the top of the bed.






I took a 60 degree swallowtail cutter and took a cut on the complete depth on one side. It went trough very well, casting metal is so easy to machine 






]

The other side finished






In the picture below the bar of metal from which the saddle will be made. I hope I do not mess up this one..... 






Tomorrow I will machine the blank to size and put the marks on it for machining reference.

Regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Nov 8, 2010)

Hi Jeroen, 
Having built the PM Research lathe I am watching your thread with great interest. I would have preferred to work with iron parts like Stuart's but it came out well in the end. I think you will be quite happy with your lathe when it's complete.
Keep up the good work.
George


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## coopertje (Nov 9, 2010)

Hi George,

I have seen your build on the PM research lathe, beautiful build! I learned a lot from it, and hope you dont mind that I stole some ideas from you... for example the setup for drilling the holes in the head and tailstock. I agree that creating a part out of stock material give more satisfaction then working with a casting. However to achieve a realistic shape of a casting also has its advantages. 
Good luck with your transmission, looking forward to see it grow during the upcoming time!

Regards Jeroen


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## swilliams (Nov 9, 2010)

I'm looking forward to seeing you convert that rough chunk of steel into the saddle.


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## coopertje (Nov 9, 2010)

Well Steve, here we go!

Today I made the piece of metal square and to dimension, put the dimension lines on it and was actually able to make some chips.

As you can see below its not just the dogs that behave like their owners, mills do too  :big: 






Smoke seems worse then it is, I use quite thin cutting oil, mill was running at 250 rpm.

After deburring and cleaning I put marking paint and start scratching the lines






Things went smooth today so I decided to start the mill and drill all the holes on both sides of the blank. I also tapped already the M5 tread for the spindle, a square block is easier to clamp in the vise then a finished saddle.











I first cut the top of the saddle to shape, after I will remove the remaining parts with a saw.






Last action for today was to cut the 60 degree swallow tail guide, first on the right side






After on the left






Up to now I am happy with the progress on the saddle, worked out well up to now..... 

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 10, 2010)

Nice work on the saddle Jeroen, quick question, do you tap under power?


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## coopertje (Nov 10, 2010)

Hi Nick,

Depends on the situation. Blind holes I never tap under power, normally I use the machine to make the first few turns (to make sure it goes in straight) and then continue by hand. If it is just one hole to tap I take it also out of the vise, in this way you are less sensitive to lateral forces on the tap.

True holes up to M6 I do under power, put the mill on 60 rpm and let it do the job. About M6 I follow the same procedure as with blind holes. Works well for me, did not brake a tap in this way yet.

Hope its clear, if not let me know.

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 10, 2010)

Hi,

I asked only because I had tried it acouple of times, I don't grip the tap too tight so that it will just spin rather than break the tap! It seems to work just to get the threads started off straight then I take out and finish by hand as I'm a believer in 1 turn forward half a turn back method!

I suppose if you're going straight through as you say it would be ok to leave in the machine as long as the hole isn't too deep as the swarf has somewhere to go.

Good to know I'm doing something that others also do! Thanks for the reply.

Nick


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## coopertje (Nov 11, 2010)

Hi Nick,

I totally agree with your 1 turn forward half a turn back method! And thank you too for your confirmation of my method, I think many of us here use the trial and error method and find their way in metal working. That's why this site is such a great source of information!

In my opinion a tap will brake if it is not in straight from the beginning, applying a lateral force or when the swarf blocks the tap from rotating. What also helps a lot is to invest some bucks in a good quality tapping fluid, makes a big difference.

Best regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Nov 11, 2010)

Good point about the forces that will break a tap and the tapping fluid - that is something I must invest in.


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## coopertje (Nov 13, 2010)

Today I continued my work on the saddle. 

Started with cutting away the big pieces with the bandsaw






















Time to make the swallowtail on the bottom of the saddle. First made the bottom and side strip to size using a big mill 






Then made the U-shape as preparation for the 60 degree cutter






After the swallowtail was cut on both sides I took a cut trough the middle of the saddle to give it the idea of having a machined guide. The dimension of the swallowtail is not so critical, there will be a strip between the bed and saddle. The only point of attention is that the distance between front of saddle and side of bed is large enough to mount the gear later on.






Mounted together






Had some time left so I decided to mount the gears. First I made a stub with M3 tread on one side. No pictures of this.

Then treaded the side of saddle M3 to mount the gear stub.






Stub and gears






When trying to mount it was impossible to get the gear below the gear bar mounted on the side of the bed. Something went wrong with my dimensions, I don't know what or where. In fact it does not matter so much, knowing the failure will not make the gear fit. Since I did not like the finish of the top of the bed so much, I decided to lower the bed by 0.5mm. That the swallowtail becomes smaller with this action is not a problem, I can easily increase the thickness of the strip with some tenths of millimeters. Took a sharp HSS mill and reduced the table hight by 0.5mm. Got a nice finish now, hardly any machining marks left.... 

Time to take the bed out of the vise and test..... it works!






That's all for today, next I will make the cross slide.

CU Jeroen


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## BenPeake (Nov 14, 2010)

This is an awesome project! You take photographs and that little lathe is really taking shape. Can't wait to see it taking a cut!


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## coopertje (Nov 14, 2010)

Thanks Ben. I am not so sure if it ever will make a cut. Maybe for a picture put some chips on bed.....

Today I planned to make the cross slide. In the kit there is a piece of metal supplied, but I found it to small






Luckily I found another piece between my left overs and start to cut in 2 pieces with the band saw. First one side, flipped it over in vise and used a feeler-gauge to re-clamp the material for the second part of the saw process






The width is perfect!






Put the machining lines on the stock, put it in the vise, select a mill (10mm) and start to take the first cut.






Mmmmmm.....those lines are very close to the mill......cannot be OK. Stopped the machine and took another look.... then I saw that the mill was not 10mm but 12mm. I measured the shaft and not the flutes.... *club*   :wall:  OK, time for a coffee. Since this was the only piece of flat metal I have I decided to continue, make the swallowtail too wide and then solder in 1 strip of brass and on the other side make a adjustable strip. This little mistake costs me some hours to correct....

Finished the U-shape






After this I cut the swallowtails on both sides and cut a brass strip of 1mm thickness. To keep it in position during soldering I made 2 clamps from copper strip material, worked out well (sorry for the wrong focus in the first pic). After soldering cut it to dimension in the mill.





















One side finished / repaired. For the other side I wanted to make an adjustable strip, but the cross slide is just a little smaller than the saddle. Will not work to mount locking nuts on the side. Well, in this case, no adjustable strip but a fixed one will do for me. This one needs to be 1.5mm thick. I had some plate of 1.5mm brass that I needed to clamp under 60 degrees. I do not have a adjustable clamp, so I started to look around to see what I could find. Then my eye catched my clamping set. The result you see below











Worked out better then expected, the material did not move for a 0.01mm! After gluing on the other strip I could cut the cross slide to length and clean up the front and back with a light cut in the mill.











Finally after some hours I have the cross slide mounted on the saddle. 






It needs to get some horizontal lines on the top of the slide and a treaded hole to mount the axis to hold the tool post. 

Regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Nov 14, 2010)

Hi Jeroen
Were the brass gib strips part of Stuarts plan or did you decide to make them yourself.
In any case it's a good idea.
George


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## coopertje (Nov 15, 2010)

Hi George,

The brass gib strips are not part of the Stuart plans. I added them because I took the wrong diameter mill to cut the U-shape, it was too wide. I recoverred the part by adding the strips. But afterall I am somehow glad that it happened, the brass strips look nice and the cross slide runs very well over the iron saddle. 

I will take a peak to your transmission progress now, CU later.


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## swilliams (Nov 15, 2010)

It's really looking the part now Jeroen. Just like a bought one in miniature.

Steve


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## NickG (Nov 15, 2010)

Yes, looking great and it's much better made than my chinese milling machine! If this was full size you get the impression it'd be a good solid machine!

Nick


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## coopertje (Nov 15, 2010)

Thank you Steve!

Well Nick, it I sure hope its better quality then a Chinese one. I can really smell them from a distance, I do not know what kind of protection oil they use, but that particular smell you can recognize immediately. On the other hand, if the Chinese would spend the same amount of hours to produce a lathe as I did for sure the quality would be better..... ;D

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Nov 15, 2010)

Not so much progress for tonight. I hope I can get some things done this week, on Sunday I will leave to Brazil and after Argentina for work. My project will be stopped for 2 weeks. Well at least I will have some nice weather in return, its getting cold over here ;D

I was able to finish the cross slide. First made the horizontal line (simulation of T-grove I guess) in the top of the slide with a saw of 1mm thickness






Then found the center line and drilled and tapped a hole M4. In here the stub for the tool post will be mounted






The (almost) finished slide mounted on the lathe. Almost, because it needs to get 2 holes in the front to attach the spindle to the slide. 






That's all, regards Jeroen


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## TuxMan (Nov 15, 2010)

Jeroen

The project is coming along very well. I like the way you have recovered nicely form the problems you have encountered. Part of my learning experience on this site is in seeing how others solve problems.

Thanks for sharing

Eric


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## coopertje (Nov 16, 2010)

Thanks Eric. Nice to know that others then only myself learn from my mistakes. It also gives a positive feeling to making a mistake. I tend to think nowdays that I do not make mistakes anymore, but that I create an opportunity to learn something intead. Feels much better   :big:

Regards Jeroen


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## nfk (Nov 16, 2010)

Jeroen, if you have any spare time in Buenos Aires let me know, i`ll buy you a few beers 
Great work so far, congrats!

Norberto


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## coopertje (Nov 16, 2010)

Hi Noberto,

I will not pass by Buenos Aires this trip, will fly from Porto Alegre directly to Rosario. From Rosario to Lima in Peru, then to Panama, from there back home to Amsterdam. Maybe next March I will spend some days in Buenos Aires for an exhibition, would be great to meet you then! Like to see other peoples work and discuss about our hobby.

Tonight I had just 45 minutes in the garage and did a little turning, made the spindle for the cross slide and the stub to mount the tool post

Started with a piece of M5 wire bar and made a ring of silver steel, 8mm OD and internal M5 tread. I glued it on the M5 bar and after drying machined it. The machining was simple, just reduce the diameter back to 3mm and put some M3 tread on it for the handwheel. The left over of the ring will be clamped (not tight, just enough space to not have play but enough space to have it rotating freely) between the cross slide and the cross slide front plate. 











The stub for the toolpost is made of silversteel 4mm diameter. On one side I put M4 tread (to be in the cross slide) and the other side M3






Tomorrow I plan to make the handles, 3 pieces in total. One to lock the saddle, one to fix the tool post and one to fix the tail stock spindle.

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Nov 18, 2010)

I made the handles, used the material supplied in the kit. 

First put it in the vise to get a 60 degree angle on the head. I used a block from my clamping set to set the angle.






Took a cut with the mill






Then center drilled and finally drilled with 2mm drill. 






Prepared 4 pieces in total, you never no when you need one spare.






Took the parts over to the lathe and parted off the handles






Flipped them and drilled a 5mm hole, 3mm deep using an end mill. The idea is to put in a brass bush with M3 tread. In this way the bush has tread over the complete 3mm length, something that will be diffcult when I try to tap this into the handle directly.






Took some brass 5mm OD and tapped M3 inside and parted off 3mm long bushes






Here are the parts before gluing them together






For the tailstock I decided to put in a M3 treaded bar and inhere drill a 1.5mm hole






After I put in a piece of brass and filed and sanded it to such a length that the tailstock spindle is blocked with the handle in correct position.






This weekend I hope to finish the toolpost before go on travel for work. Lets see.....

Regards Jeroen


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## hobby (Nov 18, 2010)

Very nice work on your lathe.

Good job on the details, pictures and the explanations, are very well done, makes for a very enjoyable thread to follow.


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## coopertje (Nov 19, 2010)

Thank you hobby! Sometimes I am afraid to get boring for people with too much pictures. Nice to know that its not the case. What about you flight simulator, things are going well?

Regards Jeroen


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## hobby (Nov 19, 2010)

coopertje  said:
			
		

> Thank you hobby! Sometimes I am afraid to get boring for people with too much pictures. Nice to know that its not the case. What about you flight simulator, things are going well?
> 
> Regards Jeroen



Hi Jeroen,

It's going real well.
A small delay, though, I'm waiting for another micro controller board to come in, for my mill, before I can do some more heavy milling. 

Thanks for asking.


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## coopertje (Nov 19, 2010)

Mmmm...that s.cks! Speed controller board for the mill? if yes truly consider to replace the motor and board for a good 3phase-AC motor and a good frequency inverter (you need the one with a flux-vector control, they generate lots of torque at low frequency). They are available 2nd hand for not too much money. For sure you will not have any problem after this change. 
Good luck and hope to see some progress soon!


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## bertieb (Nov 20, 2010)

Hi All,
    The photo is of the Stuart Engineering Lathe that I made about six years ago
when Stuart first put the castings on the market.
The other two photos show how I machined the bed suports on the lathe.
The 4-jaw chuck was a nightmare to make, in fact I made four before geting
it right, since then Antony Mount has designed a more simple way of making it.
I have the drawing on file if anybody needs it.
Bert.


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## coopertje (Nov 20, 2010)

Hi Bert,

Welcome to this forum and thanks for showing the pictures. Nice work on the lathe, looks good! I see that yours is completely made according to the drawings, I made some changed here and there. Must admit that the original version look very well too. Interesting way of machining the castings, I do not have the patience to make these kind of setups on the lathe : 

Have been thinking on that chuck too a bit. My plan is to make the chuck out of one piece, not from 5 separate parts as mentioned in the plan. Make a piece of steel to the required OD and take it to the mill. From the side drill 4 holes at 90 degrees and tap them M5. In here the nuts to move the jaws up and down will be mounted. Then from the frontside of the chuck mill a slot of 3.4mm wide exactly parallel to the M5 holes. I will make a T-cutter of 5mm and cut the slots for the jaws. And somewhere in between drill a hole in the center of the chuck an tread MF8. Chuck body finished! I hope it will be as simple as it is in my mind now, but after reading your experience I am not so sure anymore ???

If possible, I would like to see your plan for the chuck, always nice to see other ideas! Also I like the wheels you made, have some pictures of those in progress?

Regards Jeroen


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## bertieb (Nov 21, 2010)

Hi Jereon and All,
           Many thanks for your kind comments, your idea for making the 4-jaw chuck
are very much the same as Antony Mount's, please take a look at the drawing.
I have put up a few pics of the 4-jaw that I made to the Stuart design.
Sorry but I don't have any photos of the handwheels being made, just one pic
of them part finished, I put the holes in using a Windy compressed air drill set at centre
height on the cross slide in conjunction the GHT headstock dividing attachment.
Bert.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





[/img][/img][/img]


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## coopertje (Nov 21, 2010)

Hi Bert,

Thanks for the picture of the chuck. Thats indeed exactly what I had in mind! This will save the trouble of drilling all the holes and in my opinion it also look better without the bolds pinching trough the front of the chuck.

If you have a tip how to make the jaws I will glad to hear them from you.

I will be heading to the airport now, CU in about 2 weeks.

Regards Jeroen


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## bertieb (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi Jeroen and All,
           Sorry I posted the wrong pic, this one now shows the part finished hand wheels.
Making the jaws, I first made a simple jig from a scrap piece of 2" x 1/2" mild steel (see sketch)
to hold each blank in turn ( I am sure Stuart's provide a legnth of 3/16" x 1/2" steel bar for the jaws).
I cut four oversize piece's of bar stock and milled the cut ends to length, the stock being held in the
jig with a small toolmakers clamp, I then milled the slot for the setscrew and then using the same jig setup
I used 1/16" wide saw to mill the guide slots on each side of the jaw.I was carefull to press each jaw
down on the stop pin when clamping, thus each jaw came out equal.
The jig can then turned ninety degrees, tilted over fortyfive degrees to mill each of the four chamfered 
corners of each jaw, all four jaws can then be mounted in line in the machine vice to mill the jaw steps.
What i did for the steps was assemble the chuck, mount it on a mandrel, insert a stub of 3/16" dia
steel, adjust each setscrew so that that that the jaws ran true and then bored out the steps.
Bert.


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## coopertje (Nov 23, 2010)

Hi Bert,

Thanks for explaning the machining steps. The only part I do not have clear yet is how you fixed the blanks in the jig. 
The idea of fixing a piece of metal in the chuck and after make the steps crossed my mind too, thanks for the confirmation.

Regards from Sao Paulo


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## bertieb (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi Jeroen and All,
           How is Sao Paulo, I was there some fifty years ago when serving in the navy.
As for holding the blanks in the jig, you could drill and tap a hole at the side of the slot and 
then use a small finger clamp, or in my case I used a small toolmakers clamp.
Greetings from cold Manchester UK.
Bert.


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## gbritnell (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi Jeroen,
I don't mean to interfere with your build thread but why not simplify the construction of the chuck. By that I mean just make it out of one piece. I am attaching some close up pictures of my chuck and the cutters I made to do it. It was really quite simple. I turned and threaded the chuck body. Then I put it in my dividing head and drilled and tapped for the jaws. I rotated the dividing head to the vertical position and cut the outer recess with an end mill. I then made up a cutter from an end mill for the inside slot. I used an end mill that had the diameter that I needed and then gound away the stock on the shank until I had the proper width for the cutter head. I then used my magnifier and a Dremel grinder with a small cut-off disc and put some clearance on the inside of the cutter edges. Just like a T-slot cutter only tiny.
There will be two posts to send all the pictures. If you need any more information just let me know.
George


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## gbritnell (Nov 24, 2010)

Last two pictures.
George


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## coopertje (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi Bert,

Ok clear. Thank you for your interest in this build! I find Sao Paulo a big piece of gray concrete and way to crowded for me. The roads are blocked the complete day! I love Brazil but more the less crowded places. Tomorrow I will go to Limeira, a smaller city about 150km north of Sao Paulo. From there to Argentina, Peru, Panama and then finally back home!

Thanks George, you can always interfere, its appreciated! But please read reply #80 again, there you see that the idea is to make the chuck from one piece, make a special T-cutter etc.. It crossed my mind to make the cutter from an end-mill, since you have a lot of experience, do you think it will work modifying a 2-flute cutter (I have plenty of them)? Or is it better to sacrifice a 4-flute one?

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Nov 24, 2010)

I used a 2 flute because the gullet on the flutes was deeper. I don't see why a four flute wouldn't work. It would be stronger at the root.
George


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## coopertje (Nov 27, 2010)

Thanks George, I will give it a try with a 2 flute end mill, I have them a lot more then the 4 flute ones. I am afraid that when I arrive home I first need to defrost and get accustomed to the cold again the first week. Here its a lovely 30 degrees, in Holland below zero and snow.....maybe I can miss my plane... ;D

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Dec 14, 2010)

Well, I arrived back in the cold again. I must admit I truly hate the cold over here. So nice to have warm and comfortable temperatures. In my shop it is around 6 degrees now, not fun to work for many hours there. I have a small heater that helps, but even-though its cold. Further my wife has made plans to spend my free time, need to rebuild the stairs and do some things here and there  :redface2:

Last week I made the tool post, not so much work, but fun to do!

I started with the facing the end of bar supplied in the kit






Next was to cut the slots where a little tool can be mounted later. I used the saw in the lathe for that, the width is 4mm. I had to go though twice, the slots should be 5mm.











Time to center drill the 9 holes for the tool clamping bolds (M3) and the center hole of 4mm to mount the post on the cross slide.






Tap M3






Drilling finished, so I cut off the tool post from its stock using the slit saw






and faced the bottom to get it to dimension and a good finish






Here is the result mounted on the lathe











When time allows I next part I will make is frontside for the cross slide. After this I need to make the chuck and the handwheels. I hope to be able to have it finished before the end of this year, I have my fingers crossed if I will make it.....

Thanks for checking in and have fun!

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Dec 14, 2010)

Jeroen, good to see you back on this project. Tool post is great, infact, if it weren't for the things in the background on the pics, you wouldn't know it was a model lathe!

Nick


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## swilliams (Dec 14, 2010)

Welcome back Jeroen

Nice job on the toolpost. Too bad about your wife filling in your spare time diary, rebuilding stairs sounds like a big job, are you sure you can't do it with CNC?

P.S. thanks for checking in on my thread

Cheers
Steve


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## Jeff02 (Dec 16, 2010)

I have been watching this thread with Great excitement, and can guarantee that I nominate it for Project of the month when complete.
Beautiful work Jeroen! Thm:


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## coopertje (Dec 17, 2010)

Thank you guys for the nice words, it really makes a difference! I will show it to my wife, maybe she will give me some time off to make some more progress ;D

Hope to do some this weekend, will post the news when it's there.

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## steamer (Dec 17, 2010)

Oh I have got to see some chips coming off that little beauty.... ;D

Dave


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## coopertje (Dec 17, 2010)

What kind of flavor do you prefer Dave, natural or paprika?


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## steamer (Dec 17, 2010)

:big: :big:

Brass would be fitting! ;D


Dave


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## coopertje (Dec 18, 2010)

Ok, I will see what I can do for you. Let me first find the time to finish the thing, then I will find a way to drive the spindle. I am actually curious if I can make some cuts with the machine. Just for the record of course.

Regards Jeroen


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## steamer (Dec 18, 2010)

no worries.....just for the record....It's too cute to not try it ;D

Dave


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## coopertje (Dec 26, 2010)

Hope you all had a good Christmas and that Santa was generous with supplying new tools for you. I think I misbehaved last year, didn't got a single tool this year.... :'(

A well, at least I could spend a little time on the lathe last week, not so much progress but better then nothing.

Could not resist and grinded a little tool, the tool holder looked so empty.







Last machining operation on the saddle was to tap M3, in there the handle to block the saddle will be mounted.






Next I made the cover plate for the cross slide. It is not a difficult part, a matter of drilling some holes and have it squared up.

Started with drilling a 4mm hole for the spindle






And made a 6mm counter sink






To drill the mounting holes in the cross slide I clamped the cover plate on the cross slide and drilled 2 holes 2.5mm diameter. In the cross slide there will be M3.






Tapped the M3






And made a test fit






I was happy so next step was to face all the sides of the cover plate to have a tight fit to the cross slide











Here the result is mounted on the lathe






Next I will make the 4 jaw chuck. I have holiday next week so I should be able to do some work in the shop in between painting the stairs and choosing a new car ;D

Have fun and thanks for watching!

Regards Jeroen


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## mklotz (Dec 26, 2010)

Your lathe looks really, really great. However, I think the appearance of the tool post would be improved a lot (and be more realistic) if you replaced the SHCSs with the square-headed screws normally used.

As I learned early in my career, SHCS are ill-advised in this application because the socket hole in the cap fills up with swarf and must be cleaned each time one wants to adjust the tool. Square-headed screws don't suffer from this problem.


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## coopertje (Dec 27, 2010)

Marv, you are soo right! I though about it some time ago but lost my attention somehow. Their will be no hexcaps visible when finished. 

Thanks for your responce, always appreciate honest and open comments!  :bow:

Regards Jeroen


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## mklotz (Dec 27, 2010)

I'm glad you took it the way you did. It will be a superb model, no matter what you do on the toolholder. I built the PMR model lathe and it was one of the most satisfying builds I've ever had. The completed model still holds pride of place in one of my display cabinets.


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## NickG (Dec 29, 2010)

It does look brilliant Jeroen, I wouldn't have thought of it but now Marv mentions it, I think it will look better - more period too.

Nick


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## coopertje (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks Marv and Nick! Thats why I like this site, no matter if I am just reading or posting build progress, I always learn and improve!

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Feb 4, 2011)

I know its been a while ago that i post some news about my progress, did not have time to work on the lathe lately. I travelled for work and now I am in Brazil with my wife for holidays. At least it gave me time to prepare the next parts on paper. This will give me a jump start when I am back home, can start to make some chips right away. Will start with the chuck body out of one piece and after the jaws. I am still doubting if I will make the handwheels cnc or conventional. Probably it will be a mix of both.

Hope to post some progress soon.

Have fun in the shop, regards Jeroen


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## nfk (Feb 4, 2011)

HI,
I hope you`r having some nice vacations over there, where are you exactly?
Enjoy and relax, we can wait for some progress a few more days 

Norberto


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## coopertje (Feb 6, 2011)

Hi Noberto,

We are in limeira now, about 150 km north of sao paulo.
Today we made a brazilian bbq for friends and family. I love brazilian meat (argentina steak is very well too!). Fly back the 10th, maybe in the weekend i am able to go in my shop for some hours.

Thanks for the reply!

Regards Jeroen


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## krv3000 (Feb 6, 2011)

HI work well dun


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## coopertje (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanks krv3000? appriciate your reply!

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Feb 13, 2011)

Finally arrived back home and found some time to go to the shop! I started making the blank for the chuck body:






Made 2 blanks, you never know. And maybe I will make a 3-jaw chuck too, lets see. I took the time and polished the body in the lathe with sandpaper. I use a newspaper to cover the machine bed, I would not like to have the sanding dust in my guides and loose accuracy in time...






I used my converted Wabeco mill to drill the 4 holes on a 90 degree angle. Since the machine has a separate drilling pinole I use Mach3 to set the coordinates and then drill manually the holes. For who does not know, you can easily interrupt a program by putting an M1 command in the G-code, the program "halts" on the M1 command and by pressing the start button the program continues. I use this a lot, very quick to drill a hole pattern in this way and no need to recalibrate the Z-axis when changing drills. 











And run a tap M5 through






Time to part off the chuck body 






and mount it reversed in the lathe. Center drill, drill and tap MF8






I made a counter bore using a 10mm end mill. 






This week I will grind a 5mm mill into a T-shape cutter and make the guides for the jaws. 

Thanks for checking in!

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Feb 16, 2011)

Small update on the chuck. I was able to make the groves that will hold the jaws. Luckily no mishaps last 2 days...

Started with the rotary table on the mill and determined the center of the table. I use a ring for this, go left, go right divide the measured distance by 2 and repeat this for up and down. 






Then I needed to make sure that the already drilled holes are parallel to the machine bed. I put a long M5 bold and rotated the rotary table such that left and right side of the chuck measured 0. 






Next was to make a T-cutter out of a 5mm end mill. Luckily I have a small tool grinder available, so that was not too much work. 











Time to make little chips! 

First I used a 3mm mill to cut a cross in the chuck body. The inner measure of the "jaw-guide" is 3mm, the jaw width will be 5mm











Then I installed the 5mm T-cutter I made and run it trough to create the bottom part of the guide






And one cut to create the top part






This is what I ended up with, needs some de-burring dough






I am happy with the result, looks like a chuck body to me. I hope the jaws will work out well too, hope to have them in hands this weekend.

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## AndyB (Feb 16, 2011)

Hi Jeroen,

Still watching with amazement! :bow:

Keep up the good work. I would also love to see the finished lathe in action!

Andy


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## coopertje (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks Andy, hope you are a patient guy, I am afraid it will take some time before I try to make some chips with the lathe. Quite a busy period coming up at work and probably many travels abroad. 

Jeroen


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## coopertje (Feb 20, 2011)

Got the jaws ready this weekend and coming a little closer to a test run... 

Took a lot of pictures of the jaw making process, hope its not boring for you.

Started with a piece of 10x10mm bar and milled it down to a strip of 5x10mm











I wanted a tight fit so I measured and test fitted all the time:






From the 5x10mm I cutted 4 pieces of 13mm length











I made a jig by cutting a 4mm deep pocked in a piece of aluminum. To clamp the jaws in the jig I used "pliers" (do not know the correct name for these) With a 5mm mill I added a 2.5mm radius to the side of jaw that touches the setscrew to move the jaw in and out the chuck body.






The set screw I will use is M5x6. After adding the 2.5mm radius I took a cut of 1.8mm deep. In here the set screw will be located.






With a 1mm saw I made the slots on both side of the jaw. The slotheight is 1.5mm, took 2 cuts at each side






Time to fit and check the result so far


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## coopertje (Feb 20, 2011)

Procedure repeated 3 more times and below shows the chuck with the 4 jaws mounted






The jaws need a 45 degree chamber on 4 sides. To set-up the jig on a 45 degree angle I used a square. Very easy and fast angle set-up.











Cutting the chamber






2 finished






all 4 finished






To make the inner radius of the jaws I centered the jaws and run a 2mm mill trough the middle






I tightened the jaws a good as possible and with light cuts I started to make the outer shape of the jaws. As you can see it went not completely ok, the jaws got a little loose during turning and the surface is not shiny. But with some sandpaper it will be ok again.











Heres the chuck with jaws mounted on the lathe






Up to the handwheels!

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Feb 26, 2011)

This week I did the handwheels. I was planning to use the CNC lathe (I am a lazy machinist) but my touchscreen broke down. Divided my time in the shop to make some parts for the little lathe and trying to repair the screen which luckily was successful after some digging and component replacing. The result is that I did the wheel by hand which is also fun for me. Doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there!

Started with 25mm aluminum stock and turned a 8mm diameter, 8mm long. This will be the back of the handwheel, the 8mm serves as a spacer.






Next was the inner chamber, 1mm deep






Since I did not have / make a shape cutter for the radius of the wheel, I used a file and sandpaper instead. I used the parting tool to make a cut to about 50% of the diameter to create space for the file






After some filing and sanding I ended up with this






Next was to drill the center holes and tap M3






I swapped the wheel in the chuck and made the outher chamber, also 1mm deep






Then I moved the wheel to the mill and put it in the rotary table. There will be 4 holes on 90 degrees just for visual effect and one extra on 45 degrees to mount the handwheel handle











Below the 3 handwheels finished






I also made the handles for the toolpost, carriage blockage and the pinole. I made it from 4mm drill rod and shaped it with a file and sandpaper






As you can see below its starting to become a real lathe, there is light at the end of the tunnel! 






I need to make the oilers, base plate, chuck key, toolpost key and of course the bolds (with square head) to mount the tools. After these parts are ready the machining is over and the sanding, polishing and painting will start. Its nice, it has been long enough this project and I am eager to start other work!

Have a good weekend, Jeroen


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## NickG (Feb 27, 2011)

Very very nice Jeroen :bow:


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## ironman (Feb 27, 2011)

Jason, that is some super fine work. Beautiful. 

ironman (Ray)


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## coopertje (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for checking in Nick and Ray!

I have the oilers (fake ones) ready. Since I did not have a nice design available I was so free to copy the oilers Mario Lucchini made on his extraordinary lathe build! If you did not see his lathe you should go and check it out (its in A work in progress), its a true beauty!

I started with the base of the oiler, made from 5mm hex brass. This is just before parting it off.







After parting off I swapped it in the chuck and made a countersink of 4mm diameter, 1mm deep. In here I will glue a piece of transparent tube






When the 2 bases where ready I made the top cover. Below the tools used for this






Cover just before parting off






Again swapped it in the chuck and made a small radius with a file






I tried to cut straight parts of the tube I had laying around. Since its not so flexible and took the round shape during the years waiting to be used it was impossible to get a straight tube. And straight it should be because one side is glued on the base and on the other end the top cover will be glued. If the tube is not straight the oiler will also not be straight....... scratch.gif .... :idea:

I drilled a hole of 4mm (tube diameter) in a piece of scrap alu and used that as a cutting mold. Still did not work due to the bend in the tube...... then I put a drill inside the tube to keep the tube straight and made a cut around the drill......Success.... straight pieces of tube!






Below the oilers mounted on the lathe











Up to the wooden base plate and chuck key

Cu regards Jeroen


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## nfk (Mar 3, 2011)

I love those little details, nice work!


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## coopertje (Mar 5, 2011)

Thanks Noberto! By the way, the change that I will visit BA end of march is almost zero. Planning changed....as usual... but I will be there for sure in future.

I found some nice M3 bolds with the correct hex cap. Just needed to remove the upper part, they were intended for some electronic device at work and I was the happy guy to save them from the trash bin






They look much better then internal hex screws, however I see that I did a lousy job in de-burring the handwheels :-[ )






Further I drilled the holes in the headstock base and the tailstock foot. With these holes the lathe will be mounted on the wooden base plate






I am planning to make some little tools for the lathe, for example chuck key, key for the toolpost bold and maybe some other stuff. I decided to make a small cabinet to be placed beside the lathe. Started to cut 4 pieces of brass to length, and drill and tap M3 in the bottom so I can screw the cabinet to the wooden base plate too.






Cut the side and black plate out of a 1mm thick brass sheet and silver soldered the side stands to the side plates. Below the came out of the critic pickle. (I found out that if you throw the part in the pickle just after soldering, it cleans within seconds and you don't have to wait for the part to cool down. The only disadvantage is probably that this is really bad for your health, I try to avoid the fume when putting the hot part in the pickle, but I do not always succeed and immediately start to cough all over the place..... :-\ )






This is a very nice set to silver solder, I bought it second hand (as almost all the stuff I buy) 2 years ago. Its a propane / oxygen mixture.






Here is the backplate silver soldered to the side stands






Below the result up to now, the lathe and tool cabinet bolted to the wooden base plate 






To be continued. Have a good weekend!

Regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Mar 6, 2011)

Hi Jeroen,
I think the work you are doing on this Stuart lathe is fantastic. I would like to make one suggestion that might help the looks of your lathe. Being that this lathe is somewhat of a copy of an older style lathe I think it would look more appropriate to have handles with spokes in them. The holes that you have seem to represent a more modern design. If you go to the following website and browse through some of the more common lathes you will see what I mean. I know it's all a matter of personal taste but with the quality that you are putting into your lathe I think it would certainly benefit from spoked or elongated slots. 
http://www.lathes.co.uk/index.html
gbritnell


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## mklotz (Mar 6, 2011)

I'm glad you mentioned that, George. It was exactly my thought as well but, having already made one design change suggestion, I was concerned about appearing over critical.

Yes, indeed, Jeroen, spoked wheels would definitely make the appearance more authentic.


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## gbritnell (Mar 6, 2011)

As a note of information I had contacted Jeroen off line to give him that suggestion. He replied and said that he would appreciate it if I would post in the thread so that everyone could read it, so that is what I did. I like you Marv hate to give too much advice thinking that the person receiving it might get the wrong impression of me trying to butt in on his work. 
George


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## coopertje (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you George and Marv, I really appreciate that you take the time and effort to improve my lathe. And for the next time, please please please write down your thoughts and comments on design or machining related things. I am quite new in machining and receiving your feedback will only improve my skills and knowledge, or in this case the looks of my model. By the time I have enough of your comments, or do not agree with them I will let you know, deal?

I have looked at the link mentioned by George and indeed I did not find any lathe having the handwheel design as mentioned in the Stuart plans (which I have followed). Most of the early models have a 3 or 4 spoke design for carriage and tailstock, while for the cross slide I see a single handle.






First I will try to make elongated slots into the existing wheels to see how that looks. If it is still not the "authentic look" I could make the inner spoke out of 1mm brass plate, bend the spokes and silver solder them to a round outer ring (or turn one out of aluminum and mill the spokes after). For the cross slide handle I will ask my CNC lathe to make me some nice round ends on a rod, if I feed it some yummy G-code its generous with nice shaped parts.... 

First I will make some more smaller pieces and bits and start preparing the lathe parts to be painted. 

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Mar 12, 2011)

Some more parts finished, the chuck key and tool post bold key.

The chuck key was quite simple to make. Took a piece of 4mm silversteel and made 6 flat pieces on one end. Used a C5 collet in a hex holder for this. Forgot to take some pictures from this process. Then I swapped it in the collet and drilled a hole of 2.5mm trough the middle






After this in the lathe I made a nice radius between the hexagon side and round 4mm part. Below the chuck key finished






Here its in place in the chuck, scale seems to match OK to me. Also I cut some stock material to be stored in the cabinet and the face plate has found his home. I will make the top of the cabinet from magnetic material, the tools planned to be in top are in constant danger.......my wife using the vacuum cleaner!






Next was the key for the tool post bolds. These bolds will get a square head of 3 x 3 mm. I did not made the bolds yet, they are next on the list. In order to make the square hole I decided to try to make a broach with 4 cutting sides. Took a piece of 4mm round material and in step of 0.1mm I made it square.






I did not harden the piece, I thought that the steel would be much tougher then the brass.... With the first attempt I had a piece 5 mm brass (pre-drilled 3mm) in the 3-jaw of the lathe and the broach in the pinole. The pressure I needed was so high that I pushed the brass out of the 3 jaw. Could not tighten it to much, I would squeeze the brass bush. So I made another bush, this time I took 6 mm and turned it over 3/4 of the length back to 5mm. In this way it could not be pushed into the chuck anymore. With some force I went through (nice when you have a bigger lathe ;D), but to my surprise the broach got rounded! So I should have hardened it!






I used a little file to square the corners, the part was not wasted. Then I silver soldered a piece of 4mm brass to it, from this the handle will be shaped. 






And clean up in the lathe






Swapped the piece and turned the 4mm back to 2mm






Here is the end result, its a little out of proportion but for the moment good enough for me. 






Next week I will be abroad again for work, when I return I will make the tool post bolds with square head and modify the handwheels. After this the machining is over and time to take all apart and start sanding, spraying and polishing!

Have a good weekend, regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Mar 12, 2011)

By the way (hope you don't mind that I post this here), beside the lathe I also did some work on a deburring machine I had bought about 1 year ago. It has been standing in my garage all that time without being able to use it. Now I felt like taking the machine apart, renew the wiring, clean, grease and repaint it. The previous owner painted it purple with a brush and welded some support to the guide..... In a way it was nice but I payed just a little money for it, 75 euros.

Here is how it looked at purchase











Pics from the "in process"














































Finished machine:











From now I love to de-burr parts, it works very well 
Another nice "new looking" old machine added to the collection  ;D 

Regards Jeroen


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## Mosey (Mar 12, 2011)

I trust that you are aware that your early Workmate is practically a collectors item at  this time??
I have one but it isn't in as nice condition as yours.


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## coopertje (Mar 15, 2011)

Nope, I had no clue at all! Just coverred the top with some primer while spraying the deburring machine :-[

The ones you buy today are not as goos as these ones? Sincei already have one i never checked them out in the stores.....

Regards Jeroen


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## Mosey (Mar 15, 2011)

The one's in the store are different, and I think they are junk. Take care of yours, and enjoy.


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## coopertje (Mar 23, 2011)

Things are going a little slow lately, to many other things to do unfortunately. Below the progress I made.

The toolpost bolds are M2.5 and the cutting plate I have does not fit in the support tool for the lathe. So I made a adapter for it. For the ones interested below some pictures of the steps i took. There is no comment, the pictures explain enough I think.


























For the toolpost bolds I used 4mm silversteel and turn one end down to 2.5mm and treaded it with M2.5 and finally part it off on the correct length






To not damage the tread of the blank I made a brass bush with M2.5 internal and made a cut in the length of the bush. With this I can clamp the blank in a chuck to make the square head.






Here are the blanks and the bush waiting to receive their square head






Since I had to square 10 bolds (made 2 spares) I decided to use the CNC machine, that one is much better in repetitive work the me! I took the center of the chuck and mounted the first piece to test the CNC code.











After the program finished






I have to thank Marv for his attention to make different toolpost bolds, it really makes a big difference in the appearance of the lathe as you can see below






Here is how they look mounted on the lathe











A job that has been on the to do list for quite some time is to mount a higher speed spindle on the CNC mill. Standard its running 3000 rpm but that is too slow for engraving. Also for future, when I start 3D milling, I would not like to have the original motor running on maximum speed for hours. So I bought a proxxon spindle, variable speed between 900 and 6000 rpm. It comes together with 6 collets in sizes between 2.35 and 6mm, perfect for the goal I am after! I want to engrave a type indication plate for the lathe, so I will take this opportunity to improve my tooling. I hope to post the results after upcoming weekend.

Thanks for checking in and have fun in the shop!

Regards Jeroen


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## mklotz (Mar 23, 2011)

The toolpost looks great, Jeroen.

Now you will need to decide what tools you will make to mount in it. Here one can buy 1/16" square silver steel which can be ground to make authentic looking lathe tools. (If one is truly a perfectionist, they can be hardened as well.) However, I'm sure any small square stock could be used to make realistic tools.


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## swilliams (Mar 26, 2011)

The square headed bolts are a great touch Jeroen. Really add something to the whole thing.Nice job on the 4 Jaw chuck. It's really coming on now :bow:

Steve


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## arnoldb (Mar 26, 2011)

Jeroen, I've been following along on your build from the start, but have not commented yet - its difficult to say anything with a jaw frozen open.

My Dutch is a bitvery rusty, but let me just say:

 :bow: :bow: Wel gedaan !!! Ik geevt je een k-punt voor jouw werk :bow: :bow:

Groete, Arnold


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## coopertje (Mar 28, 2011)

Hi Steve, nice to hear from you again. Totally agree, with the square bolds its start to look like a lathe! Finishing the last pieces and bits, then lets try to paint it. Thats where I normally scewup all the effort I put in machining... :-X

Hallo Arnold,

Bedankt voor je reactie. Jouw Nederlands is nog steeds erg goed! Erg leuk om een bericht in het Nederlands te krijgen. 

Groetjes Jeroen


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## coopertje (Mar 30, 2011)

Whoeps....sorry Marv, forgot to reply on your post about the tools, shame on me!!  :-[ 
I use tools with inserts on my normal lathe, so I do not have a tool grinding machine available. But I have some mill grinding machines, sure I can make some nice looking tools with that. I guess the tools in the old days have the same shape as today? 

Spend some time to mount the new spindle on the Wabeco mill.

Started with cutting off a piece of 60x15mm aluminium






With the CNC I made hole and pocket. In the pocket there will be a nut. The idea is to have a piece of M10 wirebar? trough the original spindle of the Wabeco mill to fix the Proxxon spindle.






Next was to make a circular hole of 43mm, this will hold the Proxxon spindle






Test fit to see if everything still is according to the plans I have in mind






In order to prevent the Proxxon from rotating when mounted in the spindle I want to put a side support. When mounting the Proxxon in the spindle this support is pressed against the side of the milling machine and the setup is tightened with the M10 wirebar.











The Proxxon will be clamped in the holder. Therefor the middle of the 43mm hole will be slit so it can be reduced in diameter by a M5 hex screw. 

Drilled 4.2mm over the complete length, then 5.5 for the first 50% of the length and tapped M5 in the lower part. Also made a counter sink for the hex cap






Opening the circle with a slitsaw of 1mm thickness






Below a picture of the M10 nut (used to tighten the holder in the original spindle) in progress






Finished! Hope above is a little clear for you all, if not below may explain better then my writing.











New spindle in action











After deburring the plate I put some layers of black paint over it






And this is what all above was about, my own made type plate






Next I will modify the handwheels as suggested by George and if I am lucky I would like to have the parts in the primer this weekend. The weather forecast is good, nice weather to spay parts outside!

More to come soon (hopefully)!

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Mar 31, 2011)

That's come out great - well done! :bow:


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## nfk (Mar 31, 2011)

Nice mod!
I need to think seriously on buying a mill...and a few steppers... :wall:


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## coopertje (Apr 1, 2011)

Thanks Nick!

And Noberto, dont forget to buy the breakout board and powersupply :

Have a good weekend, jeroen


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## steamer (Apr 1, 2011)

Well done Jeroen!

Looks fabulous!

Dave


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## coopertje (Apr 3, 2011)

Thanks Dave! Parts are drying from painting, post some pics soon. 

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Apr 6, 2011)

The parts are painted and the handwheels modified.

I first put all the castings in the primer, after grinding, filing, plastering and sanding. In the back you can see the wooden base plate drying from the varnish layer.







I selected a darkgreen color for the lathe, matches well with the brass parts and the blank castings colour.






While the parts are drying, I let them dry for at least one week, I followed the advice of George to make slots in the handwheels instead of the 4 holes mentioned in the Stuart plans. I used the CNC mill with 4th axis for this.






As you can see, it makes a difference in appearance...thanks for the tip George!!!






I made a fixture to paint the handwheels. I tried to spray them in the same green color, but the paint would not fix on the edges. So I decided to paint them black with a small pencil.






After the paint had dried I put the hanswheels in the lathe to clean up and polish the outside






I am happy with the way they came out






After the paint has dried for one week I will assemble the lathe and then I just have to make some small tools. 

Regards Jeroen


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## gbritnell (Apr 6, 2011)

Hi Jeroen,
Now that's what we're talking about! Excellent looking handles.
George


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## mklotz (Apr 7, 2011)

Yes, indeed! Looking great.


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## NickG (Apr 8, 2011)

That has actually made a huge difference! :bow:


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## arnoldb (Apr 9, 2011)

Looks great Jeroen :bow: - the lathe should look stunning when finished.

HaHa - took me a while to try and remember the Dutch; it's close to my native Afrikaans when spoken, but a lot different to write!

Kind regards, Arnold


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## nfk (Apr 9, 2011)

That`s the way to go Jeroen, beautiful work!
The handles look amazing now!
Keep us posted!

Norberto


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## hobby (Apr 9, 2011)

Jeroen,
As always, your workmanship is so impressive to watch, excellent creativity shown in this build thread.

Keep up the great work..


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## steamer (Apr 9, 2011)

th_wwp th_wwp th_wwp th_wwp th_wwp th_wwp



Oooo.....can't wait! ;D

Dave


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## coopertje (Apr 10, 2011)

Thank you all for your kind comments! I must admit that posting a build really helps to finish it. Normally I am very good in starting projects, not so good at completely finish them. The interest shown by you all almost obligates to show the end result, which is a good thing! I hope next weekend I will have all parts finished and assembled. Why the delay......a new project has arrived..... :











I got myself a Harrison trainer 280 lathe yesterday. Its a very nice and stable lathe but the best part is that you can use it manual as well as CNC. For what I can see up to now the disadvantage is the spindle speed selection, its with 2 rotating wheels. Not very quick to change a gear, on my Emco there are 2 handles (levers) making a gear change a matter of seconds. However, a frequency inverter on the Harrison will mask the gear selection problem....
The machine is 19 years old and comes from a technical school. Below the grease and dirt its practically a new machine, the paint on the inside (where the swarf ends) is not even scratched! Probably just used for aluminum and plastics. Even though its in a good condition I will take the machine apart and clean, check all parts and the reassemble it. I like to know what I have in my garage  When the machine is mechanically ok and checked I will convert it so it will run under Mach3. I do not like to put my money on 19 years old electronics, every day more they work you are lucky!

The top slide is ready for remount:











And some work on part of the body panels (they where dented), they are ready to receive the ground layer of paint:






I will do my best to not work on the machine, and get the Stuart finished...... :-\

Regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Apr 13, 2011)

Just a small update, really finishing the last bits and pieces.....

I made some small tools out of 3x3mm square. Used the mill grinder to have the correct relieve angles in the tool






I made a normal cutting tool and a parting tool. Here they are mounted in the tool post






Needed some fill up for the cabinet beside the lathe so I made 2 hammers. For the handle I used a part-stick (dont know the correct term for this, in dutch its called a "sate prikker"). Drilled a hole of 1.9mm (the stick is 2mm) and after pressed the handle in. It keeps on place very well, no need to glue it.






Here the both hammers, they just need a little paint, one will be black, the round one will get a copper color.






In the meanwhile I am assembling the painted parts, its coming along well. If time allows me I will have it finished this weekend, will post some pics as soon as the great moment of completion has arrived....

Have fun, regards Jeroen


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## coopertje (Apr 16, 2011)

woohoo1 its FINISHED!!!

Got the last pieces together and assembled the complete lathe. Here's what came out:


























I want to take the advantage of thanking everybody that took the effort to comment and provide tips and improvements! Its a real pleasure to post a build on this site, there is so much knowledge and experience available. I can highly recommend everybody to post your work here, you will not regret it.

For now I will start on my Harisson and when that machine is in business I will take on another project. Maybe continue on my Stanley steamer car or finished the Otto 4 stroke fuel engine....

Have a good weekend!

Regards Jeroen


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## NickG (Apr 16, 2011)

Wow, it's fantastic Jeroen you must be very pleased. Great to see something different to the norm too, and great build log well done.


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## gbritnell (Apr 16, 2011)

Congratulations on a terrific build Jeroen. The build article was very well documented and the lathe is something to be proud of.
Thanks for all the time and effort that went into this presentation.
George


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## nfk (Apr 16, 2011)

Jeroen, i don`t know sufficient English to express how good it went!
Congratulations for a extremely good looking miniature lathe! 

Can`t wait to follow another build thread from you!

Norberto


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## Jeff02 (Apr 17, 2011)

I would like nominate this for Project of the Month.
Its a great looking lathe!
 Thm: Thm: Thm:


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## kcmillin (Apr 17, 2011)

Very Well Done Jeroen! This is something to be proud of, and so well finished too!!

Kel


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## coopertje (Apr 17, 2011)

Thanks for the kind comments, i really appriciate them! 

Regards Jeroen


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## BillTodd (Apr 17, 2011)

Superb 

Bill


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