# My new ball turner.



## zeusrekning (Jun 24, 2008)

I finally made me a ball turner. 
I didn't document anything while making the base but it is fairly straight forward. Round piece of aluminum turned knurled and bored for a tapered roller bearing I had laying around, then a slot milled for my tool holder.
I also made a steel plate to bolt to the top of the table with holes drilled and tapped for the ball turner to bolt to.
The part I did document was making the tool holder which was a first to me and the most complicated.
Unfortunately I'm short on time so I will run through it quickly with pics and add detail tomorrow. 
The main thing I did that worked out well was I used the rotary base that my Kurt vise in mounted on, It was a pain getting the tool centered but it made it easy to cut the tool profile.
The insert I chose to use was a 35deg VNMG style insert. I center drilled a hole where I wanted the center of the insert to be and then shimmed the tool holder blank out from the fixed jaw and located it in "X" so when the vise was rotated the hole I center drilled was aligned with the spindle. I then zeroed the DRO.
The greatest thing is when I brought my first part into the house my daughter (2 years old tomorrow) looked at it and said WOW! and now she want put it down. She is running around the house saying "My Pretty".  
I can't get all the images uploaded so here is what I have.





















Tim


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## Brass_Machine (Jun 24, 2008)

Thats pretty cool Tim. Now post the rest of the pictures! :big:

On a side note... I want to build a ball turner... but my lathe's compound slide isn't like the 9x19 or larger lathes. (Damn 7x10!). I really don't like the looks of the ones made for my mini lathe. I could always make one of those. Like the the LMS version:






I think I am going to design my own.

Eric


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## ksouers (Jun 24, 2008)

Eric,
Take a look at John Moran's site. He made one similar to Tim's, based on Steve Bedair's.

John has a 7x12.

http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/BallFixture.html


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## Brass_Machine (Jun 24, 2008)

Thanks Kevin! Thats the one. I will make that one.

Eric


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## ksouers (Jun 24, 2008)

You're quite welcome.

I've been considering copying it as well as I also have a 7x12.


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## Divided He ad (Jun 25, 2008)

Looks like someone else has got the hang of making balls up !!

Nice tooling there Tim, and as Eric said.... 





> Now post the rest of the pictures! :big:




I like to see the variation made to these tools by different builders and build constraints ;D 



Ralph.


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## kustomkb (Jun 25, 2008)

here is a similar one with drawings by Ishimura, very skookum looking
http://homepage3.nifty.com/amigos/radius_cutting_attachment/radius_cutting_tool-e.htm


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## zeusrekning (Jun 25, 2008)

Alright guys, I can't get the pics to open up from the build so I took some finished pictures.




















And like I mentioned above , inside the alum base is a tapered roller bearing and race.


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## Cedge (Jun 25, 2008)

Well done Tim. Now... about that Yo-Yo....(grin)

Steve


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## Divided He ad (Jun 25, 2008)

Wow Tim,.... Now that's posh!!  

I really like the close fit of the tip holder. It looks like the tips are narrower than mine, it probably gets some tighter curves than mine does?

Does it have a handle? or are you using the Knurl to turn it?! (do you have super strength in your fingers?) 
How did you machine the sides of the tip holder?
(just call me Mr inquisitive!!  ) 

It's late so it could be my eyes.... does it bolt to the (what appears to be enormous) cross slide with the 4 bolts? 
I can't quite make it out?... Probably just me! :


All the same very nice look, and you can obviously make it work well ;D 




Ralph.


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## zeusrekning (Jun 26, 2008)

Ralph, 
I will hopefully make a handle this evening. I had a short bolt in it for the test run. Couldn't take any pics with a bolt hanging out of it 
When you say sides of the tip holder do you mean the inside or the outside?
Keep in mind I had the tip holder in my Kurt vise and used the rotating base for my angles. I rigged the TH (tip holder) so that the screw hole was under the spindle no matter which way I rotated the vise. So I basically had to find the center of rotation of the vise in relation to the rotating base and put the screw hole on the same vertical datum. 
After that I would rotate the vise 17.5 deg. and eyeball the first cut to about where I wanted ,noting the values on the DRO. Then I would make a mirrored cut on the other side of the tool using the same values but inverted. then rotated the vise to   -17.5 deg. and make the same cuts. All was done with a 1/8" carbide endmill and plenty "Tap Magic" oil.That was the inside. The outside was the same except I have eight angles. Four @ 17.5deg and 4 @ 35 degs. done the same way but with a larger endmill.

The HUGE cross slide is no illusion. :big: My CS has 4 bolt holes in the top and no T-slots. So I made a base to bolt to the CS with holes down the center for my ball turner. The turner actually bolts thru the center to the plate on top of the CS.
The plate is too long B/C I did not have my saw running when I made it so I got bolted on as was. It was made from scrap. It kinda' looks like the beginnings of a taper attachment huh? 



Steve ??? YO-YO uh..... Yeah I'll have to...... uh... no material. Yeah I don't have any material that would work well for that right now/ :big:


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## Divided He ad (Jun 26, 2008)

Thank you Tim, All questions answered.... 

I know the Bolt Idea works well, I've had to use one to get my hand under the tailstock before when I made my last flywheel I used the centre post off my now very retired first finger engine!... Smaller handle soon to be on the way ;D 

I'll be watching your future posts to see what interesting things you make with the addition of this new tool  



Ralph.


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