BALL TURNER MYSTERIES UNVEILED!!!

[Captain Jerry]

Brian

If the pivot point is short of the axis, you get a toroid, not an ogive. You may want to allow the pivot to go past the axis in case you do want an ogive. A brass ogive might be a little heavy for a rocket nose but it makes a nice knob for the top of the sugarbowl.

Jerry

 

[Captain Jerry]

A light just went on in my head. I don't have a ball maker but if I did, I would try this.

Turn a disk with a recess in the face, like the start of a flywheel. leave the outer rim thickness = to the thickness of the disk. Set the pivot point half the thickness of the rim in from the outer edge and half the thickness of the disk in from the face. Set the radius of the ball maker to half the thickness of either. (They should be the same). Back the carriage off toward the tailstock. Using the carriage feed, NOT the crossfeed, make 180 degree sweeps with the ball maker as you feed into the face. You will have to stop slightly short of 180 on the inside. Reverse the plate and do it again. Voila! A nice handwheel with a round rim.

Jerry

 

[Bernd]

Heres a ball turner mystery for you all.What came first the ball turner or the ball on the end of the ball turner handle?

best regards Steve C

I'd say the ball came first. Reason it can be done just using the cross slide and the carriage al la Guy Lautard, author of the 3 Bedside Readers. ;D

Bernd

 

[artrans]

jerry I would draw it for one day a soon as I figure the f7&*7 BASTARD OUT. JUST TRYING TO SPREAD SOME HUMOR. :big: :big: :big:

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Jerry--I believe you are right. By positioning things correctly, the ball turner should be able to turn a concave depression in a disc.---brian

 

[Kermit]

Jerry--I believe you are right. By positioning things correctly, the ball turner should be able to turn a concave depression in a disc.---brian

I knew I was right about that! But I guess it takes a well known member to say it before it gets heard.

 

[Cedge]

ROFL.....
You guys aren't not much on taking things on faith. Yes... you can cut definitely a concave, if the cutter is positioned forward of the pivot. I cut a concave into the replacement hand wheel for my little 7 x 14 lathe, just that way. The concave begins at the bottom of a 1/2 inch bored cut, so that the the wheel has a heavy rim. The cutter had to extend fairly deep into the well to make the cut, which is where the adjustable reach of a HSS cutter is a nice option.

Steve

 

[artrans]

Lets get serious for a few seconds you no it not as easy as it looks to get a perfect ball.
it seems many other odd sharpe come though before the ball but it could be me and problemly is so I will shut up and go back to being silent. I have some cad drawings to piss me off. ;D ;D

 

[Captain Jerry]

Brian

I wasn't clear. I did not mean cutting a concave depression in the face. I was talking about turning a round rim, like a tire, on the edge of the disk, like a handwheel or a torrus. See the attached quick and dirty drawing for the setup I was proposing.

Jerry

View attachment Handwheel.pdf

 

[Captain Jerry]

Brian

It would be so much easier to express myself to others if I had a copy of Solid Works and ten years to learn to use it.

Jerry

 

[Cedge]

Jerry
A Torus can be cut, with a bit of preparation. Its a wee bit tricky since the cutter has to enter the bore of the work piece. Not likely with the indexed cutters, but HSS can be made to do it.

Steve

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Okay Jerry--I see what you mean, and yes, you could probably do that too. I have worked all day, and succesfully made 2 peices. At this rate, if I could sell ball turners for $600 each I'd go into business. ;D ;D. I've been designing machinery for 44 years, and its only in the last year that I have began to realize how long it takes to make even the simplest part. My apologies to every machinist that I ever asked "Whats taking you so long??"

 

[putputman]

When I was on the bench, this kinda the way we looked at designers :'(

THE CRAFTY DRAFTSMAN

The designer sat at his drafting board
A wealth of knowledge in his head was stored
Like, "What can be done with a radial drill
Or a turret-lathe or a vertical mill?"
But above all things a knack he had
Of driving gentle machinists mad.
So he mused, as he thoughtfully scratched his bean,
Just how can I make this thing hard to machine?
If I make the body perfectly straight,
The job had ought to come out first rate.
But 'twould be so easy to turn and bore,
That it would never make a machinist sore.
So I'll make a compound taper there,
And a couple of angles to make them swear.
But that's too easy to work, I fear,
So just to make the machinist squeal,
I'll make him mill it from tungsten-steel.
And I'll put those holes that hold the cap,
Down underneath where they can't be tapped.
Now if they can make this, it'll just be luck,
Cause it can't be held by dog or chuck.
It can't be planed and it can't be ground,
So I feel that my design is unusually sound.
And as he finished, he shouted in glee,
SUCCESS AT LAST!!
This gosh damn thing can't even be cast.


Then after a few years I was one!! ;D

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Very good Putputman---I haven't seen that one before.

 

[joeby]

Here's a little something that you might consider adding to your ball turner.

We do a lot of form grinding at work on mold tooling. One of the wheel dressers is a knockoff of a J&S brand for doing radii and tangent angles. The interesting part of the J&S is how you set the radius.
http://www.jstool.com/fseries.htm

If you take a look at the dresser, you'll notice two pins along the side of the slide, one vertical and one horizontal. All you need to set the radius is a micrometer, or gage block stack.

The directions on setting the radius are on their site too, http://www.jstool.com/instructions.htm.

Maybe something along those lines would be an advantage, seem doable since most of the ball turners I've seen are kind of the same setup as the wheel dresser.

Just a thought.

Kevin

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Thanks Joeby---That looks like a good idea.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Progress is being made. The base is finished and mounted. The handle seems to clear everything okay when swung thru its full arc. I am not really crazy about having the thread that moves the cross slide exposed the way things set, but that will not keep the ball turner from functioning properly. I may get bold later on and drill and tap the top of the cross slide so that the ball turner sets closer to the back of the lathe, but first I want to finish the ball turner and make a ball succesfully.

 

[artrans]

Looks like the first ball will be for that handle on the ball maker great job at least you get things done. I seem to analyze to much I think I should just git r done :big: :big:

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well, we're just about ready to rock and roll!!! Please excuse my weird assortment of bolts. I have 8 million bolts in my junk drawer, and every damn one of them is different!! I do seem to be able to get the full range of movement required with the ball turner. That peice in the 3 jaw chuck is "Peter Pointer", a peice of 3/8" dia. rod I use for finding center punch marks in my mill. I just stuck it in their to show you the height of my cutting tool in the ball turner. And yes, the jaws on the chuck do clear everything as they rotate. In normal use for making balls, the ball turner will never set up this close to the chuck anyways. Now I'm off to make my first ball. If you hear a crash and a scream, pray for me! ;D ;D

 

[artrans]

two things brian i like the way you did the tool bit holder and also nice bolts where can I find some just like them the red ones really give it a good look.;D just being a wise ass. looks good. I see governor balls by the thosands you will be the sites ball master