Building a 56mm boring head

[FIXIT]

brilliant STUFF
thanks Arnold i have been quietly 'looking over your shoulder' as before and learnt a lot, I'm going to have a go at making a dovetail cutter you make it look so easy !
and hope to raise my self to your quality of work.
so thanks once again

Steve :bow:

 

[dsquire]

Arnold

Congratulations on 2 fronts. One is the fact that your last post was #1000. The other is the fantastic job you did making the boring head. I can still remember a bit over a year ago when you were new to the board and asking questions. From the looks of the skills that you have shown since then you were paying attention to all of the answers.

You have came a long way since you started on the forum and should feel very proud of your accomplishments. :bow: :bow: :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Ron ;D

Dean, thank you very much I'll have to tidy AMESS at some point and post some "not-for-sale" signs :big:

Thanks Steve - go for it. Things get easier the more one work at it - it just takes a little effort . One lesson that I have learned is that "quality of work" is very much a matter of setting personal goals and aspiring to them - then things soon start looking like other people's good work.

Thank you Don ;D - I didn't even notice the post number ! Yes, I have been paying attention to the wisdom provided by the different members of HMEM - and its nice to slowly be able to actually start providing answers to similar questions that I asked when I started. I still have many questions and lots to learn though...
I am happy with my progress - and the best of it is it is really nice to get into the shop and look around at the assortment of tools I have made; my little collection has actually grown nicely from the bare essentials I started off with. There's a lot of time invested in the collection, but the return in experience and usefulness is beyond measure!

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[Maryak]

Damn - I've been following along and missed the finale.............away with the fairies or another senior moment, (AGAIN )

Having got that under the belt,


CONGRATULATIONS Arnold..........or in the vernacular............ BLOODY BEWDY

Best Regards
Bob

 

[minerva]

I'll second that Bob :bow: :bow: :bow:,
Super job Arnold.
I hope to be back in the shop later today after a month out and I've promised myself the next project on my list is a boring head!
One query tho. Is it essential to have a Morse taper fitting or is it sufficient to use a parallel spigot for use with a collet?

 

[Artie]

Arnold Arnold Arnold......what a write up! What a result!

Funny, being part of this electronic community makes ME feel proud of YOUR achievements..weird....

I LOVE my boring head... ID love it more had I built it..... yours looks like it came from the same factory as mine....no, wait....yours looks better....

Way to go mate....

 

[kustomkb]

Awesome job Arnold!

People wonder why build a tool when one can be bought relatively inexpensively. Well you've shown exactly why it should be built yourself, and that tool would not be cheap. Watch out Narex!

 

[arnoldb]

;D Thanks very much indeed Bob. Don't worry, those "moments" catch all of us

Thank you Terry ;D. The morse taper is not required - a straight shank should do just fine, but use the biggest size you can for your collet set. I went the taper route as I felt it would be more rigid than running in my collet chuck with my B/H being on the large side and the maximum collet size for my mill being just 16mm. Not using the collet chuck saves a bit of headroom as well; about 70mm on my setup - which could turn out to be convenient to have at some future point. Of course, it depends on what you have; if one's mill has an R8 spindle, then one would go for an R8 arbor. There is an additional advantage to making the arbor a screw-in part like I did; its easy to make different arbors for the head - for example I can make an MT2 arbor for mine to use it in my lathe's headstock, or even the lathe tailstock with a center point to do taper turning. Good luck with your build Thm: - remember we like pictures ;D

Rob, thanks mate ;D. Drat - same factory ? - those Chinese get in everywhere... :big:

Thanks Kevin ;D. And thanks again ; my home-built tools just "feel" better to use than bought ones and that's as good a reason as any to build one's own tools. Besides, being in my corner of the world, it is actually cheaper to build my own. The cost of materials, additional cutters and consumables for this build came to about N$ 450 (US$ 56), and a "cheap 'n cheerful import" costs N$ 960 (US$ 120). The same went for my rotary table - cost as built N$ 700 (US$ 88) and to buy one locally N$ 4800 (US$ 600) . I'll look up that Narex crowd and slobber a bit :big:

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[bearcar1]

WOW! and DOUBLE WOW!! Man I fell asleep at the switch on this one. I don't know how I ended up missing all the excitement but that BH is a real beauty indeed. I take my hat off to you Arnold, you do some nice work and you make it look so darned easy. Thanks for sharing, I've always enjoyed seeing your setups. I've still to have the opportunity to do radiant graduation markings but will follow your lead when the time arises.

BRAVO!! Thm:

BC1
Jim

 

[tel]

Ah, there you are Arnold. I was beginning to think you'd got et by a lion. Seriously mate, that is a brilliant bit of work - something you can be proud of.

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Another awesome, beautifully crafted, exceptionally made tool under your belt.
Like I said before, you're an inspiration to people interested in making their own tools.
Very very nice Arnold.
Congratulations.

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Jim ;D I'm practicing those graduations - I will need every ounce I learned when I get around to making a tool & cutter grinder...

Tel, thank you; fortunately lions don't eat just any old thing ;D

Thanks Carl ;D - Get your lathe sorted & turn up those die holders; it would be an ideal test

I'll be a bit quiet on the toolmaking front for a while; I've got a new engine project in design, and it will require some "peripheral" projects to test ideas

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[minerva]

Arnold
many thanks for your thoughts. The versatility of the threaded arbor with taper to suit mill/lathe is a valid one and on reflection I think I might re-arrange my project schedule and make a taper turning attachment. I have a couple of designs squirreled away some where and I think this may be the way to go!
kindest regards,
terry

 

[arnoldb]

Its a pleasure Terry

I finally got around to using the boring head for the first time today...
Not on one of the best metals to be found though; Copper is always a bit of a bugger, and the carbide bits I have for the boring head is not entirely suitable for copper, but it worked a treat ;D:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXmoImwLMiw[/ame]

Regards, Arnold

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Very cool Arnold.
Was that actual speed?

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Carl - yes, that was actual speed; I'm not sure about the speeds to run the boring head at, so started fairly slowly, but it seemed to work well at that speed. Can't recall what the exact speed is though; would have to open shop and look at the mill's speed plate to see...

 

[Deanofid]

Hey, it cuts great, Arnold! Naturally.

I have to make a wild guess; Are you making some kind of flue boiler there?

Dean

 

[arnoldb]

Thanks Dean

Your wild guess is spot-on - a smallish experimental horizontal flue boiler. I'm not doing a build log on it though; being experimental that might not be a good idea. Once finished and thoroughly tested, I'll post on it - if it's up to scratch that is.

Kind regards, Arnold