Gingery Lathe

[woodnut]

Thanks for the comments.. These little pats on the back and tips are very helpful.

As I am waiting for the sand cores to dry enough to take out of the mold I started the lathe dogs that are described in the book last night. 4.5" and a 4.25" piece of 5/8 square stock and some 5/16" bolts.

The bigger 1.5 x 1.5 pieces will be the new tool post. I drilled and tapped all the holes and enlarged the 2 in the smaller piece so the bolts will go right though. Hunted around the shop and couldn't find any 5/16" bolts. It didn't really say how to do the hole in the middle that will grip the piece you are holding so I just drilled it out to 3/8" as this was the only measurement I could find for it in the book. Should I file the sides smooth and in the shape of a V or just leave them???

Looking at this picture now and I am going to have to buy some more 5/16 bolts with longer threads if I want to hold anything smaller than 1.25"D.

But first I have to make a new tool post. I was hoping to mill the slot in the side of the tool post like the wooden one I have been using, but I don't really trust the compound slide I have.
After reading Brain Rupnow "Bought me a monster" post I ended up on Busy Bee web site. I was looking for a Rotary table and found a nice 4" Chinese one on sale for $125. I was looking for a rotary table for a future project. Busy Bee isn't to far from where I work so off I go

Well.... As Brain encountered the item I wanted wasn't in stock. I was going to order it anyway but got looking around the store and found a 5" x 12" compound slide, on sale, and in stock

So for $4 more then the rotary table I now have a better compound side table. I can bolt down my 4" vice and hopefully I can now make the tool post.

I have read other posts about new machinery and everyone tears them down and cleans with up, re oils them and puts them back together. What cleaner should I use? I don't have any degreasers at the moment.

I should be baking sand cores tonight if they have dried enough to get out of the mold in one piece

John

 

[woodnut]

Well, it seem I've had a foreseen set back.

It seem that I have hurt myself, nothing to do with the shop or foundry work, but it might be a awhile before I can cast any more pieces.
Doc says I have ripped my left bicep, I don't remember doing anything that strenuous?? I'm sure I'd remember something like that!
But a side affect is the muscles in my shoulder blade, neck and chest are trying to compensate for the injured arm and are now spasming out on me.
Got some new pills today so we will how they work. We will see what the ultrasounds say. But NO lifting. I am not one to sit around and do nothing so this could be fun.

I am going to try and finish the few pieces I have made already. Tool post and face plate, I can still stand and turn a handle at least.

I will still be lurking in the back ground watching all the wonderful stuff you guys make.

John

 

[rake60]

OUCH!

You take care of yourself there John!

Rick

 

[woodnut]

Well the good news that my bicep is not torn! :big:
Now just have to figure out why my shoulder cramps up into a knot.

Wife won't let near the shop which is a good thing, as I probably do something dumb.
I know now why I have various hobbies, there is nothing on TV.

I should know more at the end of this week as more tests results come in.

John

 

[steamer]

Well...Hope the doc figures it out soon!

Get well soon!

Dave

 

[woodnut]

Thanks Rick and Dave.
All the results came back clear so that means nothing is torn which means no surgery :big:

So now its off to physio to get things back to working right.

Last night I went down to the shop and played a bit. I had gotten the new cross slide cleaned up and put back together before my shoulder got too bad.
I had cut the new tool post to size already and I started cleaning it up last night.

The new compound slide works great, still not a good as having a mill but it will have to do for now.

I had bought 3 end mill set (1/8", 1/4", 3/8") from Busy Bee for $15.00. So far they seem to cut fairly well.

Started cutting the channel for the lathe bits, so far everything is working out good, Hope to do some more today, still not allowed to lift anything but sittin around driving me up the wall.
See if I can get the tool post finished this weekend and then finish cleaning up the faceplate.

Going on vacation in about a week so hopefully when I get back I can try and casting the tail stock.

John

 

[woodnut]

Finished the tool post last night, Drilled and tapped the holes this morning.
My tap wasn't long enough so I had to drill a larger hole for the first 3/8". I had visions of the tap breaking but all went good.

Started finishing the face plate again. The whole thing feels much better now. I think I will cut in another groove in the opposite side of the tool post to allow for faster tool changes instead of having to rotate the tool post.

Face plate is almost done, as you can see I have found some air pockets here and there. I don't think they are big enough to worry about. I am going to make another just for the practice.
I am sure the deluxe accessories book (which I think the shop fairies have hidden on me) calls for a heavier face plate, a solid 3/4" one. But that will have to wait till I come back from vacation.

John

 

[steamer]

Looking Good John!

Dave

 

[woodnut]

Thanks Dave!!

I managed to sneak back into the shop after dinner for a bit.

Put the face plate on the drill press and milled out the slots.

My set screw must of put a burr on the shaft as the face plate won't come off. Had to put 2 bolts with nuts on them though the slots and against the head stock, by turning the nuts I was able to slowly force the face plate off the shaft. Wish I had though of this before I put all the little dents in face. Ohh well, face it off again the then lay out some lines every 1/2" for practice.

John.

 

[woodnut]

Frustrating!!

The last few days I have been trying to fine tune the main cross slide.
While facing off the inside of the face plate I have noticed that when I reverse the main lead screw the cross slide either moves forward about .010” then reverse or it twists that amount. I notice while trying to do the inside corner on the outer rim that when I reversed the bit out it took more off then when I move it forward, I tried taking as much movement out of the lead screw as I can without making it to tight to turn. I also tighten the gib screws, any tighter and I won’t be able to turn the lead screw at all, and I still have this slight movement. I have taken the whole thing apart and filed the way down a bit, putting a straight edge on it doesn’t show any low or high spots.

Frustrating….


John

 

[ncollar]

John
That is a gorgeous machine you are working on. I have always enjoyed the different ones that did a good build log. And you have done a nice job documenting it. Looking good and I'm sure you will work out all the bugs. The only thing I could add is maybe scraping the guides might tighten things up more. Scraping put small spots on the metal which holds oil similar to ball bearings. Keep up the good work.
Nelson Collar :bow:

 

[woodnut]

Hello all.

Sorry I haven’t update this post in a while. Nelson thanks for the kind words.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to work on the Lathe lately. My arm and back seem to be back to near normal, turns out it is a problem with my neck pichin some nerves. Just have to be careful lifting anything heavy.

The problem with being a jack of all trades is that someone is always asked you to do something. Don’t get me wrong I love working on different things for others, my wife well….. lets say I am a bit behind doing those things at home. But I did rebuild the closet, moved the door from the bathroom into our bedroom, of course there was a wire in the wall were I wanted to put the door. I hate the attic. Did double rows to hang clothes, a custom cabinet in the back with a place for her shoes. The guy who cut the plywood for me at the depot screwed one sheet up so I got it free! ☺
So I built a small tv cabinet that bolts to the wall, no legs to stub my toes on and somewhere to put all the kids DVDs.

Rona was nice enough to have a paint sale a little while back, so you know what else I have on my list. That’s after I remove the last bit of stucco from the ceiling in the front hall.

I also built a fairly large cabinet for a friend of the family, its 40” wide 24” deep and 8’ tall. Had to make it in 2 pieces so I could get it up to them. The fun part was lining up the electrical they wanted inside and the pipe chase for the TV cables.
Then there was the call for a back splash, they were having company from out of town and wanted to know if I could do it right away. Sometimes I am too dumb to say no. Nothing says father day as grouting someone else’s back splash. Still had a good time with the family thou.

I still have a bench, a fence and a custom gate to build before it gets to cold to work in the garage and sure there will be more to come.

I did mange in all of this to buy the last few parts for my CNC machine. Most have been delivered already. Been trying to spend some time learning Mach3 and figuring out how to convert Autocad to Gcode. I tried a couple of converters but they didn’t work to well. So far I draw it up in Autocad, save it. Open it in Draft Sight ( for some reason AutoCad won't save it in a DXF fle that lazycam will open), save it as a DXF file, open it in LazyCam and input the rest of the info like height of the piece, the tools used, depth of cut, etc, etc. Save it as Gcode. A bit of a process but so far the test files I have made have run in Mach3 ok. So far Draft Sight is just like AutoCad and once I am more up to speed on it I might stop using AutoCad. We will see.

OH and yes once it stop being a zillion degrees outside I cast the last few pieces of the lathe.

Well that enough of a rant for one night.

John.

 

[woodnut]

I know this is a bit off topic, but

Just a quick vid of a motor test for the CNC machine.

 

[dsquire]

John

You sure have a mess of wires and pieces on your workbench! If you want to clean it up, just shove it into a box and send it to me. Heck, I'll even pay the shipping. Haha.

I sure envy you. It looks like you are having fun. I'm sure that you will have it sorted out and running in short order. Good Luck.

Cheers (smile)

Don

 

[Annie]

Thankyou for documenting your lathe build so thoroughly John. I'm one of those people who purchased Dave Gingery's books some years ago, but never actually built my own lathe. My excuse is that an old rattly monster of a lathe was offered for sale cheap in my local area so I bought it instead of building my own.