How a Cedge project is born

[Mcgyver]

I like to file metal. I know it's mindless drudgery,

its all in the attitude, drudgery or peaceful zen time in the shop?

besides one has to file metal, how else do you get the tool marks out? It's neither hard as a skill or labour, just takes a bit of practice - right up with learning to tap in both necessity and difficulty imo


Why would filing in the lathe would be an issue? the comparison to grinding is way off, grinding wheels dump abrasive grit all over everything; filings are just chips.

Personally I don't see the need for a die filer as I have no dies to file and as noted the files are like hens teeth, but if you you wanted one, that's a good solution.

so far as filing in the lathe, as in the work rotating, I was taught not to and imo it makes sense - you don't know if its round or truly cylindrical once you start filing. it was a blasphemous act sure to generate a tirade. lol

 

[Tin Falcon]

When I described how it involved a wire rotating around a magnet in a pool of mercury, she absolutely freaked. Learning has been completely subordinated to the irrational fears of a bunch of yuppie enviro-nazis.

Geez Marv how dare you suggest such a thing I have heard of schools calling in a haz-mat team to deal with a broken thermometer after evacuating the science lab.
I remember little plastic toys with blobs of mercury inside. Used to play with it as a kid how times have changed.
Tin

 

[zeusrekning]

Ok Steve, You sure are leaving out alot. Where's all the info on butt and head scratching, and profanity? Oh thats my projects. LOL
I just want to see if this project comes out as well as the water engine.

 

[Circlip]

Yes, we file in the lathe, but the bits tend to be thrown away from the job. From a safety point, using a die filer, you need to be "In Harms way", vertically ABOVE the job, not an ideal position over the lathe bed. Over here, as part of the ubiquitous Myford universal machine toolkit, you used to be able to get a fitting that the drive was picked up from the chuck for --------- cutting wood. A circular saw table. The elfins would have a birthday with that one nowadays.
Regards Ian.

 

[steamer]

Hey guys,

Powerfiling attachments were very popular once....here's a couple of referances.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/cataract/page13.html


http://www.lathes.co.uk/waltham/page3.html
Dave

 

[raggle]

When I described how it involved a wire rotating around a magnet in a pool of mercury, she absolutely freaked. Learning has been completely subordinated to the irrational fears of a bunch of yuppie enviro-nazis.
Geez Marv how dare you suggest such a thing I have heard of schools calling in a haz-mat team to deal with a broken thermometer after evacuating the science lab.
I remember little plastic toys with blobs of mercury inside. Used to play with it as a kid how times have changed.

.

When a mercury switch got busted on a power press my Dad would bring the contents home for us kids to play with. Happened more than once. I suppose it all ended up under the floorboards of the house we lived in at the time, because I never remember storing it.

We're all still alive, my 3 sisters and me, average age 69.

Mad as hatters though. Have been ever since we were, er ... kids ???

Ray

 

[shred]

.

When a mercury switch got busted on a power press my Dad would bring the contents home for us kids to play with. Happened more than once. I suppose it all ended up under the floorboards of the house we lived in at the time, because I never remember storing it.

We're all still alive, my 3 sisters and me, average age 69.

Mad as hatters though. Have been ever since we were, er ... kids ???

Ray

Rumor has it that in one of the English Universities that's been around for centuries, they pulled up the floorboards in a science lab and discovered large pools of mercury that had settled there over many many years of students and broken thermometers... It's not great stuff for you, but not Ebola either. Gasoline is probably far worse.

 

[Cedge]

The Die filer project has surprised me to some extent. Perhaps it is due to giving the project my focused attention, or luck is simply on my side for a change. Knock on wood.... there have been no parts requiring remaking and the dimensions have been falling spot on, or at least close enough that a little hand work has them where they need to be.

Most of the basic parts have been roughed in and are awaiting their turn in the assembly sequence. I used the need to transfer the assembly's motion to a second shaft to add some additional bracing. This added some more stability to what was already a pretty solid mount. The bracing will also serve to support the table top. It's not often you'll see parts this rough in one of my posts, but I've been to busy designing the darned thing to give the bling aspect much thought.

Once the bracing was to my liking, I began whittling things away to accept the second shaft and the transfer block. I will also need access to the attachment point for the soon to be added file chuck. If you look closely, you can see the upper bushing which was press fitted along with a matching bottom bushing. Using 2 bushings instead of one saved on metal, cut down on friction and made swapping them out easier, should the develop wear. It also allowed me to pack the void between them with grease. Once they were line bored with a 3/8 reamer, smooth vertical alignment was not any problem. The transfer block could then be marked using a transfer punch. The final alignment was dead on and painless.

The transfer block was a little trickier since the original shaft had been flattened and distorted to use jigsaw blades. By making it open ended I was able to machine the upper half with a 3/8 end mill and then use a 3/16 to slot the lower half. This allowed me to use the original screw hole, used to secure the blade, by re-tapping it to 10-24 threads. The second shaft was also tapped for a 10-24 screw, completing the motion transfer simply, but quite effectively.

From the outset of the project, I've been concerned that the assembly had a bit of inherent vibration. Nothing dangerous, but it would become annoying when using the finished machine. Keeping everything aligned to the centerline of the lathe rotation was critical and was a major factor in what I could shave from both jigsaw casting and the base plate. The .025 shim under the casting brought everything up to height and careful positioning took care of the lateral alignment.

The photo below was taken with lathe running at 760 RPM. The Coffin Nail was then set atop the body of the assembly. As you can see, while the transfer block, and lathe chuck are motion blurred, the smoke is still balanced rock solid. That's far less vibration than some of the chattering cuts this lathe has seen and enough to convince me the Lovejoy coupling is not going to be required.

The next work frenzy will be tackling the table top. I'm still trying to decide if I really need the top to tilt, but the hinge pins are there and the notch on the right end of the race block was cut to accept an arc, so I'll probably go ahead in that direction.

Steve

 

[xlchainsaw]

well done cedge ive been considering the same type of project! like yourself i have a set of pm! which ive had the pleasure of owning for the last 32 yrs. the filing machine project was also published in popular science 1963 which i have a copy of.im happy to scan it and post it if you want!