Stuart engineering Lathe

[NickG]

Good point about the forces that will break a tap and the tapping fluid - that is something I must invest in.

 

[coopertje]

Today I continued my work on the saddle.

Started with cutting away the big pieces with the bandsaw

Time to make the swallowtail on the bottom of the saddle. First made the bottom and side strip to size using a big mill

Then made the U-shape as preparation for the 60 degree cutter

After the swallowtail was cut on both sides I took a cut trough the middle of the saddle to give it the idea of having a machined guide. The dimension of the swallowtail is not so critical, there will be a strip between the bed and saddle. The only point of attention is that the distance between front of saddle and side of bed is large enough to mount the gear later on.

Mounted together

Had some time left so I decided to mount the gears. First I made a stub with M3 tread on one side. No pictures of this.

Then treaded the side of saddle M3 to mount the gear stub.

Stub and gears

When trying to mount it was impossible to get the gear below the gear bar mounted on the side of the bed. Something went wrong with my dimensions, I don't know what or where. In fact it does not matter so much, knowing the failure will not make the gear fit. Since I did not like the finish of the top of the bed so much, I decided to lower the bed by 0.5mm. That the swallowtail becomes smaller with this action is not a problem, I can easily increase the thickness of the strip with some tenths of millimeters. Took a sharp HSS mill and reduced the table hight by 0.5mm. Got a nice finish now, hardly any machining marks left....

Time to take the bed out of the vise and test..... it works!

That's all for today, next I will make the cross slide.

CU Jeroen

 

[BenPeake]

This is an awesome project! You take photographs and that little lathe is really taking shape. Can't wait to see it taking a cut!

 

[coopertje]

Thanks Ben. I am not so sure if it ever will make a cut. Maybe for a picture put some chips on bed.....

Today I planned to make the cross slide. In the kit there is a piece of metal supplied, but I found it to small

Luckily I found another piece between my left overs and start to cut in 2 pieces with the band saw. First one side, flipped it over in vise and used a feeler-gauge to re-clamp the material for the second part of the saw process

The width is perfect!

Put the machining lines on the stock, put it in the vise, select a mill (10mm) and start to take the first cut.

Mmmmmm.....those lines are very close to the mill......cannot be OK. Stopped the machine and took another look.... then I saw that the mill was not 10mm but 12mm. I measured the shaft and not the flutes.... *club* :wall: OK, time for a coffee. Since this was the only piece of flat metal I have I decided to continue, make the swallowtail too wide and then solder in 1 strip of brass and on the other side make a adjustable strip. This little mistake costs me some hours to correct....

Finished the U-shape

After this I cut the swallowtails on both sides and cut a brass strip of 1mm thickness. To keep it in position during soldering I made 2 clamps from copper strip material, worked out well (sorry for the wrong focus in the first pic). After soldering cut it to dimension in the mill.

One side finished / repaired. For the other side I wanted to make an adjustable strip, but the cross slide is just a little smaller than the saddle. Will not work to mount locking nuts on the side. Well, in this case, no adjustable strip but a fixed one will do for me. This one needs to be 1.5mm thick. I had some plate of 1.5mm brass that I needed to clamp under 60 degrees. I do not have a adjustable clamp, so I started to look around to see what I could find. Then my eye catched my clamping set. The result you see below

Worked out better then expected, the material did not move for a 0.01mm! After gluing on the other strip I could cut the cross slide to length and clean up the front and back with a light cut in the mill.

Finally after some hours I have the cross slide mounted on the saddle.

It needs to get some horizontal lines on the top of the slide and a treaded hole to mount the axis to hold the tool post.

Regards Jeroen

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Jeroen
Were the brass gib strips part of Stuarts plan or did you decide to make them yourself.
In any case it's a good idea.
George

 

[coopertje]

Hi George,

The brass gib strips are not part of the Stuart plans. I added them because I took the wrong diameter mill to cut the U-shape, it was too wide. I recoverred the part by adding the strips. But afterall I am somehow glad that it happened, the brass strips look nice and the cross slide runs very well over the iron saddle.

I will take a peak to your transmission progress now, CU later.

 

[swilliams]

It's really looking the part now Jeroen. Just like a bought one in miniature.

Steve

 

[NickG]

Yes, looking great and it's much better made than my chinese milling machine! If this was full size you get the impression it'd be a good solid machine!

Nick

 

[coopertje]

Thank you Steve!

Well Nick, it I sure hope its better quality then a Chinese one. I can really smell them from a distance, I do not know what kind of protection oil they use, but that particular smell you can recognize immediately. On the other hand, if the Chinese would spend the same amount of hours to produce a lathe as I did for sure the quality would be better..... ;D

Regards Jeroen

 

[coopertje]

Not so much progress for tonight. I hope I can get some things done this week, on Sunday I will leave to Brazil and after Argentina for work. My project will be stopped for 2 weeks. Well at least I will have some nice weather in return, its getting cold over here ;D

I was able to finish the cross slide. First made the horizontal line (simulation of T-grove I guess) in the top of the slide with a saw of 1mm thickness

Then found the center line and drilled and tapped a hole M4. In here the stub for the tool post will be mounted

The (almost) finished slide mounted on the lathe. Almost, because it needs to get 2 holes in the front to attach the spindle to the slide.

That's all, regards Jeroen

 

[TuxMan]

Jeroen

The project is coming along very well. I like the way you have recovered nicely form the problems you have encountered. Part of my learning experience on this site is in seeing how others solve problems.

Thanks for sharing

Eric

 

[coopertje]

Thanks Eric. Nice to know that others then only myself learn from my mistakes. It also gives a positive feeling to making a mistake. I tend to think nowdays that I do not make mistakes anymore, but that I create an opportunity to learn something intead. Feels much better :big:

Regards Jeroen

 

[nfk]

Jeroen, if you have any spare time in Buenos Aires let me know, i`ll buy you a few beers
Great work so far, congrats!

Norberto

 

[coopertje]

Hi Noberto,

I will not pass by Buenos Aires this trip, will fly from Porto Alegre directly to Rosario. From Rosario to Lima in Peru, then to Panama, from there back home to Amsterdam. Maybe next March I will spend some days in Buenos Aires for an exhibition, would be great to meet you then! Like to see other peoples work and discuss about our hobby.

Tonight I had just 45 minutes in the garage and did a little turning, made the spindle for the cross slide and the stub to mount the tool post

Started with a piece of M5 wire bar and made a ring of silver steel, 8mm OD and internal M5 tread. I glued it on the M5 bar and after drying machined it. The machining was simple, just reduce the diameter back to 3mm and put some M3 tread on it for the handwheel. The left over of the ring will be clamped (not tight, just enough space to not have play but enough space to have it rotating freely) between the cross slide and the cross slide front plate.

The stub for the toolpost is made of silversteel 4mm diameter. On one side I put M4 tread (to be in the cross slide) and the other side M3

Tomorrow I plan to make the handles, 3 pieces in total. One to lock the saddle, one to fix the tool post and one to fix the tail stock spindle.

Regards Jeroen

 

[coopertje]

I made the handles, used the material supplied in the kit.

First put it in the vise to get a 60 degree angle on the head. I used a block from my clamping set to set the angle.

Took a cut with the mill

Then center drilled and finally drilled with 2mm drill.

Prepared 4 pieces in total, you never no when you need one spare.

Took the parts over to the lathe and parted off the handles

Flipped them and drilled a 5mm hole, 3mm deep using an end mill. The idea is to put in a brass bush with M3 tread. In this way the bush has tread over the complete 3mm length, something that will be diffcult when I try to tap this into the handle directly.

Took some brass 5mm OD and tapped M3 inside and parted off 3mm long bushes

Here are the parts before gluing them together

For the tailstock I decided to put in a M3 treaded bar and inhere drill a 1.5mm hole

After I put in a piece of brass and filed and sanded it to such a length that the tailstock spindle is blocked with the handle in correct position.

This weekend I hope to finish the toolpost before go on travel for work. Lets see.....

Regards Jeroen

 

[hobby]

Very nice work on your lathe.

Good job on the details, pictures and the explanations, are very well done, makes for a very enjoyable thread to follow.

 

[coopertje]

Thank you hobby! Sometimes I am afraid to get boring for people with too much pictures. Nice to know that its not the case. What about you flight simulator, things are going well?

Regards Jeroen

 

[hobby]

Thank you hobby! Sometimes I am afraid to get boring for people with too much pictures. Nice to know that its not the case. What about you flight simulator, things are going well?

Regards Jeroen

Hi Jeroen,

It's going real well.
A small delay, though, I'm waiting for another micro controller board to come in, for my mill, before I can do some more heavy milling.

Thanks for asking.

 

[coopertje]

Mmmm...that s.cks! Speed controller board for the mill? if yes truly consider to replace the motor and board for a good 3phase-AC motor and a good frequency inverter (you need the one with a flux-vector control, they generate lots of torque at low frequency). They are available 2nd hand for not too much money. For sure you will not have any problem after this change.
Good luck and hope to see some progress soon!

 

[bertieb]

Hi All,
The photo is of the Stuart Engineering Lathe that I made about six years ago
when Stuart first put the castings on the market.
The other two photos show how I machined the bed suports on the lathe.
The 4-jaw chuck was a nightmare to make, in fact I made four before geting
it right, since then Antony Mount has designed a more simple way of making it.
I have the drawing on file if anybody needs it.
Bert.