A while back I bought a cheap pocket-knife kit, but never found the time to assemble and finish it. It uses small brass pins to hold it all together, and I didn't have a ball peen to do the job. What does any self-respecting hobby machinist do? Make one, of course.
The goal was to make the head about 4 oz. as that seemed to be the most common size for this kind of work. Hard to see, but it's 4.2 oz. on my cheap scale.
And all assembled, ready to me to ignore the knife project for another couple of years while I go on to other things:
The hardest part was getting a decent knurl in the brass. Fine wheels tend to clog, and once I figured out what was happening, I used a toothbrush to clean them every pass, and that allowed them to form the knurl.
Took me about 10 hours total, including the time spent to grind the radius tool used to make the plunge cuts either side of the handle. Ed, you think parting is scary, try plunge cutting a 5/16" radius straight into steel! Suffice to say I'm getting better at determining speeds and feeds for this little lathe.
The goal was to make the head about 4 oz. as that seemed to be the most common size for this kind of work. Hard to see, but it's 4.2 oz. on my cheap scale.
And all assembled, ready to me to ignore the knife project for another couple of years while I go on to other things:
The hardest part was getting a decent knurl in the brass. Fine wheels tend to clog, and once I figured out what was happening, I used a toothbrush to clean them every pass, and that allowed them to form the knurl.
Took me about 10 hours total, including the time spent to grind the radius tool used to make the plunge cuts either side of the handle. Ed, you think parting is scary, try plunge cutting a 5/16" radius straight into steel! Suffice to say I'm getting better at determining speeds and feeds for this little lathe.
Full of ideas, but slow to produce parts