Big Lathe Faceplate Project

[aametalmaster]

Ok i got my lathe like in 2004 and like everyone else i has a big wishlist. Now i could have ordered everything online as i was rich then :) but why have a lathe if you are going to buy everything?. So i wanted a big faceplate so big it almost drags the ways LOL. With lots of holes drilled in it. I watched ebay and got 100 different ideas on how to make it. Then i ran into a guy at the mall one night and he worked in a foundry. I said make me a 10" casting 2" thick sometime. A few weeks went by and he called and said come get you plates. He made me 4 of them so now what to do i can't hold them in my 6" chuck and i didn't want to drill holes in them to use on my smaller home made plate. So i dreamed up a 5/8" arbor to chuck up between centers. So i drilled a 5/8" hole in the center of the plate in my drill press and put it on my new arbor. See the projects just keep coming :) Then i put the lathe in BG and proceded to round this thing out. It was like turning a big pumpkin. So i turned the face and the od as well as turned a spigot on it to grab with my chuck. Then i chucked it up and turned the backside and deceided to thread it for my lathe. Now the hardest part was turning it around both the chuck and the part to test fit it on my spindle while threading. A few more cuts and it was threaded. So then i screwed it on and trimmed down the face and the final od to suit. Then i spot drilled it with my cs hole driller, degree wheel and a center drill. Then i drilled 1/2 of the holes 3/8" in my drill press and left the rest of the spotted holes for future use if i need them. Enjoy...Bob

[aametalmaster]

Check out the way i turned the OD with the boring bar...Bob

[aametalmaster]

Heres another pic i found. Cutting the backside from the frontside. I don't do too much textbook machining i have to wing a lot of it...Bob

[EdK]

(03-26-2012, 05:33 PM)aametalmaster Wrote: Check out the way i turned the OD with the boring bar...Bob

Bob,

I've seen that technique used before. Sometimes it's the only way to turn the OD on something that is really too big for the lathe. Nice job.

Ed

[DaveH]

Hi Bob,

You sure make your lathe "sing" for it's supper.

That is an excellent job, really well done
Nicely shown.

So you still have 3 pieces left

DaveH

[Mayhem]

Nice work Bob.

[doubleboost]

Hi
Bob
That was nicely done
I like your drilling set up
John

[dallen]

(03-26-2012, 05:51 PM)aametalmaster Wrote: Heres another pic i found. Cutting the backside from the frontside. I don't do too much textbook machining i have to wing a lot of it...Bob

I saw this technique in Honolulu Hawaii once but the bar they were using to reach back towards the headstock with was about 3 inches square.

great looking face plate wish I could find a guy that would make those kind of casting in his spare time at work for free

[krv3000]

well dun

[Bill Gruby]

I luv it. Someone else pushing the lathe to its outer limits. Well done Bob, well done.

"Billy G"