Todays Project - What did you do today?

[dallen]

check one of the gun catalogs they have chemicals to turn brass and silver solder black. of course a black magic marker may work just as good

DA

[Shawn]

I tried to make the division marks on my lathe dials a little easier to read by colouring them white. Still need to touch it up a bit but my eyes sure like them better this way. I used a white acrylic marker that I got from a craft store, a steel wool pad did a good job of removing the white without pulling too much out of the depressions.

[vtsteam]

I don't have a rotary table, but I wanted to drill some indexed holes. So today I:











Probably work with a grinding stone, too, for shaft finishing.

[TomG]

Good job. Is that some sort of powered spindle you have there?

Tom

[vtsteam]

(08-18-2014, 03:10 PM)TomG Wrote: Good job. Is that some sort of powered spindle you have there?

Tom

Hi Tom, it's just a cheap flexible shaft tool I picked up a few years ago and never used. one end is supposed to get chucked in an electric drill, and the other has a hand grip and a drill chuck on it. I had to step drill the aluminum block to fit the "ergonomic" contour of the grip. But I did manage to get a good jam fit.

For this quick job and to try out this rig, I just used my hand drill for powering the flexible shaft. But I'm thinking of doing something more permanent with a small motor and speed control. Actually the drill has speed control, but I don't like listening tothe drill running constantly.

I've also thought of chucking it into my nearby drill press -- but it's about 10 inches too far away. I might just move the drill press right over the lathe -- which could be handy too with a boring table on the lathe.

The ball bearings in the flexible shaft tool are poor quality, I'll probably replace them. But it did a lot better job than I expected in today's experiment. Those holes are where they should be and I was able to turn the part first and then index those holes without removing from the chuck -- a real plus. The Craftsman lathe has indexing holes on the bull gear and a pin plunger that fits.

So I'm kind of pleased with the whole thing today. Not often you get a problem making something, so you make a tool to do it, as well as expand your lathe capabilities a big amount, and continue on to do the part all in a single day. It was such a simple deal.


ps this type tool:

http://www.amazon.com/Enkay-115-C-Shaft-...K2WD63FQTR

[PixMan]

Steve,

I've got a horizontal/vertical rotary table with a matching tailstock that's been used perhaps twice in it's life. If you ever want to borrow it for a while let me know and I'll run it up to you. Company car, company fuel so no cost to me other than a little windshield time which I don't mind a bit.

Just ping me.

Ken

[Mayhem]

Now - what if I want to borrow it Ken...

[f350ca]

I installed the island unit of the set of cabinets Im building. Glad to have this out of the shop. Took four of us to carry the maple to into the house.





Now I have room to build the upper cabinets, then I can get back to making some metal shavings.

[dallen]

nice,

DA

[Mayhem]

Very nice Greg