Jump to content

Lathe tailstock drill attatchment


RCDesign

Recommended Posts

Made a tailstock modification today that I would like to share with you !

I have been using a home made drilling runner on my Boley/Leinen 8mm Reform lathe which I mainly use for making watchparts.

The runner was made from 8mm stainless steel rod which I turned down to the 7.5mm in the tailstock. A small 3-jaw China made chuck held the drill bits in place. I used the supplied adapter that came with the chuck - a Morse taper to straight 5mm hole. The chuck was not perfectly centered but I usually solved this by finding center with a graver and loosening the bolt on the tailstock for some extra play.

Last couple of weeks I made some parts that needed holes that where 0.4 and 0.2mm wide. The larger hole was no problem but when I drilled  a 0.2mm hole in brass and then in plexi - it was obvious that the setup had reached its limit!

So - what to do? First of all I needed better precision. So I removed  the adapter from the chuck and cut a matching Morse taper directly on my 7.5mm rod. Tests where very promising - I easily hit center with drillbits down to 0.3-0.2mm. Tests where then made with a 2 flute 100µm drill in brass and.......yes It worked! 

I wanted to have control of the depth as I need to make some parts with a 1mm  deep 100µm hole, this is hard with the lever operated versions that you usually see.

I first taught of making a downsized version of a "standard" tailstock  found on larger lathes but I had trouble making a good "custom" fit to the original Reform tailstock. 

Ended up with this first version:

The parts made:

154067074208732200_resized.jpg?width=153

Used M6 as it has a 1mm/turn pitch and a matching scale is easy to make. The taper on the outside of the tailstock took some experimenting to get right - but 3deg fits well!

The final result:'

154067074159927000_resized.jpg?width=153

'

Cut my "runner" a bit to much, so I only have 8mm travel - but it's enough for most work-will make a longer one if I need to!

Drilling a 100µm hole on a flat surface worked like a charm! :biggrin:

154067074061574900_resized.jpg?width=153


So - that's my take on easy to make drill adaptors!

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I need one of these!

Penny Farthing tools sells a ground shaft with a taper fit chuck that I bought a year or so ago for about £30, It works pretty well down to 0.5mm, but I crashed and burned recently trying to drill a 0.2 hole

I can’t quite see how this goes together. Have you welded the runner and winding bushes together?

Thinking about it, I have a cross slide and may be able to use that to control the feed - will have to play tomorrow.

Where do you get your drill bits?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Red: Inside taper that matches the original tailstock with stop screw - welded smaller part with a threaded M6 hole

Green: Drilled part that fits on runner (black) with stop screw-welded to small part that has a 4mm hole to seat the "leadscrew"

Orange/yellow: M6 "leadscrew"  turned down at the end to match 4mm hole in green part - welded to the knob (purple)

I made everything frron stainless so I could use my small TIG-welder, but it could be made (probably better) from brass so it would be easy to solder together instead!

Get most drills from Cousins (Dormer) but their smallest versions are very blunt - so I had to sharpen them under a microscope with i diamond hone. The 100µm ones I got from Amazon/Ebay? Sold as PCB-drills!

The setup works somewhat like i vice! :biggrin:

Edited by RCDesign
Typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, StuartBaker104 said:

Awesome inspiration. Cross slide re-purposed... 

10487703-00E2-4FC0-9A46-3DDBACF74569.thumb.jpeg.21055671557d327f1b540fa5776348c0.jpeg

Only 1/2 inch of travel before it hits the tailstock, but that should be plenty.

Wouldn’t have got here without you!

Thanks

 

 

Clever!:thumbsu:

I was thinking somewhat in the same way at first but use my crosslide to part of the surface ´to be drilled!

You could make a simple attachment with a screw if you need more travel!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • I think if you want to play Billy big b.ollocks then you have to have something up your sleeve, anyone that knows how to fight, plays dirty. Lets face it a lot of folk that voted for Brexit just rolled uk their sleeves to say up yours EU hoping for good changes. We have idiots for leaders and probably none of them clever enough to clean the shitty stick they were given. I didnt vote, what will be will be.
    • I voted leave too, my reasoning was the the EU is undemocratic, no elected officials. I don't regret it but I  am sad that both sides acted like petulant toddlers.  Shameful.  I'm not on other forums but if I was and left this site, would you shun me? Of course not, we aren't petulant toddlers.  
    • This is a type of tool that may be suitable to remove the bezel - though note that I'm pretty sure the watch should be face down - not face up, as in some of the photos of these tools on amazon & ebay! If you try one one of those, put the movement screws back in first to avoid accidents. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Removal-Professional-Remover-Watchmaker-Diameter/dp/B09XCH4QVN?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A296NCMMFVXSDN&th=1  
    • Hi, I’m constantly asking my wife to help me with removing the stem in order to complete casing. To expand, this is not a challenge for me when the setting lever is secured by a screw (older calibers). However when the setting lever is attached to a spring loaded setting lever axel, like on more modern calibers, I simply don’t see how to apply enough pressure on the button to get the stem out short of putting the movement face down with the dial and hands attached, which I’m loath to do in order to avoid damaging the dial/hands? what technique should I be using? thanks  
    • Many thanks for your advice (being borne in mind at present) & offer Dell. When I was given the clock the plastic anchor was loose on the arbour (it had split at the 'hole') &, after repairing this, I have been trying to determine whether the spindle (pin) should be perpendicular when the pallet is sitting on a flat surface; or whether, when installed, its L-R extremes (or alternatively its tick & tock points) should lie at equal angles from the vertical when moved with spring absent. I can get the clock to run but in every such configuration the top block has to be turned anti-clockwise (from above) by quite a bit in order to be 'in beat' & it always runs fast (despite the pendulum being set to as slow as possible). This makes me wonder if there is any particular feature of/fault in a torsion spring clock which determines which turn direction (if any) is necessary to get it 'in beat'; & whether there would be a different set of settings that would get it running nearer to time at somewhere around the mid timing/inertia position which would then allow tweaking of the fast/slow setting.
×
×
  • Create New...