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Adapting the Taig milling slide to gain 5mm travel on the bottom. That will allow milling bigger parts, like 50mm (wow) V-slot blocks for the vise and press drill.

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To hold it I had to drill and tap the faceplate, which was an easy job as it's made of mild steel. The single pass Chinese set worked well with the help of a micro tapping guide on the press drill.

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Then for a bit more facing work I beveled some 304 steel nuts. The lathe didn't made a fuss and I got to use the cute compound slide.

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I have a long list of projects all in line with the above, tools to make tools to make tools. 

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On 10/3/2019 at 7:04 PM, jdm said:

The single pass Chinese set worked well with the help of a micro tapping guide on the press drill.

Yeah right :huh: except that the threading dies don't cut at all, no matter the chamfer and how soft the metal is - mine is leaded mild steel, which is a delight to turn. I could have got a decent (maybe) die at the hardware store, but managed to do with the 7mm die  (sort of Chinese uniqueness) which by chance kind of worked. That meant more turning compared to using a 6mm rod.

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Subject is a stop for the chuck, which isn't sold, so I thought it could have made an easy quick project.
That has confirmed a lot of things I knew already.

  • To do precise work is difficult.
  • To undercut is easy.
  • You need a lot more tools and time than you think.
  • Swarf is awful.
  • Sometime (rarely) you can be lucky. Like having exactly 4 springs to choose from, and one is exactly right.
  • You can have good ideas. Putting them into practice is another story.
  • Normally the prototype isn't much usable.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So far I had one T-nut, not enough when having multiple tool posts and attachments. I have seen Dean Williams make these from aluminium bar but I like steel better, if anything because I can pick up its swarf with a magnet. So I bought some cheap T-nuts which took a life to arrive and are too tall, I thought I could just batch mill'em to size.

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Wrong, they were moving in the humble Taig milling vice and the result was horrible.

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I switched to a better plan, just screw to a fastener, a washer and hold in the chuck. That worked very good I'd say, the original nut is on the left, these are much more beefier, not a bad thing.

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Then for good measure I took some bits of my 5700 bench opener. To maintain their QC standards the Chinese had sent 5 units of the flat type on the left, with one I made the missing one for the small round tip on the right, even if I never meet a case back like that. I don't know what shape the still missing pair should have.

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After turning the tip it wasn't functionally needed to correct the taper, but I did anyway just to use the cute compound slide. I only need to get the blackening agent now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think one should document both good projects and complete fails. I made these pins to adapt a case holder to the bench opener. Not only there isn't any like another, but the whole idea was bad. Still I have learned things in the process.

 

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  • 3 months later...

So far I don't have a tailstock chuck. The original one is stupid expensive and only 6mm max. So I got a cheap 13mm one and tried to re-thread to M14x1. The first attempt came so much off center and crooked that I was ashamed to post about it. I could not throw away such a valuable part, so put it on the the lathe securing it with a 10mm threaded rod through the spindle, to a female threading section in the drill chuck

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I bored the mounting hole to 19.5mm, turned a matching plug, pressed it in and gave it a first facing.

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The friction fit was perfect but being the plug not tapered I wanted to stay on the safe side, so drilled 3mm centered on the edge of the edge, and pressed in matching pin. I felt like having invented the steam engine in doing that.

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To avoid repeating my earlier mistake I decided to bore not just drill the hole. That involved a short fight to replace the press drill chuck with a shorter one, drill 12.5mm then move again to the lathe

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At this point I ran out of time, I'm a very very slow machinist.

 

 

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I could not center the work decently on the three jaws, so took out the four independentant. But on the base of the drill chuck there is no usable surface, and on the body the dial was hitting the on the jaws, So I had to make a spindle extension, bottom left. Drilled a center, turned a 5mm rod with the rolling dead center, drill on the press, then tap and thread. A cheap set worked well.

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There is about 0.1mm clearance between the tip of the spindle and the parts next to it, and about the same betweek the chuck jaws and the swarf screen, but it worked to an acceptable centering. I was also able to tighten the work with the thread rod.

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Bored to size and chamfered the work, I still have a problem to solve before tapping, but that was enough for today.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Double failure, yahoo! 

First, after much fighting I threaded the big one on the left. But I must have moved the piece across chucks or something, because it came absolutely awful. I might try again with a new plug. 

Then I attacked the small one the right, which had a 3/8 mount. After a long time spent dialing it in the four jaws I started drilling 13mm, that almost worked save for lathe stalling many times. And then the bit arrived to the tapering which, unknown to me, is there. I have now a nice round cutting punch and two paperweight chucks.

I am now very ready to give in to buying a genuine tailstick chuck, and use the 3 jaws self centering for larger drill bits. And getting a four jaws self centering for good measure. 

 

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Today I actually produced something without breaking anything, and it took "only" the best part of an afternoon.
I was actually doing something different but equally useless, when I realized I could not be further without an holder for a parting / grooving blade. Roughened a piece of vile iron, aka structural steel, then added few spots with the arc welder to form the back support, that saved a lot a filing compared to removing instead.

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For the turning part I leveled the sawed side on the four jaws.

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Some finishing and the mandatory blackening. I was thinking that is done to make one losing parts on the bench, but actually it hides defects pretty well. Of course my part has quite a few.

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However it works great, sandwiching a piece of HSS blade into the tool holder. 

Edited by jdm
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  • 3 weeks later...

Turning Indian into Italian

Have you seen these YT videos where blessed craftsmen makes a working engine from a bag of nails?
Here I got very close turning this cheap mini-vise from Cousins into piece of Italian precision - in case you didn't know FZA makes bespoken vices http://www.fza-morsificio.com/fza.htm
As received the jaws wobbled almost 1 cm side to side. So I re-made the rods with 6mm stock and turned the tip only to press fit. Final adjustment was made with a Chinese high precision special roaming file, also pictured. Casualties were just one broken Sino-Japanese drill bit than mysteriously catched, and one overcut rod.

 IR8mIq9U0xBtLhkdoj5XE3O68Dzt7rBiKFpRX6bW

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  • 3 weeks later...

Stupid tap adapter 

No center hole for a tapping guide on this guy or its two brothers, it's fully hardened so forget about drilling. 

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After a long time rummaging, I came up with turning of a cup sleeve. No standard wrench fits the square perfectly, but that's not a big deal. Took an almost short time, no casualties!

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  • 1 month later...

Tapping guide prototype

The Unimat 3 is so small that almost no regular tool or accessory fits, not even the micro tapping guide pictured above, so I made the below which allows to gain few precious centimeters. For now I have been reusing the shaft from the ready item, so it's not short as it could be. And I could not get to thread with my single tap set, so the cap will have to be held another way. But from my stash of about 5 there was a spring that is acceptable, so I'm happy with the result anyway. 

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  • 3 months later...

Precision Collets? Yeah right

Another purchase not gone quote right. Have got an ER16 chuck, adapting plate and all, plus a set a really cheap set of collets. I get 0.30mm or more TRO after testing just two, which is practically the same as the 3 jaws scroll chuck. I can easily do better than 0.01mm using the independent 4 jaws chuck. 

I have a strong feeling on what to blame, however the chuck has 2.5mm TRO on the outside, but I need to get an horizontal DTI to check the taper. 

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Is that your mic standard in the collet?

It may not have good runout itself- those are designed to be very specific length and parallel, not necessarily straight.

Some cheap precision pins may be in order.

And for 0.011" TIR I think you could shim between the mount plate and the lathe plate to true it up.

Alternatively, grab the collet (or a pin in the collet) and indicate the pin and plate OD; then skim the back of the plate. But I'd want to do that on a larger lathe...

This is what I use most of the time (first picture). I learned on a Hardinge Super Precision tool room lathe- this is a Hardinge second operation lathe, but like all tools- the quality of the final product is in how you set up and use it. I was taught by a master tool and die maker (former Bulova employee incidentally). So, for precision/concentricity etc. it is often needed to make a tool to make a tool. The second picture is an arbor that I use to hold whatever I need to hold. In the last case, I had to make a precision washer (essentially) with the ID and OD concentric within 0.001" (.0254mm). I bore the washer, turn the stub to the exact washer ID, press the washer onto the stub (without removing it from the lathe!) and then turn the OD to the desired diameter. I had less that 0.001" TIR ID to OD.

You are doing well however! We learn much more from our mistakes than our successes!

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37 minutes ago, Tudor said:

Is that your mic standard in the collet? It may not have good runout itself- those are designed to be very specific length and parallel, not necessarily straight.

I think it takes a devilish ability to produce a crooked, yet exact for lenght test pin. The thing is, that same bar, as well a self made one, consistenty show the results mentioned above.

 

Quote

And for 0.011" TIR I think you could shim between the mount plate and the lathe plate to true it up.

As I said, the outside of the chuck is acceptable, one thou as you call that. The problem is either the taper, the nut (unlikely), or the collets, or both. I shall check if the eccentric stays with the collect when  rotated in the chuck.

 

Quote

This is what I use most of the time (first picture). I learned on a Hardinge Super Precision tool room lathe- this is a Hardinge second operation lathe

These machines have worldwide reputation. Altough there are equivalent ones made in Europe, some people goes to complicated and expensive route of getting its Taiwan copies. At this time I am happy just making a working part, but won't be with these collets for sure.

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I have noticed a difference in the Hardinge brand 5C collets and the chinese made copies. The German made ones are fine as well.

Most of the ones I have a Hardinge brand, but they don't all have internal threads for the work stop.

I would not rule out the collets- it's easy to indicate the chuck internal taper and see how that looks...

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18 hours ago, jdm said:

 I get 0.30mm or more TRO after testing just two

Sorted, operator error. I suspected the flange was interfering with the clamping. The ER nut features an eccentric flange to  keep the collet with the nut:

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Image from arceurotrade.co.uk

My mistake was to use a collet where the work size was the same as the collet. That causes the flange to get in the way of clamping. One must always use the biggest collet that can clamp.

BTW, I checked the chuck taper (used a regular dial indicator, but I've got the other type on order anyway) and it is spot on. I have now 0.002mm TIR on the bar ?

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is traditional that every hobby machinist makes his own toolposts. For the Unimat 3 / Sieg C0 that is even more needed because even just a Chinese dual slot one cost a stupid price. Here's my attempt from some rectangular aluminum, not the strongest material but the forces at play here are also limited. 

First I corrected parallelism with face turning, then drilled where the slot is, and then rigged the Taig milling slide. I used a NOS 8mm cutter which I got on Ebay from east Europe. The strange thing about it is the asymmetric blade, there must be a reason but I didn't research.

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Without the hole it wouldn't be practically possible to mill the slot. It's written in books also, the lathe doesn't like that. The most I could do was 0.5mm cuts or so.

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Marked, drilled, counterbored and threaded the screw holes. Good chance to practice more about drill bits, which ones do cut without a pilot hole and which ones don't. Ideally I should have done all that on the lathe as it gives better alignment. Some hand finishing and it's done.

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Isn't perfect nor beautiful, but will save a lot of aggravation.

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