Eyeball Engineering

[BigSki]

I'm getting by pretty good with my squirt bottle full of WD40. ;-)

Just so that you know- WD40 isn't a coolant or lubricant. There's an entire science discipline behind machining fluids with everything from straight cutting oil to full synthetics. Using the correct type of fluid greatly extends the tooling life and the quality of the finish. "thumbsup"

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

But its better than nothing until the solvents evaporate! Kerosene is a good one to use in a pinch, although bad to let pool up of course.


I have some great non toxic water soluble oils here if you want to try em Duuuuuude, could throw some into a pump bottle at 12% and be on your way. Old simple green bottles have a good mist setting.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Just so that you know- WD40 isn't a coolant or lubricant.

I know, but...

But its better than nothing...

What he said.

And, in the great humid state of Arkansas, I can use all the moisture displacement I can get. :ror:

 

[rob_b]

Nice score"thumbsup" That is the same tooling combo pack I picked up for my 7x. A few suggestions for what they are worth. Consider a keyless chuck if you are going to be swapping out center-drill/drill/tap or whatever regularly. Also, on the tool post since it's a piston style make sure you always press the holder tight to one of the dovetails before you lock it down. Helps with repeatability greatly. I put "locks" on both the slide and compound as you have described which allowed the machine take bigger/nicer cuts. The saddle lock from LMS works good but I wasn't impressed with the cam lock for the tailstock. I'm sure you've figured it out already but disengaging the feed gears and engaging the saddle feed lever will lock the saddle in place for facing ops. It's kinda course so you adjust with the compound. Anyways, have fun:mrgreen:

Edit: Forgot coolant! I second using the "right stuff". It's really makes everything better. Maybe consider a DIY fog buster if you have a decent air compressor situation. You can even make it portable to use on both of your machines. I use CoolMist 77 at the recommended concentration. Like JRH said the stuff lasts a long long time. I bet a gallon of coolant will last me 10 years at the rate I'm using it.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Been doing everything I can while waiting on the stuff from LMS. Facing delrin and aluminum pucks, started making a new crank wheel, and basically chucking up damn near anything I can and giving it a spin.

I even made a square thing round.

And yeah, I finally figured out that I could lock the carriage with the feed in neutral. :ror:

So far I haven't had any issues other than having to remove/readjust the carriage. Oh, and the one time I forgot to take the chuck key out. Luckily it ramps up the speed when you turn it on, so the key just slipped out within the first 1/4 turn and fell on the floor. Still...

Also bought some key rod to make cutters with. Yes, I know, its too soft (even after being hardened), but it's all I could find locally. Works ok for plastic, but doesn't live long on aluminum, but they do cut really nice for a while. Better to practice grinding on cheap stuff anyway.

 

[rob_b]

...basically chucking up damn near anything I can and giving it a spin.

That's funny. Been there done that, as suddenly every round thing has meat that needs removing.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Yup. Just dug through my tool box and found a cheap aluminum flashlight and made it skinnier. :ror:

 

[Lentsnh2012]

Been doing everything I can while waiting on the stuff from LMS. Facing delrin and aluminum pucks, started making a new crank wheel, and basically chucking up damn near anything I can and giving it a spin.

I even made a square thing round.

Yup. Just dug through my tool box and found a cheap aluminum flashlight and made it skinnier. :ror:

It's like a child with a knife. :lmao:

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

I was gonna do a roll of quarters, but once you get through the paper wrapper its pretty well over.







Wonder if my wife has any tampons...

 

[monkeyracer]

Turning is pretty fun, hunh?

I turned these over the summer in my "Mechanical Engineering Field Session" class. (Cheesy salt and pepper shakers...)

Three different tapers, the evenly spaced grooves on the pepper shaker and the smooth finish on the salt shaker took some practice to get to look this way with the machines that we had access to, but it was fun. I almost bought a lathe that week, but the GF reminded me we had to pay the mortgage, so...

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Neat. Do the ends thread on?

 

[monkeyracer]

Neat. Do the ends thread on?

I wanted to do that, but there are just some plastic plugs sitting in a counterbore. They didn't really show how to do a thread (we only had 3 days in the class, and only so many machines to use, while also having to use the knee mills to make a different project.)
Maybe that can be something I can do down the road though...

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Got my qctp. Awesome. The carbide bits kinda suck on plastic, luckily I bought some hss inserts too and they work much better. Still need to pick up some blanks and grind my own.

JRH sent me some questionable looking fluid in a mason jar. Thank you sir!

And I stole a tool blank from my fly cutter and made this:

This one tool made this entire purchase worthwhile. Instead of cutting bead grooves on the mill/rotary table with a 1/8" endmill (which if pushed too deep or too fast would grab and pull the wheel up out of the chuck and ruin the wheel), I can easily and confidently carve one out in seconds. "thumbsup"

 

[doublej]

Only great thinks come in mason jars Sir.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Only great thinks come in mason jars Sir.

I have personal experience that says that is not true. :ror:

 

[Crawling Calvin]

If you don't have one, grab a fine diamond hone and use that on your carbide to get it SUPER razor sharp. A whetstone or oil stone works great on HSS too to get it super sharp. Since your cold grinding the metal you can get the tip super sharp and smooth without worrying about overheating it. I was able to make many parts look killer for people by simply cleaning up the rough edges on their tools from grinding "thumbsup"

Ohh dark nasty liquid... are you sure he didn't give you a mason jar with motor oil :lmao:

 

[gmorg]

Just be careful with that square stock in a 3 jaw!

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

What used to be in the mason jar was 150 proof degreaser. You may be able to smell the apples still, it wasn't run through a carbon filter and had a distinct whang to it. Who filters degreaser anyways? Just mist the part with a 12% solution, you don't need so much that it starts dripping off. Plastic will be more difficult to keep wet, but it sticks to aluminum and steel like stink on a hippie.


Most carbide bits do suck for plastics and aluminum, I've never found one with the proper rake for use on my manual lathe. Insert bits generally are better suited IMO, they tend to have inserts available with a good hook at the cutting point. But I always ground my own HSS bits for plastic, super fast and stayed sharp as long as they didn't overheat.


fully agreed on how fast a lathe can be VS a mill for some operations. Especially grooving, what can take minutes or tens of minutes on a mill can be whipped out in seconds on a lathe!

 

[BigSki]

I'll try to copy the online class that I have at www.toolingu.com there was a good lesson on hand grinding HSS and carbide tool blanks. I used to dread grinding my own tools, I never got the hang of it until I had the lesson on Toolingu.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Waiting on dro's and tool blanks, and needed something to do. One down, three more to go. Figured an old school Blazer needed proper old school wheels.