Projects In Metal

New Project: Homemade Metal Lathe 260mm x 1000mm (10″ x 40″)

Tyler — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:00:51 +0000

I’ve been meaning to post this for over a year now. So my apologies to Michele for taking so long to share this.

By now you’ve all probably come across Dave Gingery’s book on building a metalworking lathe from scratch. Michele from Belgium seems to have done just that, but he didn’t use Gingery’s plans. He made his own!

Michele states that the dimensions for his lathe are a peak of 130mm (which I assume means a swing of 260mm?) with an overall bed length of 1000mm. That roughly translates to a 10″ x 40″ lathe.

But this isn’t the only thing Michele has build from scratch. He also constructed a clockmaker’s gear cutter, the plans for which I posted here last year.

Michele provides plenty of pictures and details for this lathe on his website, which can be found here (English translation) or here (original French). You can also find other versions of the plans for the lathe (DXF, DWG, etc) on Michele’s site, as well as other projects that you might be interested in.

Oh, and this probably goes without saying, but his plans are in French. That shouldn’t pose much of a problem, but I thought I’d mention it.

Thanks for sharing your plans Michele! I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post them.

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A Vertical Milling Attachment for the Atlas Horizontal Mill – Better than the Marvin?

Tyler — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:04:22 +0000

John Lawson invited me over to his shop a few days ago and showed me some pretty amazing things he’s made over the years, including his Atlas vertical milling attachment that he made from Taig parts. His vertical attachment really caught my eye because I am in the process of restoring an Atlas MFC mill and I’ve been looking for a good vertical option for a while now. I think the design is in some ways an improvement over the Marvin milling attachment. Apparently John got the idea when he saw a Taig mill being parted out on eBay. He bought the spindle and motor for a fraction of what a Taig mill costs new and he had everything he needed (except for a mounting plate which he made) for his conversion.

Here’s a video of the attachment in action.

And here are a few pics.

I know what some of you Atlas purists are thinking. “How could anything be better than a Marvin?!” Well, for one thing, it’s available. I’ve never seen a Marving on eBay or anywhere else for sale (although they do supposedly show up for sale occassionally). And I’ve heard that when Marvin milling attachments do show up for sale they cost a fortune. Unless you’re a collector the Marvin isn’t practical. John’s attachment is.

Got a better idea for a vertical milling attachment conversion for an Atlas (or similar) horizontal mill? Share it with us by visiting the forum and leaving a comment/pictures/etc. We’d love to see it!

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Carriage Stop for a Grizzly G0602 10×22 Lathe

Tyler — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:00:54 +0000

Kyle Crane submitted his drawings for a carriage stop that fits his Grizzly G0602 10×22″ lathe. I also own the G0602 so I was excited to see these plans. As soon as I get my Atlas horizontal mill rebuilt I will be building one of these. Or maybe 2, one as a stop and the other to hold a dial indicator.

If you’re not a G0602 owner you can certainly adjust the size of this stop to fit your lathe’s dimensions.

A few additional pictures and a description of the machining process can be found on Kyle’s site.

Thanks for sharing Kyle!

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Video: An Introduction to Stones in the Machine Shop

Tyler — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:00:21 +0000

Barry Young (author of the “Norman Newguy” column) walks us through the various stones he keeps in his tool box. His stones range from rare Hard Arkansas to cheap dollar store stones. Barry not only discusses different stones and their uses, he also explains how to flatten badly worn stones, how to tell natural stone from man-made, etc. He also gives us his recommendation for the first stone a hobby machinist should buy.

You’ll also get a little humor along the way – something that is usually missing from most machining-related videos. What stones do you have in your toolbox? Feel free to add your “two cents” by visiting the forum topic related to this video.

Enjoy!

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Video: Operating an Atlas Horizontal Milling Machine (a Review)

Tyler — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:41:21 +0000

I recently rented “Operating an Atlas Horizontal Milling Machine” by Rudy Kouhoupt from SmartFlix and I wanted to take a moment to review the video.

Topic: Operating a Horizontal Milling Machine (Atlas MFC)
Level: Beginner
Format: DVD (2.5 hours)

Overall I think the video is definitely worth renting, especially for anyone who owns an Atlas mill, or anyone who is new to horizontal mills in general. However, more advanced machinists might find parts of the video a bit slow.

There are two projects included in the video. A saw arbor and a clamp block (basically a fixture plate) – both are of Rudy’s design. Plans for both projects are included with the video and Rudy spends the second half of the video showing how to make the clamp block step-by-step.

ProjectsInMetal readers can now sign up for Machinist University through SmartFlix and get the first month free! That’s a $23 value. There is no obligation and you can cancel at any time. I’ve been renting from SmartFlix for a few years now and I have never had anything other than positive experiences. Click on the link above or the image below for details.

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Video: How to make a Tailstock Dial Indicator Stop for your Lathe

Tyler — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:00:40 +0000

My lathe’s tailstock has a lot of backlash (.006), a short throw (1.500), and sixty graduations (a number that has never made any sense to me). I’ve always found it difficult to drill to accurate depths.

For example, 0.875 divided by .060 equals how many rotations of the tailstock handle? It’s ridiculous to me that I need to do math (even simple math) just to drill a hole to a depth of 0.875. If my tailstock had 100 graduations things would be a lot easier … but it doesn’t. It has 60.

60? Really?

Now, about the backlash. I know what you’re thinking. Who cares about backlash in a tailstock? Apparently I do. My psychiatrist and I are working on that …

And yes I realize that 99.9% of the time the depth of a hole isn’t a critical dimension – but I’d still wanted more control and accuracy out of my tailstock.

At least, that was the case. But no longer! With the exception of the short throw all the other issues with my tailstock were resolved with one simple stop that you can easily make in an evening.

This project is very simple. The only thing that I can see tripping someone up is remembering to create thread relief for the cap screw. When you drill and tap for the 1/4-20 cap screw, you’ll want to also drill a .250 thread relief to the halfway point (where the slitting saw will eventually cut) so that the dial stop is only threaded on one of the two sides. If you thread both sides the two sides won’t draw together when you tighten the cap screw.

I didn’t draw up plans because of the simplicity of the project and because each person will need to scale the project up or down to fit the size of their lathe. I did, however, make a build video. Let me know what you think!

If you make your own please post pictures on the forum.

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New Project: Plans for a MT3 Die Holder (for 1″ and 1.5″ Dies)

Tyler — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:00:20 +0000

Here’s a set of plans for a handy Die Holder that fits any lathe with a #3 Morse Taper tailstock.

The aluminum body of the die holder holds the die perpendicular to the axis of the spindle rotation and rotates freely around a steel shaft firmly inserted into the tailstock. This ensures that your part is threaded perfectly.

Here’s a picture of the Die Holder with a 1.5″ die inserted:

Here’s a picture of the Die Holder flipped 180 degrees with a 1″ die inserted:

I got the idea from Steve Bedair’s Die Holder and I adapted it to look similar to a smaller die holder sold here by LittleMachineShop.com.

I created the plans myself using Autodesk Inventor. It was my first attempt using the software, and my first time drawing up plans for the machine trade – so if there are any errors please let me know and I’ll do my best to fix them.

Here are the plans (in PDF format):

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New Project: Plans for a Versitile Mill Vise

Tyler — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:05:16 +0000

I found this nifty little vise over on the Prints and Plans Yahoo group, posted by “SterTrak”. The design allows for the vise to be as large as the length of your mill’s table – which makes it great for holding larger parts.

But as you can see from the pictures, it works just as well for smaller items.

If you decide to make your own please take a few pictures of the process and post them to the forum!

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New Project: Plans for a Machinists Ball Peen Hammer

Tyler — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:00:16 +0000

Mike White, an instructor at the Franklin Technology Center in Joplin Missouri, shared a set of student plans for a machinists ball peen hammer. While his students typically make the hammer out of metal, Mike decided to make his out of something a bit more striking …

Mike also shared a set of plans for a nifty machinists scribe that nests inside it’s own handle when not in use.

Thanks for sharing your plans with us Mike!

If you’re an instructor like Mike and you’d like to share your student plans with the site, please feel free to submit them using the “Submit Your Plans” tab at the top of the page. I’ll provide a link (and thus free publicity) back to your school or website. Every submission helps this site grow. Thank you for your support!

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New Project: Plans for a Collapsible Nested Scribe

Tyler — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:00:02 +0000

Here’s one of those beginner projects that I just love. I’m all about making my own tools, even if they can be purchased for a fraction of what it costs me to make them in terms of man-hours. Why? Because I get a renewed sense of satisfaction every time I reach for a tool that I’ve made. My handmade tools are a constant reminder of how satisfying this hobby can be.

Mike White from the Franklin Technology Center in Joplin Missouri sent in this set of plans for a nifty collapsible scribe. What’s neat about this particular scribe is it’s ability to collapse down and nest inside itself. It reminds me of those hammer/screwdriver combos where the screwdrivers are nested inside the handle of the hammer. However, like many combination tools the ham-driver was never a good hammer or a good screwdriver. It was a mediocre combination of both. But I digress …

This scribe design solves the problem I have with my current $5 scribe – it protects me from getting jabbed with the point when not in use. Sure my $5 scribe came with a protective rubber tip. But I lost it within a few days somewhere in a pile of swarf. With this setup I’ll be able to slip my scribe into my bib overall pocket next to my scale and never poke myself!

My only question for Mike is what method do you recommend to harden the scribe? Keep in mind that people making the scribe may have no experience whatsoever in hardening. So an explanation of the cheapest/easiest/safest technique would probably be best.

Mike also shared plans for a machinists hammer (ball peen style) which I’ll post in a few weeks. Thanks for sharing your plans with us Mike!

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