Making tools to mend tools to make tools

Model Engineering in UK - Model engineering, metal crafts in UK 

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Subject Author Date
Making tools to mend tools to make tools Mark Rand 04-16-2008
Posted by ChrisQuayle on April 17, 2008, 5:22 pm
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Mark Rand wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:08:21 -0700 (PDT), ravensworth2674
>
>
>
>>Mark,
>> In all honesty, I hadn't a clue about your Hardinge HLV but
>>lathes.co suggest that it is a flat bed.
>>Last year, I had my second or third flat bed Myford reground locally
>>on a Lumsden for £30+ Vat. OK, this is not quite Myford works or so on
>>but it is a solution to get a pretty decent top which may only need a
>>few swirl marks removed.
>>
>>Have you a guy with a big Lumsden?
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>Norman
>
>
>
> The flat bit's done apart from that cosmetically annoying furrow, that might
> get another couple of finish cuts. The 11" wide saddle won't notice a 3/16"
> wide, half thou deep furrow, but it might allow grit to get under the saddle.
>
> The bit that all the current work is for is the dovetails. At the moment, I
> don't even know accurately what the wear is on them.
>
> I think that the point that I was failing to get across was that one job leads
> to another. To the point that you end up having so much fun, you forget what
> the original task was :-)
>
>
> Mark Rand
> RTFM

Mark,

Don't wish to rub salt into the wounds, but a really immaculate looking
HLV went on Ebay a week or so ago for 1000.00. Chucks and all the
collets as well. As for regrinding, some jobs are just plain left to
those with the right kit, much as we would like to (sometimes
stubbornly) think we can do it all ourselves.

Was quite tempted about that HLV, but can't justify that much for
something that won't get regularly used, or otherwise earn it's keep...

Chris



--

----------------------
Greenfield Designs Ltd
Electronic and Embedded System Design
Oxford, England
(44) 1865 750 681

Posted by Dragon on April 17, 2008, 6:21 pm
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> I think that the point that I was failing to get across was that one job
> leads
> to another. To the point that you end up having so much fun, you forget
> what
> the original task was :-)

I doubt that many failed to grasp that!
I'll bet a lot have BTDT, with or without tee shirts!

Henry



Posted by Mark Rand on April 17, 2008, 7:44 pm
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wrote:

>
>
>> I think that the point that I was failing to get across was that one job
>> leads
>> to another. To the point that you end up having so much fun, you forget
>> what
>> the original task was :-)
>
>I doubt that many failed to grasp that!
>I'll bet a lot have BTDT, with or without tee shirts!
>
>Henry
>


I for got to mention that, when milling the bracket for the sine-table-to-be,
I finally got around to surface grinding the washers on the thrust bearings of
the Myford vertical slide to fit with a tenth or so of pre-load When I bought
it via John and Charles' website, it had e metric screw and dial. The imperial
ones that I got from Myfords fouled by about 10 thou when fitted on the
bracket. After two evenings of careful measuring, calculating and surface
grinding, the vertical slide is as good as it can get without an anti-backlash
nut on the leadscrew.

Moral of that bit is, If someone offers you a surface grinder for a scrap
price, take it. They are very useful toys. Plus, yet another iteration of the
tools to make tools saga :-)


Mark Rand
RTFM

Posted by dave sanderson on April 18, 2008, 6:35 am
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> Moral of that bit is, If someone offers you a surface grinder for a scrap
> price, take it. They are very useful toys. Plus, yet another iteration of the
> tools to make tools saga :-)
>
> Mark Rand
> RTFM

Oh that I had the space... as it is SWMBO has ruled that the machines
under a tarp in
the garden have to go before Im allowed any new toys....

Dave
(who is idly looking for a small grinder - if only to save making
one...)

Posted by jackary on April 17, 2008, 4:57 am
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> Someone moaned about the amount of politics and calendars:-
>
> I may have let slip (to the point of monotony) that I have been rebuilding=
an
> Ebay basket case Hardinge HLV for the last 18 months.
>
> At the start of March I started to work on improving the removable, harden=
ed
> dovetail way bed. Having removed the bed, I measured its thickness in a nu=
mber
> of places. The micrometer showed that there was at least 3.7 thou of wear.=
At
> least, because the micrometer doesn't measure to the bottom of the roughne=
ss.
>
> I could have sent the bed away to be reground. Trouble is that I'm cheap.
> That's why I didn't just wait for a lathe to turn up in better condition t=
o
> start with...
>
> I reasoned that I might be able to grind the bed on my =A375 J&S 1400 grin=
der.
>
> Because the bed is38" long and the table travel on the grinder is only 24"=
,
> the bed had to be ground in two sections. I got a bit of a visible furrow =
at
> the point where the table stopped at the end of the cut in the middle of t=
he
> bed, but even after the roughing cuts, the bed thickness is now even to wi=
thin
> a couple of tenths outside of that narrow furrow, which the carriage will
> ignore. I had to remove 6 thou to get rid of all of the wear marks.
>
> Ok. That did for the thickness of the bed. Now I can think about the
> dovetails. The dovetails have a 1/8" wide, unmachined, vertical section at=
the
> top. I assume that I can measure from that to the dovetail on the opposite=

> side to get an indication of the wear.
>
> While thinking of that, it was assumed that the way to grind the dovetails=

> would be to make a sine table. The old 6"x12" Humphrey's electromagnetic c=
huck
> that I inherited off father could be pressed into use for that. A 15" long=
bit
> of 1 1/4" square bar was milled into angle iron on the Myford and hinge pi=
ns
> turned on the ends. A couple of lengths of 2" square were milled and groun=
d
> into L shapes for the sides. Holes could be bored in these for the hinge p=
ins
> before final grinding to get the height of the side at the exact level of =
the
> bottom of the hinge pin. Something like this:-
>
> |-----------------------------------|
> | |
> | |---| |
> |-------|_______________________|___|_|
> | /- | |/-|
> | _/ |_________________________/___
> | |
> |______________________________________|
>
> Boring the holes means that the boring head that I got some years ago need=
ed
> an adapter to fit the Myford headstock mandrel. Did that, got a set of tap=
s
> from RDG to finish the internal threads, having had problems with getting
> these right before.
>
> In the meantime, the junction box on the mag chuck needs sorting.The screw=
s
> holding it to the chuck have waled out heads and one of the screws holding=
the
> cover on was sheared off before I was born by the look of it. No problem. =
Bit
> of 3/8" silver steel for the cap head screws and 3/8" brass for the
> countersunk screws. drill out the busted screw and run a 5/32"BSW tap down=
all
> the holes to clean them up..
>
> A jig had to be made to hold a tenths dial gauge at a variable, fixed heig=
ht
> and slide along the bed, measuring the variations in width. Just a bit of
> sawing, milling, grinding, drilling, tapping and Loctiting. Job done.
>
> The jig shows that the vertical bits at the top of the dovetails seem to b=
e
> parallel within a tenth, but that the dovetails have a reasonably steady =
12
> thou slope compared to the vertical bit. Bugger. The jig needs modifying s=
o
> that it can measure one dovetail against the opposite dovetail. If I make =
a
> push tool to fit the boring head, I can use it with the Myford dividing he=
ad
> to make a ball turning tool and make some ball ended pins to go on the jig=
to
> bear against the dovetails. Haven't got any 1/2" round HSS. Never mind, ma=
ke a
> 3/8" to 1/2" adapter to hold the 3/8" HSS that I've got.
>
> To cut off the bit of round HSS to the right length, I can use one of the =
thin
> cut off disks I got for the grinder. Bugger, the wheel arbours won't grip
> something that thin. Never mind. Slice off a bit of 95mm bar and turn up a=

> spacer to fit the wheel arbour.
>
> Now, What was it that I was trying to do...
>
> Mark Rand
> RTFM

Mark.
This is just a thought and it maybe no good, but could you shape the
grinding wheel to suit the dovetail. Then you can mount the bed flat
on the surface grinder. Maybe the angle is too much to shape the wheel
to? Anyway keep going and keep us informed, it is a good challenge,
Regards
Alan

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