Lathe Hack and old school tool use.

[dmforcier]

Yah, but isn't old dude labor free?

[Worth1]

All I can say is I buy the things I cant make make the things I can buy but can make for practically free if I have the materials.
I can buy this taper adapter from around 13 to 20 something dollars but I do enjoy being able to do it myself.
The same way I grind my own tool bits instead of buying them.
It gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

[Fusion_power]

Yah, but isn't old dude labor free?

No, but crotchety retired old dude labor might be. Let's see if Worth resembles this remark.

[Worth1]

Ive known Darrel since garden web he loves to screw with me.

Worth

[Fusion_power]

yes, almost 15 years or thereabouts.

[Worth1]

Been pondering a way to fix the protractor scale on the lathe.
It has a zero scale from 0 to 60 left or right the zero is fixed so it is at a 90 degree angle to the cross slide.
This is confusing and you have no reference point what so ever if you want to set the top slide protractor up to anything under 30 degrees as in relation to the zero being fixed to where the top slide is parallel to the cross slide.

I see a lot of people have their top slide set at 30 instead of 60 because of this when cutting threads.
They should be on 60 due to the way the protractor is set up.

What I have done here is pick something up I wasn't using, a degree wheel made to set up camshafts in engines.
The unique thing about this one is it has two sets of 0 top dead center and bottom dead center.
To the left or right of these marks they start out at 1 and go to 90 degrees.

To set this thing up I offset the protractor so I could see the same degree mark in two different places opposite of each other.
Then to get it as accurate as I could I set the dial indicator up so it read zero movement moving the cross slide.
It also made my readings 1 1/4 inch farther out which more or less magnifies my visual reading due to the indication of movement being more.
If I like this setup I will make a nice one out of steel that mounts differently and has smaller lines.
The pictuer shows it better than I can explain but I have 4 of everything.
Worth

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[Fusion_power]

I worked through one of those frustrating tool design problems with my drill press today. This is a Craftsman tabletop drill press that I purchased a few months ago. I was drilling wood side bars for frames to go in my beehives by stacking 5 end bars up and drilling all of them at once. The problem was that the drill bit was correct for the top piece, but by the time it got to the bottom, it was 1/8 of an inch off.

I spent nearly 2 hours figuring out that the problem was the platform which is 1.25 degrees tilted with respect to the drill bit. That does not sound like much, but over the 3 inches the drill bit travels it adds up to 1/8 of an inch. How to fix it? The platform is not adjustable. I have not yet figured out if the drill head can be adjusted. I used my table saw to cut a wood slat that compensates for exactly 1.25 degrees and attached it to the vertical stop on the platform. It amounts to a jig for the drill press so it drills nice straight vertical holes.

[Worth1]

What model number is it that is totally unacceptable.
Worth

[Worth1]

Here is an old school trick I use to set mine up roughly.

Take a rod you can bend an offset in so it goes down out of the chuck slants over the the outside edge of the drill press top and then point back down.
Adjust it so it just almost touches the drill press top.
Then rotate the spindle and the pointer will now tell you which way it is out of alignment and how much.


1.25 degrees is a boat load to be out of square, 1.25 degree is 1 degree 15 minutes almost as much as a Morse 3 taper of one degree 26 minutes.
This is also why I think the degree marks on a speed square are worthless.

[Worth1]

Here is an example of a MT 3 taper with 30 degrees at the top and 1 degree 26 minutes at the bottom.
I cant believe that drill press could be out that much and not be adjustable that is flabbergasting.
Is the tilt from side to side or front and back?
Was the table locked down?
Most drill presses have a side to side adjustment but no front to back.
Mine has both.

[loulac]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

the problem was the platform which is 1.25 degrees tilted with respect to the drill bit. That does not sound like much, but over the 3 inches the drill bit travels it adds up to 1/8 of an inch.

I quite agree an error of 1.25 degrees can't be neglected when you drill thick pieces. If the platform of the drill is correct you could ask for a better upper part, the warranty could work. I understand it's quite annoying to discover such shortcomings on a new tool.
By now your bees must have a nice provision of food to spend the coming winter in good conditions

all the best

[Fusion_power]

I pulled out the user manual and figured out how to adjust the drill head. It took about 10 minutes to fix. Worth, I used your trick with a bent shaft to verify it is correct! I will still use the jig, but I cut it to a properly flat wood piece. It gives me a nice backstop to hold the pieces I am drilling. I think of it as a smaller version of screwing a piece of wood to the rip fence on a table saw.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by loulac

I quite agree an error of 1.25 degrees can't be neglected when you drill thick pieces. If the platform of the drill is correct you could ask for a better upper part, the warranty could work. I understand it's quite annoying to discover such shortcomings on a new tool.
By now your bees must have a nice provision of food to spend the coming winter in good conditions

all the best

I have carried a machinist square and dial indicator to the store.
If I go to buy bolts I always carry thread pitch gauges and calipers because people get the metric and imperial mixed up all of the time.



On a side note I just ran a test on the lathe without going into great detail I made a test bar the last part was turning it between centers, the centers I use.
After running a foot or so I checked with a micrometer that measures to the 1/10 of a thousandth.
One end measured .950 and the other end measured .950.

The next thing is I was always wondering if I changed spindle speeds on the lathe while I was threading if it would put me out of time.
I have done it and never had a problem but just thought I was lucky.
No even with both spindle speed gears in neutral the spindle is always in mesh with the rest of the lathe it cant get out of time.
I should have checked this before but never thought about it unless I was in the middle of threading.

Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

I pulled out the user manual and figured out how to adjust the drill head. It took about 10 minutes to fix. Worth, I used your trick with a bent shaft to verify it is correct! I will still use the jig, but I cut it to a properly flat wood piece. It gives me a nice backstop to hold the pieces I am drilling. It is a smaller version of screwing a piece of wood to the rip fence on a table saw.

I'm glad to hear this and have been waiting.

I use the sacrificial back plate when drilling it keeps the bit from drilling into the table and it works as a chip breaker so the holes are clean on both sides.

I dont recommend Harbor Freight many times but they sell a very good set of center drills 5 in a set.
I cant recommend these things enough for anyone that uses a drill press milling machine or lathe for putting starter holes where the need to be.
Rule of thumb is to only drill to about 2/3rds of the 60 degree shoulder on the bit.

They can also be used as a counter sink.

Worth

[dmforcier]

There is a show on PBS called A Craftsman's Legacy, where they talk to a different type of old-school craftsman each week. Jewelry maker, ceramicist, bookmaker, etc. Today they had a clockmaker cutting and mounting his own gears. I couldn't watch closely, but most PBS shows are available online. Check it out.