Sunday, Oct 2 2016
I must love the mess – clouds of powdered iron that get everywhere – that comes from machining cast iron. I say that as I wasn’t happy with what I’d done machining the chuck backing plate the first three times and decided to try yet again.
Low spot
hight spot
Less than .002” run out near the edge of the chuck tells me I did better this time. I hope the lathe keeps this level of accuracy.
I wound up taking quite a bit off the backing plate to build up the boss. In earlier tries I’d wound up turning the boss a touch too much. It seems to be a perfect fit this time.
I think it also helps that I think I have the spindle adjusted correctly. I also cleaned up the spindle threads some more to insure that the backing plate rests fully against the spindle flange. That wasn’t always the case.
Tuesday, Oct 11 2016
Another backing plate
4-jaw chuck
Less powdered iron spread around the lathe this time. Perhaps I’m getting better – at least better at keeping the dust cloud down.
No, I’m not still playing with the 3-jaw chuck. This time I was machining the backing plate for the 4-jaw independent chuck I ordered. I’m happy with the results.
I think I now have everything I need to make a replacement ball-crank for the cross slide, a replacement index pin, and a replacement bull gear locking pin. The originals are all damaged in some way.
Thursday, Oct 13 2016
Ball end of new ball-crank
This is the beginning of what I intend to be the ball end of the replacement cross slide ball-crank I’m attempting to turn out of some 6061 aluminum. So far I haven’t messed anything up beyond repair, but I’m early in the process.