Wednesday, Apr 5 2017
I’m waiting for the metric drill bits I ordered to arrive to continue building the carriage stop. While I’m waiting I thought I’d think about the lack of a carriage lock. Using the half nut is not a long term solution.
First part of carriage lock
I decided I’m going to make something that holds the saddle to the ways for the best possible rigidity. I’m not sure how/which method I’ll use. In any case I’ll need a T-nut to fit between and under the ways. I milled this one from a chunk of 12L14 steel.
In doing so I discovered that my mill was not trammed (adjusted to be perfectly perpendicular to the table). It probably got out of adjustment when I was moving things around last week. The out-of-tram was bad, but not bad enough to effect something as simple as a T-nut.
Friday, Apr 7 2017
Finished Carriage Stop
Drill there
Home made spotting drill
Clearance for unthreaded body of adjustment screw
I got tired of waiting for the drill bits I ordered to arrive so bought some locally. Not metric, but the sizes recommended on the packages of the new M6x1.0 and M8x1.25 taps I also bought. The new taps are harder than those in the cheapy set I bought years ago to chase threads when restoring an old motorcycle. The drill sized recommended by Vermont American (taps made in China!) are 13/64 for the M6 tap and 15/64 for the M8 tap.
I wasn’t going to do that but was in the hardware store anyway to pick up some Map gas so I could finish the spotting drill I was making.
Stop end
Adjustment end
I took these pictures instead of a picture mounted on the lathe because I’d misplaced the bottom piece. Yesterday I cleaned up part of my bench and put the in progress parts somewhere for safe keeping. At the time I took the pics I didn’t remember where that safe place might be!
It works
After dinner I looked for the bottom piece, again. I checked the very first place I looked this afternoon with more care. Yup. It was there all along, hidden away in a corner of the drawer under a wrench.
I installed the stop on the lathe to check it out. It works. Easy to make both large and small movements. Because I have it sticking out as far as I do I have to have the adjustment screw in about as far as pictured or the body of the stop will hit the curved part of the apron. The clearance hole I drilled lets me screw in the adjustment screw all the way if needed. That should give me plenty of adjustment for fine tuning. If not I’ll make changes.