Recent content by Forestgnome

Uum, that's what I said. The op was asking how many threads ABOVE the nut. That's not engagement. When you use a nut the amount of engagement is determined by the length of the nut.

That's the rule of thumb for thread engagement of a blind fastener, such as a bolt into a block.

No, it's pretty much the same. It takes very little tension on the drawbar to hold a cutter in a Morse or B&S collet, unless you just like beating on the end of the drawbar.

You mean something like this? http://www.conleyprecision.com/

Solid carbide bars are real nice at reducing resonance. I rarely use anything else. Just a hint, if you start resonating and it makes waves in the work, you need to cut those waves out before it will stop resonating. So changing speed, feed, etc, may have little effect. The way I do it is by...

I've had lots of magic coins in my hands, and can say with certainty most of them are made from real coins.

Personally I've had more problems with carbide during facing operations than any other cut. Sometimes I'll get a little flex right at the tit and off goes a chip on the carbide. I use HSS unless I'm cutting cast iron or hardened material.

Getting a mill doesn't fix the problem. Just like the lathe, you still need to learn how to use it. All of the same issues apply to both machines, speed, feed tool geometry, etc.

If you all aren't getting a better finish than that facing mild steel you're doing something wrong. I know it won't be as good as grinding or flycutting, but way better than the photo.

Looks to me like maybe the tool isn't on center. You didn't give enough info, but I'd use an HSS tool and use a finishing cut of 10-20 thousandths after sharpening the tool. You might be dulling the tool on the interrupted cuts. A lighter cut might extend the life of the tool through the...

Actually I just looked at a picture of the mini lathe. I'm used to larger lathes. Considering the short distance between flats on the cross slide, I would think a lantern tool post would be better geometry-wise. Not much space there to get the tool tip balanced over the cross slide using a QC...

If you have enough side force to lift your cross slide then your tools are ground incorrectly. The majority of the force should be downwards, turning or facing. Tool post position should direct the downforce between the flats your cross slide rides on. Gibs shouldn't need to be tight in most...

My suggestion would be to stop trying to lift the carriage towards the chuck. A carriage is designed for downforce, not upforce.

I didn't know you could melt iron using propane. I thought you needed a cupola furnace. Details please!

Great job on the tool kit! You're going to be the envy of your bored crewmates. Wish I had thought of something like that when I was on deployments.