Sliding Block Faceplate

[Oldmechthings]

On several occasions while attending shows in Oregon I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with a fine old gentleman, model maker, named Marlyn Hadley. Marlyn had a passion for building a model of every different kind and configuration of steam engine that he could ever learn about. At last count he had built over 60 models. Marlyn published a book showing each model along with a short description of the same. In the past few pages he showed pictures of a few fixtures that he had devised to aid in his machining. One of the fixtures was a sliding block face plate.

The block is guided, and slides on a key that is radial to the centerline. The block is reversible, with one side flat and the other with a V-groove. The block can be extended with an angle plate. It makes set up for machining rather awkward parts in the lathe quite simple. Clamp a round bar in the V-groove and turning an eccentric is a "piece of cake". Line up and turn the concentric part. Loosen the clamps, slide the part the amount of the offset, re-tighten the clamps and turn the eccentric. The crescent shaped things at the top are counter weights. This fixture is not completely balanced and so you have to run at a lower speed than you might do otherwise.
As you see I built one and have used it. Whether it would be a useful fixture for your shop is for you to decide.
Birk

 

[Brass_Machine]

Another must have tool.

My list is getting longer every time I log onto here.


Birk, Nice Job! I like it.

Eric

 

[BobWarfield]

That sort of tooling is so cool!

Ed Dubosky in Metalworking Volume One had some really cool tooling like his button v-block along these lines. There are several of his articles in that volume for those who like that sort of thing.

Best,

BW