Stuart engineering Lathe

[coopertje]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply! I must admit it hurts a little to post my mishaps, but on the other hand its all in the game. The mishaps are an important issue when learning something. When I started 3 years ago I had no clue how to put a tool in my lathe, never heard of center height etc. But I was determined to make my IC engine and after one year of remaking parts that did not work out the first time I got it running. I cannot describe the feeling I had when it first run, incredible woohoo1 When it goes wrong with me its because I am too fast. I keep forgetting that you spend at least as much time in a good set-up of tools and machine (and check them again) then in the actual cutting operation.
This is the engine I started my metalworking career with (probably not the best choice for a beginner, but it also proofs that if take the project part by part it can be done. And why make it easy if you can choose the difficult way!).

My advice is just start. The good thing of this hobby is that everybody is having fun with metal on its own level. What can be a boring/dull operation for one, can be a big challenge for the other one! Just enjoy and do not feel that you need to compete with anybody here. Further it would be good to start a post on your build, there are a lot of people here that can help you with all questions you have.
Are you working on some project already? And by the way, if you need a nice quality of Stuart castings I can order them for you in Holland and ship them to the UK.... ;D

Have fun and hope to see a build from you soon!

Jeroen

 

[coopertje]

I received the spare tailstock foot and gave it a try again. For the setup I used a combination of all tips I got. A friend of mine advised me to forget about the machine vise and put the thing straight on the machine table. And so I did.
Here's the setup for machining the top part of the tailstock foot:

I used clamps to clamp the tailstock foot to the machine table. Then I run a screw trough the workpiece in a big piece of wood. It felt quite rigid, and with sweat on my forehead and nicking knees I started the mill. I took some cuts with a 10mm end mill. I could still hear some vibration so I stopped, took an additional clamp and mounted one end on the head of the screw and the other end at the back of the piece of wood. That made a difference although I was still not confident to bring it to a good end. Luckily I did this time and had the top milled to the desired dimension. Then I flipped the part over and milled the bottom of the tailstock foot to dimension.

I was really glad and relieved when the part was finished without braking, for my feeling this is the most critical part of the lathe (up to now).
I remounted the machine vise and drilled two 3mm holes in the tailstock foot.

After I took over the dimensions on the lathe bed, center drilled and drilled with 2.5mm to a depth of 10mm. Put the M3 tap in the chuck and by hand made the first couple of revolutions such that I was sure that the tap went in straight.

Took the tap out of the chuck and finished the tread by hand to full depth.

Then it was time to bring the headstock foot to its finial dimensions. I clamped it in the machine vise using 2 pieces of soft red copper. The result is amazing, I tried to see if I could move the part sideways with a rubber hammer but it was impossible. So after the delicate cuts of the tail stock foot it was time to make some real chips and I mounted a 75mm mill.

I tried to get a balance between remaining thickness on top and bottom to match as good as possible with the tailstock foot. Its not possible to make them equal, the dimensions of the both castings are different.
When finished I took a parallel block to check the heights of both parts. Good enough for me!

Here is the lathe standing on its finished (and in one piece.... : ) foots

Think that next will be to make the center to put in the tailstock and make the bearings for the main spindle. There are 2 pieces of bronze supplied in the kit, but they are so short that I probably will spend more time in making temporary hubs then that they are worth in money. A well, lets see what happens next....

Thanks for watching, Jeroen

 

[steamer]

Glad it worked out for you Jeroen

Looks great!.....watch that big cutter!.....ITS BIG!

Like I said, my launch castings didn't move a bit with the lead sheet in the vice....glad copper works too!

Dave

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Jeroen,
It's really starting to take shape. I have found the same thing with the materials that Stuart supplies. There's just enough to make the parts but nothing to chuck to. You would think that being in the machining business they would realize this and add at least .50 to the stock. Heck they could even charge $1.00 more. Usually I just throw their stock in a box and use my own.
George

 

[coopertje]

Dave: I will search for some lead and then test what works best. Probably both are OK, at least copper was good enough for me. Thanks again for the tip, being able to use the big mill saved me some machine time....

George: I though we Dutch are the only once afraid of "giving away" more material then necessary, but it seems that the English are even worse..... ;D But anyway I think I will use the Bronze from the kit for the bearings, first drill the hole in the middle, put it on a mandarin/madarel? and bring the OD to shape and dimension.

 

[rleete]

Looking very nice. What are your plans for a finish? Painted? Color?

 

[coopertje]

Thank you. I was thinking about dark green, it will give a nice contrast with the metal parts. Do you (or anybody else) know what color they used in the old days for lathes? I have an old clarkson tool grinder and that one is light grey.

 

[steamer]

Basic Black was very common over on this side of the pond. ;D
Dave

 

[Maryak]

My experience with US machine tools has all been good, so colours I remember are

Cincinnati - Light Grey Gloss

Milwaukee - Darker than Royal Blue but not Navy Blue Semi Gloss.

Hope this helps

Best Regards
Bob

 

[coopertje]

Hi Dave and Bob. Thank you both for your ideas. Mmmm....black. I find black so...how should I say....black! I tend to go to light grey, think that will give it a nice authentic look. Glad I have plenty of time to think about this, I am far away from the point of painting the lathe.

I was planning to do the bearings today, but today I have the dog of my brother over for visit. He is 3 months old and has much more energy then me for playing. I am afraid that I will not be able to do anything today.

Have a good weekend! Jeroen

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Hi Jeroen. I just did a quick tour of your thread. Very nice!
I always appreciate people posting their mishaps - I (and I'm sure others) learn from it. That makes it worthwhile in and of itself. But it's also nice to know that others have mishaps.
I saw that pic of the Stanley Steamer 'in progress'. That looks great! Are there more pics or a build thread somewhere? Is it operational?
The lathe is turning out great. I like models of any kind.

 

[steamer]

Yes I've been meaning to ask about the Stanley too!....of course....I was intriqued with the mill though.....Deckel?....NICE scraping job on it!

Dave

 

[coopertje]

Hi Zee. Thank you (all) for your kind words, its a stimulation to keep posting my progress. Although it hurts to post mishaps, I find it gets easier every time I post one.... :big: I started the Stanley (1906 model, 2 cylinder steam engine, scale 1:8 ) in March this year, its a lot of work! And since this is my 3rd project (the lathe is my 4th) I have a lot to learn and experiment. I have never done sheet-metal so this car is a big challenge for me. I did not start a post on this, I think after I finished the lathe I will start one. I have plenty of pictures form the beginning and since this will be my first steam engine for sure I will need your help here! Below some pictures of the status as it is now.

Dave, the mill is a Thiel 140. This is a German build machine and is similar to a Deckel. I was lucky to ran in to this machine, although its from 1979 its new! It was owned by a rehabilitation center before and almost not used. Its a real quality tool makers mill, all axis have autofeed and it has a SK-40 spindle. It was not so cheap but I enjoy every minute I work on this machine. I hate to fight with my tooling, I prefer they do the work for me instead!

Here are some pictures of the mill (excuses for the mess around it.....need to clean my shop!)

Need to go now, will be abroad for work until saturday evening....damn....no machining this week....

Best regards Jeroen

 

[steamer]

OH OH OH

TILT rotary table with swivel head......Tell me you have the overarm attachment for the horizontal spindle...Oh Oh .......I need a stiff drink now

SERIOUS tool envy..... ;D :bow: :bow: :bow:

Dave

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks for posting the pics of the Stanley Steamer, Jeroen. That is a fine looking model.

 

[coopertje]

Hi Dave,

I do not have the overarm attachment, but I do have the one to cut splines 8)

After spending one week on an exhibition I just started up machining an easy part. I made the center for the tailstock. Started with a piece of 7mm silver steel and made the point (60 degree angle). I just looked at the center from my real lathe and copied the shape by eye.

Flipped it over and turned the shaft back to 3mm

Here how it looks finished

Next will be the headstock, the bearings and main spindle axis.

Have fun, Jeroen

 

[NickG]

Hi Jeroen,

I'm glad I've just found this thread, I've never really had a close look at any of the Stuart machine tools in the past but this is really interesting. Sorry to see your mishap but I've seen some of your amazing workmanship so it's nice to know it can happen to anybody!

This is also of interest to me as I've never really machined castings, I too have heard good and bad about Stuart castings but I must say, despite the cost I am tempted to try one of their engines.

Lovely work :bow:, this little lathe will actually be a precision tool by the time you've finished!

Nick

 

[swilliams]

Still watching. Still liking it th_wav

 

[coopertje]

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your kind words! Mishaps are part of the game, and I learn a great deal out of them. I can only say good things about the kit up to now, the quality of the castings is really good! You could start with a cheaper kit from Stuart to see if you like it. I think single cylinder engines are quite affordable. The good thing about a casting kit is that you get a nice and realistic shape very quickly...... and as a lazy machinist I like that advantage a lot... ;D

Thanks Steve, I am glad I am not boring you with this post. You are doing perfectly well too with your engine, I like every post of it!

Tonight I did some work on the headstock. There were some edges to be removed from the casting and I drilled some holes for the oil pods.

Before starting the mill

After carefully cleaning each side it looked like below

Above you can see what I meant with short pieces of brass for the main bearings...... :-

Next was to drill 2.5mm holes in the top of the headstock and put some M3 wire in it. After I finished I realized that it would have been better to do this step with the main bearings installed, then I could use the oil pods to lock the bearings from rotating. Nothing that cannot be fixed but I will cost me extra time afterwards.....

Tomorrow the bearings, now I will creates some G-code for the CNC lathe. I want to make the pully using CNC because there are some nice radius in this part. Saves me a lot of time and trouble to grind a special tool.....

Have fun, Jeroen

 

[NickG]

Jeroen,

Yes it is the single cylinder engines I have been looking at. I'm just a little scared of wrecking a casting, I know there are certain ways you should work with castings from looking at projects / taking advice on these forums but I'm not sure I have the skills to do it yet.

You're right though, the engines do tend to look very realistic without a lot of finishing which I detest as I'm not very patient - you'll see on my engines everything is functional rather than cosmetic but with a casting kit I guess I could get both.

Nick