Lakc
Well-Known Member
I needed to repair an old telescope mount that was broken when it tipped over. The shape was easy enough to cast, but it needed a rather large bore with an internal keyway. having long ago read and filed away the idea of using the lathe as a shaper, it came to me that this dusty memory was finally going to get its day in the sun.
After boring the initial diameter with a small boring bit, I dug out my commercial 1/2" boring bar bit (3/16) holder and ground up an eyeball 7 degree relief on the bottom, relieved the sides gently with a diamond dresser (perhaps .0005"), and left the top (inside) of the tool at the 45 degree angle provided by the holder. I locked the headstock, which on my machine means putting both sets of belts on the drive. A fairly adequate method which is why I have not gotten around to making a proper lock for it yet.
This shot is the first setup, and after a dozen passes it became obvious the flex in the boring bar and thrust starting to twist the toolholder was just letting the tool bounce out of the cut.
Slight change of setup, and we have success. I choked up on the boring bar, leaving the end sticking out the backside of the holder. That gave me a nice lever to oppose the forces of the cut by leaning an appropriate portion of my body weight against it. Come to think of it, there are a lot of instances where I use pushing or pulling against the machine to make up for the small lathe's inherant flexibility. Best cuts with this were approx .012", as there is a definate action where the chip coming off fights to keep the bit on center.
After boring the initial diameter with a small boring bit, I dug out my commercial 1/2" boring bar bit (3/16) holder and ground up an eyeball 7 degree relief on the bottom, relieved the sides gently with a diamond dresser (perhaps .0005"), and left the top (inside) of the tool at the 45 degree angle provided by the holder. I locked the headstock, which on my machine means putting both sets of belts on the drive. A fairly adequate method which is why I have not gotten around to making a proper lock for it yet.
This shot is the first setup, and after a dozen passes it became obvious the flex in the boring bar and thrust starting to twist the toolholder was just letting the tool bounce out of the cut.
Slight change of setup, and we have success. I choked up on the boring bar, leaving the end sticking out the backside of the holder. That gave me a nice lever to oppose the forces of the cut by leaning an appropriate portion of my body weight against it. Come to think of it, there are a lot of instances where I use pushing or pulling against the machine to make up for the small lathe's inherant flexibility. Best cuts with this were approx .012", as there is a definate action where the chip coming off fights to keep the bit on center.