Zee Needs Popcorn

[Art K]

Zee,
The shop looks great, open and airy. Smart kid stopping at the door and calling you. Safe from theoretical flying parts.
Art

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[kvom]

Shop looks good, almost as clean as Dave's.

For tapping SS I go with a slightly larger hole as work hardening is always a danger.

[zeeprogrammer]

I had tried to set up the mill and lathe to be 90 degrees to each other but more space would have been needed from the rest of the room.
There may come a time where I don't need/want that space and I can move the lathe.
But the windows represent another problem.

As for the tap...I did use a slightly larger hole but I think what happened is the tap bottomed out just as I gave another twist.
I thought I still had a ways to go but it was poor practice I think.
I was holding the tap with one hand and rotating the chuck with the other. This is a larger chuck and I'm thinking its inertia/mass was enough to break the tap.

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Zee,

That is what I did when I re-arranged my shop, placed the Mill 90 degrees to the lathe and put the metal shelving that holds most of the tooling in the corner. This sure works better for me.

Have a great day,
Thomas

[Art K]

Zee,
I have to admit that the only taps I tap free hand are big ones. Small ones I always use a center. Knowing where you went wrong you can be mindful of that next time. I sometimes count turns to get a specific thread depth. That assumes a fixed non moving part. In my own shop I would love to move things around but the machines dictate where I can put them in a 22 X 8 foot room, Not the first time I wished I'd added on 2 feet extra. The beautiful thing about your shop is that if you don't like it you can move things around. Just remember where they are so when you go out in the dark you don't stub your toe.
Art

[zeeprogrammer]

@Thomas...yes I could do the same but I would extend a bit more into the rest of the shop. For now I need that space. Once I don't, then I'll probably rearrange.

@Art...I didn't mean to imply I tapped free-hand. I was using the tailstock to guide the tap holder. The tables and benches are pretty easy to move around. The machines and lab benches are more difficult. Those lab benches are pretty heavy.

[Art K]

Zee,

The tables and benches are pretty easy to move around. The machines and lab benches are more difficult. Those lab benches are pretty heavy.

Yeah that's why my machines are a permanent fixture right where they are. Both are about 1200 lbs each. I have rollers I bolt on to the lathe but I have to rent a 1500 lbs engine hoist for the mill, done that 3 times. I'm glad to hear I was mistaken thinking you tapped it freehand. By the way it's great to have internet again.
Art

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Busted taps are a pain in the Royal arse and I still have a bit of one hidden underneath one of my first builds. Back in the day (love being old enough to say that) I’ve power tapped a lot of larger diameter holes using a mag base drill. If we had to tap stainless, we would tack weld a plate to it that would hold the mag base. And that’s when I learned to really try and watch the flutes, almost to point of mesmerizing on them, if I see any deflection, I stop and either back out or determine if I’m at the bottom. And , I still focus on the flutes today, even at our sizes and even when hand tapping. Marking a tap with a Sharpie to the drilled depth will also give you an idea of where you are. On the shop rearranging: have you consulted a Feng Shui expert. After reading the other thread you’ve started; might be able to help us all . Since you are among the glorious retired now, you should have plenty of time to research and give us conclusive feedback. The build is coming along very well and comparing family shots; we both seem to be at about the same spot “off of the side of the side road” (trivia teaser ) Forty year class reunion tomorrow night and guess who is donating the food and beer  . I just love your threads: I can ramble on about anything  . Looking great Zee: carry on.

Eric

[zeeprogrammer]

Nuts. I mean, I got nuts. I mean, I made nuts.
I looked at Dave Otto's nut making and that was a big help.

Started with some 3/16 303 stainless steel. Center drilled, drilled, and tapped. (I had another tap!!!)

1st pic is my set up. With that, I could face and bevel, then swap the cutter out and part off without having to adjust the compound's angle.
I sneaked up on the bevel with the aid of a magnifier. (Not while turning. I turned, shut down, looked, then started again.)
Tip: re-thread after facing.

2nd pic shows a tool I made to hold the half-done nuts in the lathe so I could face the other side and bevel it.

I was surprised how quick (in my world) it went.

3rd pic shows 5 nuts. Not perfectly square and I'm not sure why. For one side it could have been that the hex rod wasn't very straight. For the other side I'm suspecting it's because the nut wasn't square to the jig.

But I'm pretty happy. First time I beveled both sides without using a file.

4th pic shows the rotary table being used to start on the eccentric strap. Overall it went well. This is actually the 2nd try. On the 1st one I'd moved the table before resetting the rotation.

I'm not sure this is an appropriate method but so far it's working for me. Stewart had used round bar but all I had was plate.

5th pic shows what I have so far. After this I think I can follow what Stewart did.
Still need to drill the two sides for the bolts, drill/thread for the rod, bore, and split.

I'm continually surprised by how small this engine is.

[crueby]

Nice Carl!


One thing I do differetly on making nuts is to face, drill the first side, then use a file to add the bevel. Then part off just partway, back out the tool, and use a small triangular file to do the back side bevel, then part the rest of the way. This way the sides of the nut will be parallel, and the filed bevel works. For larger ones I like your method better, but for small ones this is quicker and consistant.


 

[10KPete]

Making nuts or similar I face drill, tap, parting tool not all the way thru, then chamfer both 'ends' of that first nut and the end of what will be the next one, then finish parting off. The only second op is chamfering the hole on the back side which is either lathe or drill press, depending...

Chamfering the hex is done with a 60* treading tool, 'cause 45* is too steep, outside edge of hex chamfer is slightly, barely, past the hex itself.

On occaision I will tap after parting off.

Pete

[zeeprogrammer]

Very interesting Chris and Pete.
That's the way I had been doing it. Parting part way and using a file.

My problem is that I'm not very good with a file and wanted something a little more 'predictable'.

I'm not sure I was clear about my process...

a) faced, center drilled, drilled, and tapped for some length (enough to get 3 or 4 nuts).
b) beveled (sneaking in by looking with magnifier to stop the bevel as it got past the hex edges, i.e. got a full 360 degree of machining)
c) parted off a little oversize
d) re-threaded (because the parting off screwed up the thread)
e) repeated 'b' to 'd' for the 3 or 4 nuts

g) for each nut, mounted it on a jig in the chuck
h) faced to length (basically the amount I'd left it oversized)
i) beveled as before
j) repeated 'g' to 'i' for each of the nuts

Steps 'f' and 'h' were a small happy dance.

I suspect there may be different operations depending on the size of the nut.
I consider these pretty small. 3/16 hex. 1/16 thick.
I measured them afterwards and was happy to be close. About half came in at .058 and the other at 0.61.

Just a note about filing...I do that certainly...but be very careful. The other day the file got caught in the parting groove and scared me half to death.

[Kim]

Nice nuts, Zee!

I've used a very similar procedure for making nuts.

And YES!  You do want to be careful that the file doesn't get caught.  Once I had the end of the file catch the edge of the 3 jaw chuck. THAT scared me.  I pictured having a file sticking out of my gut!  I've been MUCH more careful since then!

Kim

[propforward]

Very nice work again Carl!

Those few times I use a file in the lathe (did today as it happens) I make a point of standing to the side, out of the path of the file - so should it get caught and flung, it doesn't hit me. It's one of the first things the metalwork master showed us in school. Can't remember what he said, but it made the lesson stick anyway.

[crueby]

Thats why I use a triangular file, never had it try and catch in the narrow parting groove (what I mean by small file, mine is about 1/4" across the flats of the triangle, not a needle file). A thin file could grab. Also just use the middle of the file, not the tip, so if you do brush the chuck jaws you dont catch the end and fling it back at you. I just use one flat of the file, pulling it out against the to-be-parted nut, not pushing it straight down to do both nuts at once. Gotta use care around your nuts...