Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Lou Somers Power Feed Update
Lou Somers sent in some pictures of his updated shop made Taig lathe power feed. 
"I rejiggered everything for portability. when I get tired of standing I set it on a drywall bucket and sit down. Drive cable for leadscrew is stuck on a screw to keep it out of the way when not in use."
"Moved gearmotor topside. At left lower corner is a temporary drive link for my attempt at Keith Brooke's thread cutting rig. I used 3/8 x 24 tap as a leader. Didn't want to spend too much time on it till I was sure it would work. Will rework as time permits."
"After a couple of passes with the thread tool. Chuck is a 3" from Little Machine Shop. I have a 4" from LMS on my Atlas 618. Both are money well spent"
"Blurry action shot"
"Don't know how I missed my mark as much as I did. Rather than make another drive rod plate I drilled and tapped the drive rod for a 10 x 24 screw"
"Drilled a generously oversize hole in the drive rod plate for the screw to pass through. Tightened it til there was just the slightest play to allow rod to move latterally due to misalignment. Seems to work just fine."
"The chuck arbor is on a piece of 10x24 all thread."
"Made a taper to keep everything centered in the spindle nose. Although this set up looks like Beethoven's last movement and Keith would probably throttle me for the way I've chopped up his idea, it works perfectly."
"I rejiggered everything for portability. when I get tired of standing I set it on a drywall bucket and sit down. Drive cable for leadscrew is stuck on a screw to keep it out of the way when not in use."
"Moved gearmotor topside. At left lower corner is a temporary drive link for my attempt at Keith Brooke's thread cutting rig. I used 3/8 x 24 tap as a leader. Didn't want to spend too much time on it till I was sure it would work. Will rework as time permits."
"After a couple of passes with the thread tool. Chuck is a 3" from Little Machine Shop. I have a 4" from LMS on my Atlas 618. Both are money well spent"
"Blurry action shot"
"Don't know how I missed my mark as much as I did. Rather than make another drive rod plate I drilled and tapped the drive rod for a 10 x 24 screw"
"Drilled a generously oversize hole in the drive rod plate for the screw to pass through. Tightened it til there was just the slightest play to allow rod to move latterally due to misalignment. Seems to work just fine."
"The chuck arbor is on a piece of 10x24 all thread."
"Made a taper to keep everything centered in the spindle nose. Although this set up looks like Beethoven's last movement and Keith would probably throttle me for the way I've chopped up his idea, it works perfectly."
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Back to Work, New Pics, Article, etc.
Back to work!
Rick Kernell sent in these pictures of his graduated Taig lathe handwheel.
"The power feed is working really well. This idea has been rattling in my head for a while. Maybe some one else may find this a help.
The new carriage feed moves at 1.800 inch per revolution. I marked off the wheel so that each 0.100 inch and 0.300 inch (black lines) has graduations. They are not knock-dead accurate due to the lead screw/gear play, but they are surprisingly reproducible."
Note that this is the new power feed version of the lathe. Rick was one of the first people to make the conversion.
Keith Brooke sent in a short PDF article on his method of Free-Hand Turning on the Taig Lathe.
Jacobs closed its last US plant so there are some deals out there. One that caught my eye: Jacobs 6208 1B Medium DutyChuck 6.5 mm 3/8-Inch 24tpi
, There are some other good deals if you search for Jacobs on Amazon, especially if you need large 30 to 50 taper end mill holders.
[EDIT, it appears the deal on the chuck is gone and it's back to the regular price]
Finally, for those of you who probe in Mach3, there's a great probing routine here that promises to greatly reduce time. I haven't tried it yet but the thread on the Mach forum is encouraging.
Rick Kernell sent in these pictures of his graduated Taig lathe handwheel.
"The power feed is working really well. This idea has been rattling in my head for a while. Maybe some one else may find this a help.
The new carriage feed moves at 1.800 inch per revolution. I marked off the wheel so that each 0.100 inch and 0.300 inch (black lines) has graduations. They are not knock-dead accurate due to the lead screw/gear play, but they are surprisingly reproducible."
Note that this is the new power feed version of the lathe. Rick was one of the first people to make the conversion.
Keith Brooke sent in a short PDF article on his method of Free-Hand Turning on the Taig Lathe.
Jacobs closed its last US plant so there are some deals out there. One that caught my eye: Jacobs 6208 1B Medium DutyChuck 6.5 mm 3/8-Inch 24tpi
, There are some other good deals if you search for Jacobs on Amazon, especially if you need large 30 to 50 taper end mill holders.[EDIT, it appears the deal on the chuck is gone and it's back to the regular price]
Finally, for those of you who probe in Mach3, there's a great probing routine here that promises to greatly reduce time. I haven't tried it yet but the thread on the Mach forum is encouraging.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Lew Bishop's Latest
Here's Lew's latest:
My old mahogany box salvaged from an old model flying buddy - in this case with some of the current crop of pens. Of note are the two on the right that are made from a 10 mm blank of fairly soft aluminum. Since the bodies are without the center band, a much more gentle shape can be turned. The finish is still eluding me and will require a lot more study and practice.
My current set up with the drawer box to hold the tools and act as a stand. The new additions are the longer dead center with more travel along with a new lever with softer edges and a cute knob on the end - borrowed from my b-in-law's parts drawer. The knob is also on the new tailstock lock lever as well as the new tool post lock.
The tool post is a refurb of the original tool post received with the purchase of the lathe many years ago. The hole was not clean so a new .25 hole was hogged out with a new shoulder recess to fit the new lock as well as new threads for larger hold down bolts for the tool. The anchor for the post is a machined 1/4 -20 bolt with the head milled and slots cut for the "t" to hold the bolt straight. Additional threads were required on the bolt to allow for proper clamping force. It works pretty well and loads into the slot very easily. I need to do a new post with the different anchor to test the process and to put the tool at the correct height without shimming. Later on the old post will be a guinea pig for an adjustable height device or something.
The latest pen turned from one of the rifle blank scraps that I cut last month. The grain of the walnut is just beautiful and is great to work with.
posted at cartertools.com as well.
My old mahogany box salvaged from an old model flying buddy - in this case with some of the current crop of pens. Of note are the two on the right that are made from a 10 mm blank of fairly soft aluminum. Since the bodies are without the center band, a much more gentle shape can be turned. The finish is still eluding me and will require a lot more study and practice.
My current set up with the drawer box to hold the tools and act as a stand. The new additions are the longer dead center with more travel along with a new lever with softer edges and a cute knob on the end - borrowed from my b-in-law's parts drawer. The knob is also on the new tailstock lock lever as well as the new tool post lock.
The tool post is a refurb of the original tool post received with the purchase of the lathe many years ago. The hole was not clean so a new .25 hole was hogged out with a new shoulder recess to fit the new lock as well as new threads for larger hold down bolts for the tool. The anchor for the post is a machined 1/4 -20 bolt with the head milled and slots cut for the "t" to hold the bolt straight. Additional threads were required on the bolt to allow for proper clamping force. It works pretty well and loads into the slot very easily. I need to do a new post with the different anchor to test the process and to put the tool at the correct height without shimming. Later on the old post will be a guinea pig for an adjustable height device or something.
The latest pen turned from one of the rifle blank scraps that I cut last month. The grain of the walnut is just beautiful and is great to work with.
posted at cartertools.com as well.
Latest on the Power Feed Retrofit Kit
Taig Says:
"The K1016 is going to be $119.00 each. Should have them ready by next week. We are just waiting for the paper work to be printed."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Ron Kiely's Latest Light
Ron says: "I have just made this off road mountain bike light at the request of a total stranger who lives in Portugal. Made from 45mm Aluminium bar it was quite a challenge for the rear mounted cut-off tool, these lights get very hot so require 7.5mm deep grooves in order to keep them cool, I almost run out of lead screw trying to get the cut-off tool that far back. Also lots of very deep boring for the electronics compartment but the taig coped very well."
Finning...
Boring.
Posted on cartertools.com as well.
Finning...
Boring.
Posted on cartertools.com as well.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Powerfeed is ready...
[EDIT: Taig just emailed me that they forgot to include the cost of the new carriage extrusion in the power feed upgrade kit...so they're on hold until they get pricing figured out...Orders that have gone into them get the $80.00 price but everyone else should hold off for now...]
Taig says the Power Feed and Power Feed retrofit kits are ready:
The power feed lathe is # L1015.
The lathe includes the power feed, pulley set and mounting board. It is $305.00 retail.
The power feed retrofit parts kit is # K1016. It is XXXX retail.
Details of the retrofit are up at Taig's Taigmachines site
As always I'll give 10% off plus S&H.
I haven't had a chance to try the retrofit kit myself yet.
Taig also does not yet have individual part#'s for those wanting to mess around with the new useful parts. I'll let you know when I know.
Taig says the Power Feed and Power Feed retrofit kits are ready:
The power feed lathe is # L1015.
The lathe includes the power feed, pulley set and mounting board. It is $305.00 retail.
The power feed retrofit parts kit is # K1016. It is XXXX retail.
Details of the retrofit are up at Taig's Taigmachines site
As always I'll give 10% off plus S&H.
I haven't had a chance to try the retrofit kit myself yet.
Taig also does not yet have individual part#'s for those wanting to mess around with the new useful parts. I'll let you know when I know.
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