glacially slow machine shop build

[bgaidan]

If you can fit 1", it's going to be more rigid on longer stick-out (duh). Just make sure your compound and tool holder sit low enough that a 1" holder will sit below center.

I can fit 1" on my 12.5" Cincinnati, but the quick change holder I use won't allow them to sit low enough.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

1" tooling is better from a rigidity standpoint. Same as what bgaidan said, if you can fit the 1" tooling, go for it.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I'll measure height when I get home. I'm 99% certain I can fit 1" though.

Other than an angle grinder what generic shop tools should I expect to want to build a toolpost mount for? Trying to figure out how many scraps of bar-stock I should buy.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Perhaps a straight die grinder for I.D. grinding?

 

[[486]]

look around for cheap used inserts, then buy tooling to fit them
Used to be you could get a few hundred inserts for way cheap that'd spent their few hours in a CNC. Now everyone knows what carbide scrap is worth, and there are a fuckton more home machinists camping on ebay, so they're probably a lot higher. My last batch of inserts was $40 for a couple hundred sumitomo tnma 334s
otherwise you're paying a couple bucks apiece for inserts that you'll be smashing to bits before you use all the edges up

I can fit 1" on my 12.5" Cincinnati, but the quick change holder I use won't allow them to sit low enough.

I've cut the dovetail in a couple of mine so they just fit direct to the aloris
you can also take some of your shits, mill the "holder" slot off and then just bolt the tool holder to the dovetailed block with a couple bolts horizontal to the whole mess

 

[2020AT4]

I'll measure height when I get home. I'm 99% certain I can fit 1" though.

Other than an angle grinder what generic shop tools should I expect to want to build a toolpost mount for? Trying to figure out how many scraps of bar-stock I should buy.

What are you doing with the angle grinder?


Toolpost grinders can be had cheap and will let you do internal and external with excellent results.

 

[arse_sidewards]

What are you doing with the angle grinder?

All sorts of ghetto fab shop type stuff that I would normally do by hand.

Need to remove mil scale, rust or paint from the OD of a tube? wire wheel.

Need to part off some obscenely hard bar stock? cutting wheel

Need to knock down a weld and don't want to subject your carbide to an interrupted cut? Grinding wheel.

Need to put a pretty finish on something? Scotchbrite wheel.

I'm keeping my eye out for a proper toolpost grinder but it's a low priority.

look around for cheap used inserts, then buy tooling to fit them
Used to be you could get a few hundred inserts for way cheap that'd spent their few hours in a CNC. Now everyone knows what carbide scrap is worth, and there are a fuckton more home machinists camping on ebay, so they're probably a lot higher. My last batch of inserts was $40 for a couple hundred sumitomo tnma 334s
otherwise you're paying a couple bucks apiece for inserts that you'll be smashing to bits before you use all the edges up


I've cut the dovetail in a couple of mine so they just fit direct to the aloris
you can also take some of your shits, mill the "holder" slot off and then just bolt the tool holder to the dovetailed block with a couple bolts horizontal to the whole mess

I'll keep my eyes open for used stuff in bulk but the Chinese CNMGs were ~$0.50ea which seems very fair.

It's been awhile since I've had to think about this sort of thing but I'm 90% sure that having a flat bolted joint in that plane would introduce a lot of inaccuracy. I like the idea of cutting dovetail slots directly into tool holders though.

 

[posford]

All sorts of ghetto fab shop type stuff that I would normally do by hand.

Need to remove mil scale, rust or paint from the OD of a tube? wire wheel. Wire brush?

Need to part off some obscenely hard bar stock? cutting wheel carbide parting tool?

Need to knock down a weld and don't want to subject your carbide to an interrupted cut? Grinding wheel. What?

Need to put a pretty finish on something? Scotchbrite wheel. scrotchbrite pad?

I'm keeping my eye out for a proper toolpost grinder but it's a low priority.

Why do you feel it neccessary to make your life difficult?

A corded drill for poor mans live tooling would be

 

[[486]]

I'll keep my eyes open for used stuff in bulk but the Chinese CNMGs were ~$0.50ea which seems very fair.

NO NO NONONO
NO
maybe it has gotten better in the last few years but no fucking way do you pay any amount of money for chink shit carbide inserts
no wonder you're worried about breaking them, they're grinding dust that's barely held together with hard solder or some such shit

get some real inserts from japan or europe (or the jews) you'll be amazed at the difference

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Good inserts last way longer too, so the added cost is almost a wash. Especially with interrupted cuts and carving out/down welded assemblies.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I'll buy fancy inserts when I break the ones I'm getting

I know you idiots don't get the concept of "other people's money" but I have a limited cashflow for projects that I need to manage. $10 of cheap inserts is fine for now.

I used to work tool crib at a university. I know cheap carbide won't stand up to hard use but I also know how long these are going to last when doing simple non-demanding tasks. I also know how quickly you can kill expensive carbide in novice hands. For rudimentary turning boring and facing in anything up through soft steel these will be fine.

 

[bgaidan]

NO NO NONONO
NO
maybe it has gotten better in the last few years but no fucking way do you pay any amount of money for chink shit carbide inserts
no wonder you're worried about breaking them, they're grinding dust that's barely held together with hard solder or some such shit

get some real inserts from japan or europe (or the jews) you'll be amazed at the difference

All of my inserts come from ebay or banggood unless I happen to get name brand ones in an auction lot. They hold up fine for hobby use. Plenty of reviews on youtube putting the CNMG ones to the test. You can buy 10 from banggood for half the price of one "good" one and they certainly last way more than 1/10 as long.

 

[[486]]

All of my inserts come from ebay or banggood unless I happen to get name brand ones in an auction lot. They hold up fine for hobby use. Plenty of reviews on youtube putting the CNMG ones to the test. You can buy 10 from banggood for half the price of one "good" one and they certainly last way more than 1/10 as long.

Last ones I used you could see the grain size of the carbide by eye.

 

[2020AT4]

NO NO NONONO
NO
maybe it has gotten better in the last few years but no fucking way do you pay any amount of money for chink shit carbide inserts
no wonder you're worried about breaking them, they're grinding dust that's barely held together with hard solder or some such shit

get some real inserts from japan or europe (or the jews) you'll be amazed at the difference

In years past I would have agreed.

I happened on some really good inserts on banggood when I went looking for a micro tool post and some holders/tooling to use in our beat up lil hardinge lathe.

I was dismayed when I discovered the tool post was made out of aluminum, and didn’t have much hope for the inserts.

Man was I surprised!

I had the compressed dirt inserts 20yrs ago, but these inserts are nice and flat out last.

The parting insert is 2mm or .080 and has seen a few cuts.

The yellow ones are better than kennemetal inserts and the purple are coated with some magic space dust and aluminum won’t stick to them.

The label shown is the only reference as to what these are, and they are tiny so be ware if you go this route so you don’t wind up with micro inserts you can’t use.

They were .50c to $1 each for the magic purple ones.

In all I got a shit ton of micro tooling for $100.

Mic for reference.

 

[2020AT4]

Last ones I used you could see the grain size of the carbide by eye.

Yeah, that’s the ones.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Shit like this is why the Craigslist free section is the new tab page on my work computer.

 

[bgaidan]

Fuck you.

That's $400 around here.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Fuck you.

That's $400 around here.

Yeah these would be typically ~$100 or so around here, $200 and it'd basically never sell.

If you wanted a good market for cheap used stuff shouldn't have moved to an area with no industry. I'll trade you one cabinet for a big compressor

 

[bgaidan]

Yeah these would be typically ~$100 or so around here, $200 and it'd basically never sell.

If you wanted a good market for cheap used stuff shouldn't have moved to an area with no industry. I'll trade you one cabinet for a big compressor

Sadly there used to be a lot of industry around here, but it mostly dried up. Then again, so did most of Worcester compared to what it was in the first 3/4 of the 1900's.


Deals do pop up around here, but you have to be quick and willing to jump in the truck and go NOW because things just sell fast.

I did score a pair of these cabinets for $60 a couple years ago. Had to drive an hour to get them, but it was worth it. Guy was a photographer and used them for negatives.

Sadly, he didn't leave anything in them. Not sure when these would have been taken or if I'd want to see them.....but I still looked.

 

[2020AT4]

Fuck you.

That's $400 around here.

Holy shit!

Maybe $200 here, but certainly not free.


ETA, Twyla Tharp.

 

[arse_sidewards]

For leveling the lathe does anyone see anything wrong with using screw jacks to get it where I want it then pouring grout?

 

[Firstram]

For leveling the lathe does anyone see anything wrong with using screw jacks to get it where I want it then pouring grout?

You will want to be able to readjust again, I wouldn't grout it. It may take some time to settle into it's new home. Check it in a month or two

 

[[486]]

For leveling the lathe does anyone see anything wrong with using screw jacks to get it where I want it then pouring grout?

that's how it was done
you don't have enough concrete under it to keep it from shifting when the ground freezes
get it so it isn't rocking on its feet and call it good enough

 

[arse_sidewards]

that's how it was done
you don't have enough concrete under it to keep it from shifting when the ground freezes
get it so it isn't rocking on its feet and call it good enough

The ground under the middle of my basement doesn't freeze.

You will want to be able to readjust again, I wouldn't grout it. It may take some time to settle into it's new home. Check it in a month or two

How far out are we talking assuming I get it pretty good to begin with? It's been sitting in my basement for a year now. The floor where it sits now is less flat (say nothing of being level) than the floor where it was last week so I would rather it not take that shape.

 

[Firstram]

CI will move as you know. Can you make threaded leveling feet and keep your options open?

 

[arse_sidewards]

CI will move as you know. Can you make threaded leveling feet and keep your options open?

I have a set of wedge style machinery leveling pads sitting around but I would like to save them for the mill. They weren't cheap but weren't that expensive either and they are a zero effort solution.

 

[mjlogan88]

Depending on how thick your concrete is, I would use wedge anchors or epoxy in some allthread. If the feet on your lathe won't allow access for a hammer drill you'll have to get creative.

Epoxy is nice cause you can map out your hole pattern, drill your holes oversize, move the machine back over the holes, and drop the anchors/allthread in and let it cure so you don't have to be super precise.

Use your wedges to help you level the lathe out and then fab or buy shims to take their place.

One of the lathes we installed came with leveling inserts which I thought was pretty trick. Made the leveling process super easy. Here's a cartoon:

 

[arse_sidewards]

I think I'll be lazy and stick the lathe on the leveling wedges and copy the leveling inserts when it's time to do the mill.

 

[arse_sidewards]

On an different note, I pulled the fitting off the oil line that goes to the rear of the headstock and oil wasn't flowing to it. Right now I'm using 0W20. The line is 1/4" and about 3ft overall length and ~6" below the oil level in the reservoir. I blew air through the line and it came out in the reservoir It seems like it should flow. Am I using oil that's too thick? Do they even make (readily available) oils that are less than a 0W?

The OEM stuff was probably a whale product.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

A lathe has to be precisely level back to front and side to side to cut straight. Not sure I've seen someone hard anchor a lathe to the floor. I made leveling feet for my lathe, and it just sits on top of the concrete. Hasn't moved at all that I can tell, even after a hundred hours of use or so.

The mill doesn't need to be as level, they're much more rigid. IMO use the leveling feet on the lathe.