Cadflat Tube Bender Project.

[Oddbod]

Well, now that my new lathe is almost operational, I wanted to setup a Quick Change Tool Post (QCTP) similar to what I had on my small Hercus lathe.
I got looking around and discovered a QCTP setup to match my new lathe was not much larger in size but a lot more expensive to buy.
I decided to stick with the setup I was using on the Hercus, but have purchased the larger channel opening cutter holder which will help me accommodate some of the cutters that came with my newer LAM lathe, as they are larger in dimensions.

Thanks to the generosity of a member on another Forum I belong to, who offered to machine up a new tool post bolt that attaches my QCTP main body and my LAM existing cross carriage, so I can utilise the old Hercus QCTP setup.
Kind of an adapter if you like, which also corrects my height alignment issues.

I am very grateful to him for his contribution.
I removed the cross carriage so he could take it away to work with it and at the same time he improved the travel smoothness and installed an oiling point which it obviously very badly needed.

I am now in search for a reasonably priced backing plate to accommodate my small 3 jaw chuck that I used on my Hercus.
We determined that my thread on the LAM main drive for the chuck to attach is 2 1/4" x 8TPI.

[Esteban]

Excellent. Glad that you’re again working on your lathe.

[Oddbod]

Thanks Esteban, it is nice to be ready to use my newer lathe.
With a functioning QCTP holder now, I have decided that I would like an additional backing plate to fit this lathe.

A helpful guy on a none lathe forum was kind enough to send me a link or two for buying face plates in the USA which looked tempting for the price, but once shipping was added on it really did killed the deal.
So now I'm making my own using my new LAM lathe.
Its a good opportunity to learn the new lathe, so many little differences but still a lathe all the same.

I scored from the local laser cutting shop what is known as a "drop out" which is a waste piece of circular steel plate where a hole has be cut for an order.
The down side is that it has a laser cut thru it starting at the centre, plus the cut faces are all quite hard down at least 1mm.
Once thru the hard surface the steel machines well.
I got a circle 50mm thick by 150mm diameter roughly.
The up side is it cost of $8.00



Now I have it here at home, I will determined a center, use a flapper disc and a cold chisel to remove the slag and set it up in my 4 jaw chuck.
From the photo you will note the laser cut.

The next operation will be to face it and drill a center hole.
Sounds easy, but I used this stuff before and it will be slow...
The laser cut makes a good swarf breaker.

[Oddbod]

Making swarf now and creating some true flat faces ready for maching out the shape and dimensions required.

[Esteban]

By going through your thread, little by little we gain some knowledge about metal lathes. Not that I intend to venture into it, although tempting, but is wonderful to learn some of the intricacies.

[Oddbod]

I'm glad you are enjoying the journey Esteban.
I know that I deviate a little but I suspect it still remains of some interest to folks out there.
I sat on my hands with respect to doing some of this stuff for years, mostly because I did not have the money, had kids and was too busy working.

Gradually I was mentored by others and once I got a taste of it, I've never looked back.
For now, I have achieved more progess making this backing plate.
Initially I was calling it a face plate but have since been corrected by somebody smarter than me.
Not a problem, it is nice to know the correct terms to use, makes more sense overall.

I've drilled my centre hole out to 20mm and once that was done I then started machine the hole out to 48mm.
The drill bit wondered a little due to tye influence of the laser cut, but was corrected once I started machining the hole larger.
The body of this face plate is starting to take shape and I anticipated producing around 2.5 x 20 litre buckets of swarf.
It is just amnazing how much metal is taken off and lost.

At one point I decided to estimate where the thread for the centre hole would be for my 2 1/4" x 8 TPI thread.
In doing so, my idea was to drill a hole thru the disc on the laser cut and insert a steel dowel.
Since the area around the laser cut becomes quite hard, I figured by drilling it out and inserting fresh stee, it would provide a better and safer consistence for cutting a more clean and accurate thread.

So check out the pic's.

[Oddbod]

My initial machining is finished now and I have a blank I'd guess you could call it that is under size on the centre hole and slightly oversized on the external dimensions.

MIG welding is completed and the finished item looks fine to me.
It has been suggested to me that I should consider pinning the dowel, so there is no change of movement, which sounds like a good idea.

At this point I will seek counsel with a suitable person able to cut the centre hole thread for me.
I hope it will not become too difficult a task to secure the right person for the job...

[Oddbod]

Sorry guys its been a while.
Ive been off in my own little world again playing with electric motors, something I'm not much good at it seems.

In the mean time I've turned up another lathe backing plate for my lathe which I plan to attach a milling collet attachment to.

I scored some mill cutters for cheap and have some low priced collet holders or what ever they call them.
The backing plate is much smaller than the previous one I did for my 3 jaw chuck.

I've got my fingers crossed that the guy who cut the previous thread for my other backing plate will take on this thread job as well.
This new backing plate attachment is made the same way as the other using a steel drop out from the laser cutters.

It was probably the worst drop out I've ever scored from these guys but still cheap and really only consumed my time.

The main reason for my post is to draw your attention to a small project I found YouTube using a cheap compressor and air brush kit to supply coolant to a mini lathe.

When I get more time, I may consider a similar set up for my own lathe/s.
It looks to suit being mobile and seems to only consume a small amount of coolant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-gF...l=ArtisanMakes

[RiverPatrol]

Clever idea!

[Oddbod]

Well, I'm back onto the lathe and I now have a purpose made backing plate for my collet holder.
Lucky me the old guy was still willing to cut the thread for me.

I've since attached it to my lathe and machined the face and side to accept the collet holder.
I put a dial gauge on the machined face and all good literally zero run out.
I wonder what I've done to deserve such a good number.

Next step will be to scribe, drill and thread hole to fix the collet holder to the backing plate and I hope that will be another job done.

Over time I've acquired a decent set of cutters for a very good price new/2nd hand deal and purchased some collets from ebay.
Fingers crossed they will all be a nice neat fit together and help my numbers remain around zero run out.