Lathe practice

[mahlon]

William I finally tried turning steel on my taig. I made a reamer 😮 and it works 😯 😯 . I will have to harden it , but it worked Mahlon

[tmac1956]

Well done!

Tom

[david pierce]

Mahlon,
It looks good, especially for a first try. How did you cut the flat?
david

[mahlon]

I cut a groove in piece of hard maple and then cut the angle and a drop so that I could file down to the half way point. I do the same thing when making suspension springs. When you start filling wood it is time to use the stone to sharpen. Mahlon

[bernie weishapl]

Hey Mahlon that looks mighty fine for a first. I have a couple of them and they work great. I am going to order the milling attachment to mill the flats on tools. I do like your idea of the oak. I want to make some stumps/anvils, a couple of different pushers, and a chamfering bit for my hand bushing tool. So like your idea. Thanks.

[mahlon]

Thanks Bernie, If you make the groove a little smaller then the shaft of the reamer, and force it in, it will hold it tight enough to keep it from rolling while you are filling it. I don’t have a combination slide so I put the taper on it with file. It worked pretty good. Mahlon

[bernie weishapl]

Gotcha Mahlon. I am also thinking of buying that slide that turns your slide to a compound slide to cut tapers. I would like to make a couple of special reamers for my bushing tool. I could then turn my own bushings to that reamer size for the mainspring wheels. It would also be nice making things like reamers also. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

[willofiam]

Mahlon, excellent job and great idea. sky’s the limit now…Do you think that you could offset the tailstock end enough to get the desired taper? William

[mahlon]

William, that’s how I roughed out the angle, then smoothed it up with files. I started out to try to make extra reamers to fit the handle to my hand reamer set, but figured that I could use the large hand vise. Now I want to try to harden them. I haven’t had much experience with that, so if you can give me some pointers it would be greatly appreciated . I also am thinking of a tool post that I can make to use hand gravers. I don’t know if it will work but, an el shaped tool rest mounted on a lower tool block, so that my gravers would be at or near center comes to mind. If it can be done. it would allow me to face and do side cuts without moving, and resetting the tool rest. I am not sure if it would be too much pressure on the toolbar. Mahlon

[david pierce]

Mahlon,
That was a good innovative solution to the problem. I am glad that I asked the question because I never would have thought of doing it that way. One technique you may want to try in the future is to get a compound rest for your Taig or you can turn the part between centers by offsetting the tailstock to cut the angle. You did a nice job.
david

[arutha]

Nice work Mahlon,
it always gives me a real buzz being able to achieve something new
Paul.

[mahlon]

Thanks Guys, It’s kinda like catching that first big fish. After you catch the first one, you go back every day looking for another Mahlon

[Bob Tascione]

Very nice work Mehlon!

Bob

[gerene]

Nice work Mahlon. I am interrested in your idea about making a tool rest for hand gravers. Let us know when you proceed on this.

Jan

[chris mabbott]

Excellent job my horological brother, I’m impressed.

Please reveal your secrets to one as unworthy as moi. I’m in need of replacing a few reamers and I also need some in-between sizes.

How did you determine the taper and final cutting lip before the burnishing area?
What steel did you use?

[Author]

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