New Mill

[david pierce]

Tom,
Yes, turn the jaws all the way into the body of the chuck and, while holding it in your hand, wack it a few times with a wooden 2 x 4. That should hold it. On the rare times when I needed more holding power I wiped both ends with laquer thinner and applied a drop of LOCTITE, then, wacked it in again. The chuck and holder will outlast your lifespan several times over so you should not have to worry about taking them apart again.
david

[tmac1956]

david:

Something that I’ve noticed and I think it’s been this way from the day I set the thing up… but the bolt that is holding in the R8 collet seems to be wobbling around a little off center (at the top of the machine)- its enought to translate into whatever’s being held into the R8 collet holder. I never hit it with anything other than a wood hammer or small rubber dead blow hammer. Is there an adjustment that I can make to perhaps bring this into line a little better? I notice there is a spanner wrench that look like it fits some sort of threaded washer that might be adjusted.
Just curious…
Thanks!
Tom

[david pierce]

Tom,
It probably will not bother anything but the way to take the wobble out is to turn a bushing/washer that will seat into the spindle hole.
david

[tmac1956]

David:

As always – your expertise and advice are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Tom

[david pierce]

Tom,
There are tools and other products that will not function without the extreme precision that a jig bore can deliver if used properly. One example would be a stamping die with multiple punches. If the punch holes and die holes are not precisely sized and located the die set may not stamp properly or it could jam and break the punches. The good news is this level of precision is NOT necessary to produce a properly functioning watch. In the video the operator put a drill bit into the machine and drilled some holes. In contrast, a high precision hole would be center drilled, drilled, bored with a boreing head and single lip cutter, reamed and then sometimes lapped. In some cases the clearance between a punch and die could be less than .001 inches. if the hole is off by a few ten thousandths there will be a problem. As far as a watch pilar plate is concerned, when a pivot is placed into a jewel hole and flops over 5 degrees, it is and acceptable hole. Watches and clocks were made for many years by scribing lines and hand drilling the holes with home made spade drills and bow powered drilling machines. Your HF milling machine and a couple of dial indicators to position the bed will come very close to producing the work that the Hauser can do and can certainly do better than you could do with scribed lines and hand tools.
david

[tmac1956]

David:

Great information…. it makes me realize just how much I do not know. But, I appreciate that I have a machine which I can grow into as I do learn things. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed – especially when I try to do something and mess it up totally. However, as an instructor I do understand that only through repeatedly making mistakes does one eventually fall upon a good way to do a thing. It is through this process that true learning takes place. Thus… I am constantly learning.

I count myself as truly fortunate to have such mentorship as I find here.

Thanks so much!!!
Tom

[arutha]

Hi Tom,
the funny thing is it don’t matter how far down the line you get there will always be something new to learn, that’s what makes horology so great, you never get bored doing the same thing over and over again as there is such diversity in each watch and clock. I have not been doing this for as long as some of the forum members and I am not joking when I say I learn something new every day. Being daunted by a new piece of equipment is an experience I am more than familiar with too, I think its a good sign about the kind of person you are, you are far less likely to rush in and break something or hurt yourself, the gently gently approach has always worked well for me unless you have someone stood at your shoulder showing you exactly how something works.
Take your time, have fun and be safe
Paul.

[david pierce]

Tom and anyone else interested,
If you go to YOUTUBE and type in TOOLMAKER BUTTONS you can see how precision holes were made back in the day. I posted some comments under the video about nine months ago and if you go to the comments section and wade through the morass of statements, you can pick up a few pieces of information on how it was done before the days of the computer controlled equipment that is used today.
david

[tmac1956]

David:

I’ll do that today.

Thanks!
Tom

[tmac1956]

David:

When you use the term “indicated in”, what does that mean? I know its a stupid question, but I’ve tried looking it up and apparently, I don’t have a book with that term.

Thanks!
Tom

[david pierce]

Tom,
That is a well kept secret and if I told anybody I could be in a lot of trouble.
OK, Ok, indicating something in refers to running a dial indicator over a surface and adjusting the surface until the needle nulls out. For example to indicate in a milling vice, chuck up a dial indicator in the mill spindle and crank the bed back and forth adjusting the angle of the vice until the needle no longer moves. When the vice is locked down and the dial indicator needle no longer moves, the vice is indicated in. For holes and pins on the mill the dial indicator is rotated around the hole or pin and the X/Y axis’s are adjusted until the needle nulls out. On a lathe a part is put into a chuck and rotated using the same principal. With a 4 jaw chuck the jaws can be moved with a wrench, with a 3 jaw chuck the adjustment is made with shim stock.
david

[tmac1956]

david:

Oh – OK. I’ve done that several times with my 4 jaw chuck and a few times with the mill.

Thanks!
Tom

[david pierce]

Tom,
Now you are the master and I am the student. Well done grasshopper!
Go to Youtube and check out the Roger Smith video on wheel cutting. His technician indicates the gear blanks on the lathe before cutting.
david

[tmac1956]

david:

Will do!

Thanks.
Tom

[tmac1956]

david:

I’ve seen alot of Rodger Smith’s videos but not this one. I can see why those Levin gear collets are so expensive. They were cutting about five at the time I think. I’d like to try that sometime. Heck, there are so many things that I still want/need – it gets depressing, but I just keep pluggin’ along anyway.

What I’m looking at now is a rotary table for my drill/mill. Based upon your recommendation, I looking at something like this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-ROTARY-TABLE-DIVIDING-PLATES-3-JAW-x-3-1-4-CHUCK-on-BACK-PLATE-NEW/370902634606?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D17823%26meid%3D2056137225278117343%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D8234%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D370881079513%26

With the 3 jaw attachement, it’s probably too tall for my machine. Also, the gear ratio seems a little high, but I could be wrong about that. I can’t find anything un $400.00 that has all of the attachements and isn’t junk.

The other thing I want to get into is building wooden molds and casting with aluminum. I could build the furnace, but buying a decent mulling machine is going to cost alot I think.

Pie in the sky at the moment I think…
Thanks!
Tom

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