Metal on a wood lathe, trying to get a chip.

[TomTrees]

Hello folks
Seems the other place where I started this post is having some hickups! :eusa-violin:

Here is a lump of metal I found on the road, guessing it's a part from a lorry, as there was a lump of rubber bonded to it.


Some scraping of the centre out ala Bill Carter


Checking the table for squareness using a method I'm told is referred to as tramming...


And some more inspecting and getting things setup



Not sure if this part will be used, as the hole became oversized for some reason.
One thing for sure is this stuff is hard!

It has eaten the grinder wheels when spun on a shaft like a dressing tool, so
depending on if I can grind the hard stuff away, and the hole is good enough when parted off,
it might or might not be used.
I've got some derlin to use for the job, so this part is not important.

Looking at some other videos since, it seems that case hardened steel is a challenge for the best of lathes.

This piece was absolutely eating various steels from files and the ends of cheapie HSS drill bits,
so am really surprised that this glass cutting bit has been working so well.
Not done any messing about with this bit yet, so things could likely be improved.

Inspired by the Turnado lathe tool, which is pretty impressive BTW,
but rather than make up a load of stuff, I thought it would be interesting to try doing things on the fly as it were.

This should work half right on mild steel with some decent HSS drill shafts, made a tool holder for that, but as said the bits got eaten in a few seconds, without a hint of a chip.
There is some folks doing so on youtube, so it's gotta work.

Here is a prior attempt, and a view of what I mean


And here is today's attempt, using a glass cutting bit,which I believe are carbide.



Hot little chips are coming off of it, seems it might be worth persevering to get down to the soft stuff.
One video mentioned that case hardening can be as much as 5 or 6mm, so salvaged metals are often more trouble than their worth.

Not sure If I'll keep at this, might do an update if I start getting some real chips.
If the tool gets obliterated, I might rig up some regular pipe as I'm told it's softish,
and see how the previous idea fairs.

Found some good videos on making tooling from HSS blanks on the tube...
mainly from "This old Tony" and "Abom79", so it would be interesting to see how things go for again.

I'll try and report back if I get some nice chips either way.
Seems like its worth the trouble to affix a track to the underside of the plate for easy alignment.
Only bodging things yet, and working on making things a wee bit more usable,
but trying not to go overboard as I've not got a chuck yet,
so kinda resisting doing work that might be pointless, and besides...
I find it interesting to see how much things can be stripped back.

Might even consider getting some carbide inserts locally if I nearly get there with this lump of case hardened steel.

I made a wee video which some might find amusing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFYU2do ... e=youtu.be

Thanks for looking

Tom

 

[Phil]

I only tackle wood on the lathe.

What are you going to do with this lump?

 

[Lons]

Hi Tom
My question would be the same as Phil's or are you just experimenting?
If it's case hardened I'd pick a small section to work on rather than the whole surface and cut down until you get through it, like using a parting tool on wood, then you'll know what you're dealing with.

 

[TomTrees]

Hi folks
I was attempting to make another wheel bearing spacer as the orange one is worn, and likely a design which could be improved on, judging from researching some other Italian machines.
Will likely see how things go with this part first.

I have some derlin which will do the job, so this isn't all too important, and just for interests sake.
I'd rather use steel than that, but it would likely be great stuff for the job really.

Plenty of choices, could slowly bench grind this down to see if i can get to some soft stuff,
rather than spinning it on a loose fitting mandrel, which so far has been the most consumptive thing I've tried, say compared to stainless plate.
Should slow turning by hand work, I could test out some other tooling of the correct geometry, to make it a bit accurateish. :lol:

Could also try getting some carbide inserts and making a tool holder for it,
likely the best idea, as working hardened steel would be nice and realistically more of a frequent
occurrence.
For instance, it would be nice to be able to machine down an inner race from an old bearing for the job, guessing that steel is even harder again.
Although could make this from plate should it be thick enough to stack on top of one inner race.

Rearranged the workshop recently as the lathe was in-accessible where it was.
All just a bit of fun, and interesting to figure out, basically just messing with a new fangled tool in the workshop.
Might try turning some pipe to see how well things go, as I might use this technique again.

It might even persuade me to buy a chuck for this lathe, as I have plenty of smaller diameter steel which might get used for something or other.
Thats kinda stopping me from going any further with this, as the bed height is all relative to the chuck, should I wish to do something along the lines of making that turnado setup.

I think all the videos I've seen have a collet chuck, rather than a three or four jaw.
I guess they would be 3 or 4 times the price of something nasty which would work,
albeit not be as versatile regarding clearance when getting a sweeping cut for a sphere,
which is likely achievable with a custom cutter instead.

Will likely be waiting until I have a need to buy a chuck, so not looked at the cost of these,
but I guess even the cheapest likely is going to cost half of what I paid for this lathe.

Tom

 

[Lons]

Hi Tom
You perhaps need to think carefully and determine if the lathe is actually capable e.g. motor power, speeds available, gearing, torque etc. In general wood turning lathes are made to turn wood and are capable with care of handling alloys, brass and plastics but hardened steel isn't something I personally would choose to try on mine and certainly I wouldn't spend cash on provision for that.

Not saying don't, just offering my twopennerth.

 

[TomTrees]

I can't argue with you there Lons, as it may appear that I'm trying to get a thick chip,
since I'm using a vice for a cross slide, and that my intent may come across as a frequent use,
when infact is only likely very seldom/


Just for interests sake, which is kind of a hard question to answer,
but do you think that the Turnado is hard work for a small motor?

From looking at some threads on my SIP/Draper/Axi and slightly differing Harbor Freight generic lathes, seems the Reeves drive will 5hit the bucket some day regardless, so I might have to do something about that, as those bits are made of cheese.
Might as well make use of the thing, before they melt :lol:

Thanks
Tom

 

[Lons]

Just for interests sake, which is kind of a hard question to answer,
but do you think that the Turnado is hard work for a small motor?

I have no idea Tom sorry.

 

[TomTrees]

Just to give a wee update, sorry no metal chips yet, but just to report that this
works brilliantly for plastic.
Absolutely effortless and very fine adjustment a breeze, with a tip of a mallet.
I'll definitely be keeping this lump of plastic on the bed of the lathe for the time being.