# all-steel critter in 1:13.7 scale



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Rusty Ruston-Hornsby; based on 1:1 prototype, using 3-rail Williams Mabuchi motor on 32mm (O gauge) track in SE18 scale (18” prototype). Critter is mostly made of heavy gauge steel.








[url="http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9db02b3127ccec77a2d5d6e7400000040O09QZOXDhs4B7efCA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/%5B/img"]http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9db02b3127ccec77a2d5d6e7400000040O09QZOXDhs4B7efCA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/[/img[/url]]



YouTube (1st one is SHORT, 21 seconds; 2nd video is longer and shows the critter making a complete circuit of the garden


incidentally, this is the maiden voyage and the 2nd video is the 2nd run


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE5EvyPDOK4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE5EvyPDOK4[/url]


longer video below:


[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08iGS5xkAGM[/url]


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

I enjoyed watching the rusty Ruston in action - like the feel of your garden RR. How did you make the cool industrial coupler pockets? I have a critter project on the horizon.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Hi, I made the couplers out of wood with a dremel sanding wheel. I was going to make them all metal by cutting nickels in half and sweat-soldering them to brass. Here's some shots and one shot shows the steel being fitted for the body.


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the photo - might have to try that.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

SE,

That's a really great job! How do you make a 3 rail motor work on two rail? Must be a lot different from Lionel.

And the technique for making the coupler pocket is truly inspired. Why have you been asking all these machinist questions? You got the feel, Dude. Got the feel. (That's the most important part. The rest you can learn or invent.)

Les


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered


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## Trains West (Oct 4, 2008)

very cool stuff .......


Bachmann took over Williams buy the way .......


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By SE18 on 05/29/2009 7:26 AM
Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered 










I don't think I'd ever have hit on using nails for threaded material, but it's a brilliant notion.

A little secret of the machinist's trade: we don't use dies--that's what a thread-cutting engine lathe is for. So I'm pretty unused to using dies save for chasing threads. I'm also at the age where I don't care what a 'real' machinist does, either!









I went back and took a closer look at the skip. Those flanges & bends are spot on for the project--and good in anyone's book, since I don't think you use a bending break. Yep, you've got the touch.

Les


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Les on 05/29/2009 2:53 PM
Posted By SE18 on 05/29/2009 7:26 AM
Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered 










I don't think I'd ever have hit on using nails for threaded material, but it's a brilliant notion.

A little secret of the machinist's trade: we don't use dies--that's what a thread-cutting engine lathe is for. So I'm pretty unused to using dies save for chasing threads. I'm also at the age where I don't care what a 'real' machinist does, either!









I went back and took a closer look at the skip. Those flanges & bends are spot on for the project--and good in anyone's book, since I don't think you use a bending break. Yep, you've got the touch.

Les 



AAAAAACCCKKKK!!!! From my viewpoint, Les, YOU ARE the "REAL" machinist!







Now I'm all confused... (not that is any different than usual).

My lathe will move the various parts in sync such as to cut threads and I have done a few that have worked "okay" for my purposes, but I would be quite embarassed to show my work to anyone that has any idea what threads are. I gave up trying to make threads on anything smaller than about 1/4 inch diameter in brass, 1/8 inch in steel. I just buy a bolt and cut it to length if need be. Much faster and much easier and a whole lot less bent up, twisted, misshapen, used-to-be-rod, scrap in the bin, so it is also much, MUCH cheaper!









My very first lathe-cut threads were quite good actually... I cut threads on the end of a door hinge-pin to make an axle for a pully to run on. Didn't require lots of precision as it would not be under any kind of stress where the axle might move and unscrew. Unfortunately I had to go buy a left-hand threaded nut to use it... I had a slight problem understanding which way to set the "Fwd/Rev" handle on the back of the machine.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By Semper Vaporo on 05/29/2009 7:35 PM
Posted By Les on 05/29/2009 2:53 PM
Posted By SE18 on 05/29/2009 7:26 AM
Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered 










I don't think I'd ever have hit on using nails for threaded material, but it's a brilliant notion.

A little secret of the machinist's trade: we don't use dies--that's what a thread-cutting engine lathe is for. So I'm pretty unused to using dies save for chasing threads. I'm also at the age where I don't care what a 'real' machinist does, either!









I went back and took a closer look at the skip. Those flanges & bends are spot on for the project--and good in anyone's book, since I don't think you use a bending break. Yep, you've got the touch.

Les 



AAAAAACCCKKKK!!!! From my viewpoint, Les, YOU ARE the "REAL" machinist!







Now I'm all confused... (not that is any different than usual).

My lathe will move the various parts in sync such as to cut threads and I have done a few that have worked "okay" for my purposes, but I would be quite embarassed to show my work to anyone that has any idea what threads are. I gave up trying to make threads on anything smaller than about 1/4 inch diameter in brass, 1/8 inch in steel. I just buy a bolt and cut it to length if need be. Much faster and much easier and a whole lot less bent up, twisted, misshapen, used-to-be-rod, scrap in the bin, so it is also much, MUCH cheaper!









My very first lathe-cut threads were quite good actually... I cut threads on the end of a door hinge-pin to make an axle for a pully to run on. Didn't require lots of precision as it would not be under any kind of stress where the axle might move and unscrew. Unfortunately I had to go buy a left-hand threaded nut to use it... I had a slight problem understanding which way to set the "Fwd/Rev" handle on the back of the machine.









/// OMGosh. You ran your lathe backward to cut a thread???? Always, when the workpiece rotates, the surface passing under the tool bit is headed downward. South. Anticlockwise (viewed from the tailstock.)

You need that South Bend 'How to run a Lathe' booklet. Or the equivalent. It's shirtpocket sized. Also, you need that little tool called a 'fish' that gives you a certain angle to grind your thread-cutting bit to. Then you set the tool to intersect the workpiece at a 60 deg angle, tail of tool towards tailstock. You've already turned the workpiece to the proper diameter from your lookup table, right? Your tool is centered on the outside diameter of the work via the pocket scale bit I described the other day. Now, slather on some cutting oil and take a very light cut--so light it just scratches the surface. If you're threading up against a shoulder, and if you have a travel indicator affixed so you can watch the travel on a dial, you note just where the needle is before the toolbit hits the shoulder, and throw the compound out of gear. If you're really worried, hold a tap of the same thread pitch next to your spiral scratch. Everything should match up. If it does, depending upon the type of material, dial in about a third of the depth of the thread depth, also from your lookup chart. Cut. Back out, dial in a bit more, so that your final cut is only a couple thousandths deep. Try a nut to see how well you've done. That 'threading gauge' the thingy on the leadscrew with four hack marks on it at 90 deg, that's the thing you use to throw your feed lever in when one of those marks are passing by the arrow. That's what makes the second cut follow the same route as the first one. 

So there's the basics: a thread-cutting tool ground to well, cut threads, a nice, clean turned major diameter on the bolt-to-be, the correct angle on the tool bit as it feeds in, and the thread cutting gauge on the lathe. And cutting oil. Never cut w/o cutting oil, even if it's 5W-30. I prefer sulphurated cutting oil as I like the smell, but Kroil, WD 40 (ugh) or any motor oil is better than nothing. Much better. Infinitely better.

I _think_ I got it all.

Les


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Les on 05/31/2009 2:46 PM
Posted By Semper Vaporo on 05/29/2009 7:35 PM
Posted By Les on 05/29/2009 2:53 PM
Posted By SE18 on 05/29/2009 7:26 AM
Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered 










I don't think I'd ever have hit on using nails for threaded material, but it's a brilliant notion.

A little secret of the machinist's trade: we don't use dies--that's what a thread-cutting engine lathe is for. So I'm pretty unused to using dies save for chasing threads. I'm also at the age where I don't care what a 'real' machinist does, either!









I went back and took a closer look at the skip. Those flanges & bends are spot on for the project--and good in anyone's book, since I don't think you use a bending break. Yep, you've got the touch.

Les 



AAAAAACCCKKKK!!!! From my viewpoint, Les, YOU ARE the "REAL" machinist!







Now I'm all confused... (not that is any different than usual).

My lathe will move the various parts in sync such as to cut threads and I have done a few that have worked "okay" for my purposes, but I would be quite embarassed to show my work to anyone that has any idea what threads are. I gave up trying to make threads on anything smaller than about 1/4 inch diameter in brass, 1/8 inch in steel. I just buy a bolt and cut it to length if need be. Much faster and much easier and a whole lot less bent up, twisted, misshapen, used-to-be-rod, scrap in the bin, so it is also much, MUCH cheaper!









My very first lathe-cut threads were quite good actually... I cut threads on the end of a door hinge-pin to make an axle for a pully to run on. Didn't require lots of precision as it would not be under any kind of stress where the axle might move and unscrew. Unfortunately I had to go buy a left-hand threaded nut to use it... I had a slight problem understanding which way to set the "Fwd/Rev" handle on the back of the machine.









/// OMGosh. You ran your lathe backward to cut a thread???? Always, when the workpiece rotates, the surface passing under the tool bit is headed downward. South. Anticlockwise (viewed from the tailstock.)

You need that South Bend 'How to run a Lathe' booklet. Or the equivalent. It's shirtpocket sized. Also, you need that little tool called a 'fish' that gives you a certain angle to grind your thread-cutting bit to. Then you set the tool to intersect the workpiece at a 60 deg angle, tail of tool towards tailstock. You've already turned the workpiece to the proper diameter from your lookup table, right? Your tool is centered on the outside diameter of the work via the pocket scale bit I described the other day. Now, slather on some cutting oil and take a very light cut--so light it just scratches the surface. If you're threading up against a shoulder, and if you have a travel indicator affixed so you can watch the travel on a dial, you note just where the needle is before the toolbit hits the shoulder, and throw the compound out of gear. If you're really worried, hold a tap of the same thread pitch next to your spiral scratch. Everything should match up. If it does, depending upon the type of material, dial in about a third of the depth of the thread depth, also from your lookup chart. Cut. Back out, dial in a bit more, so that your final cut is only a couple thousandths deep. Try a nut to see how well you've done. That 'threading gauge' the thingy on the leadscrew with four hack marks on it at 90 deg, that's the thing you use to throw your feed lever in when one of those marks are passing by the arrow. That's what makes the second cut follow the same route as the first one. 

So there's the basics: a thread-cutting tool ground to well, cut threads, a nice, clean turned major diameter on the bolt-to-be, the correct angle on the tool bit as it feeds in, and the thread cutting gauge on the lathe. And cutting oil. Never cut w/o cutting oil, even if it's 5W-30. I prefer sulphurated cutting oil as I like the smell, but Kroil, WD 40 (ugh) or any motor oil is better than nothing. Much better. Infinitely better.

I _think_ I got it all.

Les







No, no, Les, the workpiece was turning the correct way, just as you describe; just the lead screw that moves the carriage was going the wrong way. (The Fwd/Rev lever om the back of the lathe inserts a reverse idler gear into the lead screw gear train, not to the headstock. I can run the chuck backwards too, but that is a clearly labeled [and understood by me







] electric toggle switch on the front of the machine!)

My lathe has the little dial on the carriage that tells me when to engage the halfnut lever (assumming I can find the little chart that says which numbers can be used for different thread pitches) so I can get the tool to start in the same rotational place to make a deeper cut and I have used it a few times, but I find (in ALL my ineptness, lack of talent and complete hamhandedness) I get better (ha ha he heeee heee heee heeeee gasp choke choke wheeeeezze gag gulp, wow there is a "relative" term!) threads if I just make a couple of practice passes just barely scoring the surface and then crank the tool in to the full depth I want and make one pass cutting the threads (and really, really hope for the best!).

The door hinge pin cut pretty well that way... I did get it a little too deep so the (left-hand thread) nut is a bit loose on the threads, but the nut didn't strip the threads (on the pin or in the nut) when I tightened it up so there is plenty of meat left in the pinl even though I cut too deep.

I had learned the pocket ruler method of determining proper tool centering from a book not too long ago and although it works, my lathe does not have a "good" way to adjust the height of the tool bit. My lathe documentation says it is designed for bits that are 3/8th inch square, but on my particular lathe that puts the bit too high on the work piece. It appears my tool post is about 3/32 inch too high compared to the center of rotation of the chuck/tailstock to use a 3/8ths bit.

The "recommended" practice to correct this is to shim the back end of the tool up a small amount to lower the cutting end. But that alters the "angle of attack" of the bit on the workpiece. So I have to raise the whole bit a small amount and that then means the bit is no longer on the line of the horizontal from the center of the work piece so the ruler trick no longer works (if I am looking for a vertical ruler to represent the correct tool to workpiece position). It also means that as the workpiece gets cut smaller the angle is wrong again and I have to re-adjust.

I have to use 1/4-inch toolbits and shim the whole thing up "about" 3/64ths of an inch and this then gives me the correct angle at the correct place on the workpiece.

I tried a new toolpost that has a side mounted (in a dove tail slot) tool holder that can be adjusted for height, but it overhangs the carriage by another inch or so and that makes for more torque on the whole carriage and that contributes to a lot of inaccuracy (stuff flexes more under that greater torque moment).


I have learned a great deal by having this lathe... the worst thing I learned is that I have no talent or skill in this area and the greatest thing is a tremedous amount of respect for those (like you, dear sir) that can juggle all of these little details of geometry (angles and positions) while also remembering which tool grind geometry, lubricant and cutting speed goes with which metalurgy of the workpiece. Unfortunately, one thing I did not learn is "to know better" so I went out and got a mill too.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By Semper Vaporo on 05/31/2009 4:40 PM
Posted By Les on 05/31/2009 2:46 PM
Posted By Semper Vaporo on 05/29/2009 7:35 PM
Posted By Les on 05/29/2009 2:53 PM
Posted By SE18 on 05/29/2009 7:26 AM
Thanks, Les for the encouragement. I had to hide or remove the center rail pickups as they'd strike the turnouts. I then simply connected the motor wires to batteries.I made my own nuts and bolts to hold it together by 4-40 tap and die making the bolts from finishing nails and the nuts from pieces of copper plumbing pipe.


I've also devised my own R/C system using motor boat ESC and receiver/xmitter. The motor is a mabuchi flywheel with metal gears from Williams. The GP9 had 2 motors and I made 2 steel critters; one with each motor. Williams and Lionel go way back. I think someone took over Williams recently, perhaps Lionel. 

incidentally, the tipper behind it is all metal. The skip from is an O27 rail bent around and soldered 










I don't think I'd ever have hit on using nails for threaded material, but it's a brilliant notion.

A little secret of the machinist's trade: we don't use dies--that's what a thread-cutting engine lathe is for. So I'm pretty unused to using dies save for chasing threads. I'm also at the age where I don't care what a 'real' machinist does, either!









I went back and took a closer look at the skip. Those flanges & bends are spot on for the project--and good in anyone's book, since I don't think you use a bending break. Yep, you've got the touch.

Les 



AAAAAACCCKKKK!!!! From my viewpoint, Les, YOU ARE the "REAL" machinist!







Now I'm all confused... (not that is any different than usual).

My lathe will move the various parts in sync such as to cut threads and I have done a few that have worked "okay" for my purposes, but I would be quite embarassed to show my work to anyone that has any idea what threads are. I gave up trying to make threads on anything smaller than about 1/4 inch diameter in brass, 1/8 inch in steel. I just buy a bolt and cut it to length if need be. Much faster and much easier and a whole lot less bent up, twisted, misshapen, used-to-be-rod, scrap in the bin, so it is also much, MUCH cheaper!









My very first lathe-cut threads were quite good actually... I cut threads on the end of a door hinge-pin to make an axle for a pully to run on. Didn't require lots of precision as it would not be under any kind of stress where the axle might move and unscrew. Unfortunately I had to go buy a left-hand threaded nut to use it... I had a slight problem understanding which way to set the "Fwd/Rev" handle on the back of the machine.









/// OMGosh. You ran your lathe backward to cut a thread???? Always, when the workpiece rotates, the surface passing under the tool bit is headed downward. South. Anticlockwise (viewed from the tailstock.)

You need that South Bend 'How to run a Lathe' booklet. Or the equivalent. It's shirtpocket sized. Also, you need that little tool called a 'fish' that gives you a certain angle to grind your thread-cutting bit to. Then you set the tool to intersect the workpiece at a 60 deg angle, tail of tool towards tailstock. You've already turned the workpiece to the proper diameter from your lookup table, right? Your tool is centered on the outside diameter of the work via the pocket scale bit I described the other day. Now, slather on some cutting oil and take a very light cut--so light it just scratches the surface. If you're threading up against a shoulder, and if you have a travel indicator affixed so you can watch the travel on a dial, you note just where the needle is before the toolbit hits the shoulder, and throw the compound out of gear. If you're really worried, hold a tap of the same thread pitch next to your spiral scratch. Everything should match up. If it does, depending upon the type of material, dial in about a third of the depth of the thread depth, also from your lookup chart. Cut. Back out, dial in a bit more, so that your final cut is only a couple thousandths deep. Try a nut to see how well you've done. That 'threading gauge' the thingy on the leadscrew with four hack marks on it at 90 deg, that's the thing you use to throw your feed lever in when one of those marks are passing by the arrow. That's what makes the second cut follow the same route as the first one. 

So there's the basics: a thread-cutting tool ground to well, cut threads, a nice, clean turned major diameter on the bolt-to-be, the correct angle on the tool bit as it feeds in, and the thread cutting gauge on the lathe. And cutting oil. Never cut w/o cutting oil, even if it's 5W-30. I prefer sulphurated cutting oil as I like the smell, but Kroil, WD 40 (ugh) or any motor oil is better than nothing. Much better. Infinitely better.

I _think_ I got it all.

Les







No, no, Les, the workpiece was turning the correct way, just as you describe; just the lead screw that moves the carriage was going the wrong way. (The Fwd/Rev lever om the back of the lathe inserts a reverse idler gear into the lead screw gear train, not to the headstock. I can run the chuck backwards too, but that is a clearly labeled [and understood by me







] electric toggle switch on the front of the machine!)

/// Oh, okay. What brand of lathe do you have?

My lathe has the little dial on the carriage that tells me when to engage the halfnut lever (assumming I can find the little chart that says which numbers can be used for different thread pitches)

/// That little dial is the thread gauge. "Half-nut" was the term I was trying to remember. 

so I can get the tool to start in the same rotational place to make a deeper cut and I have used it a few times, but I find (in ALL my ineptness, lack of talent and complete hamhandedness) I get better (ha ha he heeee heee heee heeeee gasp choke choke wheeeeezze gag gulp, wow there is a "relative" term!) threads if I just make a couple of practice passes just barely scoring the surface and then crank the tool in to the full depth I want and make one pass cutting the threads (and really, really hope for the best!).

The door hinge pin cut pretty well that way... I did get it a little too deep so the (left-hand thread) nut is a bit loose on the threads, but the nut didn't strip the threads (on the pin or in the nut) when I tightened it up so there is plenty of meat left in the pinl even though I cut too deep.

I had learned the pocket ruler method of determining proper tool centering from a book not too long ago and although it works, my lathe does not have a "good" way to adjust the height of the tool bit. My lathe documentation says it is designed for bits that are 3/8th inch square, but on my particular lathe that puts the bit too high on the work piece. It appears my tool post is about 3/32 inch too high compared to the center of rotation of the chuck/tailstock to use a 3/8ths bit.

/// Well, here's a trick you might try: take a 3/8ths tool and grind the top down the needed amount. You don't have to be 100% precise. Point of fact, if you stay just tad high, then you grind the 'backside' on the surface you've ground down, to put in just a 'tad' of relief (Rake.) (This is hard to describe: you've ground a flat on your tool blank, when viewed from the side. Now, tilt it ever so little as to grind more on the end away from the toolpoint, towards the 'meat' or 'shaft' of the tool. When you grind the point, it'll then tend to relieve the chips a little better, particularly in soft stock. And to make life simpler, perhaps, grind your toolpoint to rough configuration first. By the same reasoning, you can grind down the bit to height, then 'tilt' it left or right to also get a 'rake' which, depending on the direction of cut, will, again, tend to relieve the chips. When you know you've got it right, you can cut mild steel, and those chips will spiral off about as long as you care to put up with them. Take the mill ******* file and break 'em off, else they might get long, catch on something going round 'n round, and come back and cut your sleeve or somehow mess with your day. The South Bend booklet describes all that perfectly. If you have to, sell a body part to get one. 

The "recommended" practice to correct this is to shim the back end of the tool up a small amount to lower the cutting end. But that alters the "angle of attack" of the bit on the workpiece. So I have to raise the whole bit a small amount and that then means the bit is no longer on the line of the horizontal from the center of the work piece so the ruler trick no longer works (if I am looking for a vertical ruler to represent the correct tool to workpiece position). It also means that as the workpiece gets cut smaller the angle is wrong again and I have to re-adjust.

/// Yeah. Try the above. Just be patient with yourself. And use some aluminum stock. 6061T6 is the Lord's gift to beginners. See, by grinding the top of the toolbit down, if you screw up or need to resharpen, all you have to do is shim up from the bottom, use a strip the entire length of the toolholder, no tilting. If it tilts anyway, grind the sucker until it's flat and right at the workpiece. My little Chinese lathe has one of those toolpost holders like you describe. Two 'gob' (allen) scews to hold the tool bit in place?

I have to use 1/4-inch toolbits and shim the whole thing up "about" 3/64ths of an inch and this then gives me the correct angle at the correct place on the workpiece.

/// Well, there's an upside to a 1/4" bit: you're putting less of a load on an already light frame. Sure, it's slower, but you're not doing production work,or hogging material off to get to a workable diameter. And, 1/4" tool blanks are cheaper. And because they're already small, grinding little, tiny 'arms', 'hooks' etc for any particular job is easier. F'instance: suppose you want to put a 'depressed center' in a piece, like say, to represent the rim of a cartwheel. Or iron wheel. You grind down a bit so the cutting point is at right angles, and the edge that would otherwise tend to flare out and remove your rim is flat. (And raked, looking at the side closest to you. You have to rake it according to the diameter of your wheel.) Now you can make little bitty depressions w/o screwing around setting up the compound, and the infeed knob still works like you're used to.

I tried a new toolpost that has a side mounted (in a dove tail slot) tool holder that can be adjusted for height, but it overhangs the carriage by another inch or so and that makes for more torque on the whole carriage and that contributes to a lot of inaccuracy (stuff flexes more under that greater torque moment).

/// Yup.


I have learned a great deal by having this lathe... the worst thing I learned is that I have no talent or skill in this area and the greatest thing is a tremedous amount of respect for those (like you, dear sir) that can juggle all of these little details of geometry (angles and positions) while also remembering which tool grind geometry, lubricant and cutting speed goes with which metallurgy of the workpiece. Unfortunately, one thing I did not learn is "to know better" so I went out and got a mill too.









/// A mill?? Yo, what kind? I'm saving for a MicroMark. And you make it sound harder than it is. Yes, the skill is in the details, but it's not rocket surgury. You only need one kind of cutting oil: as I said, sulphurated is my first choice, but I've used motor oil and especially, Kroil. And while you think you may not have talent or skill, you've got the 'feel', and that's the one thing that can't be taught or bougth. Remember, the idea of using cutting oil is so it vaporized and takes heat energy away from the workpiece and tool. As for different hardnesses: Remember, the harder the piece, the less rake you put on your tool bit. That's so it'll have as much metal under the cutting edge as possible, so it won't dull out so fast. The geometries suggested tend to make for better results, less loading/stress on the lathe, and longer-lasting toolbits.

I hear friend wife rattling my food dish.

Les


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Rather than continue to hyjack this thread so badly, I will refer you to a thread where I yapped about my lathe and mill previously.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/24/tpage/1/view/topic/postid/3350/Default.aspx#3662


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