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londonsean69
18th August 2009, 10:36 PM
Well, HandyAndy is sick of paint, and I'm now sick of small, rotating pieces of metal!!

Boring on the lathe - it takes ages!!!!!!

I'm in the process of making the inserts for the Sierra upright.

Opening out a 19mm drilled hole to 35mm turned ID. It's taking ages, still, at least it's not cold in the garage!!

Just thought I would share my boredom with you all :D

Sean

londonsean69
18th August 2009, 10:55 PM
You need an 1 1/4 shank drill to go up from 19 mm then less boring for you to do!

Fun is'nt it

It is worth it in the end just for the satisfaction.

Adrian

I was looking at bigger drill bits, but for 2 items it wasn't worth it. I might well have changed my mind by the end of the second one though.

Yours look very smart, I doubt I will have the collar around the offset though, I don't have a 4 jaw chuck, so will leave the very top flat (although I have seen things turned on an eccentric by putting a coin on one jaw - might try it)

I only have a tiny lathe though, so it takes extra long because I can't take heavy cuts:( still, means as I take my time there is less chance of a c0ck-up:D

You're right about it being satisfying though - I did my steering rack extensions and it is a nice feeling when it all works out correctly. I only learned to use the lathe recently, as part of this project.

Sean

HandyAndy
18th August 2009, 11:05 PM
what you are doing is "skilled" work, nice one :cool:

& i moan about painting?????? :D :o

andy

AshG
18th August 2009, 11:32 PM
sean what lathe is it. i prob have plans to make it cnc if you are any good with electronics?

londonsean69
19th August 2009, 08:01 AM
Ash - it's an Axminster C1, not the micro micro lathe

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axminster-SIEG-Axminster-SIEG-C1-Micro-Lathe-Mk2-33289.htm

I'm OKish with electronics, but I wouldn't consider converting this one. After the project, I will see how often I use it, and might upgrade to a 9"x20". Now that I would consider CNC for

Cheers

Sean

davidimurray
19th August 2009, 01:03 PM
As a slight aside - I've got a couple of old Denford Starturn CNC lathes kicking round the garage that I keep meaning on selling. I converted one for myself a few years ago to a modern PC controller and it is the one of the best things I ever did. I won't clog up the forum with the details but if anyone is interested in the lathes drop me a PM

Cheers

Dave

AshG
19th August 2009, 07:37 PM
geez sean i thought my 14inch bed c2 was a bit small but that thing is tiny. bet you staled it a few times with the 19mm drill bit :D

hats off to you for managing it. do you have any pictures of the finished item?

londonsean69
19th August 2009, 07:59 PM
geez sean i thought my 14inch bed c2 was a bit small but that thing is tiny. bet you staled it a few times with the 19mm drill bit :D

hats off to you for managing it. do you have any pictures of the finished item?

I actually started the hole in the drill press, as centrally locating it isn't important to the finished hole.

As for pictures, I'm afraid not. It has just this very minute stopped working:( No idea why. It has power (green LED is on) but nothing happens. When I put it in an 'at fault' situation (turning main power on when lathe is switched to run) I DO NOT get a fault light.

It has me stumped.

I thought maybe I had burned the motor out, but I can't smell any burning from the motor compartment.

It literally stopped, halfway through a cut. I'm leaving it for a while just in case it was overheating, but I would expect the fault light to come on if it was.:confused:

Ho hum, I might soon be in the market for a beefier lathe (every cloud and that;))

Sean

AshG
19th August 2009, 09:03 PM
have you checked the chuck guard switch they can fail. to be honest it will be a doddle to fix what ever it is as there is virtually nothing to them.

im not sure if the c1 has a thermal cutout but it could be a posability

londonsean69
19th August 2009, 09:47 PM
I never had the chuck guard fitted:D

I would imagine that if it had died, it would introduce a fault to the system, but I will have to strip it down totally and find out.

It is less than a year old, so I have emailed Axminster to see what they have to say about it.

As for thermal cutout, I left it for 2 hrs then went and tried again - nothing.

Ho hum, I guess the inserts will have to wait. Shame, I had just got the hang of the lathe.

Sean

RAYLEE29
19th August 2009, 09:56 PM
Hi, just a thought.
you dont need a 4jaw chuck to offset bore on the lathe.
I have one but didnt use it to make my offset mushrooms.
All you need to do is put some packing between one of the jaws and the work piece and its offset
i think the packer i used was 6mm you can true up the job using packing between the job and the chuck check in three places and it will be true.
remove the packing between the chuck and job before you run the lathe.
you can check the offset with a clock or a pointer set at the largest offset then rotate 180 degrees and measure the difference.
obviously make sure you are happy that the job is secure before running the lathe.
also you can use your lathe to do the fishmouts on the wishbone tubes but thats a different story
hope you find this usefull
Ray:)

RAYLEE29
19th August 2009, 10:00 PM
just seen the size of your lathe it might be a bit small for the offset thing above my chuck is a 5 inch one may still be possible but be carefull
Ray:)

londonsean69
19th August 2009, 10:01 PM
Ray, I bought a couple of little books when I got the lathe, and they show this technique.

It's what I was planning to investigate. I had even got an off-cut of the 2" bar I am using ready and waiting to setup to determine the correct spacer size.

Shame the bloody thing has decided to play up, I was quite getting into using it. Might have to buy a mill next as well;)

Sean

just seen the size of your lathe it might be a bit small for the offset thing above my chuck is a 5 inch one may still be possible but be carefull
Ray:)

Tiny - isn't it:D

RAYLEE29
19th August 2009, 10:11 PM
mm ive used lathes with 4ft face plates and 24ft beds so yes itis small my lathe is only about a 3ft bed but i did manage to skim the front discs off my sierra on it, but at the end of the day you can still make usefull parts yours hope you sort it out and get back to making bits
ive just made all my suspension bushes and crush tubes
the material cost about £20 ive used delrin for the bushes and 19mm stainless bar from the scrapyard
not polybushes i know but im happy with them
Ray:)

londonsean69
19th August 2009, 10:31 PM
mm ive used lathes with 4ft face plates and 24ft beds so yes itis small my lathe is only about a 3ft bed but i did manage to skim the front discs off my sierra on it, but at the end of the day you can still make usefull parts yours hope you sort it out and get back to making bits
ive just made all my suspension bushes and crush tubes
the material cost about £20 ive used delrin for the bushes and 19mm stainless bar from the scrapyard
not polybushes i know but im happy with them
Ray:)

24ft bed!! bloody hell that's a big one:D

I was going to make my bushes, but got a full set of polybushes with the stainless inserts for £60, so that saved me several hours:D

Sean