For those who would like to have a machine turned on certain pieces I
found out about this technique years ago ,what you use is an old leather
work boot ,valve lapping material and something with the diameter you
need (I like using old engine valves they come in different diameters
from small engines all the way up to big power units ,but you can use
anything as long as it will fit in a drill press chuck) what you do is
make sure the piece your applying the turning on is clean then take the
old valve(or whatever your using) and attache a piece of leather from
the boot using a high grade adhesive applied to the smooth side of the
leather (the spray glue for sanding discs works real good) and trim the
leather so it matches circular surface as close as you can get and take
your time ,then put it in your drill press chuck now take the work piece
and hold in place on the table and apply a dab of the lapping material
on the work piece or directly on the leather and then proceed to place a
full circle on the upper left most corner then proceed to apply another
circle directly beside the first circle but don't overlap and keep doing
this to the end using full circles then go back to the left and right
below the first circle place your next row same technique and keep
repeating until you get a bunch of circles in neat little rows
ranks then go back to the start again and where you have four circles in
sort of a square shape and place a circle right in the middle of the
four
at this point you will see the machine turned design start to form and
when these full circles are done proceed to finish the out side edge
and when you are done you will have a nice piece of machine turned metal
Now a few tips keep applying the lapping material as you go along a lil
bit goes a long way and it is relatively cheap for a tube (avaible at
any auto parts store),do not muscle the drill press all you need is just
enough pressure to hear the lapping material start to cut into the metal
and you will hear when it is done cutting ,
once you get the hang of it start to experiment where you apply the
circles and what I described above is basically just a simple technique
to learn with then you can try doing spirals and other patterns ,and as
long as you have a sturdy shaft for the drill and a flat surface for the
leather it will work (like old one piece grinding stones ,old engine
valves that are flat and you can even make one from a couple pieces of
wood and a bolt or just get a solid piece of metal machined to the
diameter you need)
I had read this in a hot rod magazine a years ago ,tried it and it works
pretty well and you can apply it to any piece you can get in the drill
press and is relatively flat ,as you go along you will see what you can
and can't do
good luck and above all have fun