O.K. The first of the ones which I got also as e-mail.

*Please* don't send me e-mail copies of your postings.
Especially so, since the "From: " address is bogus, so a reply would be
wasting my time.

Ok. This was definitely the resultof problems with the library
computers, which I rarely use to post to the newsgroups unless my home
system goes down.

The "modified compound" was what the web site you pointed me to
was offering to allow the use of an AXA sized toolpost on this small a
lathe. With the standard compound, the toolpost will be too high, and
you won't be able to adjust the tools to centerline.

Ok. There are several sellers of this tool post/holder set on Ebay. And
it has to be "milled to fit". :-( Perhaps I should hold off on the tool
post. BTW. I found the AXA-16N in the MSC catolog(for $152.25).

No -- the plate which slides into the T-slot on the compound has
to be milled to fit. You don't *have* a T-slot on that lathe, unlike
most larger (and some smaller) lathes.

So, you unscrew the center rod from the T-head blank, and screw
it into the threaded hole in the top of the *modified* compound which
you purchase.

There *may* be a different center rod, which should be part of
what comes with the modified compound.

OK. I ordered one, so I'll re-read this when I have it in my hand.

Hmmm. Ebay: 7593078186

Hmm ... you note that it is intended to fit a 5C lathe spindle
socket? And the only way *you* can provide a 5C socket is with this
thing which you already got from eBay. And the only way to hold *that*
is in a three-jaw or 4-jaw chuck on the lathe's spindle. There seems to
be little point to getting a chuck to hold in a chuck via an adaptor. :-)

Granted, people have held much smaller lathe chucks for tiny
workpieces in gigantic lathe chucks, but the size of *this* chuck is one
which is probably already available for your lathe spindle.

I have one of those, which I use sometimes when the lathe is set
up for collets, and I want to work on a small workpiece and don't want
to heave around the heavy larger chucks for my lathe. But mine is set
up for 5C collets.

Now -- you *could* use this in the spin indexer which you
mention somewhere below (from what I remember from reading the e-mail
earlier in the day). But that spin indexer is probably not as small as
you think it is. :-)

That's exactly what I was thinking. But when I get around to getting a
mill... :-)

Neertheless, if I'm lucky and can fit the spin indexer(with collet and
work) over my lathe's bed in front of an endmill(located inside of an
end mill holder), I'd be able to bolt it to the geared elevation
platform I'm designing. :-)

(Perhaps I can make a "collet block" tool holder for indexing). :-)

Yes -- that would be a good task to get started learning your
lathe and its capabilities.

It's limitations make me wonder if I should bother getting precision 5C
collets or just regular 5C collets.(Even after a tune up).

Regular for that. Probably regular for whatever you're going to
be doing. Save on buying the good ones until you have a machine which
can benefit from them.

I definitely won't be using the collets for tool holding and plan to
bid on a set of endmill holders: 7552009436

BTW. Since I am getting a lot of stuff from a single seller I decided I
might as well pick up a set of collets also. I previously asked the
seller if he combined for shipping and he said yes. But at over $50
shipping I still think thats kind of high...

7597548589 33 PCS PRECISION 5C COLLETS SET & FREE 5C COLLET STAND 1
US $93.95
7590882403 0- 4" DEPTH MICROMETER 2.5" BASE MICROMETERS .001" CASE 1
US $24.95
7593646099 0 - 4" 4 PCS MICROMETER SET CARBIDE TIP MICROMETERS NEW 1
US $19.99
7595311979 NEW PRECISION MORSE TAPER # 2 MT LIVE CENTER TAPERS ! 1
US $11.95
7593644408 6 PC 5/16- 6 CYLINDER T-BORE GAGES GAGE SET TELESCOPING 1
US $9.75
7589437709 5C COLLET COLLETS BLOCK SET HEX, SQUARE BLOCKS NEW SETS 1
US $28.90
7582356634 5/8" DRILL CHUCK W/ STRAIGHT / MT / R8 SHANK ARBOR NEW! 1
US $18.95
7572307933 110 LBS PULL 4 WAY MAGNETIC BASE TEST & DIAL INDICATOR 1
US $10.95
7570240691 5C PRECISION SPIN INDEX FIXTURE COLLET FOR MILLING NEW 1
US $26.90
7542413378 3 MORSE TAPER TO 2 MORSE TAPER ADAPTOR NEW 1
US $6.00
7503033206 PRECISION MACHINISTS ANGLE GAGE SET 18 PCS GAGES NEW 1
US $15.25

Subtotal:
US $267.54
Shipping and handling via UPS
Ground: US $50.90
Total:
US $318.44

(Along with something else you recommended: 7594930259).

Ok. Let's see. No "DoveTail Drill Chuck Tool Holder".All I need is the
Morse Taper #2 toll holder to allow me to use the center and regular
drills that I'd normally use on the tail stock, correct?

Yes -- with the problem of getting lateral centering each time
you use them which I mentioned before.

I'd like to mention that reamers, taps, ect. can also be put into that
holder.

They can. Taps, under power, are asking for trouble. I tap
under power in my lathe, but:

1) It has a bed turret, so the tool holders are always on center.

2) I have some releasing tap holders to mount in that turret.

When the tap reaches a pre-set depth, it pulls part of the
holder to release the coupling to the rigidly mounted part in
the turret. This allows the tap and part of the holder to spin
freely until I can stop and reverse the spindle to back the tap
out of the just made threads.

You don't have the releasing tap holders, and I don't think that
your spindle can be run at reasonable speeds and torque for
this -- depending on the size of the tap, of course.

Thanks. You've convinced me to stick with manual tapping. At least for
now , and with the equipment I have. Or should I say, don't have. :-).
BTW. I don't see going much larger than 5/8" in the near future.

I don't have a mill or drill yet but this looks interestiung:
7537997365

I'll also have to come up with a good system for waste disposal.

Yes. You may have the trash pickup people really mad at you,
and you *may* be violating some ordinance where you live if you toss
metal turnings into the general trash.

Yes. Recycling is now the law here.

An end mill grinding fixture is only for the square ended end
mills. For a ball end mill, you will need a serious tool and cutter
grinder, and quite a bit of time to learn to use it properly. I don't
have one, and have never had a chance to learn one. It will be a lot
cheaper to just buy new ball end mills as needed -- or if you are
dulling them a lot, find a service which will sharpen them for you.

Good. One less worry. BTW, the guide in the MSC catalog points to 3
flute end mills as the best choice for what I want to do with stainless
steel.

O.K. Two-flute or three-flute plunge fairly nicely though
either may take more power than you have in stainless depending on the
diameter, so you may need to pre-drill the holes to depth at a smaller
diameter first.

Since stainless is still the *back-up* plan, two-flute should be
sufficient for Delrin.

I guess that I can plunge jussst about any 1/4" ball-end mill
into Delrin. But the depth would have to be consistent between holes.
Which reminds me, I also need to get a carriage stop.

Yes.

* MT2 Rotabroach Arbor(@#$%! And I just brought a Rotabroach).

?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7591760352
I was discussin it in another thread.("Using A Rotabroach Cutter In A
Lathe")

*Please* -- when you post eBay auctions, just post the auction
number (7591760352 in the above), rather than the whole URL. That is
all that *I* use, and nobody else seems to be following this thread any
more.

Did you notice that this one is in England? The currency
exchange can be a pain, and shipping can take forever.

Yes, I noticed. But there doesn't seem to be another supplier.

It looks interesting -- though it is probably made for a mag
base drill, not a lathe.

I assume you mean the cutter portion and not the shank.

I mean the shank, which is a Morse taper to fit the spindle in
the mag base drill (or at least in *some* mag base drills), and the
other end is designed to hold the Rotabroach.

Yes -- it can be used to fit a Rotabroach to a lathe spindle,
though I'm not sure about the torque available from your lathe spindle
for running a Rotabroach in stainless steel.

At worst, I should be able to use it on softer materials(ie: Aluminum).
I wonder if I should just get a Morse Taper #2 socket and make my own
holder. :-)

lathe Dog?

Not *one* lathe dog, but a set of lathe dogs to handle the range
of sizes which you expect to turn between centers.

And this is the one commonly mentioned item that I've not yet read
about a purpose for.

O.K. Think of a workpiece held between centers (a ball bearing
live center in the tailstock, and a solid center in the headstock).
This holds the workpiece perfectly on center -- but what turns the
workpiece. The surface area of contact between the headstock center and
the workpiece is too small to put any significant torque into it. A
lathe dog has a hole which slips over the workpiece, with a setscrew to
clamp it to the workpiece. The dog typically has a bent tail which
engages a slot in the driver faceplate. Some have straight tails, and
are driven by a bolt run through the faceplate and held by a nut.

Ok. I assume that each will encompass a small range of diameters so I
won't have to buy one for every 1/16" of an inch. :-)

Correct. The range is limited in part by the length of the
screw which grips the workpiece -- though there are other thing which
also play a role in deciding.

I have lathe dogs somewhat covered: 7594607844. I didn't see the one
lathe dog on the Micro-mark page as being too useful. But I may now
have to custom make a face plate so I can use them.

My idea is actually a little different. Basically all I need is a plate
with 36 equally spaced holes and another with 10 holes. Actually it
probably would be best to just make what I need.(The only other end
mills I'll need will be for gear cutting).

Hmm ... 36 and 10. How about 36 and 40? The index head for the
Emco-Maier C5 mill (not to be confused with the 5C collet size) has
those two, plus two other counts -- all build into the one fixture. You
simply shift the spring-loaded pin from one threaded hole to another to
select the number of positions available.

And even the really tiny index head for the Unimat SL-1000
(long out of production) had available four index hubs with those four
hole counts. But they typically came with only the 36 hole one, and you
had to buy the others as accessories.

Though 36 and 40 would quadruple the position opptions, there is not
enough room for that many holes inthe space I set aside.

One of these days I'll get more into my idea for a "Chuck-Plate"(for
lack of a better term). It's basically a face-plate with 12 location
options for inserting reversible jaws so that either a 3 or a 4 jaw
option is possible. It will also allow the option of scroll or
independent.(The idea is complete. The hard part will be finalizing the
dimensions of all of the individual parts).

You'll have to look on eBay for these, and beware that the
pricing on the Unimat stuff has started into "collector's item" range.

The only thing found on eBay at the moment with a search on
"emco index head" is:

7594760412

There is a simular one in the Grizzly catalog.

which is probably too big for your purpose, but which is a very nice
one, with a rather unusual 4-jaw universal chuck -- that is, the jaws
move inward at the same rate, just like a 3-jaw. That might be very
nice for mounting on your lathe for turning truly square plates --
except that I don't see the outside grip jaws for it.

I'll still keep my eyes open, but I guess my priority should be getting
a compatible 5" 4-jaw chuck for those sqaure pieces.

BTW. Since it was cheap and I'm getting a lot of other stuff from the
seller, I bought a little 5C spin index to experiment with.(#)

O.K. You may find it larger than you think. :-)

I'll let you know the dimensions when I get it. :-)

And as far as milling machines go. I was going to get the Micro-Mark
cousin to my lathe, but I've seen too many of them show up on eBay
broken.(So I'll wait).

The plastic gears, I suspect. I've seen lots of postings about
those giving way in some of the import milling machines.

I guess that's why their ad for the lathe says in bright red letters,
"Now with metal gears on the spindle shaft!". But of course that'll
just shift the weak link iun the chain to another location. :-)

Trammel

This suggests delusions of grandeur. Think of that as a very
large compass -- and none of your machines are large enough to take you
beyond the range of a normal machinist's divider.

Actually, the items I was looking at int he HF catalog are quite small.

Hmm ... normally a trammel is designed to take the place of a
compass or dividers where a standard design is too large to be easy to
use. There are trammel point sets designed to clamp onto a standard
yardstick for a cheap way to do it. I have a nice Starrett one with a
spare bar to allow handling a radius of up to 18", IIRC.

I'll be using a ruler. :-)

For scribing a circle?

Yup. I have a couple of metal rulers.

Beware of carbon steel dies. They are too brittle, and will
break or will chip teeth. You want HSS taps and or dies. The dies are
only needed for making external threads, which you should be able to do
on the lathe. The taps are more useful to you because internal
threading on a lathe of the smaller sizes is quite difficult.

I have still not figured out the corresponding tap diameters for those
numbers under 1/4".

Buy a *good* drill index filled with number-sized drills. You
will find a table embossed into the metal of the top tray which lists
the body and tap drill sizes for common number-sized screws.

Or -- look up the proper table in your _Machinery's Handbook_.

Or prepare to compile (language is 'C') a program which I wrote
some time ago:


================================================== ====================
number-screw 3 56
For a #3-56.000 screw:
Clearance diameter: 0.099
Tap drill diameter: 0.081
================================================== ====================

And you'll still need the drill index to convert those decimal sizes to
the number size. :-)

I'm in the process of searching for a good book on this subject to add
to the other's high on my list.("Machinery's Handbook", "Machine Shop
Practice"(Moltrecht), and some other book with the word essentials in
it). :-)

Also, I'm still keeping my eyes open for a good
bench block.(They seem to range from just over 2 inches to jsut over 4
inches).

Mine is a 3" one, IIRC. Made by Starrett.

The dies can be used to smooth down a thread which was cut just
a little oversized.

Ok. But I guess that I wouldn't *need* them if I cut the thread
correctly.

Yes -- if your *machine* is rigid enough to cut the threads
correctly.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. :-)

Anyway, The bandsaw would be for cutting that 1/4" thick stainless I
mentioned.

So you would need a vertical bandsaw for that. The horizontal
ones are good for cutting overlength stock to a reasonable length for
what you intend to do with it.

And a vertical bandsaw which will run at speeds appropriate for
stainless will be big and heavy. Proably 600 pounds or so, at a rough
guess.

600?!?

Yes -- in part just to find a bandsaw which will run slow enough
to cut stainless steel. Most inexpensive (and light) bandsaws have
speeds only appropriate for wood or metals like brass or aluminum. They
are *way* too fast for mild steel even -- let along stainless.

What about 4" long cuts through 1/16" thick stainless steel?

The same rules apply. It is the blade speed which is the major
problem. (Actually, you *might* be able to get away with the
horizontal/vertical bandsaw in vertical mode -- if you don't need to cut
too far from the edge of the workpiece, as the clearance for the other
side is rather limited.

Well the idea was to cut 4" squares out of the 4" wide, 4'(or is it 6')
long pieces. But if it is easier(though not cheaper) to just get it
completsly precut, then I'll have no choice.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.