A buddy is making the Parrot field rifle from the 1982 HSM plans. He asked me to
make him the part which has a capstan-type bolt head which has 4 1/8" rods
radially arranged with 1/4" balls on the end. He had thought he could bead 1/8"
welding rod with a gas flame and get a nice ball, but he failed. I just couldn't
imagine turning a ball on a 1/8" shank without it bending, so I thought for
awhile, then took a 1/4" ball bearing and some old copper-clad 1/8" welding rod
(gas welding) and made one. This is how I did it.

I put the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe, and chucked a short piece of the 1/8" rod
and spun it at high speed and applied some abrasive cloth to remove the copper
and polish the rod. Then I rechucked it so only about 1/4" was sticking out, and
took a small center drill in the tailstock chuck and made a light centered spot
in the end of the rod, just enough to get some clearance. Then I took a 1/4"
ball end mill and chucked it in the tailstock chuck and again at high speed fed
it into the rod until I had a nice spherical female end. I took a small smooth
file and cleaned the edges. Then I re-chucked the rod so it stuck out about 1",
and chucked a piece of 1/8" pipe in the tailstock chuck. I used the pipe to
center the ball bearing and press it against the rod. I fluxed it with white
flux and using silver bearing solder (low silver content) soldered the ball to
the rod. Then I backed off the 1/8" pipe and spun the part and polished it. The
ball isn't quite dead centered but it's way close enough, and it was quick and
easy. The low silver content solder matches the color perfectly and you have to
look very closely to see any fillet after polishing.

GWE

Grant Erwin wrote:
A buddy is making the Parrot field rifle from the 1982 HSM plans. He
asked me to make him the part which has a capstan-type bolt head which
has 4 1/8" rods radially arranged with 1/4" balls on the end. He had
thought he could bead 1/8" welding rod with a gas flame and get a nice
ball, but he failed. I just couldn't imagine turning a ball on a 1/8"
shank without it bending, so I thought for awhile, then took a 1/4" ball
bearing and some old copper-clad 1/8" welding rod (gas welding) and made
one. This is how I did it.

I put the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe, and chucked a short piece of the
1/8" rod and spun it at high speed and applied some abrasive cloth to
remove the copper and polish the rod. Then I rechucked it so only about
1/4" was sticking out, and took a small center drill in the tailstock
chuck and made a light centered spot in the end of the rod, just enough
to get some clearance. Then I took a 1/4" ball end mill and chucked it
in the tailstock chuck and again at high speed fed it into the rod until
I had a nice spherical female end. I took a small smooth file and
cleaned the edges. Then I re-chucked the rod so it stuck out about 1",
and chucked a piece of 1/8" pipe in the tailstock chuck. I used the pipe
to center the ball bearing and press it against the rod. I fluxed it
with white flux and using silver bearing solder (low silver content)
soldered the ball to the rod. Then I backed off the 1/8" pipe and spun
the part and polished it. The ball isn't quite dead centered but it's
way close enough, and it was quick and easy. The low silver content
solder matches the color perfectly and you have to look very closely to
see any fillet after polishing.

GWE
How about friction welding it on???
...lew...

Friction welding. Yeah, that's the way Grant's post "read" to me the first
2 times I read it. What with all the talk of high speed, less than very
careful reading would lead to the assumption he was friction welding, at
least to me, anyway.

Bob Swinney
"Lew Hartswick" wrote in message
ink.net...
Grant Erwin wrote:
A buddy is making the Parrot field rifle from the 1982 HSM plans. He
asked me to make him the part which has a capstan-type bolt head which
has 4 1/8" rods radially arranged with 1/4" balls on the end. He had
thought he could bead 1/8" welding rod with a gas flame and get a nice
ball, but he failed. I just couldn't imagine turning a ball on a 1/8"
shank without it bending, so I thought for awhile, then took a 1/4" ball
bearing and some old copper-clad 1/8" welding rod (gas welding) and made
one. This is how I did it.

I put the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe, and chucked a short piece of the 1/8"
rod and spun it at high speed and applied some abrasive cloth to remove
the copper and polish the rod. Then I rechucked it so only about 1/4" was
sticking out, and took a small center drill in the tailstock chuck and
made a light centered spot in the end of the rod, just enough to get some
clearance. Then I took a 1/4" ball end mill and chucked it in the
tailstock chuck and again at high speed fed it into the rod until I had a
nice spherical female end. I took a small smooth file and cleaned the
edges. Then I re-chucked the rod so it stuck out about 1", and chucked a
piece of 1/8" pipe in the tailstock chuck. I used the pipe to center the
ball bearing and press it against the rod. I fluxed it with white flux
and using silver bearing solder (low silver content) soldered the ball to
the rod. Then I backed off the 1/8" pipe and spun the part and polished
it. The ball isn't quite dead centered but it's way close enough, and it
was quick and easy. The low silver content solder matches the color
perfectly and you have to look very closely to see any fillet after
polishing.

GWE
How about friction welding it on???
...lew...