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Gunsmithing Lathe
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<blockquote data-quote="Trickymissfit" data-source="post: 455976" data-attributes="member: 25383"><p>I'm a machine builder by trade, and also have a journeyman's card as a machinest repairman. Thru the years I got a mechanical engineering degree as well. The latter degree was just something my boss pushed me into, and looking back I wish I'd gone after the degree in metalurgy</p><p> </p><p>I could have been a tool maker, but just never found it all that interesting. Besides I hate being locked into a certain location. My father was a master tool maker (he even had his papers from the department of labor). I learned and learned from him in conversations, and wasn't against calling him up in the middle of the day to run a question or two by him. But I also had access to a couple of metalugical engineers that were well known in their fields. </p><p> </p><p>I loved building machinery. I mostly built CNC machine centers and delved into super precision measuring devices alot. Robotics was something I had dumped in my lap about 20 years ago, and found it interesting, but nothing I wanted to stay with (I did build the world's largest robotic cell that had a two hour and forty minute cycle time). I guess I'm a guy that has to keep opening new doors all the time. The most interesting equipment I built started out with a basic machine frame, and built entirely new machines off of existing castings. </p><p> </p><p>I seem to remember seeing that Swiss made lathe at the Chicago Tool Show a few years back. I was going to order two Colechesters for finish work in the Model Shop. We wanted something like Monarch EE's (mostly for their small foot print as well as accuracey). I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I'd liked to have, but ended up buying three of them. I was looking at their threading abilities more than anything else. Anyway I had a list of eqipment to look at that would have taken a full week to see! And machine centers and FMS stuff was what I was after. I did fly back up there the last day to look at the "new" slantbed Hardingh CNC lathes for a buddy located in Michigan. He wrote the check for one while I watched (still the largest check I've ever seen hand written!) Still the best CNC lathe I've ever seen by a wide margin, and why these guys I worked for bought Okumas I'll never know as they were cheaper and built better.</p><p> </p><p>Your reamer process seems about right if you have a good spindle line. The tailstock must be close to being perfect. I used have have several drums of "Trim Coolant" that I never mixed with water. Just painted the slimey mess on the reamer or tap and cut. The finish was a satin (perfect), and holes were very round. Trim has a good lubricity, and it takes a lot of tool pressure to wipe it off the cutting surface. I (this is a personal thing) liked to run the rpm down around 40 to 60 rpm, and the last few thousandths I often turned the chuck by hand (I never trusted the spindle bearings on any lathe). If the hole had to be very close I used a floating adapter that fit inside the tailstock quill (it was one that was bought just for reaming holes. You sound like you do nice work when I hear you speak of .0002" numbers! Do you use a roughing reamer and a finish reamer? How do you deal with chatter?</p><p> </p><p>And speaking of .0002" numbers, I once had an indexing plate on a SIP jig bore. Hole location was extremely tight, and the bores were to be held under .0004" total. The guy used a Unimic to measure each bore, and it wasn't good enough. After he removed the plate (about forty holes) he discovered that the bores were actually about .0002" undersize! Boss had another plate started for me, and I just looked at it thinking there had to be away. I made a phone call, and found found carbide ball bearings that were used in ball drifting. Jumped in the car and went over to the store and bought all they had. Pressed a carbide ball thru each hole, and never looked back. Handed the plate to the boss and said here it is! Each hole looked like a mirror finish, and he bugged me for two weeks wanting to know how I did it! I finally let up and told him (the credit card bill would have spilled the beans anyway). Funny thing was that when they went to check the plate the guy called back and wanted to know how we managed to get each bore exactly the same right down to about 50 millionths. We never told them how! The kid on the SIP never made that mistake again, and was an extremely good operator. The guys in the tool room never heard of ball drifting processes, and when I started they knew I'd flipped out all the way this time!</p><p>gary</p><p> </p><p>is a Colechester Master their best quality lathe? The ones we bought didn't have the "Master" on them. They are very fine lathes</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trickymissfit, post: 455976, member: 25383"] I'm a machine builder by trade, and also have a journeyman's card as a machinest repairman. Thru the years I got a mechanical engineering degree as well. The latter degree was just something my boss pushed me into, and looking back I wish I'd gone after the degree in metalurgy I could have been a tool maker, but just never found it all that interesting. Besides I hate being locked into a certain location. My father was a master tool maker (he even had his papers from the department of labor). I learned and learned from him in conversations, and wasn't against calling him up in the middle of the day to run a question or two by him. But I also had access to a couple of metalugical engineers that were well known in their fields. I loved building machinery. I mostly built CNC machine centers and delved into super precision measuring devices alot. Robotics was something I had dumped in my lap about 20 years ago, and found it interesting, but nothing I wanted to stay with (I did build the world's largest robotic cell that had a two hour and forty minute cycle time). I guess I'm a guy that has to keep opening new doors all the time. The most interesting equipment I built started out with a basic machine frame, and built entirely new machines off of existing castings. I seem to remember seeing that Swiss made lathe at the Chicago Tool Show a few years back. I was going to order two Colechesters for finish work in the Model Shop. We wanted something like Monarch EE's (mostly for their small foot print as well as accuracey). I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I'd liked to have, but ended up buying three of them. I was looking at their threading abilities more than anything else. Anyway I had a list of eqipment to look at that would have taken a full week to see! And machine centers and FMS stuff was what I was after. I did fly back up there the last day to look at the "new" slantbed Hardingh CNC lathes for a buddy located in Michigan. He wrote the check for one while I watched (still the largest check I've ever seen hand written!) Still the best CNC lathe I've ever seen by a wide margin, and why these guys I worked for bought Okumas I'll never know as they were cheaper and built better. Your reamer process seems about right if you have a good spindle line. The tailstock must be close to being perfect. I used have have several drums of "Trim Coolant" that I never mixed with water. Just painted the slimey mess on the reamer or tap and cut. The finish was a satin (perfect), and holes were very round. Trim has a good lubricity, and it takes a lot of tool pressure to wipe it off the cutting surface. I (this is a personal thing) liked to run the rpm down around 40 to 60 rpm, and the last few thousandths I often turned the chuck by hand (I never trusted the spindle bearings on any lathe). If the hole had to be very close I used a floating adapter that fit inside the tailstock quill (it was one that was bought just for reaming holes. You sound like you do nice work when I hear you speak of .0002" numbers! Do you use a roughing reamer and a finish reamer? How do you deal with chatter? And speaking of .0002" numbers, I once had an indexing plate on a SIP jig bore. Hole location was extremely tight, and the bores were to be held under .0004" total. The guy used a Unimic to measure each bore, and it wasn't good enough. After he removed the plate (about forty holes) he discovered that the bores were actually about .0002" undersize! Boss had another plate started for me, and I just looked at it thinking there had to be away. I made a phone call, and found found carbide ball bearings that were used in ball drifting. Jumped in the car and went over to the store and bought all they had. Pressed a carbide ball thru each hole, and never looked back. Handed the plate to the boss and said here it is! Each hole looked like a mirror finish, and he bugged me for two weeks wanting to know how I did it! I finally let up and told him (the credit card bill would have spilled the beans anyway). Funny thing was that when they went to check the plate the guy called back and wanted to know how we managed to get each bore exactly the same right down to about 50 millionths. We never told them how! The kid on the SIP never made that mistake again, and was an extremely good operator. The guys in the tool room never heard of ball drifting processes, and when I started they knew I'd flipped out all the way this time! gary is a Colechester Master their best quality lathe? The ones we bought didn't have the "Master" on them. They are very fine lathes [/QUOTE]
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