Trials and Tribulations (Murphy comes to visit)

Now that the Rails are both done, I went about mounting them. After some adjustment on the spacing (surprising how long that can actually take) I got them set right. At this point I decided I was far enough into this project, that it would end up being a keeper. I disassembled the cross slide and vise and cleaned up the stand for painting. After a few coats of an enamel primer, and a super fine sand, I gave it two coats of enamel (yea, typical machine grey, I guess I'm not to adventurist).
Once dry, I loaded on the carriage (with the Gib) and made sure it moved well.

With that done, I then went about making a lock handle for it, which simply tightens the Gib up in the middle. After I was done, I realized that I would have to re due it and have some sort of "ratchet" feature, so the handle position could be maximized.

Well, you know what they say, the best laid plans.... If something can go wrong it will, and if something CANT go wrong, it WILL. I finally got my ACME taps (got a left AND right thread one) I decided to start on the lead screw. It would be a challenge as the lathe wont do anything bigger than about 26", and I really need about 34". Well, that when I found the first problem. Seems I have no way to change the lathe feed screw direction WITHOUT reversing the Spindle. So, I guess this lathe wont cut left hand threads (what I needed). Oh well, I will have to do a right handed thread. As I dug out the gears to set up for 10TPI, I noticed I was missing a gear (98 teeth). Figures, its only ever used for 10TPI. So, looks like I will scrap the idea of threading the lead screw and buy a length of ACME threaded rod. Guess I might as well work on a break handle set up that will allow the handle position to be changed for more flexibility. I will see what bits and pieces I can do while I wait for a piece of threaded rod to get here, once I find a place to buy it (seems you can get everything on the planet from the US, and you can get everything on the planet in Canada IF you order it from the US).

Things moving along well, but still working on the rails

Well with the first rail sort of done (discovered AFTER i ground it that the damn kid used it as a pry bar for his car, and it has a noticeable curve in it. Will have to grind to match the second one), I am starting on the second. As can be seen, the 9" grinder from hell does a great job on getting it close (also does a great job on my poor arms), and by checking every now and then with a protractor, I can keep it almost dead on. After I finished grinding it with the 9" monster, I checked it and found it was so close I could probably use it as is and it would work OK. I however decided not to push my luck and instead grind it down to a nice exact finish.

After sitting there and grinding away with the jury rigged set up, another thing flashed through my mind. It takes a long time to do each rail, and the constant turning of the cross slide handle wears out the hands really fast. So, at that point I decided that I would make the unit power fed since the concept and creation seems to work well. I did some digging and found a company that sells DC geared motors with over 8ft pounds torque running at 50 RPM. While 50 RPM sounds low, I figured that in most places while grinding I was probably turning the handle at about 3 RPM if I was lucky, so the fact they sell a speed controller for the motor was a huge bonus.


Now this would make life a lot easier for the finished product, but what about now. Well, I grabbed my cordless drill and clamped it on one of the cross slides end shafts. Boy this makes it a whole lot easier.

I will, once I have most of the fabrication done, get the gear motor, speed control and power supply for it. All in all the price tag will be about $200.00 (since shipping to Canada from the states really sucks), but will be more than worth it. The speed control has wires to start stop the motor, as well as to reverse the direction. This way, using adjustable limit switches and some timing circuitry, I should be able to have it automatically run back and forth over the piece being ground for a hands free operation. I will not put a power feed on the front/back feed, as that's a bit too expensive and would require to much control safety checking. I wont put one on the height adjustment either, as that would be pointless.

Once I get the two rails finished and mounted, I can start work on the lead screw for the height adjustment. I could buy ready made lead screws, but will try doing a 1/2" one myself (Should be fun, the first thread I ever cut on a lathe and it will be a 1/2" ACME thread 2 feet long lol). Once I get the rails mounted I will update this blog.

In the begining, there was steel.....

After starting this project, I have been asked by many if I was going to make a Blog, so why not.

This being my first Blog ever, I have decided to try to detail this project as I go though, and explain why I make some of the choices and decisions I do, not knowing if they are the best choice until I have done it. I am sure I will have may screw ups along the way, and maybe it will provide some amusement for those reading this :-)

The Birth of an Idea

It all started when I began playing with a metal lathe I bought. Not having the cash nor space for a milling machine (or any other large machine, as the lathe sucked up both fast lol), I discovered a place where I could purchase "build it yourself kits" to add to your lathes usefulness, one being a milling attachment (This is a great place that sells castings and plans for many different lathe attachments. It is called Metal Lathe Accessories, and can be found on the web at

http://www.statecollegecentral.com/metallathe/index.html

Andy was more than helpfull, and gave me many pointers and information).

As I started working on the milling attachment, I had to "face" a casting nice and flat. After discovering that replaceable tip cutting tools don't work well in a fly cutter (screw comes loose and the carbide tip flys off, usually gouging the work), I switched to good old brazed tip tools and spent a lot of time facing (keep in mind I bought the lathe, but had never really used one lol). It was here that I thought, "boy a surface grinder would be nice to make the surface really smooth". That was the start of it all, I mean, what is a surface grinder anyway, just a grinder that's "controllable and movable".

Once the idea hit there was no turning back (as I could see it would involve steel and welding, things I love). As for the concept of the project, well I decided to keep it simple, a standard off the shelf bench grinder, a cross slide table of some sorts, and a lot of steel and bits to hold it together (and yes, another excuse to rack up a huge electric bill with the welder lol). While building the cross slide was possible, I bought a unit off Ebay for about $100.00. With this purchase made, I was already commited (lol) and went about buying what steel I figured I would need. Since I want to be sure this will actually work well, I am not going to bother making it look pretty until Im sure its a keeper.

In the Beginning, there was Steel....


I started off by setting up to build a stand for it, something sturdy but not so big I couldn't find a spot for it in the shop (OK, its a single car garage jammed with 3 times the stuff that should ever be fit in a "needs to be functional" space). So, since I have 2" angle iron left from another project, I constructed a 2' x 1' table out of the angle iron (I had bought a piece of 1/2" plate steel 12" x 30", so made the size based on this chunk. In hindsight, I should have gone a bit bigger, as the cross slide is large). I purchased a Cross Slide, which is nice and heavy and well worth the money spent).
I then thought about what kind of "transporting column" to use, and opted away from a tube type (like a drill press) to a flat bed (similar to a lathe), mainly because working with flat steel would be easier and a lot sturdier. (The Pictures to the left show the table and column with the grinder attached to an angle plate and temporarily clamped on. It also shows the first of two rails I have ground so far. This transport column (way) would need to be strong and sturdy, so I made it with a piece of 1/2" plate steel 6" wide, and two 1/2" plates 2" wide. This made a plate (when welded, as I love welding) of 1" thick at each side, with a 1" gap in the middle (for lead screw clearance). The last part would be the way rails, which would be 1/2" x 1" steel bars with a 60 deg bevel to match the movable carriage, and when mounted on the two 2" plates would give a little over 1" lead screw clearance space right down the center of the Way.
The carriage I made from a 1 1/2" x 6" x 6" block of steel, and cut a dovetailed grove in the bottom (left). The problem I had at this point was I needed a surface grinder to grind the 60 deg bevel on the rails, as they were over 2 feet long, far to big to lathe. So, I now needed the surface grinder to make the rails for the surface grinder..... what a catch 22.

Since grinding a 60 deg bevel on almost 3 feet of steel bar would take about a million hours even with a commercial surface grinder, I compromised and went with the most expedient solution. I used a hand grinder (a 9" monster grinder that shakes the hell out of you) to grind the bevel to as close to 60 deg as I could get it (checking a lot with a protractor). While this only took a few hours (OH yea, hours and I'm still sore) I managed to get it pretty nice looking.
Once the rail was close I used what I had already welded together, and jury rigged up a grinder to it. I used some clamps to get the grinder plate mounted to the rail, and used the center mounting bolt to pivot the grinder at the right angle so I could grind the rails.

I had purchased a Speedway 8" bench grinder (Another Ebay Purchase just after I bought the cross slide) and made a L plate to mount it. I managed to get 3/4 of the rail nice and flat before I had a set back. The Grinder would wobble a bit and at two specific speeds set up harmonic vibrations that would shake the whole thing. I cut this down a bit by welding a side support 3" x 1/2" to one side of the way length to stiffen it up more. The other problem was the grinder would get VERY hot after about 15 min of use, so I worked in bursts and finally called it a day

The next day I went out not happy about the lack of torque this 3/4 HP grinder had (it didn't take much to slow it to a stop), and bit my lip and turned it on. "POOF", a puff of smoke came out and that was it for this sorry excuse of a grinder. Feeling stupid to have bought it in the first place to save a few bucks, I stormed out and hit the nearest Canadian Tire and dropped $90.00 on a craftsman 8" bench grinder (at least it has a warranty and is probably far superior in quality).

I had to take off the covers and wheels, so I could trim back the guards to clear the work face, and move the lights back a bit for the same reason. I then plugged it in and gave it a shot. Surprisingly, it did a fantastic job on the first rail, with no vibration and a fairly good cut depth. I have finally finished the first rail, but I have yet to start on the second one (not looking forward to round two with the 9" hand grinder from hell..... time to break out the Advil). This is where I am to date. I will continue to post as I progress.