I’m a believer. As a new guy I totally sucked at grinding lathe tools. It’s almost painful to admit how many stubby, misshapen, multi-faceted, overheated and just plain ugly lathe tools I made back then. The amazing thing is that some of those tools actually worked as well as the pre-ground tools that came with my lathe. … Read the rest
How-To
Pamper Your Tools
Video: Centering a 4-jaw chuck
This is probably the best video I’ve ever seen showing how to center a piece of round stock in a 4-jaw lathe chuck. I am wondering about one thing though. Some of the commenters on YouTube refer to centering the chuck the “normal” way. … Read the rest
CNC Fusion Z-axis Modification
Here’s a modification I made to the Z-axis ball screw mounting bracket on my Sieg X2 (Harbor Freight) mini-mill. My CNC conversion kit was made by CNC Fusion and their design does not allow you to adjust the top gib screw without removing the column from the base and sliding the head half way off of it, which is necessary to get at a large 10mm bolt that holds it from the inside of the spindle head (along with 2 smaller bolts on the outside). … Read the rest