Plans, projects and How-to's for Home Machinists and Other Makers
Properly installing a drill chuck on your drill press requires you to pay attention to a few simple details. Done well, your chuck will be accurate and will stay put until you remove it.
Drill presses and many other machine tools use Morse tapers to enable the user to attach a wide variety of attachments to the machine via an arbor having a Morse taper to fit the machine and an opposing taper to fit the accessory to be attached.… Read the rest
This excellent article was written by Bob Bickerton, a new contributor to Machinistblog.com. It was originally published to the files section of the Yahoo 7x12minilathe discussion group.
The slowest feed rate on the Mini-lathe is about .004 in/revolution. This is fine for many applications but when you want a nice, smooth turned finish the slowest rate isn’t slow enough. … Read the rest
I needed to cut a piece of glass tube to a certain length and this is how I did it using my mini-lathe, an inexpensive diamond blade, some masking tape and WD-40.
The Stirling Engine I’m building uses a glass tube for the power cylinder. It calls for one with an outside diameter of 16 mm and a length of 26 mm (1.02-inches), although those dimensions are not critical. … Read the rest
I ran across this on the Home Model Engine Machinist forum. I think it is an ingenious, easy and almost fool-proof way to make a spoked flywheel with just a lathe and drill press. The flywheel blank is turned as shown and the spokes screwed in. The back is then cut away and the rim turned down a little bit so the spokes are flush. … Read the rest