Commando Crankshaft Porn
- Thread starter lcrken
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Hi Jim!
I´ts a Swedish alloy called SIS 2541, i`ts about the same as your American 4340 alloy and yes, i`ts very tough to work with.
My own lathe and milling machine at home is not big enough, this is the machine at my job i`m using after job when my boss(wife)permits.
I have to concentrate, a lunc breake is too short.
The longer i progress, the more nervous i am not to make any misstakes.
I must ask you Jim, you will stress relieve the crank in a oven, don`t you?
Thank you all for your good advices and encouragements, i`m looking forward for more to come.
Sten
I´ts a Swedish alloy called SIS 2541, i`ts about the same as your American 4340 alloy and yes, i`ts very tough to work with.
My own lathe and milling machine at home is not big enough, this is the machine at my job i`m using after job when my boss(wife)permits.
I have to concentrate, a lunc breake is too short.
The longer i progress, the more nervous i am not to make any misstakes.
I must ask you Jim, you will stress relieve the crank in a oven, don`t you?
Thank you all for your good advices and encouragements, i`m looking forward for more to come.
Sten
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- Dec 22, 2011
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- 65
Since the thread has moved on to showing crank manufacturing, here is a pic of Dave Nourish's crank carver. It has a DC motor drive with a valve (vacuum tube) speed control circuit.
It has turned out a lot of cranks over the years. I have lots of admiration for you guys making cranks on conventional machines rather than specialist ones.
It has turned out a lot of cranks over the years. I have lots of admiration for you guys making cranks on conventional machines rather than specialist ones.
Jim, your shop sound system predates mine, but not by much!
How is this for shop old and new-
1943 Monarch with DRO that counts in microns. There are about fifty microns in the dia of a human hair. Not that I am capable of such accuracy, although the old Monarch is precise piece of machinery. It was a three day job to mount the glass scales, no provision for such things as a DRO and scales in 1943. It would have been sci fi back then.
Glen
How is this for shop old and new-
1943 Monarch with DRO that counts in microns. There are about fifty microns in the dia of a human hair. Not that I am capable of such accuracy, although the old Monarch is precise piece of machinery. It was a three day job to mount the glass scales, no provision for such things as a DRO and scales in 1943. It would have been sci fi back then.
Glen
It is, although I haven't done much with it yet, just got the cleanup and install finished. It is quite a jump up from a little 12x36 Taiwan Southbend clone. Nothing wrong with the little Taiwan lathe, it is a very nice little machine for small bits, but the capacity and rigidity is not there.
There is a lot of good heavy old American iron available for minimal cost, CNC has made these machines obsolete for most production. They are still very useful in a small shop or home shop, anywhere that the jobs are mostly one offs.
The trick is finding a lathe that is not worn out. This one came out of the toolroom on a large US Navy Ship, so it was used in maintenance rather than production. There is virtually no wear on the hardened ways, less than one thou hig to low as measure against the tailstock ways. One thou up and down for the tool bit translates to a very tiny number in diameter change for the cut.
My machinist friend who checked the lathe out for me told me that he bought a new Colchester 20" in 1978, it had about 1 thou variation here when new and five thou after just a year of daily use. He was very surprised at the lack of wear on this seventy year old Monarch.
Monarchs have an oil sump and pump system built into the carriage. There is a cam operated pump that pumps lubricating oil thru eight small pressure feed lines and orifices to the wear points whenever the carriage moves. This keeps the ways coated in a film of oil, all you have to do is keep oil showing in the sightglass. If this system is kept functioning, the ways should last indefinitely.
Glen
There is a lot of good heavy old American iron available for minimal cost, CNC has made these machines obsolete for most production. They are still very useful in a small shop or home shop, anywhere that the jobs are mostly one offs.
The trick is finding a lathe that is not worn out. This one came out of the toolroom on a large US Navy Ship, so it was used in maintenance rather than production. There is virtually no wear on the hardened ways, less than one thou hig to low as measure against the tailstock ways. One thou up and down for the tool bit translates to a very tiny number in diameter change for the cut.
My machinist friend who checked the lathe out for me told me that he bought a new Colchester 20" in 1978, it had about 1 thou variation here when new and five thou after just a year of daily use. He was very surprised at the lack of wear on this seventy year old Monarch.
Monarchs have an oil sump and pump system built into the carriage. There is a cam operated pump that pumps lubricating oil thru eight small pressure feed lines and orifices to the wear points whenever the carriage moves. This keeps the ways coated in a film of oil, all you have to do is keep oil showing in the sightglass. If this system is kept functioning, the ways should last indefinitely.
Glen
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Glen,
Nice lathes like that are getting harder to find.
When I got my 13 inch Colchester some thirty years ago it was already old but pretty much unused. Now it is just old and very used and I would like to find something like yours to take it's place. [or at least move in beside it] Jim
Nice lathes like that are getting harder to find.
When I got my 13 inch Colchester some thirty years ago it was already old but pretty much unused. Now it is just old and very used and I would like to find something like yours to take it's place. [or at least move in beside it] Jim
There was a Lodge and Shipley Powerturn in storage near Portland, I was considering driving down to take a look. It was larger again, a 22 1/2 " swing and ten foot centre to centre bed, 20 hp, with DRO, 2500 bucks. There was no way to run the lathe so it was too much of a pig in a poke. The ways on a Lodge and Shipley are replaceable tool steel inserts, hwever they are pretty costly, about 3 k for a new set if you can find them. The ways on this L&S were supposed to be in great shape, but that would need to be checked.
The cost of shipping such a big lathe to Co. would likely be prohibitive.
L&S Powerturns andMonarch cys are considered toolrom lathes as opposed to engine lathes. As such, both have a great threading feature- lead screw reverse with a single tooth dog clutch on the feed. You can leave the spindle turning at low rpm with half nut engaged and reverse the lead screw to make multiple fast threading passes without use of the thread dial. This is said to be a really great option to have, but it was a costly mechanism to build and has been dropped by modern lathe makers.
The cost of shipping such a big lathe to Co. would likely be prohibitive.
L&S Powerturns andMonarch cys are considered toolrom lathes as opposed to engine lathes. As such, both have a great threading feature- lead screw reverse with a single tooth dog clutch on the feed. You can leave the spindle turning at low rpm with half nut engaged and reverse the lead screw to make multiple fast threading passes without use of the thread dial. This is said to be a really great option to have, but it was a costly mechanism to build and has been dropped by modern lathe makers.
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It seems a lot of the machinery is congregated out east or west. It's a lot harder to find on the front range. I picked up my first lathe and Bridgeport in Ohio on my way home from a Norton rally. I lost a wheel bearing on the rented trailer in Kansas on the way back. Jim
We are getting a little off track, but is the carriage hand wheel in front of the crossslide a standard US feature, always find it arse about, Russian lathes appear to come the same way.Would love to find a good Colchester chipmaster to make small stuff, I reckon they are a really nice little lathe
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