Removing Compound Feedscrew

I was told on Madmodder that the feedscrew on both the compound and cross slides should be removed when adjusting their gibs. That didn't occur to me when I disassembled them previously. There was this little key holding the feedscrew on each axis, which turn along with the turning of the handwheel. I decided to explore a little to see if I can remove it without it flying away and lost amongst the overpopulated shop.


From this pic, the little key can be seen on the feedscrew.

A plier was used to carefully ply it out of its slot. It wasn't that difficult.


The key out of its slot. Did not expect it to be rounded at the bottom.


The feedscrew removed from the slide. It was cleaned and oiled before reinstalling.


After cleaning up, oiled, and adjustments done, the slide was reassembled. Here, I was rocking the cross slide at right angle to the bed. Quite some moment registered on the Digital DI. No matter how much I tighten the gib on the cross slide, I'm not able to eliminate the moment - unless I lock down the cross slide.

Anyone ideas or suggestions to eliminate play on the cross slide, please drop me a note. TIA.

It will be Lunar New Year in 2 days' time. I'm was scheduled to be on duty on the 2nd day of the public holiday, much to my dismay. I believe those, like me, who are to work on the holiday will not be very happy. This is the time of the year where Chinese all over the world would get together with their families and friends. Now that we are made to work... I know that I'll not be in working mood.

Skeleton Wall Clock - test cutting in plywood

I was playing with trying to get the template of the plates into BobCad so that I can machine the parts under CNC. Thought of making them by hands, as shown in the book, but I remember that I can't follow a line with even the bandsaw, not to mention the piercing saw.

This is how a piecing saw looks like, taken from windplus.co.uk


I'm supposed to paste the template provided in the book, saw out the shape, and clean it up. The same is done to the back plate using the completed front plate as a guide. The 2 plates are to be fastened together for this operation. I'll try doing that after successfully making the first one or if I fail to put the template into BobCad "correctly".

I scanned the template as a jpg and loaded it into BobArt. I tried to vectorize the outline of the template but couldn't get useful result. BurrMan, the guru over at BobCad forum jumped in as usual to help, when I posted. He produced a few tiff files and dxf for me to try out. He even make a YouTube video demonstrating how it can be done. According to Burr, the outlines need to be "blurred" in order for vectorization to work well in BobCad.

The resulting vectors from the process represent a solid line as 2 vector lines (note: I may be using the wrong terms here - pardon me). Simpler to look at the pic:


The blue lines are the result of vectorization. The black solid line is the outline I want. What I really wanted is the vector to trace the outline in the middle.

I wrote to GeneK after I posted on BobCad forum with the scanned image as he mentioned before in a comment to one of my blog post that he is into clockmaking. He responded the next day and forwarded me a dxf file. The lines in the file traced the outline of the template which is exactly what I am after. At almost the same time Burr also sent me the file tracing the middle of the outline.

I loaded up the 2 files and saw that GeneK's is a little undersized and Burr's a little oversized. I believe the size difference is due to the image I scanned. When I forwarded GeneK the image, I sent him a resized version to seek his advice on which are the critical dimensions to keep. This resulted in a tiny image when loaded into BobCad which he scaled up.

I decide to try out the smaller sized version from GeneK to avoid having to worry too much on setting up in the mill. More work had to be done to get the geometries into the right size for the real work.

After assigning the features to the inside and outside of the shape to cut, I cut up a piece of MDF and a piece of 4.75mm thick plywood on the bandsaw to 200mm square. The MDF will be the sacrificial base.


The wooden pieces were fastened to the mill table with a pair of 1-2-3 blocks to raise their height. Otherwise, I'll run out of Z travel before I can cut through the plywood.


Running the gcode. Lots of wood fiber was produced. I wonder if faster spindle speed will solve this problem. If yes, I'll mount the Proxxon IB/E on the Sherline as it has spindle speed of up to 20,000 rpm. Sherline spindle maxed out at 2,800.


The first part of the inside shape done.


Machining the outside. I was worried that I may hit the hold down clamp but all went well.


From this angle, you can see how close I was to the vertical bed. This has always been a dilemma for me; if I don't raise up the part, I don't have enough Z travel, but when I raised up the stock, I sometime do not have enough clearance for bigger stock... Sigh...


Job done. Quite some clean up to do with the sand paper.


One strange observation: though the image used for this is slightly smaller than the template, the machined plate is even smaller.

Comparing the part against the template.


More work to do on BobCad and I also need to figure out why the part turned out undersized as compared to the drawing in BobCad.

That's all for now. Fever is back. I need to wrap myself with thick blanket to sweat it out. Lots of things to do tomorrow. Can't afford to be ill.


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Completed Locking Lever

Managed to get some work done during my waking moment on Saturday, in between medication.

A piece of stainless steel leftover from another project for a friend was used. Only a short length required. It was turned down to 5.01mm and sand down to 5mm - just to see if this helps in getting the accuracy when required. It works!

After settling for 5mm diameter for the short rod to be used to turn the bolt, I put the "Wongster" bolt into the vise and touch its edge with the edge finder. The Proxxon edge finder has a tip of 0.20" diameter, or 5.08mm. After finding the edge, a total of 9.04mm was moved (1/2 of the 13mm dia of screw cap + 1/2 of 5.08mm). Being a round surface that I'm drilling into, I chose to centre drill before drilling with the 5mm drill.

Test fitting. Too loose. The hole is slightly oversized. Why am I not surprised... Anyway, this is not a precise part, the Loctite will do the job of holding the 2 together.


Done, in it's locked position.


Just a little is required to unlock the tailstock to slide smoothly. No more reaching out for the hex key...

Just a preview on what I started:


This is not the real thing; just a test piece in plywood for the plate of the Skeleton Wall Clock. The real thing will be in brass and a little bigger. Both BurrMan & GeneK helped me in getting the template from the book into BobCad - a task I'm not up to. Thanks guys!!!

Hope to start work soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PD400 - Threading Done!

This post also act as a test using BlogPress as I lost a completed post done this morning with my update of the threading problem encountered yesterday night.

While sitting on my great white throne, I recalled having a set of taps & dies which I bought 2 years ago. This made in India set has dies that have a slit that can be opened slightly using a screw in the die holder. The Japanese set I bought don't have that.

The workpiece was clamped in the Proxxon Primus vise and the M8 die applied to it.


Lots of chips produced in the process and some force needed. That should mean that I didn't cut the thread deep enough.


It works! Now I've my own brand of steel bolt!

In my next session, I'll drill the hole for the tommy bar on the mill. Won't be doing any work tonight. Am still not home...

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PD400 - Cutting the Threads

No appointment at tonight.  So I left office after the system was shut.  Was quite a busy day and a little tired.  My dear wife was called last minute for a visitation with Pastor, therefore, this is the night to complete where I left off in the previous session - threading.

I checked my setup once again to make sure I've not forgotten anything that will screw up the hours spent so far.  The thread cutting tool was installed on the tool holder and the compound was set square to the movement of the bed.  I "fished" out the fishtail gauge (or centre gauge) to make sure that the tool is held perpendicular to the workpiece.

Don't know if I'm using it right.  Comment please?

Once I have everything setup, I ran through the process from the manual again to make sure I have the steps in my head.  I advanced the cutter by 0.1mm into the work and started the lathe.

Right or wrong, we'll find out soon.

First time running the lathe at 80 rpm. The steel was just peeling off the workpiece.

After 2 passes of 0.1mm each.

Checking against the thread gauge.  Right on!

Just about done.  A couple of light cuts should complete the job.

This has to happen at the very last pass... I was trying to get close to almost the should, turn off the lathe and reverse the leadscrew. But I turned the switch to the wrong direction... The tool crashed into the shoulder causing the shoulder to be sheared off and knocking the part out of alignment.  Should have been more careful...

Inspecting the damage.

I rechucked the workpiece and to my amazement, there isn't any visible run-out of the part when the lathe was turned on!  The right hand tool was installed to clean up the mess at the shoulder.

I tried chasing the threads with an M8 die but the die simply refused to go on it.  Frustrated, I took out an M8 flange nut and it threaded on nicely though I can feel a little tightness.

You can see the cleaned up shoulder from this piece.  The nut can be turned all the way up to the shoulder.

Closer view of the almost done work.

Can't really see much from this pic but it is showing the part off turn in use.  I chose the wider Proxxon part off turn rather than the Sherline's or AR Warner's to see how well it work.  The cut was effortless and I didn't experience any binding of the tool during cut.

Almost there.

Look at the long nip... Rechucking the part with the jaws gently pressing on the threads.

After cleaning up.  It took me so long just to make a... bolt... The head (or cap) was chamfered to break the hard look.

Now for the test before drilling the hole for tommy bar.  The clamping plate was taken off the tailstock to make testing easier.

This is the max I can get the bolt into the clamping plate. I measured the diameter of the original blot (the black one  on the foreground.  It is only 0.01mm smaller than the one I made.  Could the bolt I made a little too big?  Checking against the thread gauge confirmed that the thread pitch is correct.

Got to stop here.  Wife is back with dinner.  If anyone know of a way to remedy this, please drop me a note.

Be blessed.

In the mail today...

Not exactly but almost.  I had a pleasant surprise when the courier man came in today with a box marked to me.

I ripped through the paper box like a child receiving his Christmas present to reveal the 4 books and 2 DVDs on clockmaking and plan on making a skeleton clock.

Pardon me for the mess in orentation. The pic was ok in photo gallery but not on blogger... Anyway, these are the books I bought from Mr WR Smith, all relating to clockmaking.

This is the clock the book plan is for - The Skeleton Wall Clock. Pic taken from Mr Smith's website at www.wrsmithtelegraphkeys.com/. I sure hope I can make it to the end with this.

I flipped through the books, the information within looks intimidating... but I rememebered what Roger Antrobus, whom I got to know from the Proxtool list, shared.  Like me, he was also from the financial industry with absolutely no shop or engineering experience.  But hey, look at those clocks, ships, and cars he made!  They're beautiful to say the least.  To admire his creations, visit his site at roger-antrobus.magix.net/.

The other 2 parcels reached me later today and they were long overdue (read my post yesterday on the problem I've with VPost.com). I made another call this morning to complain that the parcels have not reached me as promised on Friday before 1pm.  The lady on the line assured me that she would get the courier to delivery it by today and if I haven't receive the goods, I'm to call again to update her.  A couple of hours after I returned to office after late lunch, the courier man came.

These are the items in the 2 parcels - the digital inside caliper, Incra tiny T-Rule, and the Precision Double Square. The battery in the foreground was taken out of the caliper as it was dead on arrival... 

The legs of the caliper don't feel like metal but I believe they're.  The handle and the piece below the reading head is definitely plastic. This piece doesn't feel solid at all.  The minimum opening is 0.5" or 12.7mm.  This is my first time seeing a display being "zero'ed" to 0.5" instead of zero.  Interesting.

The T-Rule is for marking out layout lines on stocks.  This is the 3" version (that's why its called "tiny".  I've its bigger cousin, the Professional T-Rule bought a while ago.  The bigger cousin is 12" in length and has markings for both metric and imperial measurements.

I'm supposed to be continuing my work on the lathe tonight with my wife out for church meeing.  But I'm feeling rather lazy (and a little tired rushing quite a bit to clear some cases today).  Maybe I'll just read the clockmaking books or watch one of the 2 DVDs.

One last thing to share.  Yesterday was our 14th anniversary.  We had our customary wedding on January 8, 1998 (we registered our marriage on July a year before).  I total forgotten about it!!!  This is the first time I let it slipped past me.  So I wrote a short sms to my wife telling her "sorry, forgot to remind you of our anniversary...". She wrote back rather quickly saying "I remembered" with an angry face emoji icon.  Well, I thought I was rather smart with my approach but apparently it didn't work!  Maybe she is punishing me by leaving me home alone... hahahaha... I'm just kidding!

That's all for today.

Be blessed!

Changing Gears to Cut Threads

I had little time after reaching home and spent that 15 - 20 mins to change the gear according to the table provided on Proxxon manual and the gear box.  This is the first time changing such gears and I was careful to read the instruction over and over again before executing it.

The table is posted below (given in the manual and on the gear box):

The default setup was dis-assembled after pics were taken so that I can put them back in the same order.  The gear change went well except another cut on my middle right knuckle when the wrench slipped.  The cut wasn't as bad as the one I had when trying to remove the tool holder from the QCTP - the dovetails are really sharp! A small piece of skin and a little flesh came off.  This round, just a little broken skin with some bleeding.

This gear, with position labeled as 'L', gave me some problem in removing. The nut turns when I tried loosening it. I engaged the power feed (with the power turned off of course) and use the handwheel to hold the leadscrew while applying a little torque at a time.

The changes done. At the back of the 50-tooth gear (the one in the middle), there is a 30-tooth.  I didn't see any spacer other than the one on 'L' (the 60-tooth at bottom right), so the 20-tooth is used to act as one.  Hope that won't cause any problem.

View from the side.  The 30-tooth gear can be seen behind the 50-tooth (the 2nd gear from the bottom).

I did a "dry run" with the tool a distant away from the stock.  Everything seems to work alright.  The carriage moved at snail pace with 80 rpm selected.  According to the manual, I'm not to disengage the half nut during operation.  Just need to move the cross slide in, power one the lathe with the spindle turning anti-clockwise, turned the spindle off, back off the tool, reverse the spindle, reached the start of cut, turned spindle off, move in the tool for the next pass, and so on.  Seems easy enough.  I'll do another dry run till I can do it without thinking before proceeding with the cut.

I see that I have some time tomorrow night as my wife will be out meeting with her church friends. They're planning another visiting to some homes a month or two from now.  These meetings usually end rather late.  I should have the locking lever completed by tomorrow night.

One thing I've been thinking about on this project; If I'm to loctite the tommy bar to the bolt head, how do I remove it should I need to remove the clamping plate from the tailstock?

This is how the bolt looks currently.  The bolt is just a simple M8 capscrew.

The capscrew holds a steel clamping plate beneath the tailstock.

Anyone with idea please drop me a note.  Thank you in advance.