A little off the subject

[TexasMac]

Although I have a 15x54 LeBlond Lathe I’m very slowly working on restoring I purchased a smaller 8x20 bench unit a few months ago. Not being used to making very small parts, the last couple of days were spent turning out a bunch of spirit tube end caps for sale for Browning & Winchester BPCR front sights. Many are lost due to the brittle glue that AMT the sight manufacturer used or when a damaged spirit vial is replaced.

The dimensions of the caps are: 0.310” diameter with a short step down to 0.280 and a width of only 0.167”. I started with a 3/8” iron rod from Home Depot and quickly learned it does not take much cutoff blade pressure to bend a 0.31” 2” long rod when one end is not supported, even with a sharp blade. Also had some chatter which is evident if you look closely at some of the caps in the photo. Anyway, it was a learning process and I enjoyed making them.

Following is a photo of the caps and the lathe. The rod through the headstock is a previous project.

Wayne

[Glen Ring]

Very nice!
When I replaced my level with the one you sent I was worried about the end cap. After reading your book..I used a hair dryer, heated the cap up to loosen the glue and it came right off. Replacement was a snap..while referencing your book !!

[Woody]

I wouldn't get much of anything done without a lathe. I use mine almost daily.

Woody

[jackrabbit]

Very Cool, Wayne.

[Glen Ring]

I'm afraid all that modern machinery is beyond my ability. I marvel at other folks when they make a part they need. A draw knife, rasp and file is about as complicated as I get. I ONCE fitted a fancy stock to my Winchester. I think it took me about a week.

[Nuclearcricket]

Nice work Wayne, and I see your learning things along the way as well. Yea when you go to part things off you really want to do that as close to the chuck jaws as possible, especially with smaller stock. Things will chatter, flex and otherwise make bad things happen quickly.
As to the stock your using, I understand getting local and such but better quality stock is nicer to work with. I would suggest you take a look at the online material dealers. Onlinemetals.com is where I have purchased a lot of material. They are nice in that you can have custom length cut or you can buy it by the almost foot if you want. For those little caps your making, some 12L14 would be very nice to work with. It cuts easily and blues very nicely.
Sam

[TexasMac]

Nice work Wayne, and I see your learning things along the way as well. Yea when you go to part things off you really want to do that as close to the chuck jaws as possible, especially with smaller stock. Things will chatter, flex and otherwise make bad things happen quickly.
As to the stock your using, I understand getting local and such but better quality stock is nicer to work with. I would suggest you take a look at the online material dealers. Onlinemetals.com is where I have purchased a lot of material. They are nice in that you can have custom length cut or you can buy it by the almost foot if you want. For those little caps your making, some 12L14 would be very nice to work with. It cuts easily and blues very nicely.
Sam

Sam,

Thanks for the suggestions. Living very close to Austin, TX there are several metal suppliers that have a good selection & will cut just about any desired length. I'm also aware of several online suppliers & have purchased various diameter rod stock from them in the past. But until now all of my somewhat limited lathe projects have been with larger diameter material so turning and parting off the small thin caps was a challenge at 1st until I figured out a reasonable process. The iron rod from Home Depot was convenient and I used heat bluing afterwards which works great for small items such as the caps and screw heads, etc. Likely my next project will be making a spider which will require inside turning & some inside threading along with drilling and tapping a 1" steel tube. Although the lathe is not large enough to handle full-length rifle barrels, a spider will be a distinct advantage when working with longer material. I checked around and no one makes a spider to fit my 8.5x20 lathe which is an upgraded version of the SIEG SC4.

Wayne

[45bpcr]

How can a lathe thread be off subject?
I have a couple of old South Bend lathes.
This one is my favorite.
It's fairly old, but so are our rifles.
It runs on 110 and came complete with collets, drawbar and a host of tooling.
There's no gearbox, you have to do the math to cut threads.
You also need to keep your fingers where they belong.
I'm the 2nd owner.

Craig

DSC_2375-r.jpg

DSC_2374-r.jpg

[TexasMac]

How can a lathe thread be off subject?
I have a couple of old South Bend lathes.
This one is my favorite.
It's fairly old, but so are our rifles.
It runs on 110 and came complete with collets, drawbar and a host of tooling.
There's no gearbox, you have to do the math to cut threads.
You also need to keep your fingers where they belong.
I'm the 2nd owner.
Craig

Hi Craig,

How have you been? Being or having been in the European auto repair business I expected you to have a modern large lathe or is that old South Bend one of several in your shop? One thing nice about a South Bend is parts and accessories won't cost an arm & a leg like the LeBlond I'm restoring.

Wayne

[John Bly]

I could not survive without my South Bend 9" lathe. Like Woody, I find something to use it for almost every day. I've made so many small gun screws on it they would number into many hundreds. I'm the 2nd owner of it also. It was purchased new in the late 40's by a retiring Army ordnance officer setting up a gunsmith business. He had worked at Springfield with everyone who was someone in the Gov't gun business. I bought it in the mid 70's. I have another larger lathe for barrel work but this one is by far my favorite.

[Nuclearcricket]

Wayne, I don't know your late set up but am thinking its just a big brother to my 7X14. If so I am thinking that the lead screw is probably the same pitch as mine and most likely the change gears are the same set up. You should check out this link and if it works for your lathe, save it, it can be a great help and a real time saver when you get up and around to cutting threads.
https://littlemachineshop.com/reference ... _gears.php
Sam

[TexasMac]

Wayne, I don't know your late set up but am thinking its just a big brother to my 7X14. If so I am thinking that the lead screw is probably the same pitch as mine and most likely the change gears are the same set up. You should check out this link and if it works for your lathe, save it, it can be a great help and a real time saver when you get up and around to cutting threads.
https://littlemachineshop.com/reference ... _gears.php
Sam

Thanks Sam,

The Little Machine Shop is the company I bought my HiTorque 8.5x20 lathe from so the change gear for threading calculator is certainly applicable to my machine. If you search on the site for part number 3595 you'll find the details on my lathe which was discontinued recently for the same lathe but with DRO's & a couple of other changes. I'm considering upgrading mine with a DRO kit but so far the individual digital position readouts modules that came with the lathe are working fine and are accurate as long as one remembers to remove the backlash. I just added one to the tailstock. Speaking of cutting threads, it will likely be part of my next project. I need to make a spider since no one seems to have one for the lathe. I see they now have one for your 7X14 (Part Number: 1136). Thanks again for the link to the calculator. I have no doubt that I will be using it soon.

Wayne

[TexasMac]

Nice work Wayne, and I see your learning things along the way as well. Yea when you go to part things off you really want to do that as close to the chuck jaws as possible, especially with smaller stock. Things will chatter, flex and otherwise make bad things happen quickly.
As to the stock your using, I understand getting local and such but better quality stock is nicer to work with. I would suggest you take a look at the online material dealers. Onlinemetals.com is where I have purchased a lot of material. They are nice in that you can have custom length cut or you can buy it by the almost foot if you want. For those little caps your making, some 12L14 would be very nice to work with. It cuts easily and blues very nicely.
Sam

Sam,

Thanks for the suggestions. Living very close to Austin, TX there are several metal suppliers that have a good selection & will cut just about any desired length. I'm also aware of several online suppliers & have purchased various diameter rod stock from them in the past. But until now all of my somewhat limited lathe projects have been with larger diameter material so turning and parting off the small thin caps was a challenge at 1st until I figured out a reasonable process. The iron rod from Home Depot was convenient and I used heat bluing afterwards which works great for small items such as the caps and screw heads, etc. Likely my next project will be making a spider which will require inside turning & some inside threading along with drilling and tapping a 1" steel tube. Although the lathe is not large enough to handle full-length rifle barrels, a spider will be a distinct advantage when working with longer material. I checked around and no one makes a spider to fit my 8.5x20 lathe which is an upgraded version of the SIEG SC4.

Wayne

Sam,
I thought I had purchased from onlinemetals.com before but was mistaken. I just checked them out - very nice selection and good prices. Thanks for the link.
Wayne

[mdeland]

Great topic Wayne and now your in for some real entertainment and will be kicking yourself for not getting a lathe sooner. Like Woody I use mine regularly and have been through two lead screws and a new set of main bearings, I've used it so much . Mine is a 10 x 54 Clausing Atlas and has been a wonderfully flexible lathe for barrel work with the long ways. It is also able to cut many more threads than standard geared lathes , with it's manual ,individual gear, cluster ratios. About the only deficiency I can think of on mine is I which it had a larger spindle hole. I do prefer it's belt drive and clutch set up so you don't tear up tooling and or work on occasion when things go south.
The old girl is in need of a new electric drive motor as the bearings in the original are starting to groan a bit. The best thing is I can still get most of the parts for it!

[TexasMac]

Great topic Wayne and now your in for some real entertainment and will be kicking yourself for not getting a lathe sooner. Like Woody I use mine regularly and have been through two lead screws and a new set of main bearings, I've used it so much . Mine is a 10 x 54 Clausing Atlas and has been a wonderfully flexible lathe for barrel work with the long ways. It is also able to cut many more threads than standard geared lathes , with it's manual ,individual gear, cluster ratios. About the only deficiency I can think of on mine is I which it had a larger spindle hole. I do prefer it's belt drive and clutch set up so you don't tear up tooling and or work on occasion when things go south.
The old girl is in need of a new electric drive motor as the bearings in the original are starting to groan a bit. The best thing is I can still get most of the parts for it!

Mike,

If I can ever get the 15x54 LeBlond up and running, between it and the smaller one I should have all lathe needs covered. The LeBlond came with a lot of tooling and accessories. The next thing I need is a good used mill. A Bridgeport would be nice but I'm open to other brands. Austin doesn't ever offer much if anything to choose from but Houston is not far to drive and has several sources of used mills. Another concern is I'm running out of space in my 14'x22' workshop. In hindsight I should have built it about 50% larger

Wayne