First Successful Project...

[ttabbal]

My father's favorite holiday has always been 4th of July. With three sons and endless supplies of trouble, it kind of just rubbed off on us as well To this day I still enjoy blowing things up...lol. So I get the impetus. Me at ten though, if your son is anything like I was, I feel for ya

I printed out the plans and he saw them and got excited. So I spent the afternoon teaching him lathe safety and basic turning. We made the barrel, other than the finish pass on the OD and the grooves. And the cap with the o-ring. Fit is nice so far. He's even done most of the wheel turning.

For the o-ring seat on the cap, I took a square tool from the HSS grinding thread and ground a larger radius with a fine belt. Then honed it to make sure it's sharp. The cut was great for that filet. I liked the surface finish, so I used it on the OD and it looks great. Another win for the @mikey academy of tool grinding.

 

[freeqgeek]

I printed out the plans and he saw them and got excited. So I spent the afternoon teaching him lathe safety and basic turning. We made the barrel, other than the finish pass on the OD and the grooves. And the cap with the o-ring. Fit is nice so far. He's even done most of the wheel turning.

For the o-ring seat on the cap, I took a square tool from the HSS grinding thread and ground a larger radius with a fine belt. Then honed it to make sure it's sharp. The cut was great for that filet. I liked the surface finish, so I used it on the OD and it looks great. Another win for the @mikey academy of tool grinding.

I hate to admit that I have been using insert tooling exclusively. Though as I have progressed the last couple months I am finding that grinding up a tool would be beneficial in many cases. For instance, I don't have anything insert wise that allows me to create a filet...

I have been eyeballing belt sanders for a while now and already have a supply of 3/4" HSS blanks. So it is only a matter of time before I pull the trigger.

Thats awesome that your kiddo is interested. I ended up with two girls. The first only cares about makeup and boys. The younger is obsessed with horses and everything dressage.

 

[mikey]

Yup, freeqgeek, you should try your hand at grinding tools. @ttabbal and the guys in our thread are already well on their way and no longer need me to guide them, which is what that tool grinding thing was all about anyway. A tool to cut about any filet you need is easily done; it is just a form tool in the shape you need and enough relief under the cutting edge to allow it to cut clean and free. Slow speed, manual feed, cutting oil and you'll be just fine.

 

[dewbane]

I hate to admit that I have been using insert tooling exclusively.

If it makes you feel better, I have too. All that rake angle and relief angle stuff sounds worse than it is, I'm sure, but the availability of cheap insert tooling makes it easy to put off going through that chapter. One of these days!