Like a bat out of h... uh... my mini lathe :)

ps protect your eyes from those brass chips! They're sneaky
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I'm going to tell on myself... All I had on was eyeglasses and sometimes an Optivisor. I would't do that at work and I didn't think about it until I was done. I had already planned to fix my lack of safety gear but I'm glad that you brought it up. I 100% agree with you.

One day I will revisit the bat project and see if I can do a better job of it, including the Fusion 360 work.
 
I mentioned the brass chips because I stupidly had my eyeglasses off once when I was turning some brass and a chip went right in to my eye.
Thought it had bounced off my eyeball but I was wrong, it was in there all night and I felt a slight irritation but really didn't think there was a chip there until the next morning when I pulled back my lower lid and there it was. A quick swipe with a Q-tip got it, then I went and bought some goggles that day.
 
Mike, look into using gravers. They would have made quick work of this project.

I have to say your post, clearly done with tongue firmly in cheek, was a breath of fresh air and I really enjoyed it.
 
mikey said:
Mike, look into using gravers. They would have made quick work of this project.

I have to say your post, clearly done with tongue firmly in cheek, was a breath of fresh air and I really enjoyed it.
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I found your thread (2017) on gravers. I think you're right, gravers would have been handy. Since I didn't have a form tool I basically moved the x and z axis simultaneously to "sculpt" the small ball end and "kind of" round over the big end. I used an ER collet chuck (ER32 if I remember right, I'm not there to check it) to hold one end and a live center in the other. That worked right up to the point that I needed to part it off.

I planned to make a little different post but since the part didn't end up as planned I thought I would have some fun with it. If you can't laugh at yourself...

Working in one state and living in another is "less than ideal". I can't load up the mini-lathe on every trip to/from. That little sucker is heavy. Duplicating is not an option (besides that of I buy another lathe it'll be "bigger"). I guess I'll stick with patience and see how that works out.
 
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There is almost always multiple ways of doing things, some easier for the application and some harder. As long as you get there in the end, that's what counts. I know this piece turned into a play thing but if you have to do something like it in the future, keep gravers in mind. They are far more useful than most folks are aware of.
 
Thanks, I had a good laugh. We've all been there.

One of the lessons you didn't mention.
A machinist figures out how to recover after he's screwed the pooch. A really good machinist makes it look like it was in intentional design improvement.
 
Good chuckle while reading this:) Thanks!
 
It's hard for me to empathize, as I've always produced perfect work from the very beginning. Every time the result exactly matched my requirements which may or may not have been revised as the project progressed. Ain't telling.

The "fun" thing about CAD is as you learn to use it you discover that there is more than one way to draw something, and the method you picked the first time just happened to be the very hardest way. :laughing:
 
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