- Joined
- Jul 27, 2021
- Messages
- 221
I have been making some chips - I actually turned my first part on Friday. I have an RV that uses steel clips on the weight distribution hitch that are super stiff and hard to remove. I turned down some aluminum to get a clean surface, drilled a hole to give a nice fit on the clip, and then tapered the end to fit where it needed to go. Worked out well!
I do need to mill some slots in the tailstock retainer - it runs smoothly when the shaft is extended but binds up when it gets drawn back to pop out the chuck. I am waiting on a new vise to arrive for the new (to me) mill that I got off Craigslist on Friday (separate thread on that one). I also want to mill down the bottom of the tailstock to get rid of the crazy rasp like surface.
As with most of these class of lathes the compound is nearly unusable without really cranking on the gibs. I think I will be pulling it back apart to see if I can improve some of those surfaces. I will not be tapering a lot so I might just mill down a chunk of steel and take that out of the equation for most purposes.
I do need to mill some slots in the tailstock retainer - it runs smoothly when the shaft is extended but binds up when it gets drawn back to pop out the chuck. I am waiting on a new vise to arrive for the new (to me) mill that I got off Craigslist on Friday (separate thread on that one). I also want to mill down the bottom of the tailstock to get rid of the crazy rasp like surface.
As with most of these class of lathes the compound is nearly unusable without really cranking on the gibs. I think I will be pulling it back apart to see if I can improve some of those surfaces. I will not be tapering a lot so I might just mill down a chunk of steel and take that out of the equation for most purposes.