Not Another A Lathe Stop Post

petertha

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I've had some recent turning job where I've had to go back & forth between 2 X positions until proper depth is achieved (an internal grooved section inside a bore). I already had a similar stop which was mounted on left side of apron. I would stop on that & then unwind to the right up to a specific dial setting. Worked fine but I'm inherently lazy & wanted something that would stop on both sides & prevent possibility of brain fart over-cut-oops by over-rotating the dial or losing track of position (which happened).

My #1 version clamped secure & worked well so I thought just clone it & make another. But turns out the bar length would not fit some of the lathe features on the right side of the apron, it had to be shortened & some bevels. I also thought it would be nicer to have one of those quick release clamps. Half turn unclamp, slide to position, half turn clamp, no reaching for hex keys to loosen & tighten cap screws. These handles are sprung so you can pull up a bit further & rotate to some other convenient détente position so its out of the way. My first stop had two 8-32 cap screws. I used 2 screws mostly to keep the upper/lower parts aligned so the clamp doesn't want to rotate out of position as it slides along the V. So I thought this version would require a dowel pin > hole or something because the assembly is free to pivot on the 10-24 handle stud. Turns out I got the parts fitting nice, they stay aligned to the bed because the gap is quite small & don't really rotate out of position. So hear it is, hopefully self explanatory. Any questions fire away.

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Nice!

I guess I'll add another one to the collection. This is much the same as yours with the exception that mine lacks the neat tightening handle but has a dial indicator. Both have knurled locking and adjustable stops.

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I like that you integrated a stop and a dial in the same block. I had a dial (only) version too. After I installed DRO on the lathe, the requirement got simpler to just 'stop'. But I want to come up with something better than my mini mag stand for a dial or DTI on the Y-axis for tool post grinding.

Man, my camera or flash or shop fluorescent lighting is really exaggerating machining marks & the blackening looks yuck. I swear, its not that ugly in real life! :) I need the Un-Apprentice mode on my photo editing software!
 
The shinier the surface the harder it is to photograph. I just about have given up taking pictures of the chrome-like surfaces of my medallions. TheyHowling Dog 2b.jpg look like sh*t under the lens, but are near perfect in real life.
 
I haven't had to make many parts with V notches but I've learned not to underestimate them. Especially if they have to be carefully dimensioned or a matched set. This time I learned a bit from prior experience. If you have any tips, pass them on.

- I left my stock edges as close to 90-deg sharp as possible, meaning no burrs but no exaggerated file edge chamfering. This way when the stock was set at angle in vise, I could indicate a dimension off a corner reasonably accurately. The other method I considered was mill the V's leaving excess stock on end, then align V's & trim bar to common dimension later. But I figured I still have to mill a predetermined amount of X & Y material to make the notch equal sided, so why not go for glory & try & accomplish that in 1-shot by dimensioning off an edge. Hope this makes sense.

- I removed most of the notch volume with saw & left maybe 0.050" or so for milling

- still not sure this was correct procedure or not but seemed to work best. I established one facet with the bottom of the end mill. Its not as nice a finish. When that was established I plunged down the other side leaving 0.005" or so for finishing using side of EM. That minimized the EM cutting any substantial material from both bottom & side of corner simultaneously. I learned (painfully) they don't like that too much.

- I probably don't have the right EM's to properly finish. It was a regular 2 flute HSS, reasonably sharp. I blued it & finished with a file. Here is start of that operation & it highlights the steps & spirals. Again, it actually looks better in real life, Mostly I just wanted it to be smooth & reasonably accurate, it clamps to the lathe V.

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Here are some pics.lathe stop 001.JPG lathe stop 001.JPG lathe stop 002.JPG lathe stop 003.JPG Here are some picture of lathe stops that I use on my 19" Regal LeBlond lathe the one with the notched bar allows the stop to be adjusted easily out of the way when one needs to move the carriage way to the left if necessary and have the stop repeatedly set out as needed; when the handle is rotated towards the operator, the locking key pivots upward onto the non notched portion of the bar making it possible to slide the bar in or outwards, a spring on the opposite end of the key keeps it engaged in the bar slots when rotated back into locked position. The notches can be made at any desired interval, but the most used one has notches at one inch intervals. I basically copied this type of stop from a Warner & Swasey turret lathe. The end of the stop is tapped for an adjustable screw stop with a locknut (not pictured). The other stop is of the micrometer type, the micrometer unit was made for Monarch toolroom lathes, I found it on E Bay and made the mount for it to fit my lathe; the screw in it is 20 threads per inch in order to be strong enough for the use. It is graduated in thousandths and has a one inch range.

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I made one almost like BE, but used an indicator on the rod . It locked with thumb screw in a block. It to had grooves at one inch intervals made it easy for production jobs with lever collets . I too used the idea from big turret LATHES I had run for years. Only on turret LATHES they cut out the feed with the stop.
I'm still thinking of making a push off for my logan.
 
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