Thread: Drawings of Wadkin lathe tooling?

Thanks for the feedback H,
That would be your pattern making experience showing over my theory of make the part with plenty of draft! ) I set the RU carriage to 5 degrees for the draft both inside and outside the central bosses.
the first faceplate I had made was made with the yellow pattern shown ( I've now sleeved the boss to be able to machine the 1 5/8" BSW thread for the outboard spindle) and the foundry made that OK. When I drop these ones off I'll ask if it would be easier for them to cast if the patterns are made differently.
I did consider casting the shaft into the tool rests but having to machine that length on awkwardly shaped castings seemed difficult and so I went for the bosses to be drilled and cross pinned to attach the round bar to as Vann indicated Wadkin did on at least some of their tool rests.
For the bosses on the tool rests I originally had made a tapered hole in the centre for the 1 1/8" rod but my buddy who'll be doing most of the machining said he'd prefer to cut the full hole to stop the drill wandering and trying to follow the cast hole and he also wasn't keen on the tool having to cut the skin of the casting all the way down.
I take your point about machining the tool rests, they are a pretty freeform shape. It'll be a test of our engineering skills to hold them securely and machine them accurately.
Rob has posted some sketches on the thread which showed that my sizes are pretty close and he's added some of the machined dimensions so we'll be able to make them a pretty close match to the originals.
RG

Originally Posted by RG62

Rob has posted some sketches on the thread which showed that my sizes are pretty close and he's added some of the machined dimensions so we'll be able to make them a pretty close match to the originals.
RG

I just added three more pictures to the post with the others . Just with castings included . let me know if you need any more info .

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

I just added three more pictures to the post with the others . Just with castings included . let me know if you need any more info .

Rob

Thanks Rob,
I'm cutting the bosses down in height as they were too tall and the tools would have been above the centre line of the lathe spindle.
I have just a couple more questions. What is the thickness of the flat bar which is the actual tool rest? One of your dimensions shows it as 5o mm wide but I don't know how thick it is. And what are the dimensions of the chamfer on the leading edge of the flat bar (how much has been machined off, 50mm minus x and thickness minus y)?

Richard

Originally Posted by RG62

...I have just a couple more questions. What is the thickness of the flat bar which is the actual tool rest? One of your dimensions shows it as 5o mm wide but I don't know how thick it is. And what are the dimensions of the chamfer on the leading edge of the flat bar (how much has been machined off, 50mm minus x and thickness minus y)?

The flat bar on mine is 44mm (1 3/4") wide x 12.7mm (1/2") thick. The face side is flat for the first 22mm (7/8") and tapers the remaining 22mm to 6mm (1/4") thick. The top edge is then radiused 3mm (1/8") both sides, to form a 6mm half round on the top edge.

One measurement I don't see on Rob's sketches is the hole centre distance on the two hole tool rest support. On mine it's 3 3/4" (95mm) from hole centre to hole centre. I have seen pictures of some that have a countersunk hole in the flat bar - so that the screws go into tapped holes in the holder. On mine there are hex bolts inserted from underneath - with the flat bar being tapped.

HTH.

Cheers, Vann.

I hope this doesn’t overload you with info

One of my RS toolrests has had the shaft wot fits the banjo right thru the cast body and looks like it’s held there with a tapered dowel.

My other two have the remnants of a boss ground off on top but they also have steel shafts but no sign of dowels.

I’d not get too hung up on the flat bar, as you can see from the photos I like a hard round steel edge to work off.

Last pic of what I modified a toolrest on a small variable speed lathe I bought for my daughter. Mod on left, as made on right.

H.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the uploading the pictures and sketches (and thanks to you too H).
Here are images of the modified patterns after I reduced the boss heights and made a couple of other mods based on your input.
I wasn't too far off in most of my dimensions apart from the boss height which would have had the edge of the tool rest above the centre line of the lathe spindle which I have fixed.
I've added dimensioned sketches of the smaller tool rest similar to yours so that you can decide if you would like some castings of that one. Let me know.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi All,
The foundry finally finished casting the parts from the patterns that I dropped off in November!
I picked them up last week a mere 4.5 months after I dropped them off. The foundry is so busy that they are quoting 18 weeks for any new work and groan when you suggest that you have more jobs for them.
Actually I wasn't in a screaming hurry as I have been to the US for work twice for 3 week visits since November and so not much has been going on here.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of all of the castings laid out on top of the cover on my Delta Unisaw.
I'm off over to the US again for an extended visit in a couple of weeks (a month of work and then a few months of holiday) so sadly not much will happen on these until September.
They all seem to have come out really well. All parts are cast in ductile iron and annealed so machining should be a snip when I get around to it.
I'll be revisiting this chain for the dimensions provided by auscab, Vann and the images from clear out when I start the machining and assembly.
Cheers,
RG
Raw RU Lathe Accessory Castings (2).jpgRaw RU Lathe Accessory Castings (1).jpg

Looks like they turned out great.

Originally Posted by Gaza58

Looks like they turned out great.

Mine arrived today (1 of the 2 in RG's photos). I'm happy with it. The top edges are flat and straight (apart from a blob at one end that I'll need to fettle). The two arms are ~91 degrees - which is close enough for me.

angle rest.jpg

Now to find some time to linnish the top edge before sending it off to be bored for a stem.

Thanks RG.

Cheers, Vann.

Hi Auscab (Rob),
I'm getting back to my RU tooling project after a long hibernation.
Can you tell me what the dimensions of the cross section of the flat bar that is used for the RU tool rests?
I'm looking to buy a length of steel bar to complete the castings that I had made last year and while you sent photos It would be good to know the actual dimensions of the bar to cut and screw to the castings.
Cheers,
Richard

Hi Richard.
I have the RS and I can tell you the bar width x thickness dimensions of that which I would think is the same as the RU.
I wont be near the lathe for a day of two though. Someone else may get them to you faster than me.

Rob

Originally Posted by RG62

...Can you tell me what the dimensions of the cross section of the flat bar that is used for the RU tool rests?...

I also don't have an RU. I have a Wadkin RT, which shares the same toolrests as Auscab's Wadkin RS.

Kindly excuse the imperial dimensions (they were designed in imperial days) - the flat bar is 1 3/4" x 1/2". There is a chamfer of half the width (7/8") by half the thickness (1/4") which form the uppermost face of the rest. Then there is a rounding at the top of 1/8" radius. You'll need to check that it also looks right on your RU.

I hope that makes sense to you. Failing that I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

...You'll need to check that it also looks right on your RU...

Looking back through this thread I see you made your patterns and castings the same as Auscab's - so the 1 3/4" x 1/2" flat bar is the correct size.

Originally Posted by Vann

...Failing that I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.

Better still, here's a catalogue picture (worth a thousand words)
RS toolrest.jpg
Cheers, Vann.

Thanks Vann and Auscab for the prompt responses!
That's perfect Vann. I'll see what I can get that is close to those imperial dimensions. Very sure that I'll need to machine the chamfer myself but if I can get some flat bar that is close enough I'll be in good shape!
Cheers,
Richard
P.S. Apologies for the duplicate PM Rob. I should have checked the thread first.