Thread: Antrac Lathe

Just spotted this nice score on the lathe and am impressed with the resto and use of already....although disappointed some parts not painted before being put back on.

Will now sit back in a corner and watch quietly while masters do their thing.

Thanks wheelin,
I would like to paint her, but I didn't really want to have 3 lathes in bits.....
Plus the blue is not very nice nor the original colour. Under the badly put on sickly pale green on the unstripped parts it is resada green. Plus since there is no bog under the blue it is as rough as.
One day.....

Ew

Originally Posted by Ueee

Under the badly put on sickly pale green on the unstripped parts it is resada green. Plus since there is no bog under the blue it is as rough as.
One day.....

Ew

Time to mix up a nice big batch of caustic soda and get out the battery charger!


You know you want to.........

Simon

I do want to Simon, but i really want the LeBlond and Rivett finished first......come to think of it it may be hard to bath the base....it certainly won't fit in a wheelie bin!

More terrible news, i don't know how i will cope

Made some leveling feet this arvo and roughly leveled her just with the Rabone 6". I won't go mad with the .02mm/m level until everything has had time to settle. I chucked a bit of 2" bar, with about 6" overhang. Its turning about .01 taper over 6". Its actually turning slightly hollow, i think because of the gap piece, but not really sure yet.

Oddly enough the bar i used was the 4140 i threw in the fire a few times to try to anneal. It has softened up nicely. After turning it i chucked up another bit which is still hard. Huge difference. Whilst it is not unmachinable the biggest DOC i was game to take was .2mm, and even at a speed of 400rpm for a 1 1/2" dia the heat build up was huge. If the lace like shavings built up on the tool they would be glowing bright orange in seconds.....

Ew

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi Mike,
Yes the gears are steel, thats what the existing ones are. I was going to set the shaper up for the keyways but there is a mountain of stuff in front of her so i ended up doing it on the lathe. I reckon it took almost as long as cutting the teeth. There was a bit of filing for fit, the keys are 5mm and the boring bar i used takes 3/16" HSS bits. I cut a V first then went through with the flat cutter so it was not trying to cut full width.

Ew

Next time stick the gears on the mill and plunge cut with a 5mm slot drill at half diameter or a bit more then file out the half round portion to fit the keyway. Might need a long series slot drill if the hub is thick. Doesn't really matter about going a bit deep, it's better not to have any binding on the top of the keyway anyway.

Lots quicker than using the lathe as a half-arsed slotter.

PDW

Originally Posted by PDW

Next time stick the gears on the mill and plunge cut with a 5mm slot drill at half diameter or a bit more then file out the half round portion to fit the keyway. Might need a long series slot drill if the hub is thick. Doesn't really matter about going a bit deep, it's better not to have any binding on the top of the keyway anyway.

Lots quicker than using the lathe as a half-arsed slotter.

PDW

Thats a much better idea. I'm certainly not rushing back to use the lathe again. It may work in ally or plastic but not so well in steel. If i had a lot to do i would use the shaper for sure, but for a few the setup time would be quicker on the mill.

Ew

Originally Posted by PDW

Next time stick the gears on the mill and plunge cut with a 5mm slot drill at half diameter or a bit more then file out the half round portion to fit the keyway. Might need a long series slot drill if the hub is thick. Doesn't really matter about going a bit deep, it's better not to have any binding on the top of the keyway anyway.

Lots quicker than using the lathe as a half-arsed slotter.

PDW

Hi there,
sorry for the stupid question, but am I correct in thinking you would need to do that BEFORE you bored out the centre to the required diameter hole? Assuming it fits on a shaft.....
Also what do you mean about binding on the top of the keyway? I don't know much about the theory of keyway cutting but just assumed a snug fitting keyway was what to aim for.

Thanks for the replies (in advance)

Simon

Yes, better to do it with both sides of the cutter supported. Either before you bore (makes boring tricky) or make up a plug for the bore out of some stock. That way you can use a drill bit if you wish.
You do want the key way to be snug in the direction of (rotational) travel but if the top of the keyway fouls the item being keyed it makes it difficult to fit. Most people aim for a little bit of radial clearance so that this is not an issue.
Michael

Thanks Michael. So, slight up and down clearance is OK but tight or snug fit in direction of force or rotation is prefered.

Cheers,

Simon

You don't want the key to be a (tight) fit if the item is being removed on a regular basis (change gear).

You also don't want it like a co-k in a sock either.

For the top of the key if its a standard square or rectangular key you want clearance on the top,the drive comes from the side of the key,charts will show the amount of clearance dependant on the size of the key.

If it was a tapered gib key then you would have no clearance on the top.

Originally Posted by simonl

Hi there,
sorry for the stupid question, but am I correct in thinking you would need to do that BEFORE you bored out the centre to the required diameter hole? Assuming it fits on a shaft.....
Also what do you mean about binding on the top of the keyway? I don't know much about the theory of keyway cutting but just assumed a snug fitting keyway was what to aim for.

Thanks for the replies (in advance)

Simon

No, I've never bothered cutting the keyway hole first. If you plunge cut slowly with a 2 flute slot drill, they can centre-cut fine and deflection is, IME, minimal.

For a normal type feather key, you want it a nice slip fit on the sides as this is the surface that takes thrust, but top clearance, within reason, is fine. In fact there's supposed to be some but obviously not too much - be bad news if the key could fall out of its shaft recess, for an example of going to extremes....

PDW

Here are a couple of keys done when we knew how to fit keys
These keys are 2' x 1 1/2"

Phil
IMG_2563.jpg

Originally Posted by Steamwhisperer

Here are a couple of keys done when we knew how to fit keys
These keys are 2' x 1 1/2"

Phil
IMG_2563.jpg

Cricky! that looks flush.....

Simon

Hi Simon,
These keys are fitted to the disc crank on the large Phoenix engine at work.
I am guessing that at some stage of its life, the rest of the shaft was cut off with the oxy and the end of the shaft has been machined as well as the face of the disc.
The disc is a shrink fit to the shaft and that's why the keys are fitted this way.
It's what they did 'back in the day'.

Phil