Thread: Cutting keyways in the lathe

How deep did you set your cutter when cutting the keyway in the shaft?

obviously 0.111"

maybe I mucked up my conversion to metric, as I said I don't know, I cut those keyways 6 or 9 mths ago,

Not really obvious,where did you measure your depth from,did you allow for the radious of material.

Originally Posted by shedhappens

when I cut the keyways in the shafts I didn't cut them deep enough, I wanted a 1/4' keyway but the keyway depth in the shafts was only 0.111"

Seems pretty obvious to me.....
Nice work John, just think, once the Austolite is up and running you could cut keyways all day long just for fun

Hi John,

I was just going to say, That's a job a for a shaper! But Ewan beat me to it.

Nice job though.

Ben

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Not really obvious,where did you measure your depth from,did you allow for the radious of material.

The possibilities are endless pipeclay, the most likely is that when I touched the slot drill on the top of the shaft I only THOUGHT that I seen a witness mark and I then zeroed in the dial on the Z axis 0.014" above the job and that may account for the lack of depth

Then again I might have had too many beers

Or........ it might have been one of my rough days

dunno, don't care

Hi John,

So let me get this straight, you use a boring bar and set it at centre height and perpendicular to the job, set it approx. 2.5 thou into the job and simply drag the cutter through the pulley. Assume you clamp the spindle? So effectively using the lathe saddle as the moving part on a shaper, just with much light cuts?

Good work. Beats using a file which is what I last did on a flywheel!

Simon

Not much a of an attitude,hope that dosent flow across into other things you make.

Originally Posted by simonl

Hi John,

So let me get this straight, you use a boring bar and set it at centre height and perpendicular to the job, set it approx. 2.5 thou into the job and simply drag the cutter through the pulley. Assume you clamp the spindle? So effectively using the lathe saddle as the moving part on a shaper, just with much light cuts?

Good work. Beats using a file which is what I last did on a flywheel!

Simon

Simon I had the lathe in low gear that's all, the chuck moving was not a problem anyway, it didn't budge when pushing the tool through.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Not much a of an attitude,hope that dosent flow across into other things you make.

pipeclay, next time I do a keyway on a pulley that will rotate at the incredulous speed of 0 - 60 RPM with a massive torque of maybe 10 foot pounds I will ensure that the utmost care and precision is undertaken, health and safety issues are adhered to, and I will even get the thing platinum plated especially for you.

Attitude, you should ponder that word.

Good job.
Have done this method which is like broaching really.
Gets the result and with care is just as accurate.

If the pulley is virtually unload why go to the trouble of cutting a keyway to an extra depth,when you could of just broached it and machined or ground the key to suit.
My attitude towards most people is the same,give them the respect I beliieve they deserve or earn.

I'm really getting sick of your pathetic questions pipeclay.

I have seen you do this arrogant form of nit picking to other people and as far as I'm concerned you can go and jump.

why didn't you do this

why didn't you do that

you sound like a nagging woman

HI John,
I have lost count of how many keyways I have cut in the lathe. Successfully as well. So many I went out and bought a broach kit. You could have made more shims to go behind the broach to bring it out more...assuming you have the broach still
With regard to the Peter (Pipeclay), he is a very learned gentleman with regard to gearcutting and all things Hercus but as I have found out on a previous occasion, he will keep this going ad nauseum. I also found out you will have to be the one to just forget about it and stop responding. I have no idea why he does this. I'm sure we don't need aggravation like this here.

Phil