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Metalworking Projects
Phase II Quick Change Toolpost Mount
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The Grizzly G4000 comes
with a rather crummy 3 bolt, tool holder. The first time I tried to turn
anything on the lathe, I noticed it was a problem. Lots of chatter, not
very good at holding the tooling steady. Enco had a sale going on the Phase II QCTP. So, I bought one.
Once it showed up, I quickly realized it was going to be a problem to mount this
tool-post, to such a small lathe. It is big, and has a huge 9/16 mounting
bolt to hold it down. Much larger than the little, built-in one that comes
with the lathe. Also, the tool holder would end up riding too high on the
work piece. Some of the metal would need to be taken off the plinth in
order to allow the tool holder to ride center or lower on the work.
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I took the plinth off the
lathe, and milled off the edges and corners to allow the tool holder to sit nice
and low on the plinth. Also, bored out the mounting bolt hold, and
re-tapped it to a 9/16 fine thread. These two photos are the finished
work. First, there is the plinth with the edges taken off, and the new
mounting bolt in-place. Next there is the Phase II all mounted up to the
compound, and ready to start cutting. Several others have done the same thing
to their lathes on the
9x20 Yahoo group.
I love this Yahoo group. Everyone on the list knows WAAAY more
about metalworking than I do, so it is great to tap into the extensive
knowledge of the people on the list.
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Tabletop Robot Wheels
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I went down the the scrap
metal yard, and found this 5" diameter chunk of round 6061 alloy
stock. After a bit of work to chuck it up using the 4 jaw, I started
cutting away. And cutting....and cutting....and cutting...and cutting......whew!
Trimmed it down a little, to true it up. Then cut a shoulder in the
tailstock end. Then I was able to saw off a wheel blank using the
horizontal bandsaw. Once I had the blank cut, I was able to chuck it back
up to do a cleanup, facing operation, and then cut a groove in it to take a
large rubber grommet to use as a wheel tread.
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 Here is the
finished robot wheels, all mounted up to the robot. Pretty good, for my
first real lathe project...eh?!?This robot is for the
Phase II tabletop challenge.
Follow the link to see more pictures of the robot, and videos of it
in-action. |
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Robot Wheel Hubs
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I have done a number of small projects on
my lathe, but so far, I have yet to do a complete CAD design for a part
and then, build it from the design. I am still trying to learn CAD
well enough to do more complex assemblies. I eventually hope to
someday own a CNC mill. Without good drawing skills, a CNC mill
doesn't do me much good. I finally sat down and did a CAD drawing for
a change. I use TurboCAD
Professional, and I am not very good with it yet. As I get
better and start making more drawings, I will set-up a separate portion
of my website just devoted to CAD drawing. |
While I was fabricating these robot wheel hubs, I pulled out the video camera
and shot some clips of the G4000 in-action:
 | Finishing Cut - Here I am doing a finishing cut
on the piece of raw stock I used to make the hubs. I wanted to get a
nice, clean round with the 0.63" diameter per my drawing. |
| Rough Cut - Here I am doing a rough cut, taking
off about 0.050" to work my way down to the 0.153" shaft. You can see
me periodically squirting some cutting fluid onto the part with a spray
bottle too. |
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