Anyone interested in some large diameter mild steel round bar or 4140 annealed round bar?

[Geoff]

I'm picking up a few chunks of 6" diameter 1080 and 4140 (annealed) round bar (picking up on Dec 29th). I don't need all of it so i'm willing to sell some. Let me know if you are interested and we can talk about details.

 

[Janger]

Geoff - I want 1.5" or 1.75" of 6" diameter 1080.
John

 

[Geoff]

Hi John. I picked up the steel today. Its actually 5". If you can work with that, maybe we can make a deal. I still don't have a bandsaw. Also, does your lathe cut metric thread? I''m making an ER style collet chuck and I need to cut some metric threads. Also, possibly some big 1 1/2 x 8 threads for my spindle. Let me know about the metric threads.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hm7wxlzoewiow0g/Photo 12-29-2015, 11 54 21 PM.jpg?dl=0

 

[Janger]

My lathe does cut metric threads although I haven't tried it yet. I'd be happy to help with that.
Cutting that steel ... my band saw says 5" max. I'll measure and see if maybe clamping it backwards might work...
http://www.busybeetools.com/products/metal-bandsaw-5in-with-swivel-craftex-cx.html

 

[Geoff]

Okay great! My little lathe is really struggling with this 5" diameter 4140 . It will probably take me a while to turn it down to size. I'm working on a backplate for a 3 jaw chuck right now. Anyways, I would be happy to bring some stock to do some metric thread tests. When do you have some time to give this a rip?

 

[Janger]

I have time this week. Thurs, Fri... I want the round stock to make a rotary table, Harold Hall has a great little project on the web I want to give a go. What Metric thread do you need? Have to fool around with the gears...

 

[Janger]

My band saw will cut that stock.

 

[Geoff]

The thread is M50 x 1.5 Pitch. It's for an ER40 Collet Nut.

I'm off work this week. How about I come over Friday morning?

 

[Geoff]

I'm working on a rotary table as well!! Here is my progress (On the table part).
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/viger2smaiwmw3u/AADW9-pAPmX8xw08wd0TPVtTa?dl=0

I would like to see the plans that you mentioned.

 

[PeterT]

Geoff, your rotary table start looks awesome. What plans or design are you using? Is the table cast iron or what alloy?

FYI this outfit sells ER chucks for smaller lathes. Multiply British "L" by 2.05 $C (ha-ha).
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/ER-Lathe-Collet-Chucks
Maybe ER "chuck plate" is a better description. I was thinking of making one too before I stumbled on the website & similarly realized the metric thread issue as you've mentioned. Actually that plate configuration got me thinking - one could adapt it to a lathe & given the back plate bolt mounting, dial it in with zero run out. Or, because its low profile, you could also plop it on a rotary table platen or mill table.

Actually I bought their ER square & hex collet blocks & I was shocked when it arrived in a week, very reasonable shipping, at least for the small stuff. They have some interesting tooling. I'm sure its Asian stuff but nice quality & some unique tooling, maybe in-house design. For example. I like these internal gripping mini expanding mandrels. Kind of reverse ER collets.
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Expanding-Mandrels

 

[Geoff]

Yes I have seen those (very nice!). I have an almost complete set of ER32 and ER40 collets. I was considering purchasing the square and octagonal collet blocks as well. I would love to check yours out! That ER collet chuck is essentially the same as I am making. I have stock and I think it would be a cool project. That said, i'm going for the build vs. buy.

The rotary table i'm building isn't from any plans. I had a chunk of steel and started at it it is just 1018. My plan was to use a heavy duty 60:1 gear reducer that I have to drive it. i'm not sure if i'm going to complete that plan or maybe build a mechanism to rotate the table. The gear reducer I have is fairly large and doesn't leave too much room once installed so I may look at other options.

Do you have some time on Friday? I still have this chunk of 1018 in my truck. The thing is probably a couple hundred pounds I would gladly give you the slice that you need in exchange for the use of your lathe and maybe make a few cuts of this 5" 1018 I have? your bandsaw blade in decent shape? If you want, email me at [email protected] and i'll give you my phone # and we can txt to make arrangements.

Cheers!

 

[Janger]

Geoff, Sounds good. Friday works for me. I have a newish blade and a spare for the band saw so we should manage. I've never cut anything that big on it yet but let's give it a go. I'll email you Geoff.

Your rotary does look great just like Peter said. Well done. Harold Hall's rotary table is a bit unusual but I think it looks like a good project. The link is here:
http://www.projectsinmetal.com/a-simple-rotary-table-without-a-worm-drive/

Great pictures and description. I like Harold Hall's stuff. While you gawk at his build take a peek at his home made QCTP. Also very nice.

 

[Geoff]

Hey John, I got your e-mail and i'll touch base with you today. I think i'm going to try and make a smaller ER32 Collet chuck which uses an M40 1.5 pitch thread. I have the collet nut so I just need to cut the threads on the chuck itself. You think I can give this a shot on Friday? I'll bring some test stock to practice first. Do you have any tooling for thread cutting? I have not done any threads on my lathe yet as I don't have any gears and i'm not finished my Electronic lead screw! Let me know. Cheers!

 

[Janger]

Electronic lead screw? That sounds interesting.
Yes I have some thread cutting tooling. Bring some HSS to grind just in case and test stock like you said. 1.5 Pitch should be ok, we'll have to change the gears.

 

[Janger]

I just reread this thread, you want to cut the 4140? should be interesting. Let's try a bit with a hack saw to start. What about the 1080? Did you get some of that?

 

[Geoff]

No no, I have both 4140 and 1018. Will bring the chunk of 1018. Also the 4140 is annealed so it's really not to bad to cut / machine. Anyways though, we are talking about mild steel (1018).
I was also just re-reading the thread. I made a Type and said 1080. I meant to say 1018 ... standard cold rolled mild steel. Actually, I have both pieces in my truck so i'll just bring both...

 

[sorrelcreek]

How did you guys make out with the metric thread? Did it work on your lathe janger?

 

[Janger]

Changing the gears over to the configuration required for Metric turned out to be an ordeal. The usual changing the gears ordeal. The gears, the shafts, all seem to be really fussy to get them to fit together properly. Had to file edges, press keyed shafts into gears, edges kept binding, fussy adjustments. Need a much better setup. Geoff keeps talking about a digital lead screw using stepper motors, hall sensors, Arduino, and software. Come on Geoff let's see it! Anyway it's working... Cutting the stock went better. Look at this log of metal Geoff brought over. 30 inches of 5" mild steel round stock, 170 lbs. We strapped it to my material shelf/fence/cart for safety. Other picture is the first disc we cut, it's about 1.75" thick. Took about an hour on the band saw.

 

[Geoff]

Yes, the electronic lead screw ... I have most of the mechanical part done so i'm going to be working on the code to sync the spindle and the leadscrew and some sort of interface soon! Here are a few pics of the project so far. I guess I should post this to the Project forum!

 

[PeterT]

I'd be interested to see more details of your electric drive lead screw. Yeah, create a new project post one day when you have time. When it comes to the driving software & computer interface, my knowledge falls off a cliff. One day I'd like to build a mini play CNC, but trying to keep the project distractions down. Now... if you could rig the same thing up for the y-axis cross travel and somehow synch them, you will have created an electric taper attachment. Bwoo-hoo-ha-ha-haaaa.