On 4/12/2025 7:29 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:vteup7$1jgvb$1@dont-email.me...
I have debated something like a watch maker's lathe for smaller parts,
Here is an option for turning small parts that aren't collet sized and
may need close in hand work like filing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/373813537400
One of my projects from a gazillion years ago... I used to play
Calcutta pool tournaments in a local bar growing up. My mom okayed it,
and the bar said it was okay for me to be there at night during the
tournament. During the days I'd stop by to just play if I had time and
money, but at night I was only allowed in for tournaments. I think I
started around 12-14 years old. It wasn't until I was 16 that I won my
first decent jackpot. A few years later I started shooting in three
tournaments a week.
Anyway, during that time period I discovered what I liked and didn't
like about some cues, and I found I liked a cue with less taper in the
shaft. Unfortunately of the cues I found with less taper I could afford
they tended to be warped or very light or both. K-Mart used to sell a
line of pool cues with a Dufferin brand name. They weren't cheap, but
they were a lot cheaper than many of the more famous brands, and they
were built with a good straight, straight grain maple, probably rock
maple, shaft.
I also bought a wood lathe for another interest. I made a plate that
threaded onto the spindle of my wood lathe with a screw through the
center to thread on the chuck from a hand drill motor. I made this with scrap/junk parts we had laying around. It wasn't perfect, but it was
not bad. The Dufferin cues had a metal shaft stub on the front shaft
that extended into the rear shaft socket when threaded together. This
made them very tough and usable as a breaking cue. I never had a joint
loosen up on one. I would chuck that stub shaft in the drill chuck, and
then poke the leather tip onto the tail stock center. I always replaced
the tips with a softer tip anyway, so that was no big deal. This setup
allowed me to reshape the taper of a 21 ounces cue to something I liked
better and still have a 19.5-20 ounce cue when I was done. I got back
part of that weight by wrapping the big end with 72lb braided dacron
fishing line.
Anyway, sticking a drill chuck on the business end of a lathe is nothing
new to me. I did it long before I learned how easy it is to do with
modern machine tools like Snag suggested. The 8.5x18, the 7x16, and the
14x40 all have tapers or taper adapters that can easily accept a
standard Morse Taper. I don't know about the turret lathe. I haven't
checked.
I made a 1" (into collet) to 1-1/2" - 8 adapter for mine, which is
stamped "1/8 - 5/8 cap." It also allows a large chuck you don't want to change to hold small work. They screw directly onto this style of indexer: https://www.amazon.com/DBM-IMPORTS-Universal-Dividing-Spindle/dp/B0881MKLXG
I have made a few straight collets for special things. One I use fairly
often is for a #7 drill on the big (for me) manual mill so I can
maximize table clearance for tall parts before I have to swing the head
and hang a tall part off the side of the table.
Sometimes when I have small parts I'll use a straight shank ER collet in
the set-tru chuck or the 4 jaw chuck on the 14x40. RPM is a little low
at a max of 2550, but it works. ER collets don't have much range in a
single collet, but they are available between metric and standard inch
in such a greater number of sizes that its rare you can't find one that
will work... and I may have stretched, or over tightened one once or
twice.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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