Spring is here - kinda.

Quick walk around the farm

I have had the flu for the past week and a half, so when I got to the farm this weekend I really wanted to get out and see what the state of affairs was.  Many plants are starting to come out!

Elderberries!

Forsythia

Spindle thread protector

I received a threading tool (internal and external, indexed) this past week and wanted to try some threading.  I figured one of the first things I should make was a thread-protector for my lathe spindle.  Lathe spindle is 2 1/4 x 8TPI.  Only metal stock I have that can accomodate this was a piece of old 1" plate-steel that I got from the scrap-yard years ago.  I have been using it as a makeshift welding table.  I got my 14" metal abrasive chop-saw out an went to work.  To finish the cut I used a metal blade in my sawzall.

While it is only an inch thick, the spindle threads only go about an inch, so that's perfect!

It's in rough shape, but the lathe should be able to clean it up.  

After I cut out the beast, I needed to put it on the lathe for cutting.  This is where the 4-jaw chuck shines!  I popped it in the chuck and had it rough centered in only 5 mins or so!

I did a touch pass there to make sure I was at a good center.   I wish I had paid more attention at this point though; from this picture it is obvious that there was a partial cut in the piece!

Then I was ready for some serious metal removal!  I used a carbide tool and about 600 RPM (maybe a wee bit faster - 800rpm?)

Ugh - that cut is deeper than I realized.  I am hoping to use the TIG and fill and recut later to overcome this problem.

Ready to flip the piece and cut the other side.

At this point the phone battery was too low to get the action on the back side.  All I did was flip the piece over, recenter (roughly, no indicators) and face and turn the piece to approximate shape.  Then I decided to mount the piece on a mandril in a collet chuck to get the best concentricity quickly.  The ER32 collet chuck worked great!

Here it is with a half-inch hole bored into its center.

Actually, the mismatch in centering isn't too bad, but it needs to be perfect before I bore it to size and thread!

Ready to clean up the diameter

Making swarf.  This stuff is a pain in the ass to clean up.  Clogs the shop vac and is friggin dangerous to handle due to extremely sharp edges.

All done!  The finish isn't great due to the carbide tool chipping a bit.  But at this point its fine.  I did break the edges with a file file before I took it off the collet.

Not bad!  Next step is to bore it out 

Maybe not so bad.  I will bore and then clean it up for TIG fill

Cherry tree relocation and flat electric fence

I figured that this was the last chance to move the cherry trees before they had come out too far.  I dug them up and moved them to the other side of the sour cherry patch.  Sweet cherry trees can get big so I wanted them as far from the septic drain as possible.  Crossing fingers that they survive!  Also, since the electric fence had to be moved anyway, I went ahead and swapped in the new flat fence!  

Flat fence is definitely easier to see!

I will have to bury the old line.. hmm

Threading issues - leadscrew and apron cleaning

I had planned on taking the apron apart later in the year and giving it a good going over, but fate intervened...

I was setting up the lathe to do a test thread-run and noticed that the leadscrew was becoming disengaged when the cutter was up near the chuck.  The split nut seemed to not be engaging there for some reason.  I thought maybe the leadscrew there was dirty or something so I cleaned it thoroughly.  Still there was the problem.  I felt around where the split nut should engage and noticed a lot of dirt and crap in there.  So I bit the bullet and decided to take the apron off!

Look Ma, no apron!

A picture of up-into the saddle where the apron gear connect to the crossfeed

Apron is off!

What a mess!  I don't think the apron had ever been removed

It looks as though the crud was blocking the split-nut form closing completely.  Either that or thread on the split-nut has been worn too badly ....

UGH - look at the filth on the bottom of the oil-reservoir!

Yeah, a little filthy

Lots of cleanup to do!

Almost 5 cans of brake cleaner later...

Threads are in great shape!

I tried them on leadscrew and they really dig in!

Cleaned and coated with light layer of WD-40 to keep from rusting

Back together!

Reassembled on the lathe!

I ran the leadscrew again like before and it did not disengage - BUT, I did hear some strange sounds and then the leadscrew it self stopped turning!   I freaked out a bit and traced the problem back to a loose nut on the "banjo" - a metal arm that holds the threading stud gear in contact with the spindle/backgears.  I simply moved the arm back in place an actually tightened the bolt good and restarted the lathe.  No problems!  Whew

Here is a video I made of the cleaning ordeal:

I hope to get to do a threading test next weekend....