Fun/Workmate/restoring tubes/waxing/thanks

[reible]

Sorry I could decide on A title for this post so I went with many.

Some years ago Bill Mayo posted his solution to cleaning the tubes of neglected machines using another shopsmith in lathe mode. Since then a few others have shown what they did to set up and do the same thing. It looked like it could be fun and when I picked up #4 with some rust and dirt on the tubes I knew I was going to try something along that line.

This past weeks discussion of the workmate of course brought that to mind, and I think someone else posted about something like I rigged up... sorry I don't remember who???

Since I'm a picture sort of guy here is what it looked like up until about an hour ago... had to quickly dismantle and put things away as the sky darkened and the wind got to be quite gusty.... just made it before the sky started falling.

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Now before people start reading in to the pictures, the sheet is to protect the shopsmith that is in use so that none of the gunk coming off the tubes being cleaned gets in places it doesn't belong. It is not hiding the new power pro, it is just a plain old 1976 model shopsmith. (If you want to start a rumor then you might consider that a new secret power carriage assembly might be be in testing and that is what is hidden under the sheet. Sure hope the new rack holds up better then the one on the MVII....).

This last picture is the latest secret testing I've been doing. As you might be able to tell it is a piece of flooring plywood about 30 years old. The lubricant is the wax from a new toilet bowl ring. It does get warm but that is about it. After doing the 4 tubes you can start to feeling the wood taking on a slight dip where the tube were rubbing.

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This last idea I have to credit to my wife. As you might guess the tubes are very dirty after you work them over with emery cloth so she happen to be out when I was cleaning them up and ask if I was going to wax them too. I quickly said that was next on the agenda... To tell the true I hadn't even gotten to the point of deciding what was next but the waxing sounded like more fun. I did have to thank her for the idea cause that is the right thing to do.... A little intended pun here, the waxing was a slick thing to do.

Ed

[JPG]

Last pass, What grit????

Chuck sure looks 'shiney'.

P.S. I WAS gonna ask you what speed ya ran it at! :0)

[farley]

what kinda chuck did you use?

[still_waters_43]

As soon as you said "the sky darkened and the wind got to be quite gusty.... just made it before the sky started falling" Reible must live near Chicagoland. and sure enough..........

PS I'd be interested in the chuck solution too?

[reible]

Last pass, What grit????

Chuck sure looks 'shiney'.

P.S. I WAS gonna ask you what speed ya ran it at! :0)

Hi,

I used scraps of the stuff so there were no numbers to look at or to compare to. There was no attempt to get the tubes looking new again, just cleaned up and the rust off. The areas that were deeply pitted I wire brushed to remove the rust but did not attempt to turn the tubes down to actually remove the pits.

Ed

[reible]

what kinda chuck did you use?

The chuck pictured is a Teknatool G3.

There are a few tricks to doing this and I'm not sure how much detail I want to get into... but I will say that you need some way to grip the tube in the jaws so it not metal to metal. I have a special rubber tape that I use but you might get an O ring or rubber band to work. I also mark the depth the tube is in the chuck so I can do a visual reference to see if it is moving out. The most critical thing is to work towards the chuck... AND with the force down. If you "lift" with this sort of tail stock you will find your self with a live tube getting out of control. Lathe was running at 700 rpm. The setup was done by visual means and a test spin (due to various reasons I had to set this up three different times).

Ed

[reible]

As soon as you said "the sky darkened and the wind got to be quite gusty.... just made it before the sky started falling" Reible must live near Chicagoland. and sure enough..........

PS I'd be interested in the chuck solution too?

We just finish the third wave of storms... neighbor had a tree go over on the first wave, lot of small branches down in our yard... haven't been out to see the after math of the next two. Hope that is it for now.

Ed

[SDSSmith]

The chuck pictured is a Teknatool G3.

There are a few tricks to doing this and I'm not sure how much detail I want to get into... but I will say that you need some way to grip the tube in the jaws so it not metal to metal. I have a special rubber tape that I use but you might get an O ring or rubber band to work. I also mark the depth the tube is in the chuck so I can do a visual reference to see if it is moving out. The most critical thing is to work towards the chuck... AND with the force down. If you "lift" with this sort of tail stock you will find your self with a live tube getting out of control. Lathe was running at 700 rpm. The setup was done by visual means and a test spin (due to various reasons I had to set this up three different times).

Ed

Instead of rubber tape, this is where I use one of those old "mushroomed" 510 stop rings that are not too good at "stopping". I take a little strip out of it axially so the chuck can tighten on the tube.....works for me.

[JPG]

Instead of rubber tape, this is where I use one of those old "mushroomed" 510 stop rings that are not too good at "stopping". I take a little strip out of it axially so the chuck can tighten on the tube.....works for me.

Old metal chuck(courtesy of 'Betty' and e-bay) works well without any soft interface. Metal as in made for metal turning, not wood turning.

[robinson46176]

Old metal chuck(courtesy of 'Betty' and e-bay) works well without any soft interface. Metal as in made for metal turning, not wood turning.

If I need a jaw cushion on polished steel I usually use a strip of sheet aluminum.
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