"LIVE TOOLING" on my old atlas lathe

[daviscustom]

Thought you guys might be interested in something I have had some success with on my little manual lathe. Not having a mill at home, and having a nifty indexing system built into my old 1930"s 10" Atlas lathe, it occurred to me that if I had a way to hold something on my tool post that I could mill/drill with it could be very useful. You can see hear the indexing holes in the main gear, and the pin that allows you to lock the spindle.








So I came up with a couple options using tools I had in the shop. One is a clamp I made to hold a variable speed 1/4" trim router, and for the other I was able to get a 1" boring bar holder that fit the hand piece for my flex shaft grinder. They both turned out to be very useful.








The router worked great to cut scallops in end caps, and was just as useful in making a wrench for tightening and removing them.







And the flex shaft has been useable to spot indexed holes so I could finish drilling them on the drill press.... and it works for small holes using carbide burrs and small drill bits.







The material you are working with will dictate how aggressive you can be, but light cuts (.010") and repetitive passes allowed me to work slowly (but effectively) in 304 SS, 17-4 SS, and all types of aluminum. The scalloped endcaps were 304 SS and I was using a 1/4" carbide end mill in the router set at the lowest rpm.

[Capt. Link.]

I like the idea very much.A China doll can't match these fine old machines with built in indexing.The ability to improvise is almost a lost art these days.Its a great idea to expand your ability.Looking forward to the final product of your labor!You could use a angle plate mounted to your cross slide to hold the router for a third axis as well.

I'll add to your post with a very old idea.You can buy MT tapers that are threaded.If you make a face plate and fit it to the tail stock using these tapers you now have a drill press or mill capable of plunge cuts.You could mount a X,Y vice to it if its small enough and the cuts were light.I first saw this in a book printed back in the very early 1900's for model machinists.
-CL

[daviscustom]

It is also very handy to be able to do these indexed milling operations right after completing the lathe work.... while the part is already perfectly centered on the lathe. No need to move it to a mill and have to find center to get started.

I have an inexpensive DRO to put on this lathe as well, and that will make it easy to do repeating patterns on tubes....for cans or even handguard tubes. It works well for cutting ventilation slots and such, but it gets tedious moving and resetting a dial indicator to get even spacing down the length of the tube. I'll look for a pic of the DIY handguard I have experimented with.

[Bendersquint]

Well done!

[daviscustom]

Here is the handguard I have in progress.....currently on the back burner, but i will get back to it eventually. It is on a DI AR45 pistol I have been working on.

The slots and the square "checkering" were all done on the same setup.





Just though maybe this would spark an idea for someone else.....always more than one way to skin a cat.

[daviscustom]

I like the idea very much.A China doll can't match these fine old machines with built in indexing.The ability to improvise is almost a lost art these days.Its a great idea to expand your ability.Looking forward to the final product of your labor!You could use a angle plate mounted to your cross slide to hold the router for a third axis as well.

I'll add to your post with a very old idea.You can buy MT tapers that are threaded.If you make a face plate and fit it to the tail stock using these tapers you now have a drill press or mill capable of plunge cuts.You could mount a X,Y vice to it if its small enough and the cuts were light.I first saw this in a book printed back in the very early 1900's for model machinists.
-CL

With the option to set up the router either parallel or perpendicular to the spindle of the lathe, just by mounting it on either face of the tool post, it opens up a huge number of milling possibilities...especially in aluminum. Stainless is lot more fussy since this little lathe is not terribly rigid.....you have to be very careful with carbide endmills. The cutter has to be SHARP and take very light passes.....definitely an exercise in patience, but at least there is the reward of being able to pull off some machine work that most folks couldn't do without a mill or CNC lathe with live tooling. I enjoy figuring out ways to make due with what I have....even though I would love to have a mill and a heavier lathe at home, it isn't in the cards at the moment.

Hopefully people see that is worth pursuing even if you don't have an Atlas. I am sure there are ways to set up other lathes to index off the bull gear to do something similar, even if you don't have one made like mine....just have to figure out how to make it work.

[T-Rex]

Smaller version on my Craftsman 101

[daviscustom]

Cool! Is that a collet on both ends?.....is this a motor you modified the shaft on, or is it made that way? What is it's original application?

Have you been using it for long?...I worry how the bearings are going to hold up in my router.

[T-Rex]

Cool! Is that a collet on both ends?.....is this a motor you modified the shaft on, or is it made that way? What is it's original application?

Have you been using it for long?...I worry how the bearings are going to hold up in my router.

The "Collet" you see on the rear end is actually the knob on my carriage wheel.

The motor is for electric RC airplanes. I bought an ER16 collet extension, 150mm I think, and replaced the motors shaft. Obviously, the motor came with the same size, not length, shaft.

I had to build a power supply and speed control for it. Maybe, I'll try to remember and post a pic of it tonight.

The Aluminum part, attached to the QCTP, is what I fabbed. Its 4pcs, total. The rear piece mounts to the motor's faceplate, accepts the (6) body screws and covers the rear bearing. The center portion holds both bearings and accepts the mount piece for the QCTP. The front cap holds the front bearing in and the (6) screws pull the assembly together.

I used Angular Contact Bearings, to help with any side-loading. I built this with the intention of plunging, but minimal millwork is acceptable. It makes trepanning a breeze as well as any K-Baffle scoops or vent holes.

I, probably, have 50hrs of "in-use" on this lil guy. Add a couple hours of motor break-in, in which no loading occurred.

I started, like you, with my flex shaft in the QCTP boring bar holder. This was OK as long as you can understand and accept its limitations.

I have a couple 1/4" trim routers, as you used, but my centerline clearance, over the cross-slide, didn't allow for the meat the mount was going to need. I'm looking into a 9" or 10" SB so I'll make a new one for the router, at that time.

When I was making the bearing housing and caps, I off-centered the material and used the tail-stock to drill the longitudinal screw holes.
My Craftsman has the same indexing holes, as your lathe, mine being 6* apart.

[daviscustom]

Ok, I thought that looked like a ball shaped burr out there on the back of that motor....I see it is just the handle for your carriage wheel that happens to be lined up with the motor shaft. So you rebuilt the motor housing to accept a bearing setup to to take plunge load....cool beans. So it is a DC motor. What is the low end of the usable speed range?.....still pretty fast like a router?


I would have been surprised if your lathe didn't have the indexing holes...think most all the Craftsman lathes were made by Atlas/Clausing.....apparently Atlas bought Clausing in 1950.

[T-Rex]

I didn't have to do anything to the motor housing. I pulled the motor apart to replace the shaft, this was easy. The front of the motor already had (4) threaded mount holes, for mounting in RC plane. I put (4) thru holes in the rear cap, to facilitate mounting to motor faceplate.

Yes, the motor is dc. Speed is based on input voltage and rated kw of the motor. This particular motor can take up to 30Vdc and I think it was 650kw. So it has potential for almost 20k rpm. I've been leaving the power supply at 22-24Vdc and usually find myself comfortable, with Al, in the 45-65% range. So, at roughly 8500rpm I've had no issues.

The only hindrance is the ER16 collet. I've had to turn down some end mill shafts to fit. Taking your time cutting is key; it's a small machine after-all. Still beats making a fixture and relying on my drillpress, to perform this operation.

[Historian]

Davis custom, please add my compliments and admiration for your ingenuity.
As the good Captain ... oh his so wonderful icon .. says so succinctly:
" .. The ability to improvise is almost a lost art these days. "

Like T-Rex I have built such added capabilities for my Atlas 618. Old American Iron,
like the venerable .45 1911A1*, still allows for implementing many designs with
satisfaction.


* Departed Major Dick Culver, USMC, founder of USMC Sniper School could
consistently hit a man-size target at 100 yards with his .45 1911A1. Saw it.
At 50 yards in the 10 ring. No movement whatsoever - as if he was cast in bronze.
Proud to say that as a lark he joshed for me to try the 50 yard target with my
last of the NM Springfield Armory tuned 1911's. Knowing that I could not match him
I asked that he not laugh ... knowing I would miss ... relaxed and raised, fired, and shrugged my
shoulders. Dick turned , did not laugh but said that I had hit the X-Ring. Immediately
cleaned my weapon, put it away, and accepted Dick's pat on the back. Knew his
vibes had steadied my arm. Greatest experience.
Dick is gone but never forgotten. His USMC sons will forever be protected by his descendants.
Semper Fi, Dick.

Ref. << http://www.jouster.com/camel_tales.html >>

[Historian]

I didn't have to do anything to the motor housing. I pulled the motor apart to replace the shaft, this was easy. The front of the motor already had (4) threaded mount holes, for mounting in RC plane. I put (4) thru holes in the rear cap, to facilitate mounting to motor faceplate.

Yes, the motor is dc. Speed is based on input voltage and rated kw of the motor. This particular motor can take up to 30Vdc and I think it was 650kw. So it has potential for almost 20k rpm. I've been leaving the power supply at 22-24Vdc and usually find myself comfortable, with Al, in the 45-65% range. So, at roughly 8500rpm I've had no issues.

The only hindrance is the ER16 collet. I've had to turn down some end mill shafts to fit. Taking your time cutting is key; it's a small machine after-all. Still beats making a fixture and relying on my drillpress, to perform this operation.

Consider investigating for 2MT in the Atlas using ER40 collets that holds up to 1" stock,

Best.

[T-Rex]

Consider investigating for 2MT in the Atlas using ER40 collets that holds up to 1" stock,
Best.

I definitely considered it. The cost was prohibiting me as I have 5 chucks and I can be quite expeditious at centering my work.

As promised
This pic shows the power supply and controls box. The servo tester has the red light and a separate meter for keeping track of rpm. The servo tester needs only 5v so I power it with an old cell phone charger.


Here is the interior of the controls box. I made a bank of capacitors to keep current steady and an 80A RC ESC.


I have no clue why photobucket will not maintain the correct rotation for images.

[daviscustom]

Thanks for adding what you have done. Looks like a nice setup.

Photobucket was giving me fits the other day when I posted all these pics.....seemed to be an issue with Firefox/Photobucket. I opened it up on Edge (the new Explorer) and everything worked fine.

[BinaryAndy]

I thought about doing this a while back. I was going to use a Sherline mini-mill spindle. If your lathe has a very slow back gear speed, you could use this setup for threadmilling; cut your threads in one or two passes and get some reasonable surface speed for 1/2-28 threads.