Boring & Facing Head, Part 1... 

Thanks Matty, this is another great video, I am catching on this build. Never a need for you to be sorry buddy, thanks for all you do for us.

Hey Matty. Nice work on the DRO fit up on the new milling machine mate. That will make like so much easier for you. The boring and facing head is a mammoth task. Cheers, Aaron.

Matty- fer crikeys sake, ain’t no need to apologize for anything that you do, or don’t do! You are providing a valuable service and seem to be a right nice guy, if we didn’t like what you are serving us we would go elsewhere for the machinist fix. I am always happy to see another of your exploits, have only so much time and you help fill it with great content. Yer a bloke that I would be proud to sip a pint or six with 😂. More chips and less self criticism 😮. 😊 yer doing great 😊

Good on you mate. One of my favorite things to watch on RU-vid is shop made tools. Thanks heaps.

I appreciate the fact you make it look easy which inspires wannabes like me to have a crack. Just wish cast was easy to get hold of.

This is going to be a great project thanks Matty 😁

Minor rectifiable stuff ups don't count Matty, at least it didn't consign the part to the "Box of Shame" 😉 A very nice job you've done so far. 👍Having plans to build something is sheer luxury, I started on a very ambitious project when I got back from up country a week or so ago and the whole thing is coming out of my head, so it's going to be subject to all sorts of stuff ups if I'm not careful. 🤪

This will be a really challenging project. You've got it. Cheers Matty.

Nice work! Cast iron is lovely material to work with especially for a job that size. Looks quite a substantial build, I'm looking forward to seeing how the facing feature works.

Nice work Matty.. Should be a nice boring head.👍

This is great. Looking forward to part 2.

Ambitious project! This’ll be a fun series. 👍

Very nice. . . turned out great. . Have a great weekend.

Nice, i`ve just been drafting a facing head recently... `s still in plans, but this will be a nice comparison with the mental project that i have... Speaking of material, there are two materials that are just remarkable - grey cast iron and hardened toolsteel... Both offer ridiculous finishes, both offer chips that can ruin any machine in a real hurry if you don`t protect the machine properly, and both are ridiculously good choice for tooling... Now, one is butter soft and the other is demanding of high end cutters, but with material specific cutters, and appropriate machines, both are like nothing else you will come across... Sure, brass is soft and nice finishing, and bronze can be hard and nice finishing, but neither makes for a good tool, they are more of a specialty material each, so there`s that... Especially white bronze, which may as well be hardened toolsteel, except for the toughness that steel naturally has, but for some uses, white bronze is really the best - like sliding gibs and such...

interesting build Matty👍👍👍👍 a lot of work, see you on next part regards Kev

Hi Matty, this multi parter build will be a nice one! Cheers 👍💪✌

Good one Matty . Just jam a couple of plugs up its ass & that will have that sorted ! The fit up of the DRO looks good . 👍👍

G’day Matty. Good to see you back. I was so lost for something to watch last week I was forced to go and watch some hacksawing video 😂 Nice job on this piece of the boring head looking forward to seeing the project progress. Keep it coming

Looks like you're enjoying the new mill, Matty. I've had Sino gear on my lathe and mill axes for years, and despite it being Chinese, it's been reliable and affordable. Can't complain really. The new build looks fantastic. Cheers, Preso.

Great job so far Matty. Mr Bozzo visits us all now and then. Its a mistake that's soon put right. I reckon your next project will be a couple of different size " Randy Richard in the Shop " dovetail cutters. He did a couple of videos on them quite a while ago. I made small one for a job and have used it a lot since. ATB regards from the UK

Nice work Matty. I would have made a few more expletives in the process. Always a pleasure to watch. Take care my friend.

Very nice work...as usual !

Matty how does it feel to go from a life's job of different category to a very good machist from what I'm seeing you are and overcoming a hard sickness in anybody's life and im very glad you are doing good I enjoy your videos very much you stay well

Really interesting project. Hope the drawings are made available for a sensible fee.

very good job Matty

That's a beautiful looking part Matty. Agree cast iron is a mucky stuff to work with, but it does give a marvellous finish, and doesn't need any lubricant. Where you drilled the 4mm holes in error, you could tap them for 2ba grub screws. As 4mm is the correct tapping drill size for 2ba. Looking forward to next part. Cheers Nobby

Very nice DRO install. They are bloody difficult to get neatly tucked away on a knee mill, but the important thing is to keep them robust. I like these multi part series - looking forward to seeing this tool take shape.

Nice work Matty, Great start to an interesting project Cheers SteveO

have sino on both the mill and lathe Matty, top shelf for the budget for sure not a single drama.

Hi Matty, always intrigued me how the gear train works in a facing head, guess im gonna find out! Nice bit of machining. Stuffed up a job this morning, had the DRO set to radius!

I really enjoyed watching that, thanks. It looks like its going to be a fairly sizeable tool when finished. That DRO readout on your lathe would pi$$ me off too. I wouldn't be buying from them again with customer service like that. The DRO on your mill looks to be the same as I've had on my mill for years and I'm very happy with it. I have magnetic scales though as I started with a little Sieg mill, outgrew it and moved on to my Elliott Omnimill. Magnetic scales are cheap, the readout heads on the other hand are🤑

I had a similar issue with my dro on the lathe, did the same doubling/halfing thing, turns out in was for a mill!. alot of modern dro`s will do lathe/mill/grinder etc but this one didn`t it was mill only, lucky for me the guys where i got the lathe from just swopped me one out. Looking good on this project.👍

I think machining cast iron is very satisfying. It cuts nicely and leaves a nice finish. But it also makes a terrible mess :)

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

very nice work

Great job, look forward to rest of the build.

Looking forward to the rest of the build Matty as I'm gathering up parts to build a line borer (run off a petrol/hydraulic power pack) and a facing head would be the icing on the cake !

G'day Matty bloody hell you are so talented mate 👍

Nice project! Looking forward to the result , Cheers Mate !

Well done mate top job

Nice one mate looking forward to the rest of the project

Nice piece Matty. Looking forward to the next one!

Very nice work, Matty! Always a pleasure watching you work!

once again mate a great start, looking forward to the next video, your skills appreciated

I’ve so been looking forward to this project, thank you so very much for sharing it .

Here's a tip for measuring the counter bore: since you reamed the central bore to 10mm, put a 10mm pin in there and use the insert tip on the boring bar to touch off on the pin and the edge of the counter bore to measure size using the DRO.

Nice looking part! 👏

Commin along Matty, lookin good. Thanks for your time.

Excellent job Matty, great video, keep'um coming..

fantastic work..!

Glad to see you're doing well mate. I'm planning to build a boring head for use in a ball turning tool for a lathe. I'm learning machining from a fantastic tool and die maker who has encouraged me to build my own tooling, so this video, and your previous build, will help me immensely on improving my machining skills. Thank you so much!

One thing I noticed is that the bolts appear to be the only thing preventing the arbor from turning in the head. Usually bolt holes aren't a tight fit like a dowel pin would be. If the head is designed to only turn in one direction it may not matter. Boring and facing heads are often used on interrupted cuts so any horizontal play on the bolts might show up as chatter. Maybe the bolts were included with the arbor and are a tight fit like a dowel pin. It is just something I thought was worth mentioning.

Good to hear of a reputable supplier Matty, that Hafco DRO bug is stupid. Take your time on the build, looks to be a great project. Thanks for sharing

Nice practical job of fitting the DRO. Nice job on the body.

Looking forwards to the build series.

Hi Matty. Nice job fitting the DRO. Looking forward to more of the facing head build. Cheers

Great looking part Matty. Press fit a couple of brass plugs in those holes and it will look like they belong. Can't wait to see the rest of it. Hopefully the plans will be released after you complete the project.

Hi Matty, great job so far. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Regards, Dave

i agree cast iron is nice to work with!

Interesting project mate. ALB. Cheers

Small hiccups don't affect the part. Good to see a project 👍 Regards to all mate 👍

Good 👍👍👍👍

I’ll be eagerly waiting for the next video.

do continue the videos, they are enjoyable to watch

great content Matty, you keep well

This is going to be a great series of video's. Can't ait to watch them all and see the final product.

G'day Matty, nicely done as ever my mate, no bozo moments and the odd little tweak, thats proper engineering there, thanks for sharing buddy

well done on the dro and doing the machining .dont worry we are all human so clangers happen

Hi Matty, perfect timing this is top of my list of projects I would like to have a go at, looking forward to the rest of the series looks good so far :-)

Put a very similar Sino readout on my mill. So happy with it that I got a new DRO for my Myford and decomissioned the old Heidenhain that was on it.

Gi-day Matty. Hare& Forbes. Yeah yeah!!!

G'day Matty. From having a round piece of cast iron, with a bit of attention, its starting to take shape. Looking good so far, will be watching the series to see it finished & working. Both my Hafco Al-356V Lathe SDS-2MS & the Hafco HM-54GV SD2-3MS Mill both have the Sino DRO, which work really great.

No worries about multiple video projects. Looking forward to the rest. If plans become available I would be interested, but probably not so much a kit due to shipping expense to US. Also, nice job with the mill DRO. They always seem to have a surplus of cable.

That part had a bit of everything. The placement of that oil hole was designed too close not much you could have done about it. The mill looks to be working out very well. With the additional of the DRO it will be a mainstay of your shop for years to come.

your quality and cleanliness is the same as our standards .... wish i could learn and work with you.

Nice to see you back Matty machining cast not for me hate the stuff looks like the choice of D R O for the mill was right hitting the numbers real nice with a bit of coaching from you shame about the D R O on the lathe i was looking into getting one for mine i am glad i held off till i got some more feedback from you on them think i'll save up some more and look at the same as you put on the mill any way mate nice work and nothing ever stuffed up that can't be fixed with a bit of creative thinking Cheer mate

Gday Matty big project looks pretty good so far those fine threads you've got coming up on the leadscrew would be where I'd come unstuck you'll have it shot though no worries. My mill came with a Sino DRO though it's a different model to yours but I can not get the PCD function to work tried multiple times following the instructions in the user manual to a tee I'm thinking of swapping it out for an Eason or something else a bit better, bloody annoying I could have used the PCD thing on multiple occasions. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the build its always interesting to see different approaches to the way people build things.

"That's a relief." I thought it was a dovetail? 😊

👍👍😎👍👍

Hi mate . I hope this project results in plans being made commercially available. I’d have a go at it tor sure. Looking good so far eh? 🤣🤣 Regards Robert

I have a Sino DRO that came on my new Hafco lathe. May be these are more reliable than the Hafco DROs and they don't use the Hafco ones anymore? I have had no issues with it and it works great. Good start to the new project.

Hi, Matty. Real nice work on your project and I'm looking forward to the next part of the build! Thanks for inviting us in to watch. DROs...Can't live with them, can't live without them (at least these days). BTW, what are the specs and dimensions on that dovetail bit you keep having to borrow? Have a good week, mate. Cheers.

Did the wife see your adept vacuuming skills in the workshop? Is so, did she march you back into the house to do the rest of the house? Mine would 😂

That is an excellent video! I watched that Mill Spindle spinning and could not see any wobble! Did you refurbish the Spindle components or still original? Nice share. Keep em coming please...

Morning to ya Matty its 100am Pacific time love the work how'the health doin🙏

Great job as usual mate I was wondering if you have the room to make the thread 5mm instead of 4mm it might save time in the long run

Looks nice. Surely an M5 plug will work just as well as an M4?

Another interesting build Matty. Looking forward to the rest of it in due course. That DRO project on the Bridgeport is inspiring. My old 1952 BP has a Sony DRO that’s got Noah’s initials engraved in it, but it’s only 2 axis. I wouldn’t mind ripping it off and going for 3 axis. Can I ask “ball park” what it cost to buy the 3 axis dro & scales please? I figure if they have just supplied you, they will know exactly what length scales to supply me. 👍

G'day Matty, nice job mate! Don't worry about your minor mistake, we all do them! Also you normally make stuff not using plans, and sometimes reading a drawing isn't easy if you're not used to working from engineering drawings, so don't feel bad about it. Is that what they call Meehanite cast iron you are using? It seems a lot cleaner than normal grey cast iron. I've just made a solid tool post for my lathe, and to get a piece of Meehanite to do it was going to cost me nearly £100 GBP., so I bought a 12 kg kettle bell training weight and struggled to make it from that lol. It worked but my tiny little shed was covered in cast iron dust, every surface absolutely black as Newgates Knocker as we say here in the UK. I've wiped every surface multiple times but stuff my hands come back black every time I touch something! I'd love to get the plans for this boring and facing head. I would have to scale it down as I don't think my little mill would handle anything bigger than 50-60 mm in diameter on a MT3 arbor. Looking forward to the rest of the series Matty, as usual you'll make a great job of it I have no doubt! On a note about your Sino Dro, what sort of price are they just for the display in Aus? Just to give me a rough idea as I want to change my display as mine is crap! Cheers mate, Sam UK

There is various folklore about leaving a deliberate error in something made to avoid the displeasure of "the gods" because only they can make something perfect. So there is your excuse! Note - "folklore".... I can't find a definitive verification.

Mistakes are a part of life just recover from it and move on

Hi Matty wear did you get that chunk of cast iron from

1st?

can the current model be updated?

I really do not trust those coax indicators they are sticky in operation and the response of the dial indicator changes with length and angle of the probe making the runout readings meaningless in absolute terms. Far better to use an indcol style arm and horizontally mounted dial test indicator as used almost exclusively by Joe Pi. Cant get a much better reference than Joe.

Matty do answer your emails

Hi what‘s the material spec？

do you realize if you make a video we will watch it because we like you and yr expertise and if you do make a videos you will can make yr self some income so you should have made the video mounting the D R O because every one does it def and there is alway trick we can learn , so please make the vids we will watch