In the Navy the cannon ball holder is called a monkey and was made of cast bronze. Cannon ball were cast iron. In cold weather the monkey shrink more than the cannon balls. The saying "So cold it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey" I enjoy your channel thanks for uploading it.
Hello Joe. The base you made for the canon balls is called a MONKEY. Originally they were made of brass and screwed to the ships deck to be salt water resistant. The cast iron balls were then stacked as yours. In freezing weather the balls if wet would freeze solid on the Monkey. Hence the saying of "it is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" Great outcome. Happy New Year from Australia.
A comment above suggests the bronze monkey (ship fittings being of bronze) shrank before the cast iron balls did, which then rolled off the monkey. I always wondered where that expression came from - this sounds plausible.
Good morning, love the videos Joe, I found your channel by accident and learned so much from you. Can’t thank you enough.I was in an accident that left me disabled.I was a master plumber but since watching you for about 2 years now. I have learned a new skill.Can’t thank you enough. Keep the videos coming. From PENNSYLVANIA.
When in the machinist school some 50 years ago hand ground HSS tools were the norm. There was some carbide but only used rarely. Same basic rules are applied but with a negative or neutral rake. Those skills are as they are and the basic rules will never be changed but can be modified to suit the material in question. There you go with more pressure turning. I have still yet to try it. I may have to just do it to get the feel for it. All the best for 23 my friend. Take care eh ! ! !
At one point I thought ‘now how the hell is he going to hold that?’ But then you introduced the pressure turning holders. So brilliant, so simple, so Joe Pie. Happy New Year.
Man, if the idea to pressure turn a high contact form tool had ever entered my mind, I would have dismissed it as impractical at best. Now I gotta rethink the whole idea. Thanks, Joe?
The 2 very best engineering tutors on YT Joe Pie & Stefan Gottswinter. Stefan also, (like "This Old Tony") has a fantastic eloquence in respect of real English humour. Great video Joe.
Very interesting! I would have never thought that the pressure turning setup would hold against the interrupted cut like that. Certainly good information to store away in the back of the mind.
Hi Joe, A very interesting project. I think you need to make a "triangular ring" to hold the balls. The triangle should have 1/4" radius at each corner and sized to hold the first layer of balls. Originally they were made of brass and in the British navy they were called monkeys. Hence the saying "cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey" I made a ships cannon from a 40mm Bofors "ack ack" shell that I picked up whilst on holiday in Malta. My grandad was stationed there for some time during WW2 and I have his regiment cap badge which is like a crown I have fixed this to the top of the cannon barrel to represent the crowns cast into the barrels. I think it is a nice way to display his badge.
Good shout out to Stefan, man's a legend👍 I think he gave credit to Tom Lipton /OxTools for that milling a sphere method though🤔 Great lesson in form-cutting in this video, gotta say👍
Joe, great video. Just commenting to say that I was given the PMR engine lathe kit as a christmas gift, and I intend on following your lathe series step by step to learn all the little tricks you used. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos and the knowledge you share, it is invaluable to young machinists like me.
We were all young machinists once. It starts in your heart and your imagination. Go to my website and use my contact page if you get hung up on any of your parts. Now go give the person that bought you that, a huge hug.
Excellent work, after watching the second work holding set up and cutting operation. It's rather simple as long as your tool profile is correct. Enjoyed that Joe (well, you make it look simple). Tony
This is a much better way to make balls on a lathe. Lot easier than to actually add an attachment to lathe to turn balls. Will certainly put that in the "tip toolbox " and will try it🙂
@@joepie221 I mean who doesn't love the Terminator!? One of the best movies of my youth. I just never put two and two together and now I'll never be able to unhear it in his videos lol.
Hey Joe enjoyed your video thouroughly previously I watched a clickspring video. Chris was making a form tool with a small radius. Didnt understand why it wasnt done your way in the first place. I thought afterwards your Radius would of been closer to aproximate to print without the heat treat distortion and extra work Chris put in to achieve his result. I do also acknowledge Clickspring channel and Chris is an absolute craftsman too.
not having access to other machinist you are an amazing resource I have wondered about holding similar shaped parts. This definitely goes in the workholding book!! Thanks much
Great tutorial Joe... Again i can say ""Joe Pie Taught Me Something" didn't know about pressure turning! For interest, the plate you made to stand them on, in historic Royal Navy times was apparently called a "Brass Monkey". when it was cold enough on the ships, the plate buckled and the balls would roll off.. Hence the term "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey ! Learned that on the HMS Victory tour !
Hi Del. Thanks for stopping by. Interesting how a video can spin off unexpected bits of knowledge you wouldn't normally be exposed to. Thanks for the comment. Ride safe and Happy New Year.
Nice tutorial - as usual. :) Thanks. Were it my assemblage, I'd darken the bead-blasted cannon balls with any one of several brass blackening solutions for a little extra authentic look.
Another great video Joe. As usual, some fantastic techniques learned. I assume that the brass pieces to hold the balls for the final operation were formed with a round nosed end mill.
Neat! The navies used brass monkeys on which to store the cannon balls. This to prevent rust and corrosion in the salt air environment. Hence to the saying 'colder than the balls on a brass monkey'. The example I saw the depressions in the monkey were spherical and not conical.
11:32 The square "monkey" looks good in contrast to the cannon balls, but making one that is triangular is the correct style "monkey". Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player.
That form tool leaves a really nice surface finish. Are you gonna darken them with a torch to get an as-cast appearance? -- Stefan's boring head finish looked really cool. I bet you could get a neat jewel appearance by doing another pass with a smaller setting on the boring head, and then clear-coat the knob. -- That actually gives me an idea for a clock. It would be neat to flycut a brass disk with a less-than-perfect tram on a rotary table so the tool marks intersect to display the time on a vernier scale of some sort.
I have now learned that "Brass Balls" are made and not grown. Great job on their turning. Turned out just like the cannon and it carrage. Opinion - Blueing them would make them unique.
Forgive me but... I did look at the comments all the way to the beginning, but couldn't see if you mentioned about annealing the tool steel first and then hardening it after? Or what grade of milling cutter did you use? Cobalt? Great stuff as usual. Your sticker adorns my shed door here in NZ.
I don't know if you have ever heard the phrase brass monkey weather....or cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, its not a rude basis it comes form the Napoleonic wars when the winters in Russia and Crimea etc were so cold that the brass cannon ball holders would shift under the weight of the cannon balls and crack dropping cannon balls everywhere . I have made a large number of wood bearing balls from lignum vitae and boxwood using exactly this method. You can get some really tight tolerances with it too. I made some wood machinery some years back with a motor that had copper wiring and the rest was wood....didnt run for long due to heat build up but it did work lol Thanks for sharing
Happy New Year Joe!! Great pair of videos. It seems amazing that you can generate enough pressure to clamp the ball for the second stage machining. After reading the comments looks like your going to be making a brass monkey!! If you ever get the chance to visit my old town in the UK, Portsmouth, you can see these things on HMS Victory. On the ships tour they will show that it wasn't just cannon balls that they fired, it was pieces in all odd shapes designed to do the maximum damage at close quarters!! Good luck from Spain!!
GREAT job making brass balls and love the technique. Folklore tells us the cast iron cannon balls used on ships were held in a brass ring known as a monkey. Because the coefficient of thermal expansion and contraction for brass is about twice that of cast iron, supposedly in very cold weather the brass would contract much more than the cast iron balls, setting them free and thus "freeze the balls off a brass monkey". With today's technology, we now have Gorilla Glue which can be used to secure the brass monkey's balls.
As an amusing aside. Pretty much everyone has heard the phrase "Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey" A "Brass Monkey" is actually the base you stack the cannon balls on. With the cannon balls usually cast iron and the monkey made of brass they have different thermal expansion characteristics. In cold weather the brass contracts more than the cast iron. If it is cold enough the monkey contracts enough to let the cannon balls fall off.
The base should be brass and called the monkey (at least in 17/18th Century British Navy) It's where the phrase 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' came from as the brass contracted more than the cast iron when it got cold
