Machining a Bronze Cross Slide Nut for a LeBlond Lathe From a Casting 

The owner of the shop I did my apprenticeship in would have screamed at me for not putting the wood plate on the lath ways before changing the chuck. Great work

Not wishing to sound like a troll but it is considered best practice to lightly tighten all the cam locks first, to seat the chuck squarely, before tightening fully so as to put less off axis strain on the taper in the chuck mount.

Always a pleasure Keith

I think this new part should have the same part number stamped on like the original 😊

That is a beautiful casting, bravo WHF.

9:39 lol, Keith, when you're centering that post, you used the center finder off of the rough casting on the outside edge. Why couldn't you just use a dial indicator to find Center? I caught you old buddy, lol... and that rough casting is about the best one I've ever seen Short of being machined. Kudos to Windy Hill Foundry

Well done Keith

Happy Monday 😊

Thanks Keith, great job and I'm impressed with the finish. That casting is of the highest quality. How wonderful it is to have Guy's that can make parts that you can't get any other way.

Good morning Keith. Looking forward to the second part. Thanks for the videos.

Clark made a really good casting making the lathe work a whole lot easier.

Just wonted to thank all for your help as to weather I could use an alternative piece of mettle Cheers guys

Interesting to see it all done on the lathe.

Thank you Keith; wonderful machining.

Before you start threading , make sure it is a single start Acme thread.

Thanks Keith happy to view :)

Thank you for sharing.👍

It's so cool to see the castings made at Windy Hill then you machine those parts.

I;m glad to see somebody else dropping the chuck key. I thought it was just me.

I love these videos where you help out a viewer - great job!

Nice job and really nice casting by Clark.

I'm going to be very interested to see in the next video how (a) Keith mounts the casting so that the hole for the acme thread is perpendicular to the shoulder turned today, and (b) how he establishes the centre of the new hole at the same distance from the shoulder as the old part. How do you even measure that with a worn part?

Keith, you are a real can-do machinist. Great video!

Thank you Keith!

Very nice photography in this episode.

I did enjoy learning/see how to change out the chuck. I have wondered in the past. All the set-up was very interesting too. Thanks for inviting us along.

You do great work keeping old machinery working. I recently became aware of US Navy repair ships. I’m not sure how many there were in WW I and WW II. They were equipped with extensive machine tools to make replacement parts for navy ships. They were all scrapped after the war and their machine tools sold off. You’ve had some Navy stuff over the years. Can their origins be traced? See Wikipedia USS Vestal for a hint at their incredible story. Some actually served in battles.

This has been a very enjoyable tutorial. Thank you.

I use the thread file quite often on gummy material like Bronze or Aluminium, just to de-nib everything. That raw casting is very well done, obviously a very good job making the pattern

What a lovely surface finish.

Looks nice, so far. That thing was *WORN*.

Nice job It looks like a great job that you and Clark done well. Thanks for the video.

Beautiful job

Thank you!

Thanks for sharing.

I think a video on the pattern making process, tools, etc. would be excellent!

Very nice !

Love your videos! Thanks for sharing with us!

It looks great

Most excellent.

Keith, I hope you know 60 degree threads shouldn't actually come to a sharp point. They are supposed to have a tiny flat on the top, in order to allow for a rounded thread root in the mating part. IIRC the flat is supposed to be 1/4 pitch wide, with the root is allowed to be 1/8 pitch wide.

Careful Keith, changing that chuck; Aboms would have used a overhead crane and 4 air hose reels. Thanks for what you do.

looking good keith!

Well done, Keith. Super detailed on the setup and machining. Looking forward to the boring and thread cutting. Beautiful job on the casting also. Would be much nicer video without the forced Ad interruptions. Thanks for sharing. Damn stupid Ads FORCED on us by idiot RU-vid management. Not only decide that Ad blockers are not allowed, but decide to interrupt the videos mid sentence to ruin the video. RU-vid MANAGEMENT SUCKS.

Nice job

For some people, you said something akin to heresy... The caliper vs micrometer statement. I figure I can be 1/4 to 1/3 of a thousandth with a decent quality caliper, and most things I do only need 1 or 2 thousandths at best.

Once again I learned something. Great work as usual!

How is the other Monarch coming along? Great little project Keith! Take care and stay safe! God bless! 🙏✝️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I like your thoroughness and thought process in approaching a project. Valuable instruction for all matters in life. Best wishes.

Haven't you done one of these before? I know I remember you doing one of these nuts in the past, I think that time you had to make the rod as well?

Impressive as always,continue doing what you do best.👍👍👍😎😎😎

I would make an improvement to the original design. Drill a hole through the center on the boss that fits through the cross slide. Pack in some felt and cap it off with a ball oiler so the feedrod and nut can be lubricated which seems to have been lacking from the condition of the original nut.

It's always nice to see brass, bronze, or copper being machined. Maybe someday you can machine a piece of gold???

Nice

I'm curious how the location of the threaded hole will be found on the old part and located on the new part.

Some macinists protect the bed with a board before laying a chuck on the bed..... As always, a good job.

I think the only improvements would have been stamping in that part number and your makers mark on the new part. Rucker Machine tool & mfg. so someone 100 years from now doing another restoration will know you made the part!

I'm honestly trying not to be picky, but you should have put a piece of plywood on the bed of the lathe before you removed the three jaw chuck....my plywood has cleats under it to hold it more in place. Two of my big lathes are from World War Two....so since they are pretty beat, I try not to beat them any more..... like your channel, and watch as often as I can. Yes I'm subscribed....

Whenever i make threads on a lathe i always make sure they DONT fit after thread cutting......wtf!

Did you know that Kearney and Trecker made a drill press?

You didn't mention to those of us not in the know, if that part is still available from the manufacturer and what that might cost. I know you have mentioned this in the past on parts you have made due to the cost.

How do you determine if that threaded neck is completely orthogonal and in line with where the acme thread should be? I would think a small difference would amount to trouble, since that thread portion gets rigidly mounted to the lathe, and the leadscrew would be pushed one way or the other if the acme section is right under the neck like it supposed to be?

Would some oil let the part cut better?

Would it be beneficial to drill an oil hole and install a gitz oiler for the screw?

Will you be replicating the character stampings on the part at all?

Do you ever think you should do them in batches and maintain stock?

Usually I can kind of understand how a part gets worn out to the point where it needs remade. Here, not really. Did they push really hard on the cross slide, like for years? If so, why? There's a lot of thread engagement, so it'd take a lot of force to wear it out

Great work this piece! I will enjoy seeing the follow-up videos! I am a woodworker not a machinist so much of this is WAY outside my understanding. I am especially interested in seeing how you find the proper center on that irregular shape. In this video, facing off the flat rectangular part of the nut and getting it to size caught my attention. The intermittent contact when the cutter is hit by that corner must cause quite an impact. What do you do to keep that from breaking the cutter? It appears you were making a fairly delicate cut because of this. Right? Realistically, how much can that cutter take without chipping off? And how does that change your choice of settings on the lathe?

Are you going to stamp the new part with the same numbers ? Maybe even stamp your own maker's mark in it ?

How do you figure out the distance from the flat mounting surface to the center axis of the acme thread? If you put the leadscrew in to measure the distance it will rattle around loose due to wear. I think I could make this part except that aspect of it has me flumoxed! I hope you can cover that

If making a new casting wasn't practical, could you have saved the original by boring out the worn threads, inserted a brass rod then drilled and cut new threads?

nice casting and machining . i have a question for all as i KNOW KEITH wont answer . could you make this part from a piece of bronze or brass . asking i i need to make one and don't have access nor the dollars to get a casting made Cheers all .

😊😊😊😊😊

I haven’t been keeping up but has Keith lost weight? Or been sick?

Damn, Keith lost some weight, I thought it was hard for older dudes to do that! I’d love to drop some 30lbs!