Whoa, that’s awesome!! Now that’s how you do a response video. 😀 Thanks for sharing! That’s a great tip and I love how you called out the limitations responsibly. Thanks for sharing!
@@andypughtube That's true. The work is only being gripped with this method, not physically constrained by the jaws as it would be normally. Yes, you want to take extra care with unbalanced workpieces.
Another tip for the four jaw that I believe I learned from Tom at 'Tom's Techniques' is to clone your four jaw chuck key and use both keys simultaneously on opposite jaws. This really facilitates matters when truing work.
I was going to suggest the same thing, I use a short small chuck key for the rear and turn both front and back at the same time for large adjustments and getting close. Then fine tune with the main chuck key one at a time. By this method you can often dial in to +/- 0.0001" TIR within 2 minutes from chucking part up... to dialied in. I used to hate dialing in a 4 jaw, but now...I never even use the 3 jaw lol since it would take more time to swap out the jaws than to just dial in. But this is a great video still, she definitely knows her stuff.
Good point. If I did that I *KNOW* that I'd have to put a chain or something on it because I'd forget that 2nd one. Make the handle a giant blaze orange plastic disc or something like that. UFO? Nah, just my 2nd chuck key.
For the copper soft jaws i use a short offcut of copper tube/pipe, set the jaw point with a round bar held firmly in the chuck. Once tight squash the sides with grips, you then have to mark and cut the tabs similarly to the way you did but leave the rest closed as it helps stop the softjaws opening up once they have been used a few times. They end up the same as yours but closed at the back part.
Would it be helpfull to use some sort of tap follower so you do not have to readjust the distance to the life center while finding the center position?
I don't own a lathe, but it would be nice to have one I just don't have the space. I totally agree that dead center trick gets the ribbon. That was impressive enough that was going to be my comment and someone beat me to it. ........by a year. 😁 I also liked using that angle metal in the vise for a second bend. No lathe, but I have a vice. 😁 I just recently joined your channel and even though I don't have the machining tools that you do the procedures you show the imagery in your videos and your precise descriptions of your procedures is as good as it gets. Everything makes perfect sense and the added humor is the kicker. This is great stuff that you're showing. How about a video on improvements to a drill press table to improve accuracy or repeatability.
Always get a warm feeling when in your intros you go from badass boss, to speaking with the sweetest children storyteller voice and demeanor. And it doesn't disappoint when your videos always range in between (more like the latter!). Excellent work, Quinn! Forever a fan!
A tip from a 45 year experience machinist: use a wiggler instead of a dead center. Wigglers are spring loaded so the tailstock won't need backing off. Put the indicator tip as close as possible to the work. The farther away the less deflection of the indicator. If you wanna really hold tenths then having the indicator tip 1/2 inch away from the work will not give accurate results. Furthermore, since one end of the wiggler is held in the chuck it won't fall on the cross slide. All of my 3 jaw chucks are adjustable. If bought that way they are more money than hobbiest folks want to pay. I have modified several of my chucks to make them adjustable. Small chucks can be challenging but I have done 4 inch chucks that work very well. Please let me know if you would like to see how I have done this. I can take some pics. And who doesn't like pictures of metalwork? Eric
Hard to believe someone gave you a thumbs down for this video. Quinn, I never, ever thought to use a center to align a hole for drilling via tailstock. Excellent tip. I have a project coming up using bar stock and this method will improve my accuracy. Thank you and may the person that gave you a thumbs down rethink his/her/its intelligence and agree to trade places so the rest of us can judge their video and rate it. I doubt seriously if it would be more informative.
Now there is two thunb's down. where do these people come from? They must be miserable or perfect in their minds who knows. The video was about basic stuff but if This was around when I started machining on my own it would of saved me alot of misery and time. Quinn does a great job on her videos -- all killer no filler.
I once ran a job on a Brown&Sharpe screw machine, about .025 off centre in an off center Hardinge collet. Turned, formed, drilled and tapped. I was new in machinig in an old company, so I thought nothing of it. It took a lot of years before it hit me how many guys would have told me, "Can't be done!"
The last tip was something I'd not come across in 40 years as a toolmaker, and was pretty nifty to boot. An added bonus to this is that the #tipsblitz19 link brings up some engineering channels I was not aware of so doubly useful. I didn't see a tip from This Old Tony though.
Very nice video, even though a lot of these were "obvious" once I saw them, it would have taken me quite some time to figure them out myself standing with the work piece in hand by the lathe. This also very neatly demonstrates why the lathe is the king of machine tools, it's the only machine that can in theory replicate itself.
Good stuff. None of us has a shed full of machines and the toys that go with them ,we all have to get the job done with what we have at hand. Anything that makes more use of your lathe is worth knowing.
Very cool. An easy way to make the copper or brass jaws is to put the material on the jaw and then close the other jaws up tight. Use your favorite tool/hammer to shape it around the jaw.
I just bought a lathe, old school Harrison. £250 delivered with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck and "loads of tooling". Wohoo! Can't wait to make something using these tricks :)
Great tips. Over the years I've become so machine centric that I've forgotten how versatile the lathe is. Setup is everything and frankly I've become a bit lazy. Well, today was an epithenie! Time to stop and think the work through before committing the tool. Thank you.
A great reminder for me on that same subject was the Project Egress part that I made. I didn’t show a lot of it in the video, but that project was actually about 80% time spent on fixtures and setups. Every operation needed some new work holding trick. Some jobs are like that!
Alternative: buy a few feet of annealed bare copper wire from the electrical dept of your fav big box store of a size that nestles in the jaw serration. Measure the diameter of your work and cut off a length that will wrap most of the way around. 3 times the diameter is close enough. Make a ring of the wire and slip it over the diameter to be chucked. After a dozen jobs you accumulate enough rings so the need for new ones drops to replacement level. The beauty of the narrow rings is they allow you to bump the far end of the work so you can dial in the full length very presicely for center driling. The ugly part is if the chucked surface is too smooth the work can slip axially under heavy cuts or drill feeds. The same is true of the design Quinn demonstrated. Axial slip is something to keep in mind unlees the work is blocked or solidly shouldered against movement. One thing, be sure the copper ring lies in the plane of rotation, preferably in a jaw serration. If it's skewed the part will tend to nutate (wobble so the part axis follows a cone.) If your four jaw lathe chuck jaws are smooth ie, have no annular serrations, you might consider grinding in at least one shallow groove. Do this in the lathe with the jaws locked on a short slug gripped at the heel. A Dremel or die grinder will do the job. Use a mointed point grinding wheel B-70 if 1/8 shank or A-36 if 1/4 shank. Dress the included angle to 90 degrees symmetrically on the radial plane. Two sets of jaws are handy: one ser smooth, one set serrated
I like the notion of being able to bump the axis true for long (eg shaft) work. I suppose this could also be done with soft steel wire, which would permit of gripping a bit tighter? Hardened C clips from round wire were sometimes used for gudgeon (wrist) pin retention (and can be made by starting to make a spring but changing your mind and cutting it into rings) but I guess these would mark the work, and perhaps not even conform well enough to develop a secure grip?
Really great tips. Thanks for taking the time. I have seen copper jaw covers so many times but this is the first time someone is telling how to make 'em. For the dead center trick, how about using a tap follower to keep the center from falling during the initial eye-ball stage? Edit: Of course someone already came up with that idea : )
Another great video Quinn. I'd love to see "stupid tail stock tricks" at some point in the future especially on your particular lathe. For selfish reasons since my lathe is similar.
The original technique of milling was actually called rotary filing and was done with the cutting tool mounted in the lathe chuck and the work piece mounted on the lathe cross slide.
@@Blondihacks Honestly, it was quite refreshing to see it. It's almost universal that youtuber small shop engineers use totally inappropriate TC tooling to do old fashioned type toolroom stuff. Also, with small fractional horsepower machines, the power required to budge-off metal is much greater than that required to slice it off. I'll keep a watch on your channel. Ciao, T.
Hey Quinn !! Regarding the punch hole alignment.... I prefer to use the machinists button method as its more accurate , as the hole can drift slightly during punching... So.... u drill & tap a suitable thread & lightly fix a button (ground & bored bush) to the part with a screw & washer. Then you measure from the part edges to the bush , & allowing for the button diameter, tap the button until its dimensionally where you want it. Tighten the button retaining screw & put it in the 4 jaw & centre the button, then remove the button & bore the hole. Sounds long-winded but once you've done it a couple of times it becomes second nature & is great for making accurately spaced multiple holes with a button for each coordinate. Works great for boring on the mill too !! 😎👍☘🍺
My dad showed me the dead center trick years ago and it has been a while since I have seen it done by someone else, makes me happy to know someone else does that, works great for making transfer case adapters.
Another useful material for use on a 4 Jaw Chuck between the jaws and the work is the strips from electrical buss bars. It's about .050 thou thick. Another useful tip for a 4 jaw* is if you do a lot of longer work and you chuck has tee slots in it is make up a set of screws that fit the tee nuts. These screws are then tapped for a smaller size screw. They allow you to tweak the work out on the end without tapping on it with a soft hammer. With out tee slots you can always use a nut and screw that fit into the gap if any between the chuck body and the work. A small pry bar also works well. Just don't apply too much force so the part comes out of the chuck. Do not ask me how I know this. *Where I served my apprenticeship and worked at for 30+ years every thing we did was done in a four jaw. IMO 3 Jaw Chucks are best used as boat anchors. But that may be because I have seen too many that were so abused that the jaws and body were bell mouthed
We, the lathe newbies, salute you! Without you and Tony, I wouldn't know what to do with this chunk of metal sitting in my basement, but the more I learn about it, the more I love it.
The copper jaw thing, I made mine from cheap copper pipe, I cut it lengthwise with a tin snips, then annealed it with a torch. Made it quite easy to work with.
Quinn! If I could give you three thumbs up I would. Whats interesting is I love playing in my hobby shop and I'm trying to get my wife to do a few things with me. Well you're helping in that area and you just don't realize it. So later on today were going to go out and try a few things together!! WOOOHOOOOO
A little late to the party...but I have a centering tool made by a late co-worker of mine that makes the dead centering trick a little more convenient. It is a ~3/8" rod about 10 inches long. One end has a 60 degree point like a dead center. The other end has a 1/4" dia. spring loaded female center that extends out about 1/2" from the rod. The first advantage is that when you put the rod between the tail stock center and the center punch mark on the work it won't fall out while making adjustments. Secondly, you can zero your indicator on the rod near the tail stock end. Then you can rapidly zero the center punch mark when the indicator is brought up near the work. If the holes in the work must be located closer than you can center punch, a set of die buttons may be used. This might be necessary when, for instance, two meshing gears are to be mounted on the work. Cheers from NC/USA
I used that trick with the dead center to make a couple carburetor adapter flanges so the hole would be bored on target (one was offset from center). Definitely making some copper jaw covers for my 4-jaw, but will probably use leftover copper tube (cheaper!) Thanks for sharing!
If you use a spring loaded tap follower instead of a dead center you don't have to back off the tailstock when you make your beginning course adjustments...
Use the live center to press the part up against the jaws using your center punched hole. Lightly snug down your 4 jaws and you have it dialed in pretty close. You can indicate with the dead center after if you need the accuracy. I used that trick to rough in a 4 jaws on existing bores/holes or when I had a center hole already in the part all the time. Usually gets you within a few thou depending on how close your tail stock is and saves time.
Nicely put together video Quinn. I learn something every time I watch your videos. I tried making some soft jaws out of 14ga brass sheet and it didn’t work out so well. Now I see where I went wrong. Thank you. Keep up the great work. I always enjoy your videos!
When you want to drill or bore an eccentric hole in the 4 jaw, engage the tailstock centre with the centre punch mark and clamp it to the face of the 4 jaw with it. Snug the 4 jaw's 4 jaws on the part. THEN do the trick with the dead centre and dial it in. Takes a lot less hands and you will be very near even before you begin dialling in.
Great tip. One further observation: if the amount of eccentricity is more than can be accommodated (because, as BH points out, one jaw can no longer reach far enough), provided you're only drilling and (gently) boring, it may work out OK (depending on the diameter of the work relative to the eccentricity) to leave one jaw off, and make as if you have a universal 3 jaw chuck.
Just a tip if anyone cares to read this. To help get sharper bends put a small notch at the end of each bend/line. I've bent tons of sheet metal and it really helps.
Instead of using a revolving centre in your tailstock ,use your spring die holder.It takes away the need for a third hand when adjusting the jaws.If you don't have a die centre maybe someone can show you how to make one ?
Regarding centering a random hole... What about loosening the jaws "generously" to allow the mark to be centered. Drive the dead center (only) into the mark and then tighten the jaws to grab the part. I'm guessing there might be a problem with keeping the hole aligned precisely enough? But in any case, this would let you quickly get to the final adjustment very quickly.
Since 16 gauge copper is harder to work with and the only purpose is not to have the chuck jaws chew through it... How about using 24 gauge (22 vs. 64 mils) and solder a couple of small pieces to thicken the copper, just at the tip of the jaws?
Hi, the dead center trick is great! BTW - I saw you struggling on getting the right feeds and speeds on aluminum. Try rubbing alcohol. Any feed / speec will work great. And parts will come out clean.
Good telling about putting wood on lathe bed... Nice to see a lass using machines.... None of that painted nails and fancy earrings kinds of stuff...🇬🇧🙂
Love your channel. I also like your blog content. I like that you sometimes give some theory as to support your methods. Thank You and Thank You again.
Non ferrous metal (like copper and aluminum) cut easily with a hack saw. An electric jig saw or even a scroll saw will work too. A cutoff wheel in a Dremel is another good idea. Some kinds of bending brakes also have shears in them, so your flub wasn't that off. I have an el-cheapo HF bending brake, but I've also gotten good square bends by smashing the material flat in the vise with a hammer. (non-ferrous metal is VERY malleable).
I've always had to deal with off center holes, but the dead center, I just smacked myself on the side of my head and said, why didn't I think of that. Thank you.
Those seem pretty reasonable and useful four-jaw tricks. I was promised "Stupid" four-jaw tricks, my personal favorite is machining the cross slide with the four-jaw chuck.
Please do a video I've never seen. A neat trick if you have to chuck on a threaded shift or part using a home made soft split collet to protect the threads.
U can cut some aluminum shims and notch the ends so u can hold tight with rubber bands. Notch the shims somewhat like the little tabs that seal the loaf of bread,opposite towards each other.quick and cheap
