Project #6 started 10-29-2013

Tonight I turned the blank rod down to 1 inch diameter and cut it to length of 5.650". I started on the right-most section in the image above turning it down. 

Looking for more info?

Click on one of the links below for more info:

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCResourcesRef.htm

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCResourcesBooks.htm

http://team358.org/files/mechanical/HowToUseALathe.pdf

http://concretelathe.wikispaces.com/file/view/How_To_Grind_Lathe_Tools.pdf

http://www.precisebits.com/?gclid=CMWF0tjzjroCFSZp7AodcRkA9A

Project #5

Project 5 blank has been turned down to 1 inch dia. Then 2 steps have been turned down on each end. Tomorrow I start threading. Will post photos tomorrow.

10-29-2013 update:

Project #5 conplete:

Project #4 complete!

Finally finished both rods and got them checked off!

Shiny!

Tonight Jeff, my other teacher, showed me a new setting and helped me to understand the numbers on the dial better. So I turned 2 new steel rods, and they started looking better. They came out smoother than previous ones. The second rod came out shinier thanks to a higher turning speed and lower cutting feed. 

Next week I finish step one on the 2nd rod and then step both rods down to req'd diameters. Then I will have 3 rods to thread and, hopefully, 3 projects checked off!

Trying to get caught up since the obe piece went wierd (see photo).

Project #4 - long rod

Well tonight I grabbed a piece of steel that was a little bigger than 1" in diameter and started working on it to create the longer rod in this project. Here is a photo of what I did tonight:

Selection of High-Speed Tool Steels

To read more about High Speed Steel (HSS) used for Tools, click on this link:

http://hudson-metals.com/pages/technical/high_speed/high-speed-tool-steels.html

Continuation of working on project #4

So tonight I worked on threading the smaller piece in Project #4. Here is the rod half threaded:

And here is a shot of the rod completed and passed by the Instructor:

Following this piece, I started to thread the longer rod. Everything went well until the machine hicupped:

So tomorrow evening I will be making this piece again from a new 5-1/4" blank!

My dad used to say this a lot to me:

(1) If at first you don't succeed, try again.

So I will try again and succeed!