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road and workshop
Page 55
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by Handyman
Benchwise lathe sense (8)
IT IS SOMETIMES said that a good turner needs little more then a four-jaw chuck and a pair of true centres, but this is not strictly correct as the value of a face plate of around 20in. diameter is probably beyond measure in these days of parts shortages.
With the face plate there should be an adequate gap available in the lathe ways; on certain machines there is a fixed or permanent cut-away in the lathe bed, on others the lathe ways continue right up to the headstock casting, but a section of the ways can be detached to leave a useful gap, and if this gap will cater for a 16in. brake drum, so much the better.
However, if you have an 18 or 20in. face plate, you have a weighty article to handle, and some provision should be made to mount and demount this from the mandrel; to dump a face plate on the floor in the path of all shop traffic is to risk scars and damage, as just when accuracy is needed you can find out-of-true running for a not too obvious reason.
One careful turner who had this problem and really valued his face plate, arranged a
swinging arm from a steel building girder behind his machine; this arm swung out over the lathe ways in line with the mandrel, and with the aid of a fixed-length wire sling and a pair of flat steel hooks, the face plate was stored flat against the wall until needed. The only point to watch is to ensure that the -carriage is wound well clear before swinging in the face plate. Obviously, the face plate lends itself at once to such jobs as brake drums, either for turning or grinding, also for such tasks as an engine flywheel where the clutch driving face is cracked or bumpy and has to have welding attention to reclaim.
One important tip with a flywheel job of this kind, and before any rebuilding starts, is to ensure that a reading is taken of the original thickness and then bring it back to standard. If, however, a light skim is to be taken from the rubbing face to remove irregularities, ie ribs or high spots, you must remember to take an equal amount off the rim or lip of the flywheel, otherwise when the clutch cover is again bolted on, quite a lot of tension will be lost at the clutch pressure springs. I have seen this happen on several occasions, a slipping clutch after machining attention.
A mistake made by many a trainee or part-time turner when using the face plate is to include one or more wood packings in the rig needed to secure the job; this should not be permitted, as nine times out of 10 the wood packing will ease out for one reason or another and the workpiece slips, spoiling the job or damaging the lathe. Use steel packings and let them all share the load; remember also the handiness of those old bearing tracks I have mentioned previously; I also prefer BSF clamp bolts rather than coarse thread Whit or American.
One thing that no turner ever likes to see is a face plate that is scarred with drill holes which results from having the workpiece too close to the plate without ensuring that the drill can pass through the work with a clearance between it and the plate. Where a large-sized drill is to be used, back the work well clear of the plate, and here you can use the old bearings to good effect. In any case before starting up, always predetermine the required drill travel and make a suitable chalk mark on the tail stock barrel.
While there seems no limit to the jobs that can be bolted direct to the face plate or set at an angle to it for machining or drilling, there is a simple way by which you can double the usefulness of the face plate, and this is by the use of an angle plate. This accessory is a fairly heavy slotted casting, faced on two sides; it bolts direct to the face plate and enables a wide range of items to be bolted to it, but now at right angles to the face plate. Therefore you can now face up one or more surfaces bolted direct to the plate, and do others by securing to the angle plate, or a series of drilling jobs as required. There is one point to remember, however, as if the angle plate and workpiece are heavy and off-set on the face plate it is necessary to counterbalance this load, otherwise if any speed is used, an out-of-balance swing can set up that could make accuracy difficult or impossible.
On the older lathes where a number of speed-change wheels are used, these make ready-made balance weights and can be quickly bolted to the face plate. Remember, however, to keep all balance weights either inside or outside the reach of the tool, and never start up before first hand-turning the plate.
A further extension to the angle plate and one which has a wide range of applications to vehicle repair is the face plate V-block. This is a fairly standard looking V-block, but slotted below for securing to the plate, and also is provided with a slotted end casting, thus the V can be arranged either at right angles or parallel to the plate.
The Keats version of this V-block also has provision for a saddle clamp—this is a U-bolt and saddle bar to fit the V, and a large selection of small or odd-shaped items can be secured in this type of rig. This particular application of the V-block principle is invaluable where a number of set-size items are to be produeed—ie taking off one flat from several bait heads for locking purposes, as once the V-block has been set on the plate and one item lined up, all that remains is to slacken the U-bolt for each repeat item.