Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

The Lathe, Mill & General Tool Talk Thread
A thread about tools both big and large that we use in our steam addiction could be fun and educational. I know that I have been given some great hints and help from generous members.
 
 Lets see if this thread takes off, hopefully its popular! (If it doesn't I'm happy to talk to myself and post pics to myself)
 
 To start off -
 
 I made a saddle stop for my lathe and out of a block of aluminium and a stainless steel rod and brass knobs. It's fantastic and has been really useful. Eventually I took it a bit further and made it so that I could leave the saddle stop in place and change the stop position by being able to wind in and out the brass cylinder that you can see below that I knurled. The smaller brass knurled cylinder to the left is a lock. It's so simple to change the stop now as I can unlock either the main saddle lock for a larger positional change, or just unlock the brass cylinder lock and spin the knurled saddle lock either in or out. Great for taking multiple cuts to the same shoulder etc



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I use my steady fairly occasionally (much more than my follow rest) and did this easy mod that's worked really really well for me. The ball bearing races have made such a difference.

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Are you into Dremel (or Dremel like tools) ? Dremel have introduced an EZ Lock system that is bloody terrific. So many accessories now come that are made for the EZ Lock mandrel system. It takes just seconds now to change from one accessory head to another. If your a frequent Dremel user (and aren't all steamers!!!!) next time your shopping for Dremel heads, check out the EZ Lock system.



https://www.dremel.com/en_US/site-search-results?blogsearch=ezi+lock

Thanks Carl, hopefully the thread grows.

Although the travelling steady is handy its a right pain in the backside at time or at least I find it difficult to set up when making smaller parts
Around a year ago I was involved in the restoration of an automaton that require nearly ten feet of bronze at 0.078 dia and no way could I get the traditional fixed steady to produce that amount
Looking around I cam on a picture of a button steady and made one to fit my machine, The inserted button is made for the dia of the bar and the cutting tool is set to cut to the dia needed
Worked pretty  well for a lash up and has got me out of jail a few times now
A very rough vid of it in use

cheers
frazer

Very simple and very handy 'tool mod' -

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Simple Die Storage
Pine boards, drilled with 1" Forstner bit to the right depth for the dies, two hinges on the back a clasp on the front and another pine board for the lid. Easy to spray with oil  -

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My lathe carriage stop is made from a micrometer missing the thimble ($.25 at a yard sale). It's as accurate as it needs to be for its job.

Some day, I'll replace that screw with a bolt having the same head as my tool post bolt; then I'll just need the one wrench.