Someone had a post of a 4 screw chuck for barrel work. I made my first chuck about 30 yrs ago to find out if it was possible to use the mini lathe to make a very accurate rifle. It was slow using the 7X10 Harbor Freight machine, but later I made a set for the 7X12 lathe and the picture shows the set up.

The reloading tool and dies were made on these small machine. This 204 Ruger #2 taper @8 lbs .300


The reloader will load as accurate as any RCBS for neck sizing and straight line bullet loading


I will be making a final run of my projects on DVD shortly and offer these in the classified section. I am getting too 0ld to do anything, so I will be quiting.

Too Old!.....It's only a state of mind!

Thank you for all you do for the sport and the craft. I've learned so much from you over the years. I have a CD on a stock duplicating machine sittying right here on my desk waiting for me to retire so I can build one.

Be well! Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by RoyB:
Too Old!.....It's only a state of mind!

Thank you for all you do for the sport and the craft. I've learned so much from you over the years. I have a CD on a stock duplicating machine sittying right here on my desk waiting for me to retire so I can build one.

Be well! Thanks

Yes (or no!) don’t quit. When I was in college at UW there was an older classmate I became Good friends with (I went to college as an adult). Turns out he was an ortho doc (worked 2 days a week) getting an English degree. He was 78. I asked him why he kept at school and he said a) he loved English, especially romantic poetry and b) he’s watched too many of his doctor colleagues retire, play golf and deteriorate. Slow down, but don’t stop! Your posts are fantastic.

very nicely done

Something can be done if the will to do it is strong!

Thanks for sharing.
Inspiring or enabling is what I libel this posting.

MOST of what I do with a lathe could be done with one of the "minis" and I have been thinking one will find its way here in 2018 (Maybe a late Christmas present or birthday present to myself).

One of my customers makes jet engines in his garage with one of those can openers. They are about 6 inches in diameter and about 10 inches long. He turns them out of titanium. He cuts the fan blades on one of those tiny, hobby mills that he has converted to CNC. They are simple ram type jets with one fan blade and and a driving fan. He makes them go zoom with an evil concoction of N2O, oxygen and kerosene. He says when the kids across the street open their garage door for band practice, he opens his garage to do a test run of one of his engines. The cops usually show up but they can't hear the rock and roll across the street over the engines so he has to put up with loud music ! LOL


All fun aside, he does some things with those little can openers that I would have deemed to have been physically impossible.

one of the Watch guys on Timezone makes spinning tops.

http://forums.timezone.com/ind...e&goto=7450878&rid=0

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
Someone had a post of a 4 screw chuck for barrel work. I made my first chuck about 30 yrs ago to find out if it was possible to use the mini lathe to make a very accurate rifle. It was slow using the 7X10 Harbor Freight machine, but later I made a set for the 7X12 lathe and the picture shows the set up.

The reloading tool and dies were made on these small machine. This 204 Ruger #2 taper @8 lbs .300


The reloader will load as accurate as any RCBS for neck sizing and straight line bullet loading


I will be making a final run of my projects on DVD shortly and offer these in the classified section. I am getting too 0ld to do anything, so I will be quiting.

I call that "Good ol' American ingenuity". Something you don't see too often, anymore,,, unless it involves 'high tech'. Nice post. Hope it might inspire others to "learn to work with what you have". Takes more time, but it most certainly can be done.

Les keep visiting the AR site, all of us appreciate your vast experience and the sharing of information.

Hey Speer,

I am at the point in life as your last statement on posts. I find most info you post should be saved for the beginners. You should be writing a book or do like I have with DVD's. Remember this , I am so OLD I need a good hacksaw, a few files, and a good vise. These new DRO machines are like a toy to me. Ha Ha

Les Brooks, retired and coming up to 83

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
Hey Speer,

I am at the point in life as your last statement on posts. I find most info you post should be saved for the beginners. You should be writing a book or do like I have with DVD's. Remember this , I am so OLD I need a good hacksaw, a few files, and a good vise. These new DRO machines are like a toy to me. Ha Ha
Les Brooks, retired and coming up to 83

Well Les. I was hatched long before carbide and DROs were even around and I got out of trade school and finished my apprenticeships with files, hammers, hacksaws and high speed steel. The problem is, while working in gun shops and machine shops for 37 years might pay the bills, it doesn't leave a lot of extra cash. So, retirement for me will never be an option and in this world where everything has gotten cheaper, I've been forced to adapt and accept the technology to keep up with the kids. But I have found that it's not a bad thing. Anything and everything that I used to do with files, hammers, hacksaws and high speed steel, I can now do much faster, much more accurately and a hell of a lot cheaper than I used to be able too with hammers and hacksaws. One day I may write a book. I keep threatening to and I held columns with a couple of outdoor magazines for about 10 years. The nice thing is that these posts can be filed away collectively and then redone at a later date and published much as Hatcher did. Until I get to that point, I will keep buying the new tools and I will keep learning. The learning adds a bit of fun to what otherwise has become a 37 year, very repetitive career.

Actually, I have 2 of those little Chinese C1 lathes. Oddly enough, outside of palm sanders and cordless drills they are the only 2 power tools in my shop that repeatedly pay for themselves every year. I couldn't begin to count the number of pins they make, tools they sharpen and screws they trim every year. I can do that work on the big machines, but it's far less clumsy using a machine that was made just for that purpose. Never underestimate the power of the can opener! LOL

My main lathe is a 5900 series Clausing but I have held on to my first lathe, a 12" Atlas that has a hollow jacobs chuck for pins and screws. Couldn't get along with out it.

Les, I sure wish you would teach some 2 week NRA summer classes at Trinidad. My favorite form of summer vacation.

I still have that 28 guage Charles Daly I got from you at the Shilen Swap Meet. Still use it.

Mini, yes...but doesn't look like a Chicom....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=5s&v=nSE3GmUdxoQ

When I see the intricate work- and the precision some of these small lathes (and yep, I own a "can opener", too) can do- especially the jewelers lathes like the Levin, it undercuts the conventional internet " wisdom" that you need two or three tons of cast iron rigidity for accurate work.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Gorilla Gunworks:
Mini, yes...but doesn't look like a Chicom....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=5s&v=nSE3GmUdxoQ

When I see the intricate work- and the precision some of these small lathes (and yep, I own a "can opener", too) can do- especially the jewelers lathes like the Levin, it undercuts the conventional internet " wisdom" that you need two or three tons of cast iron rigidity for accurate work.

Like I said. One of my customers turns out small, working, jet engines on them. They run great and the planes he sticks them into fly.

Rod,

I have owned several lathes over the years and here is the list.
Sears Craftsman
Athlas
Clausing
Logan
Sheldon
South Bends
3 Chinese mini lathes
Milling machines, bench top horizontal,Rusnok, Grizzly mini mill
When I find a bargain in a machine it follows me home and sets in a corner until I have someone wanting a good lathe

When working for other shops we have had Bridgeports, Chinese mills, and never a DRO machine. We had to make things the old methods.

My interest was always making custom stocks. I believe that only about 5% of people going thru gunsmith schools have the ability to use this part of the gunsmith trade. My instructors worked for Ackley and when Ackley moved his shop to Utah these guys stayed in Trinidad and kept the school going. Bill Prator, Louie Mrace, and Jim Wilson

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
Rod,

I have owned several lathes over the years and here is the list.
Sears Craftsman
Athlas
Clausing
Logan
Sheldon
South Bends
3 Chinese mini lathes
Milling machines, bench top horizontal,Rusnok, Grizzly mini mill
When I find a bargain in a machine it follows me home and sets in a corner until I have someone wanting a good lathe

When working for other shops we have had Bridgeports, Chinese mills, and never a DRO machine. We had to make things the old methods.

My interest was always making custom stocks. I believe that only about 5% of people going thru gunsmith schools have the ability to use this part of the gunsmith trade. My instructors worked for Ackley and when Ackley moved his shop to Utah these guys stayed in Trinidad and kept the school going. Bill Prator, Louie Mrace, and Jim Wilson

I went to school at CST. I've worked with a couple of gunsmiths who went to Trinidad and I know a couple that went to Pennsylvania. Mostly we see CST or Trinidad grads here simply because it's closer for Western Canadians to go to school. I did a lot of stock work early in my career and I think I made 6 at CST just because I liked that sort of work. The problem with it in Canada is that we just don't have a large enough crop of people that appreciate wood stocks to make a living at it. I did about 3 or 4 per year for the first 15 years and then sort of gave it up because no one would pay for it. Ron Proppe down in southern Alberta made a LOT of stocks. He was a Pennsylvania trained guy and his work rivaled most of the stuff that I have seen at the gun makers shows, but I know for a fact he seldom got more than $3,000 CAD or $2,300 USD for a stock and that was back when wood was hard to get and selling for $400 to $600. We just don't have the market here and it's unfortunate because I would have liked to have spent more time doing it, but that's the way it is and paying bills always comes first.

Like you I have been through dozens of machines. The best machines for general work that I have used are those 60 inch Colchester mascots (personal preference). They are a bit heavy and clumsy and you have to do gear changes but still nice machines. The Leblonds are nice too but hard to get parts for here. The nicest gunsmithing lathes are still the back geared 40 inch Southbends (Personal preference). You can work without gear changes except for metric where all you have to do is swap out the stud gear. Right now I have an old 40 inch Taiwanese Die Fong, Southbend clone, running ER collets and chucks that I will die with and I have a new, 40 inch Yangzhou which is a Clausing clone running ER collets and chucks, two Chinese can openers, a 40x9 inch Hau Dong knee mill, an old 32 inch Taiwanese column mill and an E Shaper. If there has ever been an under rated tool, it has to be shapers. Totally useless piece of equipment until you own one an then you guard it with your life.

I have been force to work on some real rat-bags though. Early on I got stuck on a 16 foot TOS which was like running a road grader or a Caterpillar and I spent about 2 months tied to a pair of Hardinge screw machines, plus several flatbeds, Chinese Chins and Spanish Laguns that weren't worth using for picnic tables. I never used a DRO until about 10 years ago and now I put them on everything. They save a power of time over dial indicators, math and my vision just isn't that good anymore. I wish I had more space because I have passed up a lot of nice machines over the years for the lack of space. I got stuck running an old Guildmeister CNC off and on for a couple of years and I would also like a CNC mill for making parts but, again it's that space thing and I find that machines just don't stack well! Machines are cheap and you only have to buy them once. Space is REALLY EXPENSIVE and you pay for it every month !

I guess we can dream though !

Rod, check out a Tormach 440 or 770 for a small footprint/low power requirement CNC mill, for even more space savings skip getting the enclosure. My next acquisition will be a CNC mill, I'm looking at its bigger brother the 1100. very nice low volume machines!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Little:
Rod, check out a Tormach 440 or 770 for a small footprint CNC mill, for even more space savings skip getting the enclosure. My next acquisition will be a CNC mill, I'm looking at its bigger brother the 1100. very nice low volume machines!

I did look at the Tormachs last time I was in Miami Aaron. The problem is that no one services them here if something ever craters. I've also looked at the HASS mini mill 2s as well. Thomas Skinner has a service center for them but I'm still pretty hard up for space and I would have to give up something else to make room. I'm limited to 500 square feet.

Hi Les,

Did you buy that steady rest from Harbor Freight, as well?

I could not find that on their website.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
Someone had a post of a 4 screw chuck for barrel work. I made my first chuck about 30 yrs ago to find out if it was possible to use the mini lathe to make a very accurate rifle. It was slow using the 7X10 Harbor Freight machine, but later I made a set for the 7X12 lathe and the picture shows the set up.

The reloading tool and dies were made on these small machine. This 204 Ruger #2 taper @8 lbs .300


The reloader will load as accurate as any RCBS for neck sizing and straight line bullet loading


I will be making a final run of my projects on DVD shortly and offer these in the classified section. I am getting too 0ld to do anything, so I will be quiting.

Try Little Machine Shop for parts. The one in the picture came with Speedway Lathe. I traded a Unimat lathe with power feed for this one from a man that bought several from the Cummins trailer that came around several years ago.