Can anyone out there recommend where I could buy a spare face plate for my little lathe? I'd like to buy a plate all ready to go with a D-4 mount, if possible...save myself some work. Want to sort of dedicate it just to barrel turning got a while. Looked all over the internet this afternoon but didn't find any face plates, either mounted or un-mounted. Also looked through the Penn Tool and MSC catalogues too...none there either.

Only thing I could find was plate castings which one has to turn and mount themselves.

Thanks, AC

MSC has them
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=1785912&PMT4NO=0

They have cheaper ones, you willhave to search through them.

Making a spider for the right side?

I have one I am going to turn down to about 3 1/2 ". Then I will mount it on my rotary table, and drill and tap 4 holes. I should be able to get about a 20" barrel through my spindle.

If you are just wanting to make a spider look at flee-bay auction #320148566280. There is a $60.00 finder fee if you buy one(I need one too.) Bill

Alberta Canuck
I don't know if your familar with the magazine "The Home Shop Machinist" but it is full of ads for items like you are looking for You might try www.brassandtool.com they show some small chucks in the ad.
Its one of the better machinist magazines out there. If interested www.homeshopmachinist.net
Hope this helps

Thanks to you all. Especially for the MSC url. Funny, I went to their site before I made my post, typed in just about every keyword I could think of for face plate, and came up with Zilch using their own site search engine. Oh well


Am not making a spider. already have a spider or cat's head, or whatever one prefers to call it. Just want to turn some stuff between centers on this little lathe, but it just has D-4 mounted chucks, no face plate. Need something I can stick the tail of the "dog" into to turn the work.

Also, thanks for suggesting the magazine, will have to get a sample copy, and maybe even consider subscribing...

In the meantime, until you get a faceplate, there is another way around this. I chuck a peice of round stock in the 3 jaw, turn a 60 degree point on it, mount the work between centers, and then lock the lathe dog tail to one of the chuck jaws. Solid 14ga copper wire works well wrapped around the chuck jaw and lathe dog. If you need to remove the center, just touch up the angle the next time you mount it. I found that reversing the chuck jaws so the tallest part is towards the outside worked fine with my lathe dog.

Thanks Gzig- may have to try that trick when all is said and done.

Went and looked at the MSC site again, and those aren't face plates they're selling, they're backing plates/adapter plates (chuck mounting plates). They don't list face plates at all, either on-line, or in their "big book" which I have in my shop.

Also went back and looked at the list of stuff that was SUPPOSED to come with this little lathe when I bought it 8 years ago. One of the items was a 10" face plate with a D1-4 mount. Unfortunately, it was not in the package, and as I was busy making, reaming, and and chambering things through the headstock, I never noticed its absence. I figured it was in the separate packet with the follower, steady rest, etc., which I also haven't needed because of working stuff exclusively through the headstock, but it wasn't.

So, Monday I'll be calling the manufacturer. I know they aren't gonna go ahead and send me a free face-plate at this late date, but they might at least sell me one at some inflation-advanced price....

Might be cheaper to get a back plate, mill you a slot in it or bolt a wood lathe face plate to it. You could even make a face plate out of 1/4" plate steel and bolt it to the backing plate.

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Thanks to you all. Especially for the MSC url. Funny, I went to their site before I made my post, typed in just about every keyword I could think of for face plate, and came up with Zilch using their own site search engine. Oh well


Am not making a spider. already have a spider or cat's head, or whatever one prefers to call it. Just want to turn some stuff between centers on this little lathe, but it just has D-4 mounted chucks, no face plate. Need something I can stick the tail of the "dog" into to turn the work.

Also, thanks for suggesting the magazine, will have to get a sample copy, and maybe even consider subscribing...

You can also use a straight dog and make a pin to go in the cam lock to drive it.
-Don

Try this one
http://www.plazamachinery.com/files/Metal.pdf
I bought one of the new southbend 6" d1-4 dog drivers for my Kent. Had to set up and bore the taper larger so the spindle nose would go in all the way in. search in the pdf file for d1-4 or dog driver. Plan on waiting a month or so to get your stuff if you order.

quote:

Originally posted by gsp:
Might be cheaper to get a back plate, mill you a slot in it or bolt a wood lathe face plate to it. You could even make a face plate out of 1/4" plate steel and bolt it to the backing plate.

Tim

Yes, I considered making one, but at the moment do not have a working mill. Can't use my neighbor's mills because the doctors have forbidden me to walk or drive more than absolutely necessary...need to keep weight off my left leg.

So, I am looking for a place to buy a face plate & mount. Paying out a few hundred dollars is a lot less costly in my eyes than possibly losing my leg. But it would be nice to be able to do a few projects that I've had put aside for a few years, while sitting on a work stool in my shop.

Oh, and thanks to everyone else for their added suggestions.

So, onward and upward...I hope

gzig's method is the one used by most machinists in order to avoid making chuch changes. First chuck up a piece of stock and turn a 60 degree point on it:

Then install your work with a dog driven off one of the chuck jaws:

Clemson

quote:

Originally posted by Clemson:
gzig's method is the one used by most machinists in order to avoid making chuch changes. First chuck up a piece of stock and turn a 60 degree point on it:

Then install your work with a dog driven off one of the chuck jaws:

Clemson

Yes, that looks pretty easy. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a plain jane 60-degree tip, or if I might be able to rig a way to use a mounted carbide tipped dead center. Looks to me like there would be enough space with the set-up you show to use the dead center.

I must have been asleep upstairs...I just never considered using that big of a dog. Of course, I have a welder, so if necessary, I can just weld an extension to the dog's leg, though I doubt that will be needed.

Thanks a LOT, I really appreciate the pictures which helped put everything into scale.

AC, that method of holding a center in a chuck will ONLY work accurately if you recut the point each time you mount the center. If you think about it, by cutting a fresh point on the center each time, you have a center that is dead nuts on the axis of the lathe. Anything else is subject to the vagaries of the three-jaw, four-jaw, or whatever chuck that you are holding it in. In a perfect world there would be zero runnout on the chuck. In actual fact, a piece of trash on one jaw can throw the center off by a thousandth. There would be zero benefit from a carbide center since the work is stationary against that particular center.

Good luck!

Clemson

Got to EBay/home/business and industrial/metalworking/tooling supplies. There are about 15 listed there now. All the way from .99-?
Aloha, Mark

Thanks Bohica...

---------------------------

Clemson... I plan to use a 4-jaw chuck, and a .0001" indicator on the nose of the dead center when setting up. Why wouldn't I be able to adjust my chuck to align the nose of the dead center with the centerline of the lathe? Seems to me the ability to do that is why one uses a 4-jaw chuck rather than a 3-jaw sometimes.

Perhaps I have missed something somewhere?

(That is how I center "range rods" and barrel bores in my regular chambering work and for making dies. So would be aligning the carbide center in the 4-jaw chuck just as if it was a barrel being chucked to chamber through the headstock...then would do the profiling of the work between centers.)

Thought I'd use the carbide center because it is ground very precisely to center, not just turned...and because it is so hard, it should not even be marked by the pressure put on it in the process, and thereby not change shape or fit from one job to the next. No?

Please don't think I am trying to argue with you. I'm not. I do appreciate all your comments, pictures, etc.

I don't cut threads on the mandrel, I just cut down a piece of .75" round 4140 RC28 down to ~ .7" with a taper to fit the bolt hole. I cut the 60 degree on the mandrel with a 60 degree drill. The other end I just clamp in the 6- jaw chuck.



I don't even use a dog.

If you are willing to dial in the center each time, your method should work OK. Recutting a soft center simply involves setting the compound on 30 degrees and advancing the tool with the compound. The hardness factor is pretty much your call, too. For most of what I turn between centers, I would prefer the workpiece to be harder than the center. I don't think it is a big deal for mandrels, etc.

Clemson

AC,
I'm a little confused when you mention mounting a cabide tipped dead center in the four jaw. Is this a MT center or something with a cylindrical profile? I can't see how you plan on securing the tail of a MT center, but maybe I am misunderstanding.

I would also suggest either 4140 Pre-hard or 0-1 hardened and then drawn back for the center if you want it harder. Both should be able to be touched up with carbide bits if needed or just indicated in with the four-jaw.

quote:

Originally posted by gzig5:
AC,
I'm a little confused when you mention mounting a cabide tipped dead center in the four jaw. Is this a MT center or something with a cylindrical profile? I can't see how you plan on securing the tail of a MT center, but maybe I am misunderstanding.

I would also suggest either 4140 Pre-hard or 0-1 hardened and then drawn back for the center if you want it harder. Both should be able to be touched up with carbide bits if needed or just indicated in with the four-jaw.

gzig5 - Hi again. This is a parallel-sided (straight shanked) carbide dead center, about 1-1/4" shaft diameter that I plan to chuck up...something I've had lying around the shop for about 10 or more years. I don't remember exactly where or when I got it, or for what use. It might even have been my dad's...I inherited his tools, etc. about 16 years ago. He was an aerospace machinist working primarily on intercontinental missiles.

The reason I plan to just re-center for each piece of work rather than re-cut is, it is habit with me. I automatically center everything I work on in the lathe before doing any cutting or polishing. As a result I don't believe I have used my 3-jaw chuck on this lathe even once in at least 7 or 8 years.

I suspect I'd find it just as fast to re-indicate the center as to re-cut...I would probably "center the center" that I was going to re-cut before I cut it anyway...again, just out of habit.

Plus this nice little Bison 4-jaw 12" chuck runs so smooth it is almost unreal. If you were to stick a .001" dial indicator up against the outside perimeter of it while it is turning, you'd not see the needle move at all. I've done it just to show machinist friends how aligned and concentric it is. I know that's not the same as having the inside (gripping side) of the jaws dead nuts, but I have had no great problems centering work in the jaws to .0005" either, though I just usually go to .001" and call it good for most kinds of work other than chambering. Can center better than .0005" if I really need to, and for chambering try to do better than that for my BR rifles.

So, anyway, with a good chuck and a nice true center, it should make locating that end of the work something I wouldn't have any nagging worry about.

Thanks for all the advice and help. I had considered early on setting up a dog the way pictured above, but didn't think the dog leg would reach the chuck securely. Just hadn't thought of using a dog that much bigger than the work. The picture brought it all into perspective, so as soon as I can dig up a dog big enough, will give it a whirl.

Thanks again, and best wishes to all you guys who reponded.