upgrades

[holsgo]

Tool post grinder looks cool. I had to look one up. I'll take all ideas. Although I wasn't intending on doing steel much I'm a tool junkie so any reason to get another would be good.
This shopsmith can do some amazing things and the power pro really gives the top end speeds for wood and slow sppeds for metal. Wish I had one.

[billmayo]

Maybe for light work on steel you could use a setup more like a tool post grinder and let the abrasive do most of the work. A little limited I know but might be useful.

I took a tool rest post and arm and attached (used hose clamps) a HF 4" angle grinder ($19.95) with a 4" diamond tile cutting blade to a modified tool rest arm. I had several 1/4" plates welded to the tool rest arm so the grinder can be mounted at 0 deg or 90 deg to the tool rest arm and 3 jaw metal lathe chuck. I have been able to do a lot of real fine cutting/grinding on steel/cast iron using this blade and it still cuts. I find that I cannot use metal lathe tool bits on the Shopsmith due to equipment flexing that can cause hanging or very rough finish on the item being turned.


I have a similar setup for my Mini metal lathe with another HF 4" angle grinder and diamond blade. This does not work for aluminum material, only steel and cast iron.

[holsgo]

I took a better look at the tool post grinder and I have have a way to fashion one. I'll play over the next couple days. I have to grind and reweld some joints today and get some paint on the raw steel.

[nuhobby]

Here is the fabled Federal Table that started my quest to work metal a bit more.
This is the full table.
[ATTACH]11309[/ATTACH]

This is the brass corner piece I made. Not perfect but it really works.
[ATTACH]11310[/ATTACH]

Now I should be able to do some of this a bit more and to my own design. Once again, the other day, I again swore "I couldn't be the only guy looking for XYZ" while I paced Lowes. Never again. Well, almost never.

This is a super thread! Thanks for sharing.

[holsgo]

Thanks. I did the final grind on the table supports today and painted. I just left Home Depot with 3/8 square bar which will accept the lathe cutters. I'll fix them in place with set screws

Tool in 3/8 stock. There will be 2 5/16 nuts welded to the bar with a hole drilled through. The setscrew will...set it.
[ATTACH]11315[/ATTACH]

This will then be clamped into the jaws. I will do the tool post grinder after all. Steel just doesn't like a Shopsmith.

[holsgo]

Here is the tool holder welded up.
[ATTACH]11333[/ATTACH]

The cuts are dramatically better. I'm sure there is a machinist out there whose saying "no sh*&" right now but it's fun to learn on.
Next is the tool post grinder. I'll try Bill Mayo's approach.

[pennview]

You'd likely get a better finish on steel using High Speed Steel or Cobalt tool bits that you'd have to grind to the appropriate shape on a grinder or a belt, strip or disk sander. I'd also expect you'd get decent results using carbide cutters like those used on the Shopsmith lathe duplicator, but using inserts made for steel. You can find instructions for grinding HSS/Cobalt cutters at http://www.sherline.com/grinding.pdf

Those brazed carbide cutter really aren't that sharp and work best of heavy lathes using deeper cuts then you'll be able to take on a Shopsmith. Also, some steels don't machine all that well, but you should be able to get good results with some mild steel like 12L14. If you had a diamond wheel or a green carbide wheel you could regrind those brazed cutters and improve their cutting ability.

[holsgo]

Yeah I do need to regrind these. The piece in the above pic is aluminium. These cutters are working well for that, brass, plastics etc. Steel, well you said it. These cutters aren't good for steel. I never planned on much steel anyway. I forged ahead with the tool post grinder idea. I'm not doing anything else right now anyway.

[roy_okc]

Holsgo,

Awesome mods. I've been toying with the idea of using my SS to turn aluminum and plastics if I need such items for my CNC build. Also could do some soft-metal stuff with my son-in-law. I already have a HF cross-slide vise (is that what you use?) that I use with my drill press.

Where did you get the chuck, or where/what would you recommend?

Do you think a dual-bearing quill would work well enough for soft metals/materials with decent accuracy using light/slow cuts?

Thanks,
Roy

[holsgo]

This upgrade is a great one. Not just for the plastics and metals but for wood as well. I did the 3 bearings at the end of the spindle but I may go add 1 or 2 at the tail of the spindle as well. I did notice some spindle deflection when turning a piece of anything over 6 or 7 inches long. That could be solved if I used the tailstock as well. That would happen with wood too, I was just being stubborn and lazy.

I really wanted a US made chuck like an old Craftsman etc. I just find US things are made better, closer tolerances. Just my experience. You need a 3 or 4 jaw (your preference) just make sure it's a universal scroll (all 3 jaws should be) if you want the jaws to all work together. A 4 jaw is good for irregular objects. I got mine off ebay. You do need a 1 inch x 8 tpi backplate to accept the spindle adapter from Penn State Ind.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/l5818.html

Take note of the thread here where I had to replace the set screw. I give the place to order a new one.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... le+adapter

Lastly, the cross slide. You need to have the vise screw and the adjustment on the right or you bump into the headstock. Simple fix. See below.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/artic ... g_Upgrade/

I made the table it sits on.