The float lock drill press vise build concludes with this article. In this build I got a chance to experiment with some single point ACME threading on the lathe while turning between centers. After the vise body was completed, the second major part of the build, which was devising a way to fasten the vise onto the drill press table in a clean and usable fashion, took almost as long to complete as the vise itself.
With a drill press, many times you want to drill a hole whose location is marked with a center punch. With the float method, using slight quill pressure with a drill on the punch dimple will allow the work to automatically align under the drill bit. Continuing to hold the work while actually drilling, however, is another matter and this is where the float lock vise really shines. After aligning the work as described above, with a simple tightening of the lock lever the work is held safely and securely in the float lock vise.
The highlights of the PM Research #3 steam engine build continues. First, the work is started on the cylinder which features quite a few machining operations. Next, the machining of the eccentric and showing how that part is setup in the 4 jaw chuck. Lastly, wrapping up construction with the final assembly of the engine. A small video at the end of the article shows the engine running on compressed air.
The PM Research #3 was chosen as my next steam engine project, specifically the kit with the bronze and cast iron castings. This will be a modest step-up in complexity from the last steam engine build, which was the PM Research #2, since this engine uses a valving design more typical of a full-sized engine and has a more full-scale appearance. Also the design of this engine should allow it to work well on steam.
On the popular online auction site, a Rubometric D 3/4" die head was listed for sale with a poorly-worded title. Since these die heads usually sell new in the four figure range, I didn't think my bid at the low initial starting price would be the highest for very long. At the end of the auction, however, I was surprised to find that I had won the die head (and more) for less than the price of a new set of chasers.
In this article construction of the boring head ball turner will be completed. Mr Swash came up with a clever idea for the tool's cutter by using a RCMT 0602 carbide insert which are available at a very reasonable cost with a lathe tool holder. Since this insert is round it seems to work well with the arc cutting motion of the tool. Also, a small video is included showing the ball turner in action.
The build continues on the boring head ball turner with the completion of the machining of most of the major parts. Cutting the AXA dovetail was an especially interesting part of the project which also required a surprising amount of precision. The dovetail machining provided a chance to play with the Randy Richard (Randy Richard in The Shop on Youtube) dovetail cutter which worked great even with the relatively hard tool steel.
Using the lathe for turning balls and adding a radius to rod ends is a common enough occurrence for me to warrant specialized tooling. Years ago I bought a kit version of such a tool with the frame made out of aluminum. It worked, but it was difficult to set the tool depth and it's lightweight design (like a tuning fork) meant that it wanted to chatter during cuts. Something better was needed.
The Jensen 55 rebuild continues with making some new teflon gaskets and the general assembly of the cleaned, polished and painted parts back onto the main board with the completed engine and boiler. Two videos are also available at the end of this article to show the steam engine operating off of steam: one video demonstrates the slow-running capabilities of the engine while the other shows the engine driving a toy machine shop.
Bought this Jensen 55 a few years ago at the Cabin Fever Expo auction in Lebanon, PA. It's been sitting around patiently but now it's time to get to work and bring this engine back to it's former glory. The Jensen 55's gimmick is that it uses two cylinders timed so that at least one is in a power stroke. This allows the engine to be self-starting and run very smoothly at slow speeds.