Blacksmith Post Drill Restoration - machining a bushing in Delrin and making a felt washer. Part 4

[@mounty8807]

Movin' right along.... looking good. What are you going to do with it when you're done??

[@EnoRestoration]

Its unlikely that I'll keep it. I don't have the room, nor the nostalgia to keep all the things I work on... I'll seek out an owner that could use it/appreciate it.

[@davidcummins1776]

I have the same problem cutting felt & gaskets, still looking for a neat solution.

[@EnoRestoration]

I’ll let you know when I find one!

[@chrisstephens6673]

Oh no preaching time again😂 First off, Delrin prefers a sharp tool and HSS really is your friend on plastic, sharpening it is not the onerous task some make it out to be and all those funny angles the books talk about are mostly irrelevant. A sharp edge, some clearance and some rake are all that matters, not ground to a specific degree for each material. Maybe one day ill preach about why the books think the angles necessary but not today.😉 If you had your top slide, or as you chaps call it the compound slide, set in line with the axis of the lathe you can use the graduations for length of a cut, like your recess in the end. Would have saved faffing about with dial gauges and loosing the cross slide zero point. It really isn't even necessary to have an angled top slide for threading either, no mater who or how many people think it necessary. You can do the tests yourself, and all things being equal, for all but seriously coarse threads you wont be able to tell the difference. If the top slide is used as a top slide it is useful for making controlled cuts, especially if you have a bed stop. A graduated carriage hand wheel is also a help. On my Colchester one turn of the carriage wheel is exactly one inch of bed travel, despite being a metric lathe, so i made a graduated, in 10 thou increments, and zeroable adapter to fit it and it acts like a Trav-a-dial. There's a short video on it on my channel, although i could perhaps have done better with the none existent explanation. And here endeth the lesson.😊

[@EnoRestoration]

Great insight into the top slide! Makes a lot of sense, thanks for the tips. I didn't know you had a channel yourself? I've subscribed, thank you!

[@chrisstephens6673]

@@EnoRestoration doesn't everyone? And thanks for the subscribe, I hope you are not disappointed.