Finishing and Testing the Homemade Tracer Attachment

[@jerryocrow1]

So clever. You invented something new!!! The ideas inspired from you are incalculable. Even more will come from what you did. Thank you for sharing.

[@charles1379]

An important aspect is to machine the area that has the largest overhang before thinning out the shack that increases the overall flexibility of the item.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Yep, it was just the first experiment with it. Thanks for watching.

[@garyshirinian]

Very nice I really enjoy watching skilled people do wonderful thing . Great work .

[@michaellitzkow8123]

Your tracker is working great! Many thanks for sharing your work. I would suggest you plan more carefully the sequence of cuts when you use the tracer. For example start at the major diameter of your part and work towards the end first. That way you have the full support of your material without the narrowing for as long as possible. Only make cuts that reduce your support when you have cut all the other parts of the profile that you can. Again - nicely done! I think I will try to make something similar for my craftsman 12.

[@stevegannonhandmade]

The first video of yours that I watched was part 1 of this series, and I was not sure about you, or what you were making. And... I am really impressed with this tracer and the results you got... Nice job!

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thank you!

[@BuildSomthingCool]

Nice job on this build

[@billbrennan8405]

Nice homemade lathe tracer attachment. Excellent Video. Bill B

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks Bill!

[@homemadetools]

Nice job. We shared this video (and the previous parts) on our homemade tools forum this week 😎

[@skipgoryews1356]

you are very brave ! good for you. you have a lot going on there , more than you think . I think you may have inspired young ones as well as us old timers good job ! regards Skip

[@TroyeStonich]

Dude, I am blown away by your skills! You need more subs on your channel!

[@TheKnacklersWorkshop]

Hello, A really nice build series... I was wondering if 3 years later you still use it? take care Paul,,

[@TimNummy]

You're videos and skills are amazing! I'm super impressed and definitely subscribed.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thank you!

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Excellent project, works wonderful.

[@mrpete222]

nice job

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks Mr Pete!

[@pacowang283]

Amazing. Utterly amazing sir. You have skills

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for watching!

[@Larry1942Will]

A very nice tracer build. Thanks.

[@craigbrown790]

Nice tracer attachment. Some great content on your channel, keep it coming 👍

[@hoernst2762]

Hallo, habe mir einige Videos von deinem Kanal angesehen, gefallen mir sehr gut! Schöne und präzise Arbeit...Glückwunsch!

[@MaturePatriot]

Yes, that was successful. Great work.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks!

[@djberg3483]

Well, im stoked to have stumbled across your channel, very cool concept and execution, you just got another sub, and will be checking out the rest of your channel.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for watching and subscribing!

[@pieterbotes8938]

Use linear bearings on the cylinder rod - much less friction than a bush. Nice idea for copy turning!

[@xmachine7003]

Nice idea on the linear bearings.

[@infoanorexic]

That appears to work quite well. A higher end, "self-lapping" (bleeds off excess pressure if you reduce it or if something on the business side causes pressure to increase above what it is set for) regulator might prove useful. How quickly & accurately your pressure regulator responds to minute changed might make the difference when making profiles with steep angles and dramatic curves. It should also help you keep the sideways flexing/binding of your rod that follows your template to a minimum. Just an idea ... for what it's worth...

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for the idea and thanks for watching!

[@OldIronShops]

great job . you might want to get a set of transfer punches help with all the holes you been transferring lately

[@RustyInventions-wz6ir]

Very nice work.

[@samcowell2768]

this is really great good job

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks!

[@DoorKnocker]

Taper the tip of your tracer pin and put a roller bearing on the end for smoother tracking of the pattern contours

[@OldIronShops]

i think a small roller bearing on the tip of the rod would be a good idea lower the friction quite a bit and if it wore out its replaceable

[@xmachine7003]

Like the tip of a steady rest finger with a roller bearing on the end. Yup. Great idea!

[@howardosborne8647]

@@xmachine7003 If a roller is incorporated then the profile plate will need its shape modifying to compensate for the diameter of the roller otherwise you will not produce a direct copy of the profile plate.

[@conservative-proud]

I need one of these !!

[@nicholasduncan3921]

That’s awesome I’m just getting into lathe work and wow that’s some talent I subscribed and liked now

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks!

[@melgross]

I’ve done pattern work on the lathe. I highly recommend that you do the end first to keep chatter down. As it is, you’re cutting most of your support away.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Yeah, I will look out for this more in the future. This was just a very first experiment to see how well the thing even worked. Thanks for watching!

[@hembrasalvaje]

Build Fix Create watching this i thought of something that may help a little with the binding issue. either a ball tip or semi triangular with the tip rounded and smooth. would also help with getting into smaller details in the pattern. Just an idea from someone who wants to get into machining but has not the spot (just yet but working on it) to put a lathe and mill or yet got the mill or lathe. from childhood (I'm 44 now) machining is the trade i always wanted and from the time i could read cat in a hat i was pinching my grandfathers engineering text books and trying to read them asking my dad and my grandfather hundreds of questions as i tried to do so :). no one ever gave me a go here in australia so now with a supportive partner i am working on getting set up to teach myself. I did do a tiny bit of machining when i went to agricultural college. i am also a self taught blacksmith, saddler and carpenter. Dream trade..... gunsmithing

[@crookedriver2079]

Interesting....to say the least. I have a South Bend 9A and this method would definitely work. Thing is I'm not sure what I'd use it for...I haven't had any need to turn handles or anything like that. But I'll keep it mind. Thanks for posting this!

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for watching!

[@billl7551]

I have a logan 10 that needs some handles/knobs but not available anywhere. Short of buying an CNC (or hiring $$$) this looks like a well documented and thought through method. I see Mr Pete gave a thumbs up too! Yes, well done! I bought it decades ago from a river flooded sale. Did not get underwater, but lots of corrosion. Thought it should be scrapped recently and have not touched it for 15 yrs. A few days ago installed a MT2 bar and tested runout and travel error down in the weeds! Thanks for a very clever design. I am guessing the tool force and relief angle of the cutter is matched to the material hardness to allow a constant force to be used for cutting depth? Would it help to hand feed to close to the profile then finish cut? Like a CNC would do it?

[@bongomakers]

Where are the earlier builds of this attachment?

[@ramonmichaud3004]

maybe a bearing on the end of your guide pin.

[@xmachine7003]

Yes!

[@mrblack61]

That's great, nice work.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thank you!

[@yt66228]

Love the video!

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks Paul!

[@turningpoint6643]

I'd be extremely interested in seeing this used on steel and stainless and finding out what air pressures are needed. The diameter of your air cylinders piston would be helpful to figure out what actual force is going into moving the slide as well. For holding the patterns? If it were me I'd want at least 2 index pins through the pattern and into a table mounted to that rear 1" square tubing so any pattern made will then correctly align parallel with the lathe longitudinal ways. Plus make the pattern table adjustable along the bar so it can be positioned and locked in place to set the cutting tool so it then cuts in the correct part location along the shaft. A well thought out accessory and not anything I've seen yet that was made for a lathe.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for the ideas about pattern holding! I am going to be trying the tracer on some stainless in the next month so ill share how it works.

[@JaakkoF]

Reason for not seeing these pattern attachments is because of no ned in todays world where we have CNC. Ancient system, but works very well.

[@turningpoint6643]

Yep the pattern idea isn't new. It's shown in old books about ornamental turning and there's copy attachments still sold today for wood turning lathes. Like you said Jaakko cnc has made a whole lot of complex tooling redundant. I've also seen spring loaded pattern followers, but the air cylinder gives you a way to have an adjustable pressure rate on the pattern follower without having to change springs. So that part was something I'd not seen before.

[@xmachine7003]

@@BuildFixCreate using tapered pins for pattern holding would be a good addition to the pattern holding idea. Always tight. Never loose.Regular pins will loosen on the pattern or holding surface. Tapers will automatically adjust,intuitively.

[@jacqueskisling8241]

Thanks man great video. You gave me an idea . Greatly appreciated sir

[@TechTins_Projects]

did you get to try this with brass?

[@billgreathouse1913]

Great idea. If I could suggest an improvement it would on your stylus (part in contact with pattern) it should be as close to the cutting tool in shape and deminsion. Notice the elongation of the parts nose radius? That is from the difference of the rod and cutter width and radius.

[@clintchapman4319]

Very impressive! Too bad there's not a build series!

[@ronniesanthuff5665]

What about putting springs instead of air ?

[@oh8wingman]

Part of your problem when going over "crests" in your pattern is the carriage travel backlash coming into play. One way to remove that is to constantly load your carriage with another air cylinder mounted inline with the carriage travel. The carriage either pushes or pulls against the cylinder and maintains a constant load eliminating the backlash. You might also want to install a roller on the end of your probe to reduce the friction against your pattern. Another thing would be a collar mounted under the carriage on your probe extension rod to keep it from pushing the tool in past centre. This would also aid in setting up your patterns as it would give you a fairly accurate centre line for you lathes rotational axis.

[@stefanwagner9448]

Nice and easy to understand Videos! Can you tell me what's the diameter of the piston in your air cylinder? Than I could calculate how much force your air cylinder has at 7 psi. I'll may be try the same - already milled a slide support for my tracer attachment.

[@dupreeallen3823]

Did you do a video of the air cylinder installation on the cross feed? I plan to try to adapt it to a Grizzly G0776.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Yeah there is Part 1 and 2 if you look back in my videos.

[@conservative-proud]

This is pretty damn cool man !! What kind of air ram have you got connected ?

[@ThePookybear56]

Try a 45 degree angled end on hardened steel with a blunt end, it's what key machines use

[@xmachine7003]

You,are not that simple.👍

[@mechmusicman]

I love the paint job on your lathe. Did you restore it? If so, what paint did you use?

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks! Yes I did completely restore it. Rustoleum oil based enamel paint. Color is machine gray.

[@xmachine7003]

@@BuildFixCreate Great job!

[@theworkshopmechanicchannel3296]

grazie per la presentazione

[@bigblock4270]

great video and awesome attachment, just an idea to try out on the stylus, try a simple single steel ball and make yr patterns from aluminium then clean the surface the stylus will follow with fine emery and scotchbrite or just polish, a little grease or oil will help it slide along smoothly. good luck

[@lanebyron4097]

Do you think this attachment would work on a Grizzly G9972Z ?

[@wantafastz28]

Why air over a spring setup?

[@dailharris6800]

Very impressive. Did you design it yourself,,,or copy an existing one??? Great project

[@BuildFixCreate]

I designed it myself, I've never seen a similar setup but would be curious to see them if they are out there. I wanted a DIY version of the expensive hydraulic tracers for larger lathes. Mine is maybe not as versatile, but it is very handy none the less. Thanks for watching!

[@howardosborne8647]

@@BuildFixCreate The principle in your design is a very old idea. There have been a number of direct spring pressure stylus copy lathes where the stylus follows a half profile plate and the toolpost responds by being directly connected. Some of these machines use a mechanical spring and some use a pneumatic spring.

[@pieterbotes8938]

There seems to be a huge difference (length wise - X axis) between the job and the profile template, or am I wrong? Still, good result. Well done brother.

[@DolezalPetr]

this is so smart wow

[@mitchyelvington4776]

That is cool!

[@Andrewausfa]

That was fantastic watching you make that, thanks for sharing your skills

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thanks for watching!

[@brandontscheschlog]

Very cool!

[@crossthreadaeroindustries8554]

Really good.

[@BuildFixCreate]

Thank you!

[@EdwardJr.Dampor]

what cutting attachment are you using. what is that bit called. thanks.

[@keithnicklin8819]

Turn the biggest diameter first. Make the followed with a roller.

[@mrayco]

insteadof the air cylinder you can use proper spring loaded as you want .thanks

[@jetegtmeier71]

maybe make some replaceable tips for your tracer rod to match whatever tool you are useing to eliminate some error due to differences in tool and rod tip shape :)

[@Max-lq9bi]

Hi. where did you buy the welding system? what brand is it? Do u have the details to share with me? thks

[@BuildFixCreate]

I was using a Lincoln precision tig 225. Thanks

[@miguelcastaneda7236]

There is a article in popular mechanics early 1940s that showed something like this...avoid that guy on e - bay selling copies of this and other articles

[@xmachine7003]

Grandpa's secrets?

[@xmachine7003]

Grandpa's secrets?

[@magnepolden3344]

It seems to me that the pneumatic cylinder are stealing a lot of room in your working aera, and the air hose makes it some worse. I think I would think in a direction of a 90 degree elbow in the back of the cylinder, and maybe another 90 to bring the hose alongside the cylinderwall in order for the hose to claim less room

[@BuildFixCreate]

The space it is in doesn't really bother me but thanks for the ideas.

[@DimaProk]

Wow!

[@MonuChauhan-le9cz]

Sir bena chart k Chudi kesa kata

[@mikenetherlin1209]

use a small roller bearing as a stylist against your template .

[@JaakkoF]

Then your cutter gets as large as the stylus to keep the relation. Or you have to fumble around with the pattern to get the correct shape workpiece, though you can't get a radius smaller than your stylus is.

[@flugschulerfluglehrer]

Jaakko is right. The turning tool and the stylus should have the same shape. Otherwise you do not really copy the pattern. You can see this in the video very clearly. Still, you really did a great job with this attachment.

[@melgross]

It depends on the shape of the pattern. You can get some really small bearings.

[@robmckennie4203]

You can get very small bearings indeed, NTN makes drawn cup needle bearings all the way down to a quarter inch, and cam followers down to 4mm. I think using a roller bearing as a follower is a great idea, it would allow for cuts that require more tool pressure.

[@doright6461]

Cool project. Instead of the trig to adjust radius comp in each pattern maybe just make some cups for a stylus that slide over and set screw to the shaft with blade or wedge type tips of the same radius used to cut. .016, .031, .047 or whatever. A little D2 and flame (fireplace lol) to harden and polish?

[@intjonmiller]

3 psi < atmospheric pressure

[@BuildFixCreate]

In terms of absolute pressure yes. But gauges are “zeroed” to atmospheric pressure so my 3 psi was still greater than than. An air tank with 3psi inside it will not have air rush in when you open it. The gauge means 3 psi over atmospheric

[@miguelcastaneda7236]

change día of the stylus...those out there check popular mechanics 1940s theres a design for this and practical machinist publication..theres website for both free....dont pay$ that guy e bay just photo copys of whats there

[@navaho5430]

Very cool almost beat using free hand turning cheers from OZ. 19 people don't know what your doing.

bubble job..