Monster Cane Mill Restoration: Finishing the Pouring Mandrel and Making Holding Fixtures

[@troyboyd3100]

I'm so glad that you show how much work goes into these "little" projects. Most people who ask us shop guys to do "little projects" for them, have no idea of the amount of work involved. I hope you get at least some compensation...

[@davidc6510]

Another great episode on this restoration project. Your willingness to show mistakes and how to fix them or compensate for the challenge at hand is a real plus with your channel. Thanks for sharing.

[@ddblairco]

thank you Keith

[@oldschool1993]

Tack weld your 4 plates together and turn them in the lathe- once 3 are to size- flip them around and grip with inside jaws and finish the 4th one. When the 4th one is done you can leave it in the lathe, turn the face and the step and cut away the tack weld and each one will drop off finished.

[@GeorgeWMays]

I really admire your tenacity. What a chore that turned out to be. Thanks for a very entertaining video. It's much appreciated.

[@garybrenner6236]

I wonder when he is going to show some tenacity on the Stoker Engine.

[@nickblood5040]

Thanks Keith for showing us the whole process, warts and all (UK expression). We all know that nothing always goes according to plan, nice to know you are as human as the rest of us.

[@katelights]

omg put some welding blankets on the lathe bed when welding

[@RobertBrown-lf8yq]

…AND when linishing/grinding.. Robert

[@katelights]

@@RobertBrown-lf8yq I commented before I got to that part

[@johnwallace9002]

Also don't run amperage through the bearings put ground on part.

[@RobertBrown-lf8yq]

@ Yep… looks like that is what he did. Earth clamp was on the shaft.

[@tr5317]

While watching the boring head at 22:55 , I noticed the work bouncing back and forth - not the head or mill column- so not camera shake. Was the table locked? Sorry for being one of the arm chair machinists. Because of you, Adam and Keith F, I had the courage to acquire my own small lathe and mill.

[@alstonofalltrades3142]

You are not an armchair machinist. Not that I have anything against all the people who keep on enjoying these videos who don't plan on getting what you've bought. I've watched plenty of boat building channels even though I never plan on building a boat but always wondered how they are made every step of the way. As you've said you got a lathe and a mill, you're going to make things and overcome obstacles. Nice one fella.

[@Panzax1]

Yeah, the table was moving a lot. It goes along with the rest of the roughness. But you know: It's gonna be fine....

[@kevinroberts7158]

I always flinch when you start welding before I can look away. And yes, I worried about weld splatter on that beautiful machine.

[@peterhobson3262]

I'm not good enough a welder to be unconcerned about weld splatter on parts of the lathe.

[@adeeponionbrah]

Get ready Keith. They are gonna let you have it this time!

[@wbix2298]

18:15 Real world. Truly instructive. Thank you sir.

[@mysterj1]

Morning, friend. Glad to see your video, I’m unable to sleep - the Mrs was diagnosed with breast cancer and in a few hours she has an MRI to see where she is. Praying it was caught early and no spread.

[@rogertrett406]

Very best of luck to you both.

[@SweetTooth8989]

Best wishes to you and your wife.

[@jamesbonnema1041]

I will pray...

[@robertrowse1028]

I'm sure we are all thinking of you

[@Spaceman_spliff]

Keep us posted if you feel up to it, thinking of you and your wife! Fingers crossed you all caught it as early as possible!

[@RobinEanes]

Good Morning Keith, A good way to space rings on the reversed lathe jaws is to use neodymium magnets stacked on the inside jaw steps as a spider for relief of the boring bar , They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses and are cheap on Amazon , They stick better than glue and I have never had them come loose at normal RPM's . Thanks and keep on machining !

[@danmerillat]

I was thinking tacking bar stock to the backside of the piece since a quick pass in the mill or grinder guarantees height consistency, but yeah, rare earth magnets are super cheap and powerful. I've got a collection pulled from dead hard drives that'll crush fingers if you're not careful.

[@danielelse3914]

I think that this is the first time I've seen you use the portable belt Sander. Amazing tool.

[@madmodder123]

the weld spatter on the lathe ways made me cry

[@dicksargent3582]

And the grinding dust from the belt sander!

[@jimdean7335]

I don’t think weld splatter sticks to cast iron, but still a blanket would make me sleep better……

[@LindaJuffermans]

@@jimdean7335 I don't weld but a blanket still makes me sleep better.

[@dicksargent3582]

How about the grit from the belt sanding ?

[@RicktheRecorder]

I was hoping the earth clamp was directly on the shaft, and not via the lathe spindle bearings.

[@paulschonewald4735]

The boring head unscrewing from the shank is exactly what happened to me 2 days ago, completely off, the same left hand boring bar came to my rescue too, damaged the first thread on the shank but easy fixed.

[@briancox2721]

For those freaking out about welding over the ways, remember: it's likely over the gap piece where the carriage doesn't travel, Keith has the skills to fix it if he needs to, and it's not your machine.

[@chrisarmstrong8198]

I'm still freaking anyway. It also wasn't clear where the earth clamp was attached. Hopefully not the lathe bed.

[@cooperised]

@@chrisarmstrong8198It was on the shaft halfway to the tailstock, you could see him moving it a couple of times. Still not something I would do, one bad earth and that's a lot of current through the rollers of your headstock bearings...

[@tonybrock5288]

I'm crying for your lathe bed right now

[@tonybrock5288]

One can get away with errant behaviour in the short term, but discipline will guarantee long term viability (and employment)

[@garybrenner6236]

He should go back to his old job!

[@johnpietros9439]

You do notice the lathe bed protectors don’t you.

[@georgekitchen953]

Thanks Keith, you take me back to days when i done similar work. People don't relies ,what a headrace it can be doing a restoration.

[@edsmachine93]

Good morning Keith, nice work prepping your mandrel for the babbitt pour. Should work out great. Thanks for sharing. 👍🇺🇸👍☕️

[@johnsjunkyard]

Green loctite solves the unscrewing issue. I now have a dedicated boring head with an MT3 arbor 😂

[@paulputnam2305]

YOU really are a “Professor of Machining”

[@argee55]

Another informative video. Thanks for sharing.

[@donacha235]

I bore disks similar to what you're making very frequently. I'll use vice parallels of the same thickness to float the part off of the seat of the jaws. After tightening remove the parallels of course.

[@Unrivaledanime]

That really kicked your behind good job working your way through it

[@scottvolage1752]

Thank you, Keith, for the video.

[@MrChevelle83]

Knowing how to run a lathe and machine that part, I know that was indeed a lot of work and probably much more than you expected because it sure was for me!

[@johncloar1692]

Thanks Keith for the video. Quite a job but another step along the way.

[@erwe1054]

Обороты великоваты для такого диаметра.😇

[@piperjohn_3]

Excellent job overcoming the problems on this. I wonder if they used a mandrel similar to this for pouring the bearings when these mills were in production at the factory.

[@farmallpaul4518]

Thanks, Keith! That's the kind of machine shop video I like!!

[@pdxRetired]

Keith, thanks for bringing us along. We can only imagine the original production tooling for these parts. I would guess they did similar to what Keith is doing. Lots of effort went into these machines.

[@leedale4008]

Did anyone notice the mill table moving around during the operation 😬

[@petegraham1458]

ThT should make the pour go well! Looking forward to seeing them done.

[@walterplummer3808]

Good morning keith! Looking forward to the pour.

[@glencrandall7051]

Nice setup. Well done. 🙂🙂

[@ssboot5663]

Keith is a great problem solver! Thanks for the videos! >>Welder AND sander belt grit on a lathe makes me cry! Screw on boring head, who would have thought it screws on? Boring head need a set screw modification! I also notice you tighten the quill lock when down feeding. (is that chatter control?)

[@machineshopbasicsforthehom2291]

Keith!!!!!!!!!!!! You have a rotary head milling machine!!!

[@butter262]

Good morning

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. 👍

[@mikecabe6127]

Thanks for the video and carrying us along on the journey!!!!

[@isbcornbinder]

good job.

[@masteruniverse3506]

A lot of work for a little project is right. As always, Thanks!

[@5eZa]

i'm dying inside a little, watching weld spatter and grinding sparks land on thoose lathe ways

[@bobtorrence3461]

Always love watching your videos while I enjoy my morning coffee. Glad you always post videos up in morning!

[@Gogsnik]

I don't think I've seen keith end a video looking so dirty, so I know that was a tough job getting all those pieces finished!

[@geneard639]

I can't wait to see you soot up that mandrel!

[@timf6916]

You got this, Good job

[@dannyl2598]

Thanks Keith.

[@stevenclaeys6252]

Thank you for another Great video. Cheers

[@biggseye]

An elegant solution for a very big Babbitt job!

[@thefirstcalled]

TY!!!

[@smaggies]

Great work amazing to view, thanks Keith :)

[@stuartschaffner9744]

Great job! I do have one suggestion, however. As I understand it, when you were cutting the mandrel surfaces on the big lathe, you were using a steady rest on the center shaft, at the midpoint between the lathe centers. This is the standard solution for the vibrational problems that you were having, but it seems that they actually made them worse. I noticed that while the two end cylinders were exactly aligned with the lathe rotational axis, the center shaft surface had some visible runout. Could you have machined a slight inset at the midpoint of the shaft, just wide enough to accommodate the steady rest and just deep enough to remove the rotational eccentricity? In the final product, this shaft is only for alignment, not bearing a load or torque.

[@garybrenner6236]

Great job, are you kidding, he never machined a steady band on the stock, he just forced it to run true with the steady rest running against the rough stock! If he was working for someone else he would be fired!

[@stuartschaffner9744]

@@garybrenner6236 , I meant overall a great job and I'm not kidding. It was a tough job and he got it done.

[@919Drones]

Shouldn't you cover the ways when welding. Love your videos.

[@davidhudson5452]

Bet you will be glad when it over well done

[@jimfiles3307]

I wonder if the right side bearing block has been repaired, as indicated by different dimensions. I also wonder if the right side gets a pulley or something similar that would justify the deeper caps. Also, is the shaft parallel with the bearing cap mating surface?? I need to get that sanding attachment.

[@robertrowse1028]

We can all have problems. It is how you sort it out that shows skill

[@alstonofalltrades3142]

To be honest I wasn't expecting a video while there is all that clean up from the hurricane to be done. Still glad to see this monster sugar cane mill come back to as new condition. I like the use of the word "insurance" with the babit dam material. I can't work out if its needed or not. where the babit is poured gets the most heat. would it run out of the gaps of them metal mandrals like water. or would it cool and seal?

[@johnlottes7440]

Keith, I'm curious why you didn't tack weld the "Dam pkates" together for the boring operation.

[@JasonAWilliams-IS]

Curious if you're going to send the pouring mandrill with the cane mill when you get it done, or are you going to keep it?

[@tonybrock5288]

I love your work on Tally Ho etc! Those jobs would be everlasting though if you got more behind the science of chamfers and fillets to reduce stress risers and the resultant failure points. Self taught is ok but one has to expand somehow.

[@garybrenner6236]

Hey Tally Ho, anyone who has worked on anything made in England knows why they needed the USA to win WWII.

[@phlodel]

I had the same dilemma with a boring head. I had a large braze on lathe bit and I machined the shank round to fit the boring head. It was kind of difficult to set up in the 4 jaw chuck.

[@hughdanaher2758]

I wear glasses similar to yours for everyday use, but once I got a metal splitter in my eyeball, I switched to prescription safety glasses. I’m not a pro like you and an amateur like me shouldn’t be giving advice, but we both have eyes that need protection 😊

[@kevinwayne7546]

cool

[@Ervan-l9v]

Restoring a lost art. Makes one wonder how they did it originally. I have encountered several old machines with babbitt bearings and wondered how they did it. I did prepare to pour a set on a large band saw, had all the material and talked to several old machinist for information but unfortunately never got the opportunity to complete the job.

[@trentbowen3649]

Was the knee locked when you did the boring? It looked like the table was wiggling as the boring bar oscillated.

[@RichardHassett]

Wait a minute! You are turning the boring head counterclockwise. Why didn't shank unscrew from the head? . . . Never mind. I liked that you planned ahead and ordered those rings for the dams. I could have made the dams into two days work. head slap

[@natwooding9394]

I wonder how many of those monster mills still exist. There may be others needing new Babbitt and, if so, at least that part of the project is done.

[@Kami8705]

Would it be worth making a more universal pouring bar? The same design you have now, but with spacers to set the length of the end pieces and different sizes of the end pieces? You don't these semiregularly, although I guess you often just use the actual shaft. Could make an interesting series though.

[@CatNolara]

Hmmm, couldn't you just have used some shims under the rings in the chuck? Looks like some 1/8 sheet could have already been enough

[@ianpendlebury9503]

Exactly! The irony is that he ends up using 123 blocks as clearance 'shims' in the mill!

[@ellieprice363]

This is a temporary fixture that will only be used once. A few marks from the jaws won’t hurt a thing.

[@ianpendlebury9503]

@@ellieprice363 The comments were relating to spacing the work off the FACES of the chuck jaws so a simple boring bar would suffice. Not shimming the outer surface to avoid marring the outer surface of the rings.

[@ellieprice363]

@@ianpendlebury9503Oops, I misunderstood. Shims to space out the plate until it could be clamped is a good idea. The face not running true caused the shaft to warp.

[@danmooney7192]

I'm surprised you didn't cover the lathe ways before them welding

[@rexmyers991]

I am guessing it will take TREMENDOUS amount of energy to preheat the beds prior to the pour.

[@ESaboHowGravityWorks]

I think that tubing steel didn't like being turned on the lathe.... Still cane out great!

[@rogertaylor1589]

What about the vertical K & T with the radial head for boring and stepping the doughnut dams?

[@SettledBatches]

19:00 - Had a Jet lathe with a thread-mounted chuck; you did NOT cut in reverse.

[@richardtaylor7199]

Great job Keith, great vid for me to watch but from the cost side couldn't you just have used made two sets of bearings from the side with the built in dams how accurate does it really need to be?

[@stevebland6008]

NO FIRE BLANKET TO PROTECT THE WAYS FROM SPATTER ??

[@LindaEmmerich-th9xo]

always flexible

[@SgtCude59]

Where u get the sanding attachment for your grander

[@samuraidriver4x4]

It's a pipe polisher/grinder. With those keywords you should be able to find one. Don't buy the cheap ones, they dont last at all and often have specific one off belt sizes instead of a standard.

[@tomswindler64]

Nice 😎😎😎👍👍👍

[@coldpond]

It seemed like the boring head had a slight wobble, although all came out well. 👍

[@DouglasMiller-iz9yu]

Is the center of the shaft parallel with the other shaft in this mill?

[@Hrmert]

Love you r video's. I was noticing on your mill that in the beginning of your cuts that the table oscillates side to side. I didn't know if that is normal ?

[@cemx86]

At 19:32 - I think that some blue locktite might have solved your "unscrewing" issue.

[@joepeanut6827]

WOW, He doesn't even cover the Ways or the Chuck on the lathe before he welds. I guess it doesn't matter to him if that that Weld splatter sticks to the ways.

[@garybrenner6236]

He's a Butcher!

[@BedsitBob]

Could you not have cut (or bought) three pins, the same diameter as the counterbores in the chuck jaws, where the screws fit, and use them to space those ring out from the jaws, to give clearance for the boring bar?

[@camaroguy2919]

Is it normal for the mill table to move like that during that operation?

[@WobblycogsUk]

That poor poor lathe bed. I couldn't see the grounding, fingers crossed it was out of shot on the tail stock end.

[@oleran4569]

I wondered the same thing, but the ground was clamped to the center bar. He can be seen resetting it in the welding video segment.

[@CothranMike]

@@oleran4569 best place for it, direct link, not passing through any gearing for arcing potentially (pun intended)

[@Ron-k8e7f]

that sounds just like my john deere b running there

[@RolfZale]

I hope that you put the ground connector on the workpiece and not the lathe!

[@RambozoClown]

I was wondering if that boring head would unscrew. I had to Loctite mine many years ago for just that reason.

[@PixelSchnitzel]

The better solution is to use a left-handed boring bar so the head can turn in the correct direction as designed.

[@RambozoClown]

@@PixelSchnitzel That only works if you happened to have a left-handed bar available. I've only had a need to run a bar out the side maybe 5 times in 20 years, and it's only Criterion and their clones that have that goofy threaded shank. Wohlhaupter and others have no problem spinning either way as they have flanged or integral shanks. As soon as I saw Kieth running that CCW, I knew what was going to happen, as I had the same thing happen, years ago. Nice that happened before the final pass.

[@PixelSchnitzel]

@@RambozoClown It's not only when you're using the side hole. It's any time you're doing inside boring. If your head is not threaded to the shank, great. If it is, it's best to use the right tooling.

[@RambozoClown]

@@PixelSchnitzel For standard inside boring you use a right-hand boring bar with the head running CW. The only time I would run CCW is using a right-hand bar sideways.

[@PixelSchnitzel]

@@RambozoClown Oops, I mean outside boring. If you're outside boring with a vertical bar and want to run CW, you have to use a left handed bar. Or if you're inside boring with a horizontal bar, you also need a left handed bar. It's easy to recall when you're in front of the machine and not behind a keyboard. With a threaded head, it's never a good idea to run CCW.

[@lokinya]

How well do those babbitt bearings hold up? Let's say with daily use and proper oiling in a factory, like back in the day.

[@erwe1054]

30 лет

[@billdoodson4232]

With correct setup and maintenance and running the machine correctly with good lubrication, they can last for years. Old style slow speed marine diesel engines used poured white metal bearings for all of the rotating parts, the main bearings in particular could last for 10 years. The big end bearings less.

[@garyviso8709]

time stamp 23:00 it looks like your table is loose

[@tonyjones9715]

👍

[@aner_bda]

Would have been easier with the soft jaws, but definitely quicker being able to do all 4 at the same time on the milling machine!

[@dcrahn]

Another mistake is after each adjustment on the boring head you're not locking in the setting, rookie mistake.

[@mariusj8542]

Could be lost in editing, seemed to get a good fit at the end.

[@ellieprice363]

Snug up the locking screws for a medium heavy drag and you’ll never have to touch them again.

[@mr.b2232]

👍😎

[@SciPunk215]

Just think of how much use you will get out of that mandrel in the years to come. 🤣🤣

[@snowtiggr]

Welding over unprotected bed ways ??????