Metalworking for Home Machinists by Tubal Cain

Author:Tubal Cain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing

Fig. 3.14 Another view on the ML7.

Offer all up to the lathe to see how it fits first, of course. You may find that the bar doesn’t sit quite flat on the saddle; if so (and this applies especially to the thin type shown on the drawing) bow it slightly, so that when the fixing screw is tightened it flattens the bow. (The strong-back, which is a simple job to make, is also bowed with advantage.) In fitting the bracket, part (4), you may find (on the ML7) that the cross-slide gib projects and fouls it. The handwheel bracket has a cavity to accept this. There is no alternative to removing the gib and shortening it as necessary, but this will give you the chance of taking off the topslide, cleaning out the underside, re-greasing the screw, and readjusting the slide when you put it back – all jobs which I do once a year, and the only way to ensure that all stays in order.

Now to make the detent, part (6). Here you will almost certainly have to experiment a little, as it is most unlikely that any spring steel you have will be the same as mine (1.6 mm wide x 0.25 mm thick). Find a piece as near as you can to this size; you may have to reduce the width. If so, then a saw-file (the type called a slim taper) will usually tackle the job, for springs are well tempered. Don’t cut any off the coil but grip the end in a little hand vise so that about 3/16 in. projects. Soften the end with a spirit lamp and then put a kink in it with a pair of pliers. If it breaks off try again, but this time get the spring a bit hotter. The less heat you apply the better, and it is more effective if you have to make three to get the last one right than to overheat the first one and have it fail in service. Don’t cut it off yet.

Find, or make, a little 4 BA screw as shown on the drawing. It should be one with a fairly tall head and should be steel. Put a slot in the end as narrow as you can manage – you may have to grind the ‘set’ off a 6 in. mini-hacksaw blade, but I have an Eclipse jeweler’s hacksaw which is worth its weight in gold for this sort of job. Remove any varnish and, if necessary, the tempering color from the spring and tin it with a small, hot, soldering iron. Enter it to the slot with the screw held in place on the plate and adjust the length until the kink engages nicely with the slots in the drum; then remove the screw and solder the spring in place with tinman’s solder, not the soft resin-cored stuff. Note – if the spring is a bit slack in the slot pack it with brass shim, don’t try to make it good with thick solder films.

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