steel supply

[BillTodd]

Oh well, I wanted the steel for to make a former for my brother's tube bender...

During the meanwhilest, Dick (the brother) has welded three 1/2" hot rolled plates together and ask me to turn a 7/8" radius into that


I had to make the radius turning tool out of odds and sods (so don't take the P*** ). The fabricated plate turns quite well, except it has hard spot where it's been heated by the weld, making chatter over small random areas (very odd).

The pics were taken about 0.1" from complete.

[John S]

Nothing wrong with that Bill, looks fine to me.
I'd do it exactly the same way, probably a slight variation on the tool but the end solution would be almost identical.

.

[irving2008]

Oh well, I wanted the steel for to make a former for my brother's tube bender...

During the meanwhilest, Dick (the brother) has welded three 1/2" hot rolled plates together and ask me to turn a 7/8" radius into that


I had to make the radius turning tool out of odds and sods (so don't take the P*** ). The fabricated plate turns quite well, except it has hard spot where it's been heated by the weld, making chatter over small random areas (very odd).

The pics were taken about 0.1" from complete.

Bill, for the sake of the uninitiated (i.e. me, but a few others here i suspect) can you explain how the radius turning tool works and how you made it?

[BillTodd]

Bill, for the sake of the uninitiated (i.e. me, but a few others here i suspect) can you explain how the radius turning tool works and how you made it?

Well, the bearing block is (I think) part of a motorcycle hub; I fitted a couple of 5/8" centred ball races and turned it down to fit the clamp (the right-angled bit) from my home-brew T&C grinder. The clamp is bolted to another steel plate drilled to fit the tool-post bolt.

The tool is a broken solid carbide PCB drill, re-shaped into a pointed lathe tool. It fits into a cross drilled hole in the main 5/8" vertical bar clamped in place by a grub screw. The radius (7/16" in this case) is pre-set by the tool over hang.

The 'design' is determined by the semi-circular profile required and the size (7" diameter) of the part. It has to hang off the compound 'cos the Hardinge cross-slide will not fit under the part.

It's simple to use; once the tool is centred on the part, the cross-slide if fed in by 10-15thou then the tool is turned with the handle AKA 4" allan bolt :) - Repeat 'til complete.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oR3QTDLpcI"]YouTube - radiusturning[/ame]