BigShed
Member
I said a few days ago I would do a separate thread on "found" materials. I like going to garage sales, as does my wife, but we tend to look for different things:biggrin:.
Some time ago I picked up a set of dumbbells in a garage sale (for a princely $2 the set), mainly for the cast iron disks, maybe for some backplates or face plates.
However when I was looking for some 25mm plus bar for some slitting saw arbors, I discovered I had none left, I spotted the 2 bars from the dumbbells and wondered they would do the trick. Pretty rusty and wasn't sure whether there was still some chrome plating under all that rust.
Nothing ventured nothing gained, put some in the lathe and took some off using a 10mm indexed carbide tool.
Turned it down to 1/2" to fit my 1/2" R8 arbor
Milled a flat on it
Turned a tenon to to fit in the slitting saw
Cut that part off on the bandsaw
Bored out the recess for the tenon
Tapped for M6 socket head
Recessed cap for socket head
Yay, it fits
Made a few more whle I was at it, from L to R, 60x1mm, 60x0.8mm and 40x0.5mm (that one came out another piece of smaller diameter bar)
So, keep an eye out for useful bits of metal, and other material. I have become a real bower bird since I acquired my metal lathe.
Look past what the article actually is, for instance I have a nice collection of precision metal bars salvaged form discarded printers (the small gears come in handy at times too) and old scanners. They often cost nothing, people are glad to get rid of them, or they may cost a dollar or so.
Some time ago I picked up a set of dumbbells in a garage sale (for a princely $2 the set), mainly for the cast iron disks, maybe for some backplates or face plates.
However when I was looking for some 25mm plus bar for some slitting saw arbors, I discovered I had none left, I spotted the 2 bars from the dumbbells and wondered they would do the trick. Pretty rusty and wasn't sure whether there was still some chrome plating under all that rust.
Nothing ventured nothing gained, put some in the lathe and took some off using a 10mm indexed carbide tool.
Turned it down to 1/2" to fit my 1/2" R8 arbor
Milled a flat on it
Turned a tenon to to fit in the slitting saw
Cut that part off on the bandsaw
Bored out the recess for the tenon
Tapped for M6 socket head
Recessed cap for socket head
Yay, it fits
Made a few more whle I was at it, from L to R, 60x1mm, 60x0.8mm and 40x0.5mm (that one came out another piece of smaller diameter bar)
So, keep an eye out for useful bits of metal, and other material. I have become a real bower bird since I acquired my metal lathe.
Look past what the article actually is, for instance I have a nice collection of precision metal bars salvaged form discarded printers (the small gears come in handy at times too) and old scanners. They often cost nothing, people are glad to get rid of them, or they may cost a dollar or so.
Last edited:
