At 01:58 PM 9/5/01 -0700, you wrote:
>To: Harry "Hotspur" Wade
>I have owed you a follow-up report on my wheel turning effort. . . .
>The biggest lesson learned was that the surface of cast iron is very tough
>to cut through, (snip)
>Steve
Steve,
Congratulations on the job. Yes, the skin can be tough and there's also
a wide disparity between castngs. Be very thankful you didn't encounter
(apparently) any "hard spots". This is a place where the iron has cooled
to fast and become surface hardened.
The best thing for getting through the crust on a casting is one of
those cheap ($1) brazed carbide tool bits that all the tool suppliers sell.
Another hint, for future situations where the only requirement is to keep
the lathe turning, is to pull it around by hand. That's perfectly legal
and every once in a while, when my lathe won't slow down enough to prevent
chatter, I have to do this. Sometimes the chatter comes from the wheel,
because of its lack of mass, rather than the lathe.
>The little cuts required on a little lathe also meant that I could not grind
>a tool bit to the planned profile of the rim and tire . . . it would have
chattered.
Or stalled the lathe. Profile bits need power and rigidity.
>Having the Taig available means that future projects
>will employ lathe-work as a matter of course instead of being designed to
>avoid custom-turned parts.
Another one has seen the light . . . :-) It feels pretty good doesn't
it.
Cheers,
Harry
