Collet Chuck and simple drill vise I made

[harry strasil]

Collet Chuck I made with Internal Chuck adapter I made. Adapter sleeves with work with both.

[harry strasil]

George and I are not trying to outdo each other, we just like to show things we have made. His Look much better than mine. I just like to make tools. Hopefully we get to meet face to face someday.

[george wilson]

Hi,Harry. I was just using a similar expanding mandrel to turn the ivory discs on the bobbin of the flyer and bobbin I had to reproduce. The only way to get hold of the discs of ivory,and turn all surfaces,was to hold them by the hole. Old time turners made up similar mandrels from boxwood. They could turn ivory,wood,or even soft metals with boxwood mandrels.

Nice work on your collets. Doesn't a 9" Southbend usually use 3C's? I've wanted a 9" in the past,a classic lathe.

Maybe later I could post a picture of holding the ivory on the mandrel. I had some leftover pieces,and could put the setup back together.

[Raney Nelson]

I don't care if you're trying to outdo each other or not - I hope you both keep the photos coming.

[harry strasil]

No point to trying to outdo each other, I don't stand a chance. I used to be very active on a blacksmithing site and also a machinist site, but then they got likr some of the posts on SMC, always doing the most complicated time consuming way to do something simple, till it got to the point of being ridiculous. I have always tried to stay more or less to the subjects of the forums. Maybe I over simplify things to much. From an early age I was taught to get it done and out the door, keep it simple and the cost down for the customer.You don't need fancy stuff to do good work.

[george wilson]

I learned my best machinist tricks from an old guy who knew how to do all kinds of work with very basic tooling. Professional,modern machine shops used to call upon him for problems they couldn't solve.

This guy was very frugal. He made an extra $300.00 a week way back in 1963,which was good money then, and not even full time, by taking 3" socket head cap screws that are always threaded half way up,as normal,and threading them all the way up with his 10" Southbend Lathe. He needed a 1/8" dia. nylon plug stuck into a hole near 1 end to make each bolt vibration proof. Did he buy a 1/8" rod of round nylon? No,he got chunks of nylon at scrap yards and sawed hunks out of them. These hunks he turned down to make 1 or 2 plugs. Wasted a lot of nylon!! He made these bolts by the 5 gallon pailful for some shipyard with a special need for fully threaded bolts that were self locking.

He had 3 or 4 different lathes during the years I knew him.He kept selling them,and also used tools. He always got another 10" Southbend to replace the last one,though.

He had several bare bones old car garages near his house,and an old small wooden grocery store full of all kinds of machinists and woodworker's tools and some machines. I got some of my nicest things from him. I don't know where he got all the stuff. Probably at auctions of Government surplus. He must have had 200 brass propellers from WWII landing craft. I still have some real good Swedish tool steel I bought from him. It is about 1 1/4" wide,and 3/8" thick,but has round edges. It is flat stock. Must be real old to have that configuration.