Another Infill

[Leigh Betsch]

Just finished this one tonight. This is the third smoother of this general design, and the last one I plan to make. This one is for me, so I added an adjuster and a chip breaker. The 2"A2 blade is bedded at 55 degrees. The mouth is adjustable, just turn the front knob (knurling isn't just for show!) and slide the mouth from .004 to ~1/8". The body is machined from solid, the sides are one piece with the body and sole, not peined together. The sole is 3/8 thick. The cap screw thread is acme and made of bronze, so it won't gall in the brass lever. The front knob, bun and knob infills are ebony, the tote is walnut that I dyed black to closely match the ebony. I used a double thread on the adjuster, 24tpi and 28tpi with the lost motion I get about .006 (IIRC) forward movement in one full revolution of the adjuster. You can't see it but the slider is bronze and the frog is mild steel.

[Mike Allen1010]

Leigh- absolutely fantastic! This is the kind of work I can only dream about – thank you very much for sharing the pics.

ahem... Maybe some obligatory shaving pictures?

[Leigh Betsch]

The obligatory shavings.... And the knurls....

[Steve Voigt]

Holy crap Leigh. I used to be a machinist, I'm pretty damn good at it, but I bow in awe to your amazing skill. Beautiful work.

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks Steve. I used to be a machinist also, but that was quite a while ago. I have been collecting a few old machines and have gotten back into cutting iron for fun.

I figured the black wood would stir up some controversy, I think a lotta folks won't like it.

[jason thigpen]

I think it looks amazing! The black wood was a classy choice.

[Jim Koepke]

I figured the black wood would stir up some controversy, I think a lotta folks won't like it.

To heck with them!

It is a beautiful piece.

Many of us can only dream about having the ability to make such a fine piece of art that works wood.

jtk

[Ralph Juarros]

WOW!! What a beauty! Great job - it is masterful. How did you get such fine finish on the wood parts? Ralph

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Wow Leigh, that is a beauty! Dumb question, what is double thread?

[Mark Wyatt]

That is awesome.

[Leigh Betsch]

The ebony was finished by polishing the wood then waxing it. The walnut was dyed then finished by spraying four coats of shellac dyed black also, then polished.

The adjusting rod has two threads cut on it. A 10x24 on the end and a 10x28 up ~2.5 inches from the end. The bottom screws into the frog and the middle is screwed to a bronze "slider" that also is attached to the blade. So when you turn the screw clockwise one turn the adjuster rod is "pulled down" .0416" by the 10x24 thread and simultaneously "lifted up" .0357 by the 10x28 which gives a .00595 movement to the blade. I believe this is the same concept as a Norris adjuster, just done my way. Here is a pic that might explain a bit better.

When I pulled the blade off for the pic I noticed that I forgot to install two of the screws that hold the tote! These screws thread into a metal pin that runs crossways thru the tote. Right now the tote is only being held in by this brass screw!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

The ebony was finished by polishing the wood then waxing it. The walnut was dyed then finished by spraying four coats of shellac dyed black also, then polished.

The adjusting rod has two threads cut on it. A 10x24 on the end and a 10x28 up ~2.5 inches from the end. The bottom screws into the frog and the middle is screwed to a bronze "slider" that also is attached to the blade. So when you turn the screw clockwise one turn the adjuster rod is "pulled down" .0416" by the 10x24 thread and simultaneously "lifted up" .0357 by the 10x28 which gives a .00595 movement to the blade. I believe this is the same concept as a Norris adjuster, just done my way. Here is a pic that might explain a bit better.

When I pulled the blade off for the pic I noticed that I forgot to install two of the screws that hold the tote! These screws thread into a metal pin that runs crossways thru the tote. Right now the tote is only being held in by this brass screw!

I see, so the different pitches allow you to make the adjuster a really fine adjuster without using leavers (and backlash) or something, ala Stanley. FWIW, the Norris A5 I just grabbed to look at does not use double thread. It moves the blade .013" per turn, not counting the full turn of backlash. Thats pretty clever!

[Leigh Betsch]

. FWIW, the Norris A5 I just grabbed to look at does not use double thread.

I thought a Norris used two threads, one internal and one external on a hollow rod. I could be wrong though. If not Norris probably some one else. Yes it gives a nice fine adjustment, but it does have some backlash. The biggest advantage over a very fine single thread is that the very fine single thread would have very shallow depth of thread and be subject to stripping and rapid wear. I have a couple of ideas that would adjust the backlash out of mine but I didn't want to spend anymore time on it. If you always keep the backlash going the right way it's no big deal anyway. Just a side note, when the Moore company built my old jig borer, they built extremely accurate lead screws. The machine was designed to be so precise that it literally had almost zero backlash. To prevent machinists from trusting the almost zero backlash, they intentionally put .003 backlash into the fit. This kept the machinists honest having to always take up the backlash while positioning the table. My machine is 75 years old and still have the factory .003 backlash in the x and y screws. Good enough for Moore, good enough for me!

Steve, just remember you started me on this crazy path....