Surprising failure in wheel experiment

Something has been bothering me. I spent a lot of effort to get the hole in the drivers concentric with the tyre, but then who knows what happens when the axle passes through that hole? Indeed, I’m fairly certain the axles are neither concentric nor perpendicular to the tyre. So, as I have to make […]

Dispensing cut-off oil

When I started cutting steel with my lathe, I used a brush full of oil to lubricate the part. By the end of that first encounter, I was covered in so much oil I was almost drafted for Turkish wrestling. My T-shirt was ruined. Over time, I found that for cutting and facing operations, a […]

Lathe crisis averted

All I wanted was a hole! The next step for the drivers is to make an aluminum collet to hold them while I face their backs, and this was going to start with a hole. I was merrily drilling deep into that cylinder of aluminum, when the drill bit bound and ripped the tailstock spindle […]

Driver blanks for 622

It has taken a week longer than I wanted to turn the drivers for 622. These are made from 303 stainless steel, which I’m fairly convinced is almost the limit for my little Sherline lathe. Certainly, all tools need to be sharp, and shallow cuts are de rigeur. Along the way, I have seen a […]

First four tyres

The photo above presents the first four Proto:87 tyres to be found among the chips around my lathe. These are the 30″ pilot wheels, and their brass centres need to have spokes cut in before getting soldered into the tyres. They’re not perfect, but every wheel is better than the last, and I think these […]

Wheel Progress

Parts for the first wheel rolled off the lathe this week. The engine truck wheels are only 8 mm in diameter, and have eight spokes. The spokes themselves are only a couple of millimetres long, and so, I have elected to make these wheels in two parts – a tyre and a centre. I actually […]

Quite wheelish

My puttering with the form tool is starting to result in things that could be mistaken for wheels. These ones approximate the 30″ wheels for 622’s pilot truck, but with the gross flange of my homemade form tool. I faced them down to the correct 1.63 mm wide, and cut the spoke recess in the […]

Sneaking up on tyres

I may have been a trifle optimistic about finishing the learning phase before 20 hours are out. I’m still discovering how to hit a given diameter with a form tool. It seems to be equal parts art and science. My approach is pretty much to make each tyre individually. Sure I take note of where […]

Vaguely like wheels

I’m a little over ten hours of practice into learning to use my lathe. To tell the truth, I don’t think I will need the full twenty hours I’d planned. Already I can do most of what I need to be able to do to cut wheels. Wrecking my only Proto:87 form tool would make […]

Learning to lathe – progress report

A while back, I posted my plan for learning to use my new lathe. I’m now about four and a half hours into the practice part of learning. I’ve produced a bucket-full of swarf. At this point, I can confidently turn to a diameter and get a reasonable finish on a part. I’ve managed to […]