Re: Do I really need an arbor press ?

On 4/12/2025 7:29 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Bob La Londe"  wrote in message news:vteup7$1jgvb$1@dont-email.me...
 

I have debated something like a watch maker's lathe for smaller parts,

 Here is an option for turning small parts that aren't collet sized and may need close in hand work like filing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373813537400
 

One of my projects from a gazillion years ago...  I used to play Calcutta pool tournaments in a local bar growing up.  My mom okayed it, and the bar said it was okay for me to be there at night during the tournament.  During the days I'd stop by to just play if I had time and money, but at night I was only allowed in for tournaments.  I think I started around 12-14 years old.  It wasn't until I was 16 that I won my first decent jackpot. A few years later I started shooting in three tournaments a week.
Anyway, during that time period I discovered what I liked and didn't like about some cues, and I found I liked a cue with less taper in the shaft.  Unfortunately of the cues I found with less taper I could afford they tended to be warped or very light or both.  K-Mart used to sell a line of pool cues with a Dufferin brand name.  They weren't cheap, but they were a lot cheaper than many of the more famous brands, and they were built with a good straight, straight grain maple, probably rock maple, shaft.
I also bought a wood lathe for another interest.  I made a plate that threaded onto the spindle of my wood lathe with a screw through the center to thread on the chuck from a hand drill motor.  I made this with scrap/junk parts we had laying around.  It wasn't perfect, but it was not bad.  The Dufferin cues had a metal shaft stub on the front shaft that extended into the rear shaft socket when threaded together.  This made them very tough and usable as a breaking cue.  I never had a joint loosen up on one.  I would chuck that stub shaft in the drill chuck, and then poke the leather tip onto the tail stock center.  I always replaced the tips with a softer tip anyway, so that was no big deal.  This setup allowed me to reshape the taper of a 21 ounces cue to something I liked better and still have a 19.5-20 ounce cue when I was done.  I got back part of that weight by wrapping the big end with 72lb braided dacron fishing line.
Anyway, sticking a drill chuck on the business end of a lathe is nothing new to me.  I did it long before I learned how easy it is to do with modern machine tools like Snag suggested.  The 8.5x18, the 7x16, and the 14x40 all have tapers or taper adapters that can easily accept a standard Morse Taper.  I don't know about the turret lathe.  I haven't checked.

I made a 1" (into collet) to 1-1/2" - 8 adapter for mine, which is stamped "1/8 - 5/8 cap." It also allows a large chuck you don't want to change to hold small work. They screw directly onto this style of indexer:
https://www.amazon.com/DBM-IMPORTS-Universal-Dividing-Spindle/dp/B0881MKLXG
 

I have made a few straight collets for special things.  One I use fairly often is for a #7 drill on the big (for me) manual mill so I can maximize table clearance for tall parts before I have to swing the head and hang a tall part off the side of the table.
Sometimes when I have small parts I'll use a straight shank ER collet in the set-tru chuck or the 4 jaw chuck on the 14x40.  RPM is a little low at a max of 2550, but it works.  ER collets don't have much range in a single collet, but they are available between metric and standard inch in such a greater number of sizes that its rare you can't find one that will work... and I may have stretched, or over tightened one once or twice.
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Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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