[Shop-talk] turning the end of a bolt.

[Mike Rambour]

  I have a 1/2" bolt that I need to do 2 things to the end of the bolt.  
I need to drill a .125 hole in the middle for about a half-inch and turn 
the end down to .39, the bolt itself is 2.5 long and 1/2" diameter.

  I tried chucking it up in my 3 jaw chuck and I can't get tightened 
down without wobbling all over and the hole I need to drill would not 
end up in the middle of the bolt, also the turned down part would never 
be right.  I have tried quite a few different things to get tightened 
down without wobbling all without success.  The lathe (shoptask 
bridgemill) came with a 4 jaw chuck that i never installed, would that 
help ?  I am at the point where I am thinking of cutting off the bolt 
head, doing the machining and then welding the bolt head back on.

  This is non-critical part, so not worried about strength, just needs 
to be finger tight when installed but that .39 x .450 long machined end  
with the hold is critical to fit.

  I am NOT a machinist by any stretch of the imagination, I bought this 
shoptask 5 years ago and only used it once so far, I had a old sherline 
mini lathe that was way under powered for what I did with it and I used 
a lot so I decided with a bigger lathe I would get to do more things...I 
was wrong.  I don't know what I am doing and sometimes too scared to try 
and mess up my parts.

  But I am getting to the point in my current project where I can see 
use for this thing.  I have a plate that I need to mill down and instead 
of taking it to a shop to have it done, I am going to try it on my own, 
its just a carburetor spacer, nothing critical measurement wise.  If I 
mess it up, its only a $20 part that I can buy, so I will try it out.

  Once I get past this bolt thing...

     mike


-- 
A gun is like a parachute, if you need one but don't have it,
you'll probably never need one again.