charles statman

 July 25th, I turned 58 in a rather uneventful day.

today, the 27th, I got a lot done.  solid day at work, stopped to help a friend get a Honda XR70 running, then home..... But at home, I resigned myself to tackle the 4 jaw chuck that came with the Taig Microlathe II.  Gifted from Fred and the Oakland Cloud Dusters,  I've always wanted a Micro Lathe, and this one is cool.

It needed a lot of work to get going,  and there's still much to be done.  I'd like to build a stand for it, incorporating a drawer for tooling, and a top cover to keep dust off.

BUT today was ALL about the 4 Jaw Chuck.

It was very rusty,  I let it soak in penetrating oil for the past week or 3. 

 

 

Today I got after it with cleaning brushes, cloths, carb cleaner, brushes, cloths, wire wheel, brushes, cloths, scotchbrite wheel, cloths, brushes, polishing wheel, cloths and brushes.

shown with jaws open

3rd or 4th polishing pass

 

reassembled, greased, ready for work

 

 

yes, yes, it is not perfect.  I did not sand and smooth every face and surface.   It is badly pitted in some spaces, and I did not want to remove too much material to clean it up

Its meant to be a working chuck,  and it will be

Also  -"but Charles, you have a 3-jaw chuck, why spend time on a 4"
because - 4 jaws in allow a much better grip, stronger centering, and ability to work on longer items.

I used the 3 jaw chuck and a left handed cutting tool to shorten a screw this weekend,  it is okay, but the facing ability and precision is not as good as with a 4.

In other news, July 22nd is Saul's birthday, July 25th is MY birthday, July 27th was my mother's birthday.  msrip

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yqgevHNI-0s

Together and working.   Needs some tuning, but is very close.
I need to order a set of flat spanners to break the chuck off the bearing shaft.
still cleaning the adjustable chuck   wanna be able to quickly swap them

little research shows this is a vintage TaigTools MicroLathe 2    often considered superior to the classic sherline.  

also plan on building a tool tray, maybe a box and drawer that goes underneath it.

this weekends adventure with the Oakland Cloud Dusters was fun. I went to a swap meet, met a lot of guys into flying model airplanes.  Met a great feller who could possibly help me learn to trim and fly my planes much better

He was returning from a club meeting, with a Micro Lathe in his car. Very vintage and rusty, it has been sitting, it is just the project I can attack with vigor

Also a cat launch glider, that I plan to use with Saul

Got it home, unpacked, into the garage! and DISASTER. He also gave me my personal holy grail at the moment, a Cox .010 crankshaft.   (photo is an .020,  the .010 is so rare, its hard to find a photo!)



Which I foolishly put in my shirt pocket. You can see where this is going. I cannot find it. I've looked all over my car, house and yard, at least 372 times, I tell you what. This bit of machinery is about the size of a sliver of your thumbnail, and it is GONE

Seldom daunted, I threw myself into restoring the micro-lathe.

unmounted it from board, cleaned with compressed air, a brush, a cloth, then started with oil and brushes, scotchbrite pads, and other manners of cleaning.

some photos

as received:

 

 

 

then I got to work disassembling


its fierce rusty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lots of soaking and brushing later:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut and routed a new bit of plywood, no pix,  the stain is drying now

hopefully I can counter sink mounting holes tomorrow, rewire the electrical, and maybe have it ready to go ---   I need to learn how to change the chuck,  as the other one is stronger, and will work better.

oh, and how to swap the chuck for a live center.

but its coming along.

now for dinner and a good cry about the crankshaft.

My dad Max would have been so happy and proud.

In 1963 Bell Labs made the CARDIAC - https://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/belllabs_kits_cardiac...

Cardboard Illustrative Aid to Computing.

it was a system to help people understand how computers work, without a computer.

Dad bought me one, but I never could figure it out. At the end of school, Saul decided he wanted to learn more than just computers. He wanted to build an in-depth understanding of how they function. Decision Trees, Flow Charting, Registers, all the base stuff you really need to understand to do more than just shuffle code around and hope it works.

We found an online site with instructions on how to reproduce a CARDIAC, along with the 50 page instruction manual. He is sitting at the kitchen table, working in it now.

Dad would have been so excited. (I am too)