My New Lathe & Mill
 

I got a lathe about four months back and a mill a few weeks ago. I am about to get a serious start on a dozer. I have been learning how to operate both machines and have had a few little learning projects already come thru the shop.

My most recent project is making some steady rest wheels for my brother-in-law. The steady rests are for a fishing rod lathe. I also did a set if pneumatic brakes for an RC jet, and a conversion of a belt reduction drive to allow an electric motor instead of glow. Also pictured are two prototype track pads I'm thinking about trying a pinned crawler track for the NyLint dragline.

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4s5jiom7.jpg

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...psvb9yjxba.jpg

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...psavwp2el8.jpg

Re: My New Lathe & Mill
 

Hi jim-as a non-machinist, all I can tell you is practice, practice, practice and learn all you can. Looks like you are off to a good start. One thing I can say I learned about the tracks. The pin placement in the track pads is critical to getting the correct pitch. I would say make several track pads and assemble them and see if they have the correct pitch around the sprocket. On my shovel the pitch was different with the pads laying flat than when it was wrapped around the sprocket and I never got it exactly right. Just experiment and work it out. Good luck Tom

Re: My New Lathe & Mill
 

Welcome and congrats on the new toys to make toys :). I also am a self taught machinist (wanna-be) :). Model man is right with making just enough to see if they work. Titandigs, Paul, has a dozer thread with awesome machining skills. He was the one to tell me about track pad spacing. If they are too tight they will get clogged and spring up like a ticked-off cat. I forget what he recommended but at least a few mm between pads/shoes. I ended up re milling all of them to allow a bit more space. If I make tracks again I believe I will try and add relief holes to the pads. Good luck and once the tracks are done the rest will be a lot less repetitive work. Only time I really have track problems is when I'm not paying attention and turn sharp in loose dirt filling links then the sprocket packs it in and slips. Just like 1:1 machines you really don't want to have a lot of dirt/rocks spill into track links. And keep posting progress pics, it's always interesting to see what others find solutions for and how they go about it :)!!

Re: My New Lathe & Mill
 

And I was just referring to dozer pads, I don't have any experience with crawler/crane tracks, I don't think they are as critical.

Re: My New Lathe & Mill
 

Nice Work im a student of machinist , and must say nice Work . dont know if you are using a micrometer for all details ? . i have made a lot of jobs from bike parts , repair jobs , and a lot of tools . im glad to help if i can .