Changes - a New Spindle is Born...

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Above left, the fruits of today's workshop machinations: the change-wheel stud I've been promising myself to make for quite some time, now. The original remaining stud is on the right, its partner lost decades ago - it uses a split pin to hold the change-wheels in place, but I'd decided at the outset to machine a flange to achieve that function: there will be a fibre washer between it and the outside change-wheel to take lubrication and aid smooth rotation.

A couple of mishaps in the final machining of the piece, however: I broke a lovely little parting tool that I inherited with the lathe, when it snagged at the last minute, which meant I had to resort to the deprecated method of using a hacksaw to part off the fat end of the piece to form the flange: You'll note the scar to the knurling on it: me being cack-handed with the saw.

Sixty-year-old chuck-jaws mean that recentring the piece to face off the end was a bit hit-and-miss: a new chuck would be nice, but expensive. One thing that would be a great help would be a new, fully adjustable tool post - again, expensive to buy - I'd make one if I'd got some way of milling stuff: we'll see what the future brings, but this little bit of tool-making is personal triumph enough to be going on with: it should enable me to produce a better finish on turned objects in future. All I need now is to engineer an automatic saddle-stop for the lead-screw: keep you posted...

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