Repurposing part for a floating tailstock die holder

Had this left over from part of the repair work on my mill. Will probably use it again for the same job in the distant future, but until then I thought I'd give a new lease of life as a floating tailstock die holder.
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/f...he/99350-1.jpg
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I happened to have some round steel bar that was just a shade larger in diameter than the ID of the "cup" so all it needed was a skim to bring it to a slide fit. I then drilled out the centre to 12mm and bored a seat for 1" dies.
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/f...he/99350-3.jpg

Once that was done, I chanced a bit of milling on the lathe to cut a slot in the side of the die holder (I'm still somewhat underequipped in the work/tool holding department for my mill). As I had predicted, she struggled a little with that job as the metal appears to be case hardened to about 1/4" deep, but got there in the end.
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I then measured, drilled and tapped an M5 hole for locking the dies in place with a grub screw and gave it a whirl.
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I've been wanting one of these for ages and I'm quite pleased with the results, despite it being a little rough around the edges :)

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Originally Posted by Canobi

Had this left over from part of the repair work on my mill. Will probably use it again for the same job in the distant future, but until then I thought I'd give a new lease of life as a floating tailstock die holder. I've been wanting one of these for ages and I'm quite pleased with the results, despite it being a little rough around the edges :)

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A new lease on life, I like that. Remaining capable of the previous intention, I like even better.
Paying customers notice "rough around the edges". And precious few have an inkling to produce even that.

Being under tooled is no sin, no one can ever have every bit of tooling in their kit even after years of TAS (tool accusation syndrome)
Also struggling to process a piece of mystery metal can wreck havoc on even the best equipped shops. And small divots in a part that do not prevent it's serving the purpose only matters if it bothers you.
Some things on the other hand do matter when you are repairing a costly item for a customer and sometimes they don't
. While visiting one of the few remaining manual shops with in 150 miles of me a while back they had a casting in for re-man it had been annealed then welded then annealed again they were about 2/3's through the final stages of machining when an end mill struck a hard spot breaking 1 of the flutes. Keep in mind this was a 1.5" 6 flute end mill doing the final pass in a 1" deep slot 15 Hp horizontal mills do not care their mission is to cut anything in the path and should that path become obstructed by a very hard surface in this case an older repair done with the wrong filler material which did not anneal. Even the most robust securement save for a specially made fixture will not be sufficient to prevent damage from an errant cutter. In this case the broken piece of the flute lodged in the pathway of the next flute jerking the casting from the set up creating a deep wide gouge in the side of the otherwise near perfect slot.Also medium sized mills like that one do not stop immediately without an electric motor brake The safest thing for an operator to do is hit the stop button and step away Time to examine the carnage is after ther is no movement
MR Barns and I heard it when it happened from across the shop by the time we had negotiated our way to the machine the operator had it stopped and was scratching his head. No need to ask what had happened it was obvious the casting had a hard spot the only way to repair this we all agreed was to send it to welding have them grind out the bad place and as much of the hard material they could then fill the area send it to annealing but have them spot heat the area first before placing it in the oven.
I don't know how the part turned out as there was no reason for me to make another visit a couple days later. but I imagine they were able to salvage a casting that was worth thousands of dollars

I'm a career center precision machining teacher. Would love to have any and all the pictures I could get of your die holder. Always looking for projects for the students to make to learn the skills and to ADD TO THEIR TOOLBOX.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by vegerj

I'm a career center precision machining teacher. Would love to have any and all the pictures I could get of your die holder. Always looking for projects for the students to make to learn the skills and to ADD TO THEIR TOOLBOX.

Thanks

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As a self taught machinist/engineer just starting out, I can heartily say that your compliment and request have boosted my confidence somewhat, thank you :D

I whipped up this drawing of my die holder for you, I left out all the numbers bar the die seat/cradle?? as most numbers are arbitrary to a large degree, though I will say that I drilled the hole for the die retaining screw just a shade toward the base of its seat. When lined up with either of the little side dimples found on most dies, the grub screw helps to pull the die in and clamps it from two directions (borrowed the principle from carbide insert holders).
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/f...he/99432-1.jpg

THANKS!!!

I made one a couple of years ago that has a morse taper and a shaft rather than being inside a sleeve. I put a spring on it to keep tension and will see if I can do the same here. When you have a spring maker in your lab, you can do those kinds of things.

Any other projects that need springs with 3/8 inch ID or larger please send my way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vegerj

THANKS!!!

I made one a couple of years ago that has a morse taper and a shaft rather than being inside a sleeve. I put a spring on it to keep tension and will see if I can do the same here. When you have a spring maker in your lab, you can do those kinds of things.

Any other projects that need springs with 3/8 inch ID or larger please send my way.

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Drop me a PM with your email, I have a high res PDF of my drawing I can send you, can't seem to attach it here using my phone and I don't have a PC at the moment.

your drawing made it on the forum. I think it would be neat to have a series of holes for the slide guide so it will stop cutting at a specific length. A straight end shaft to be able to put it a drill chuck or a morse taper to use in tail stocks or larger drill presses.

When I get one made, I'll share here!

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Thanks Canobi! We've added your Tailstock Die Holder to our Machining category,
as well as to your builder page: Canobi's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-tailstock-die-holder-11"> <img src="/uploads/204881/homemade-tailstock-die-holder-11.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-tailstock-die-holder-11">Tailstock Die Holder</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/Canobi">Canobi</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/tailstock'>tailstock</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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Hello,

Nice Job.

In the context of this tool what does floating mean ?

Can the term floating be applied to various different tools ?


Bill

If I have this right, floating refers to a part of a tool that travels freely in a given direction. In this case its the inner section which holds the die, it can be pulled all the way out as it's not fixed in place by the outer section that is held in the tailstock.

Not saying this is the wrong description but the term floating holder is usually understood to be a holder that is free to let the tool move to the true centre of axis. Most commonly used with taps and reamers as a slight tailstock misalignment could result in an oversize or bellmouthed hole. I have two sizes of die holders for the lathe and have always thought of them as a sliding holder, very useful tool nonetheless.

Wasn't 100% on my definition so thanks for clarifying :)