NEW TOOL !!!

[frisco]

Well,..... A few weeks ago I took delivery on my new "Super Spacer" After working with my lathe for a little bit, I found it's (my) limitations. Having a full size mill and small lathe (Grizzly 10x22) I really felt there was something missing. These were two separate tools with two separate duties and nothing really to connect then together.(At least in my head as I figure out how to machine something)

Discovering the "Super Spacer" was new to me. I have a rotary table for my mill and I love that..... I knew what a "Indexer" was (That round plate with all the holes in it scared the P out of me!) I knew I could put a lathe chuck on my rotary table.... But it would end up being 200lbs. I had seen Indexers with a lathe chuck on it.... But never with the rotary table cranks on them.

So now.... For those of you who don't know what a "Super Spacer" is....

It's a true rotary table with a lathe chuck mounted to it. It can be used horizontal or vertical. What makes it special or "Super" It comes with a set of plates that mount in the back of the rotary table. You can set it up for 2-3-4-6-8-12-24 stops per revolution. Ha Ha this is awesome!

Now I feel much more is possible between the mill and the lathe! I can now chuck a bigger piece of round stock in the Super Spacer and hog it down to a size my lathe likes in minutes. I can now mill flat sides into flashlight bodies and motorcycle parts.... And on and on....

The part you see in the chuck now is a tool that fits into a motorcycle front axle so you can loosen or tighten the nut on the other end. I might have enough of these sold to pay for my "Super Spacer" on it's first run.



frisco

 

[tvodrd]

Looks a lot like mine which is a 6" (chuck) Vertex brand from Taiwan I think I bought from Enco. (How I did the top plates for the VSS-3 tanklight tripods.)

Larry

 

[frisco]

Nice part Larry.... Mine also is a 6" chuck.
I plan on making motorcycle wheel spacers and some custom camera mounts and camera rigging.

Only thing stopping me now from making my own one off scratch build Ti flashlights, is learning how to thread.

frisco

 

[fludunlimited]

now I know what Ill be geting with some of my
stimulus check:wave: thankyou Mr Bush.

edit to add how much dose it weigh.

 

[precisionworks]

Nice tool, you'll find lots of uses for that:thumbsup:

Another tool you may want to add is a 5C spin index (aka spindex or coffee grinder)

Mine is a Suburban Tool Spin Master (photo above) which costs about the same as two McGizmo Ti lights ... the spindle is hardened & ground, the bore is reamed & honed, and TIR is guaranteed to be less than .0005". It allows indexing to 1°, so it cannot do as many tricks as the super spacer, but the 5C collets & hollow bore make it a really useful tool. (FWIW, mine was eBay purchased and cost less than a dozen Surefire CR123's)

 

[frisco]

The thing I need to get next is a Tailstock that mounts on the milling table. It has a 5c collet and than I can use either a live/dead center or a bullnose. This will make machining longer items (mag bodies) possible.

frisco

 

[precisionworks]

With a lathe & a mill (and maybe a welder), you may be able to fab up a tailstock. Most use a dead center, as there is no rotational speed to deal with, only the axial force as the tailstock is tightened into the work, and the radial forces of milling/drilling, etc.

EBay always has a few listed. That one is from a Powermatic wood lathe, but looks as sturdy as the one on my South Bend metal lathe. $20 current bid, Item 300234371006

 

[cmacclel]

Funny I just put one together 2 weeks ago myself. I already had a 6" rotary table and bought a bison 6" bolt through chuck. I had a CNC buddy make me an adapter plate and it works great.

I was going to purchase a completed one like your self everytime they went on sale but could'nt bring myself to pay the $75 in shipping. Enco has a nice 8" phase II model for $369 + $75 shipping when it goes on sale.

Mac