Skimming rollers out of a roller mill. I need a bigger lathe!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I had 2 rollers out of a roller mill that needed skimming.
I took the job on thinking the rollers would easily fit in my lathe, however, I was wrong.
After removing the bearing housing and bearings from the first roller, I discovered the rollers where actually too big to fit in my lathe.
I decided I’d have ago at skimming them in the milling machine instead as I had no/limited other options. I set the lathes tailstock up on the mill and took some measurements of how high the centre was and how much higher the dividing head needed to be to match. I then cnc flame cut some plates of 40mm out and welded them together. This block then needed milling down to 77.3mm for the dividing head to sit on.
With the dividing head and the tailstock to match I mounted the roller onto the mill and set to skimming it. This process turned out to be very slow and chattery because of the back lash in the dividing head. I did a few cuts then decided it wasn’t the right process for the job.
I spoken to 3 people I knew but unfortunately, they couldn’t help, then I remembered my friend on a local farm had a bigger lathe and luckily, he agreed to let me use it. I loaded the rollers up into the back of the poor little corsa van and took them down. Once in the lathe it was a simple and easy job skimming them smooth again.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.
You see two kinds of people when a problem crops up. One says "I can't do it", the other says "how can I do it". If it were a fair world the second guy would prosper more. Sadly I have found that not to be the case, they find they are unable to pass on the full cost of their solution to the customer and take it on the chin .....ask me how I know. Great vid kid. thanks for posting.
You really made your money today. There are a lot of people who would have told the customer that I cannot do it and it is now your problem. You should be proud of yourself for finishing this job.
I got the idea it was their own mill.
Grate work being done bye u u are a good man for doing things other lads woukd walk away from that job
And now he can do more large diameter lathing jobs in the future.
I would have just left it in the machine and turn the machine on and tooken a big grinder to it, then made the adjustment to where the rollers will go closer together. Yes
I love it! ‘I am not making parts for spaceships.’ But finding a solution to every problem! 😊😊
I don't know, maybe Elon watches TH-cam. I wouldn't be too surprised if a work order came in from Boca Chica.
I love the thinking outside of the box to get out of an unforeseen problem. Also, the clever construction of the riser, to allow for clamping, all signs of a good engineer.
Great job Ollie. The way you figure things out proves you are a very careful and knowledgeable individual.
Oliver your problem solving ability is amazing. I enjoy watching your projects work out to perfection. Greetings from West Texas.
If/when you get a bigger lathe, make sure you get a travelling as well as a fixed steady. You were lucky with this roller. About 4 months ago I machined a 340mm dia roller (hollow, 900mm long) and it rang like a bell and there was chatter everywhere, no matter what we tried. We ended making a larger travelling steady using the rollers off a smaller steady. Took about 25 hrs work to make the steady but it worked like a charm. Have another 2 rollers to do in coming months. My lathe is a Victor made in Taiwan, having 660mm x 2500mm capacity. Self taught machinist/mechanic in Land Down Under.
So pleased your mate had a bigger capacity lathe, must have been quite a relief. Using the mill was a good move and does reinforce the old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention". Good post, take care be well.
As an American who owns a truck but commutes in a little sedan and knowing plenty of other guys out here in the Midwest who insist on driving big trucks as their daily driver, you've managed to do more work in your little hatchback than most of those guys have done with their trucks all year.
Also I really enjoy seeing your ingenuity, and while you may not be a machinist, your willingness to overcome challenges and get the job done right is ultimately a testament to you being a true craftsman.
It's good to see you getting some new equipment and machinery Olly, love watching your show.
Kudos for the outside the box solution Ollie. not every shop has millions of dollars of equipment at their disposal. bigger lathe will be nice upgrade when the time comes. new fab/welding table already paying for itself
Most intelligent. Fantastic job of solving the problem that others would have quit on.
No BS, just another easy to understand and down to Earth video.
Oliver's problem solving ability is truly amazing. 👍
Like CB at @NBSWELDING says. "Learn to work with what you have. That way you always have what you need." Enjoyed the video.
your ingenuity is consistently off the charts
Hi Oli love what you do and been following you for a while now. We’re only in Thirsk so not far away. We have same problem as you with only 2 phases coming in. Not a major problem for us. Your best option would be a Diesel generator wired into a separate distribution board that just serves your 3 phase equipment. It could be set up so that as soon as you switch a piece of equipment on it automatically starts the generator and switches it off when you switch the equipment off. I’ve been an industrial electrician for over 46 years and set a few systems up for clients along the same lines. Solar panels with batteries will be expensive to install and won’t be as efficient in the winter. Hope this helps. Keep up the good work. Regards Ian
@ianmcgowan-xh6uu If reliable running surface water is available on the Snowball property, would small scale hydro-electric generation make sense?
Also an industrial electrician here, have you read the rest of the comments, only think missing is a hamster wheel 😂😂. Yours is very Sound advice I think. Split phase is very misunderstood by a lot of people (as it was only ever supplied to farms needing more power back in the 60’s) as you know it’s nothing of the sort it’s only a 480V centre tapped supply.
1-2 gallon garden sprayer for coolant?
@@johnwarwick4105 Thanks for explaining, so its bit like the US homes 110/220 systems, so when I see two lines on the poles across a field it’s not phase and neutral it’s two phase, the transformer on the pole is centre taped 👍😀
My cousin used to have a small machining workshop down in Wiltshire - couple of lathes and a few different types of mill. He used a 3-phase diesel generator - simple, reliable and easy to install. Allowed him to run several machines at the same time.
Regarding 3-phase power -- if you were thinking about making your own 3-phase from solar or generator with battery storage.... at that point you're doing DC to 3-phase via a 3-phase inverter. In that case, you could skip the solar and generator and generate DC from your split-phase AC. Basically an AC (single phase) to DC to AC (3-phase) converter, similar to how an "online UPS" works. That is to say, if you're looking at generating your own 3-phase AC, consider using your existing power supply as your generator rather than going full off-grid with solar/generator (unless you separately desire being off-grid as another goal)
One of the main attractions to watching your show is that, there but for the Grace of God, go I. You very much accomplish excellent results, often without the very fancy equipment seen on many other shows. Please take this as a compliment, from a realist working Joe like me !
A couple of little screw jacks could have pushed that pulley assembly off. They are quite easy to make. Those taper bearing adaptors can confuse some people who don't know how they work. No lathe is big enough and no workshop is ever big enough after a while! You dont often hear people say my lathe is too big though! Cheers and thanks for the video.
You completed the job very well, I could imagine your frustration at the start ! A bigger lathe would be handy not sure how big a one you could fit in the workshop, go much bigger and your jobs will grow with it !
I said oh my god what's he doing to that poor little van !! I imagined you would have a Transit size pickup. Thanks for sharing your work week. Brian from South Yorkshire.
I believe he needs more space, period. Easier said than done. Keep up the good work.👍🏾
Thanks for explaining what the things you fix, actually do. Brilliant seeing how you work things out from scratch - keep up the good work. One of the three highlights of my TH-cam weekend; Friday am: Cutting Edge Engineering, Friday pm: Farmcraft 101 & Sunday your good self. Cheers.
I watch similar but you forgot Ashville and Wellderfabber
That milling setup... Looks like some vast alien insect attacking an enormous sausage roll.....
Piece of advice, until it becomes second nature: put your free swing and between center swing dimensions on the lathe with a marker. There's no shame on it, make it big and easy to read. I did the same when i first started, because i had the exact same cockup. Happens to everyone. :)
The smile on the guys face unloading those rollers! 🤣
I've made a thick U-shaped piece of steel and tapped it. Then I could drop it behind the pulley and then run bolts through the tap holes into the plate in front of it and drive the pulley off. It's worked for me many times.
A tried and trusted way to do it
My friend CB says " learn to use what you have, and you'll always have what you need ". Remember, the best tool you have is between your ears 😁. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.
You do a pretty good impersonation of a machinist 🤠
The first dimension you mentioned on your lathe is “Swing over bed”
Which is the absolute largest diameter that will clear the bed.
The second one is “Swing over caridge”
I think your lathe also has a removable gap if I remember correctly which lets you turn an even larger plate with a limited thickness.
Great to see your outside of the box thinking and determination to complete the job.
Looks like you owe Angus one. I’m sure you have fun stuff he doesn’t have.
Nice of him to let you film at his shop.
I don’t know about phase converters but welding from batteries and solar panels is probably going to be expensive.
If the suns not shining your welds are also going to be short 🤠
So for my 2c worth a generator is sounding a lot more like a stable option. You can turn it off when you’re not using it.🤠
I love the inventiveness you show in difficult jobs such a shame it was too much of a scrotum ache to continue.
Easy mistake to make I think I would have done the same forgetting the saddle height above the bed.
You overcome the problem so it’s as I always say.
Every days a school day and the job was completed.
👍👏🙏🚜
Another brilliant video, Olly. Great to see investing in new equipment and growing
For off grid power especially with the requirement for 3 phase you'd need a lot of money. PV system along with MPPT inverters and batteries would cost around £24,000 and more than a 50kva diesel generator. Rotary phase convertors are equally as good as using a VFD but your single / split phase 240v is most likely already at it's limit
Hi Oliver, There will always something that doesn't fit the machines we have. But there are always ways around the problem. You just need to be a tad inventive.
There is a you tuber called Keith Fenner who is in Cape Cod USA, who 5 years ago he had to line bore the main bearing housings in a 5 cylinder Audi engine. The centre height to the crankshaft was well above the spindle in is Clausing lathe, but his set up could be copied to to do your current project. In basics, he made two bearing supports to carry his line boring bar and mouted those on the bed and mounted the engine block on the lathe carriage. He only had to turn the bearing housings so relatively short turned sections, and he had multiple tool mountings in the line boring bar. In your situation, if you had to bearing mountings (that could be height adjustable for future projects) you could mount those roller shafts in those two mountings, to drive the (line shaft in Keiths) the roller in your instance you would need a drive shaft with two universal joints (one each end) monted in the chuck and to the roller shaft, so the part is now turning as it would in the normal chuck tail centre, you could make a tool holder to take up the height difference to either mount HSS tooling or indexible tooling.
If you want to view Keith's videos, this was a multi part project called "Because I Can Part 0ne, Two etc.
I hope that is helpful for other projects in the future,
Best Wishes, Dennis, Queensland Australia.
Keith Fenner hasn't posted a video for 2 months now.
He was most recently working with molten lead, pouring babbitt bearings.
Am hoping he didn't have an accident or fall off the wagon.
@@andyloebrown8250 Keith posted to Rumble 22 days ago.
@@kindabluejazz oh thats wonderful, thanks.
The best problem solving channel on YT...and you still have a back window in the Corsa!
Well done ,we all want a bigger lathe !
You are a young guy. Young guys do experimental things when they have Problems. It is a Try and Error Thing!😉
Great video. Just like me never stuck. I did not read all the comments. But you could make a coolant tub and hang it from rafters and gravity feed the coolant. Just saying mate.
You ain’t scared of hard work boy! Bless you for that! love from Cornwall!👍🥟
Nice to have mates who have a lathe you can use, hope you cleaned up before you left. 😂 Re your off grid question, have dealt with something similar before but it's not cheap. Your best option would be to instal a 3 phase hybrid converter, this takes power from multiple sources when needed, solar, wind, generator or mains. From solar and wind you would need storage batteries, as you need the uninterrupted supply.
If you can, speak to Tom Pemberton, am sure he got a grant to help with his solar panels. Good luck. 👍
There's usually a plan B, but sometimes you have to think outside the box in order to find it. Well done Olly
Got there in the end. Plan B was ingenious using Starbug. But Plan C saved the day. Must admit I have never seen a grain crusher for cattle. You used to see small versions for horse feed. But I never worked anywhere that fed grain other than brewers grain. All the feed lots for the beef cattle in Australia feed grain. I just didn't come across it working dairy.
Instead of a solid state inverter you could use a electric powered motor generator set which produces true 3PH power from single phase at a fixed Hz either 50hz or 60hz then any 3phase equipment will operate w/o execption however you will not have any variable frequency speed control for equipment with electric motors. This is a generator set with an electric motor replacing the diesel/gas engine for a power source.
I would have milled grooves longitudinal on cylinders then sent out for induction hardening of cylinders to make new grooves repairs very longlasting. I would have explained to user how much longer service he would get from extra expense for the hardening.
Further improvement to upsell user is to add adjustable cylinder crearance allowing user to adjust clearence between cylinders for wear and to keep cylinders perfectaly parallel, and user can then use grain cracker for varing sizes of grain. Ray Stormont
I got one of these because i only had 1ph 220Volt 16 amp in my hobby space and needed about 2kW of true 3ph 380 Volt to run my Sixis 103 mill. It works as advertised, dims the lights a bit when starting up but it kept me going. Now i have a new hobby space with proper 380 V 3ph. I had converted my smaller mill and shaper to 220 Volt so now i have to convert them back again, good thing i kept the original electric motors.
Hi Oliver, good idea using the mill, and clever use of the tailstock, and dividing head spacer. This setup will be useful for other jobs, as to a new lathe my advice would be first work out how much space is available in your shop, and then shop around for the the lathe whith the most capacity that will fit in there, they'll always be a use for it in the long term in your kind of work. Atb Stuart Uk.
Not much experience myself with off grid systems, but Victron is the brands with the best reputation for off grid systems.
You worked very hard for the customer. Well done, I might have given up on it!
For a bloke that reckons he's not a Turner you'd make a good magician Oliver. Well done.
WOW. you do things the hard way a lot.
Well I can’t do it the easy way without the tools to do it 🤷♂️
1. This is one of my favorite videos. I like the unique problems and how you get around them. Good job!!
2. When I saw the helicopter I thought the CEE team were coming to help.
Impressed how you came up with a work around to get the job done. Doing it on the mill would not be ideal but it worked! Great job 👍
Wow Oliver, What a amazing job, Your skill level and thinking outside of the box is amazing,
Love your videos.
From kiwi land
Another great video. Thinking outside the box is what will keep the jobs coming when other people are out of work. Always looking forward to the next video.
Easiest solution for a three phase upgrade is to buy a surplus military three phase diesel generator. You can find them with ridiculous low hours.
Someone send this man a new pair of gloves😂..great work mate!!
Great video highlighting how important it is to have a right tool for the job. Also that even without a right tool, there is always another way to do it. Never let the customer down and always have great friends around you that you can rely on.
Regarding your power supply. I watch Kris Harbour Natural Building, he’s done some great projects for himself and others. Has a lot of knowledge about wind, solar and hydro setups. His own workshop is run on off grid energy that he’s set up himself. Collaboration like that would also make great content for both of your channels.
Yes, I watch his videos. He’s a clever man
I think you do great stuff just like a "Yorkshire Terrier" ! A thought I did have was a motor driven welding chuck may have helped also useful for "other things".
Hi Oliver, love how much you have come on in the last few months and how you think your way through problems.
As for your power questions do a search for kris Harbour natural building. He runs his workshop totally off grid and uk based. We'll worth getting in touch with
Well done on the difficult job Oliver 👍Thanks for the video share and good luck in getting a bigger lathe mate 🙂
getting it done again , nice problem solving to work it out so you could do it on the Mill . me i would have just told customer i made a mistake and can not do the job . but in your true fashion you persevered with it then remembered another shop , friend and he had a machine big enough to accommodate the job well done . i say But mate your choice of transport !! i think was yet another problem solving exercise .
Bigger lathe really would consider the amount of jobs like this you get to do . Bigger workshop to put all the new machines in . may also solve your power problems at the same time . a UTE may come in handy as well . your 3 phase problem can not help there except maybe the power company can provide this you are on a property . sure you would have checked this out already . really enjoy your videos keep them coming when you can Cheers from AUS .
Really admire your persistence to see a job through. Excellent. Thanks for posting!
That was a mission mate !! Still it's all about learning these things so you'll know next time ,
Another great video Olly, I almost thought we were going to get through an episode without Harry the Hyster making an appearance but luckily at 38 minutes the world was put right again! If you have the money, solar panels, three phase inverter, battery with an auto start diesel or LPG (propane for our American friends) generator as a back up against weeks of cloudy conditions. Contrary to popular belief solar panels work even better in cold weather than they do in the hotter climes assuming no snow coverage or extended periods of overcast conditions.
You're just a very clever guy Olly, and a pleasure to watch keep the vids coming
One of the hardest working fab guys on TH-cam! You should have 500k members easy. Great work Oliver!
Maybe one day!
Nice work again Ollie, anybody can make a mistake but not everybody can fix it. Regarding the three phase, a small circa 20-30kva diesel genset wild do what you need with simplicity. Sure it’s possible with batteries panels and inverters but for the current you require would be very costly I imagine compared with the genset. You could use the waste heat from the genset to heat the workshop. From what I have seen from your abilities you would be able to maintain and repair it no bother too. All the best.
Your knowledge and engineering skills never cease to amaze me! I wish i was like you 😊
Instead of using anti welding spatter spray you should try welding blanket on the table. I know you would need to make holes for the clamps but I believe it will be of much help to protect the table.
Nice to have friends with big equipment! We had a feed mill that included both a hammer mill and a rolling mill. I was surprised to see the grooves as ours never had them ? I now understand really how badly they have been worn I wonder if the owner is steam humidifying the grain before rolling if you skip that step we got a lot of cracking and dust that got sucked out the top of the cyclone on the air conveying system. Nice job on the rollers but I think they are going to have to have new cylinders installed to make them durable over the long term.
I am reading your license plate as YOLO...OOW for that haul.
Awsome video man there is always more than one way to get the job done . Being willing to try different and new approaches is key . I love this stuff to tell you the truth I’d rather have the old school milling machines or lathes then a new CNC machine knowing how all the tools and machines work is way more important to me then speed and repeatable procedures.
You should be able to use VFDs (variable frequency drives) for things like your plasma cutter, lathes etc.
They're pretty cheap too
This job really shows exactly what is engineering. Finding solutions rather than giving up. I hope young watchers get inspired and excited by your down to earth videos. Super Mill to the rescue 😅 poor corsa, heavy load 😂 your friend has a nice lathe setup with gantry hoist. Future purchases 😃 American Army Trucking ⭐ Solar & battery sounds a good solution but pricey. Maybe a grant 🤔
Excellent recovery job. Investment in the new pieces of kit are clearly well judged. Thanks for posting
Victron energy makes 3 phase inverter setups for solar/off-grid systems, look them up on their site, its basically 3 parallel inverters programmed to have sinchronizes phases
Great job! Very enjoyable and inspiring to watch! Anything is possible when you put your mind to it!
At 5.36 mins you need to remove the sheave pulley and a spacer. I have similar set ups where I work, and we use what's called a strong back which aids removal. There are strong back kits available to buy, but you have the machines to make an individual strong back when required as we do. We machine a circular disk or blank, drill shaft clearance diameter in centre, then cut to O/D of the blank to allow fitment over the shaft.
Two holes in blank to take suitably sized thread bar and utilise the hydraulic puller and fork to complete the puller. Sorry for the tome ;)
No problems just solutions. That's problem solving at its best. I thought maybe yo might have milled down the tool bed on the lathe but what do I know I'm just a telehandler operator in the construction industry. Love what you do, just keep doin it.
Nice vid Olly, i have done some milling in my time,i would say when you rotatianlly mill you need flat bottom cutters,which cost an arm a leg and a kidney. If you use an inserted cutter,unless you have many psi of coolant,don't bother with a spray. I noticed clamping,maybe it was a camera thing, but the heel of the clamp always needs to be higher than the clamping surface, and when surface milling make sure the swarf goes to the back of the machine ,and not down the front of your t shirt, it really does hurt,not making judgements just saying
Necessity is the Mother of all Inventions! Great job Ollie!!!
Look into rotary phase converters. If we only have single phase, here, we can hook up the rotary phase converter and get straight three phase power off of it. Not expensive very reliable at least here in the states. I’m not sure about the UK.
Ive got one.
I've gotta say, your mates gantry crane set up is pretty smart. Must make jobs a hell of a lot easier getting it on and off that lathe.
Use a phase converter to run 5hp or 10hp 3 phase motor (abb 1336 offers a variety of voltage options and will run from single phase power). Then take the 3 phases from the motor and it will run any 3 phase equipment with proper and clean 3 phase power.
That’s what my rotary phase convertor does.
@snowballengineering do you have a 3 phase motor that is started from a single phase and then used to generate 3rd phase due to rotational inertia (aka phase converter)? What I described is not a phase converter in that sense, but a true 3 phase power source that will run anything, given proper vsd and motor sizing
As always, a pleasure to watch.
Love your work truck!
So basically, the Right Tool for the Right Job. Love your channel, hope it gets to 100k subscribers soon!
This reminds me of what I learned as a combat engineer in the US Army. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. I always added "And disinfect and deodorize with a fresh, clean scent." My sergeant hated my sense of humor. Sometimes you just have to solve the problem with what you have on hand. I have seen a lot of bad ideas that worked. If it is stupid but works, it ain't stupid. Desperation can be a great motivator.
If I had a bigger lathe to give you, I would. Keep up the good work.
3 phase inverters are available, so you would need a suitable power source and battery with a 3 phase inverter of the power you need.
37:42 If Mr. Musk should happen to see any of your content, he'd beg to differ. You do very good and precise work!
That's what it is all about - improvision
Thank you for sharing, another great job, i learn a lot have a nice sunday 👍👍👍👍
Coolant pump was a bodged in central heating pump that was £10 on eBay years ago. Was only temporary but still going strong. Saved a load of cash and works perfectly.
Your a farmers dream it breaks and you fix it. Great job and video.
i guess that's one job done at a loss, but the main thing is that you got the job done for the customer. Good thing you could use that bigger lathe at the other machine shop. It saved the day.
I doubt it was a 'loss', just not high profit per hour. Accounting for lost labor in a private business is only valid if you have your time 100% booked at full charge. It may have just cost him a few less hours playing video games. 😲And time spent also goes towards learning for future jobs, which can then be reflected in higher rates with more experience.
Hello Oliver,
Can I make a suggestion for a “custom made puller” after seeing you struggle, at 6m.30s, trying to get the 4 vee belt pulley moving with a crowbar with a risk of slipping and smashed knuckles?
1-Cut a a U out of a heavy piece of plate to fit behind the pulley.
2-Weld 2 lengths of steel to the plate parallel to the axis.
3-Weld a short piece of steel to the 2 lengths of steel
You can now hammer on the short piece in line with the roller axis to get the pulley moving.
Design improvements when time allows-
1-replace the long steels with 25 mm studding.
2-fit a slide hammer to the short piece of steel.
Hope this idea gets you out of a problem in the future.
I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and I am really impressed by the way you solve the problems that crop up on each job by making the tooling/jigs you need, such as the line borer/welder.
Looking froward to the next video.
Hi hope this of help , i have had a off grid house for 15 years now , i started with a 1.5kw wind turbines and a battery pack ( used fork lift batteries ) the average wind speed here is 5 metres per second , i soon realised at this wind speed the actual average out put of the wind turbine was only 150 watts (10 % ) of rated out put most of the time ! i moved on to a 10kw w/t on a 18 metre tower , this was alot more useful again working on the the fact that 5 metre per second was the average wind speed i would now get a more use ful 1.5 kw out put .
After a lot of you tubing i decided to try solar , i have now got 11.5 kw of solar , which is way over kill in the summer , but i angled them at a low than idea angle for summer use to make the most of low sun for the autum and spring , this works really well and the w/t is only used on bad light days and winter , but be aware , over cast still winter days you get next to nothing from w/t or solar) , for example i have other grid tied solar set ups , in summer i see up to 26-28 kw a day produced per 4kw system, dull day in january .5 to 1kw produced
Storage ! i have about seven tons of forklift batteries , again after lots of you tubing , lead acid batteries life is related to the depth of discharge ( deep you discharge the battery the quicker you kill it) so the bigger you bank the longer the life of the batteries as long as you have the power to recharge properly
Because the wind turbine is 150 m away from the battery bank i had to go for a high voltage system , the battery bank is 240v dc , which made the dc to ac inverter more difficult to find , after a lot of research i found a company in china called Sandy they provided me with a 240vdc in put /240v ac out put inverter , the inverter
will deliver 10kw constant and 15 kw peak more than enough for my use , the inverter has been running for over 10 years now so worth alook as they also do 3 phase inverters
But be careful with chinese companies , i have found the spec 's and the pictures you see is not all way what you get , but i can recommend Sandy
Had you considered grid tie solar on the farm , my thought would be buy the kit your self , fit the panels your self , have an electrician wire the grid tie inverter and not have a contract with any provider ( what i did ), Sandy may be able to offer you a split to 3phase inverter , batteries are a hassle , expensive and have a life span
Well this has been a bit long winded but i hope it was helpful
Hi Oli,
Not trying to “backseat machine”, but had a couple ideas while watching (and ran them by my brother who is a master machinist (as in master tradesman) to check if I’m delusional with my setups or if it would be an “okay” / “ok in a pickle” idea).
For the cut depth dilemma you had (checking across the whole length / noticing in the middle) you could have done a cut just on x (without rotating) across the roller in 1 or more orientations (rotating the roller) to check depth, instead of milling the entire circumference of the roller over the entire length.
As others have mentioned already, the backlash issue could have been avoided by conventional milling, this would have cut down on your cutting width, but would have likely given you a more consistent cutting load, allowing you to use a drill (e.g. the feed of your line-boring setup or “just a hand drill”) to basically convert the indexer into a driven 4th axis. Once you have that, cut width becomes less of an issue, and you could have used your auto-feed in X to spiral your way down the roller.
Having an “auto-feed” 4th axis would (at least if speed was adjustable, e.g. by using the line-boring feed motor) have also allowed you to mill the spiral groves across the roller by slowing down the rotation and then auto-feeding across in X.
An option for your cutter issue would have been to use the shell mill with the Y-axis offset, so you are cutting on the “Y corner” of the cutter. Since the cutter is fairly large, you could have gotten away with a fairly wide cut, while still being “flat enough”. The increased number of engaged teeth would have equalized cutting forces and the cutting forces would have been in one direction, rather than mixed as they were with the end mill running on center and cutting full width.
Another option would have been to use the shell mill on the side (the long 45° edge of the inserts roughly tangent to the roller, the cutter “behind” and below the top of the roller), cut width would have been smaller, but like conventional milling your cutting force would have been in a constant direction.
PS.: do yourself a favor and when you’ve got a minute flip your indexer spacer around and add matching keys to the bottom for future setups and write down / knock out a small fixture / guide for positioning the tail stock, if you are planing on using the setup occasionally (the amount of setup work required often dictates which solutions you are willing to use / are worthwhile and reducing the dread of “having to use” a setup is key...)
I find the tool/jig making really interesting, I did think you might make a puller with Leadscrews around the outside.
Kris Harbour is a TH-camr in Wales that has setup his own off-grid machine shop. Perhaps you could try a collaboration, I'm sure watchers your and his channels will like the other.
There is no way that anyone of normal means can have every tool and machine needed. Any young person with the means to have anything desired is unlikely to be in business to need it. Ollie, you are doing great for your age and resources. The new table is a fantastic addition. Kurtis is gradually filling out his machine line but then he is in a market that commands higher rates to help finance his acquisitions. Then, a larger lathe might draw some work from the heavy equipment industries.
Ollie, for a bigger lathe, maybe look into Colchester (UK) or Lion (Bulgaria). Mr. Topper has a "new" Lion and Mr. Vanover is rebuilding an older machine. IMO, much is said by those American gentlemen using a Bulgarian product.
BTW, that looked suspiciously like a WW2 vintage American made tractor. The star and OD (olive drab) paint are powerful clues. FWIW, I'm a "Yank".
A quick look around the internet says that's Reo Motor Company World War Two Model 29XS F-1 refuelling tractor. Reo built 1,740 of the 29XS for the USAAF (US Army Air Force) which were used to pull large fuel trailers. Search on "W54027 army truck" for images of the tractor with a tanker attached...
I think freqency Converter would be ideal In your application. Those are expencive, but it will be More relaiable the batteries.
Sir, you are a genius. Fair play to you.
Nice job. Re the 3-phase needs, I would suggest solar would be a fail. You could potentially have a battery pack charged by a single-phase charger, outputting via a 3-phase inverter. Something else to investigate, is called a 'rotary phase converter'. These normally uses a motor-generator combo, to essentially generate 3-phase on your premise (efficiency can be poor, be not much of an issue if only for short periods).