After uploading this I notice that I am wearing a ring for a number of the machining operations. This is an INCREDIBLY BAD IDEA. I will be more careful in the future!
My wife was an ER nurse for 20 years and she can tell you in gruesome detail why jewelry in the workshop is a real no-no. Get a small 2 inch or so square box and put it in the top of your toolbox. When you enter the workshop make a habit of putting rings and wrist watches into the box ... your fingers will thank you.
RotarySMP sent me over and I’m super glad he did. I’ve subscribed and looking forward to binge watching all you content to catch up. 👍👍😎👍👍. This is going to be a very interesting build
Your filmmaking is entirely sufficient, I assure you. I enjoy your sharing what you know and what that knowledge means; perhaps with that wisdom I'll try one of these in the future.
only just found your channel. very good video, so I have subscribed. your format is spot on so don't change the presentation, looking forward to more, Thanks for sharing
Fantastic Video of the GHT VDH, like others, I have the castings and book, purchased several years ago. You are now showing the building of this unit in a precise and user friendly way. Thank you for your time on this project. Saved all build parts, thumbs up and Subscribed for future. Regards Beagles.
I too have had this kit for a long time as I have been building my mini machine shop. Thanks for showing us the setups you chose and things to look out for. I look forward to watching and finally completing this kit.
I decided that if I waited until I had the time to really think the project through I was never going to start it. What you see here is me just taking things one component at a time. Nothing has come back to haunt me just yet but there is still time. Good luck with your build!
I have a similar casting kit. Thank you for putting this up. I intend to reference your fine work when it's time to start. Very well done. I gasped when I saw the part wiggle during the drilling operation. But you managed well inspite of it.... Whew!!!
Thanks for watching. I hope it is useful even if just to highlight some of the things not to do! Good luck with your build it is certainly an interesting project!
I really enjoyed this video. I built the original G. H. Thomas VDH 40+ years ago and watching you work brought back MANY pleasant memories. In my opinion, the finished condition of the spindle thrust faces and spindle bore as presented in the video will cause problems and shorten the useful life of this tool considerably. However, I believe these issues can be corrected with the machinery you have and the investment of a couple of hours at most. Firstly, the the spindle bore should be lapped. This will improve the both the parallelism and finish of the bore and the effective bearing surface. The spindle should be lapped for the same reasons. Additionally the technique used to face the 2 spindle bore thrust faces virtually insures a lack of parallelism and lack of squareness to the bore. Add in the poor bearing surfaces and all your other good work will be for not. I suggest that you use a ring lap to finish the spindle bearing surface to a VERY good fit in the lapped (use a real lap, not sand paper on a stick) bore in the casting. Do all of the turning, threading and lapping of the spindle a ONE SETTING. Without moving the spindle in the lathe, mount the casting on it and secure it with the split cotter. Support the outboard end with your best dead center lubricated with white lead. Run the lathe at a Very Slow speed and at one setting, face both of the thrust faces to removed all traces of the milling operation. The banjo mount boss can also be turned at this setting to improve any finish or dimension issues. Upon assembly, the spindle will run smoothly, without camming and very little adjustment for a very, very long time. I hope you take these suggestions in the spirit that I offer them. Cheers, F. C.
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately the spindle and bore are already together and any lapping now will only make the fit worse. I will probably blue up the thrust faces and scrape them in if necessary to get them square and parallel but lapping at the point of manufacture would have been a much better idea! As it is the spindle I have made has a rather unpleasant bore so there is always a chance that I will remake this part in the future, in which case I will look back on this advice. Regardless it is good info for anyone looking to build their own. Thanks for watching!
Great project! Interesting to see your process for setting up and clamping such an awkward part. Looking forward to catching up on the rest of your videos.
Hi just found your channel & subbed. I have done the sensitive knurling tool by Hemingway kits 8 part series & am on with the large bore steady rest for the Myford 7. Regards. Steve.
Thanks for watching. I’m following your steady rest build with interest. My lathe didn’t come with one so it will be interesting to see how well the Hemingway one works before I shell out for a myford original.
Thanks very much. I have found it a reasonably straightforward and enjoyable project so far. I think the only thing I would definitely do differently is to use the original thread designations from the book and keep everything Whitworth and BA but this probably annoys me more than it should. Good luck with your build!
Thank you. It is an enjoyable project so far. I'm quite tempted to make the Hemmingway filing machine I see you have made also - have you found it to be a useable tool?
@@DrillsTapsDies Yes, it was useful when doing some parts for the Otto Langen engine (filing the excenter shieves). I made the Headstock dividing thingy out of my VDH as I bought a milling machine after i hade made it (milling ops on my myford lathe as in GHT's book). The mill came with a very nice dividing head.
Thanks so much for posting this series. Really looking forward to seeig how it works out! I'm following along as well, you've inspired me to make one myself. My setup is a bit different as I'm in the US and won't be using it on a lathe. After I complete the head, I'll order the mill base.
@Ed Dembowski Great to have you around! I think mine will spend more time on the mill than on the lathe. When GHT designed this it was really uncommon for a home workshop to have a mill. Thanks for watching!
Hello, I’m another new arrival from RotarySMP. Thanks for choosing to vlog this project. Your cadence and style in this early video are superb, in my estimation; I’ll be binging the rest for certain. Cheers! Edit: can I assume your channel name is parallel to Eats Shoots & Leaves ? Well played. 👍
Thanks for watching - yes you are absolutely right regarding the name. I had a data book titled "Drills Taps & Dies" and just thinking of the poor chap made me chuckle every time I saw it!
Brownell gunsmithing supplies has a product called Accraglass that is intended for bedding rifle actions into stocks. It can also be used to increase the rigidity of your shimmed mill column. Just remember to lightly oil either the base or the column to avoid permanently joining the two together.
@@DrillsTapsDies Stefan Gotteswinter corrected the tram in his benchtop mill using just such a technique. The gap caused by shimming was filled with one of the modern epoxies so as to regain stiffness; the clever part was the compressibility of the shims, which were copper. That allowed for fine tuning until the epoxy hardened.
@@624Dudley Yes, I have seen his video. The annealed copper wire trick is brilliant and I doubt it is something I would have thought of myself. I’ll add fixing the mill to the end of the (long) list of things to do!
I'm just starting the same kit - thank you for this great guide to other ways of working it! Here's a newbie question for you. After surfacing the first face, you mount to an angle block and do the base. Why not turn it over, face the opposite end (other end of the spindle bore) and then hold in the vice to do the base? Asked by a guy who doesn't have a decent angle plate but does have a good vise.
Thanks for watching. I think the primary reason I went for the base after the first face is that is the order Thomas suggests in his book! This makes sense on the lathe as the face being machined is at 90degrees to the mounting surface on the boring table. On the mill though, it would have made more sense for me to flip the part and bring the other face parallel while I had all of the clamps to hand. In my case I would still use the angle plate to deck the base. It allows almost all of the machined surfaces to be clamped against the plate. Where as my vice jaws would only grip the bottom (top?) 1” of the spindle housing. I also don’t trust my vice to guarantee squareness when holding something like this! I think if you find some way of providing secondary support with jacks (I should have done this on the angle plate too) and checking square, any technique that safely results in a correctly square and dimensioned part will be okay.
@@DrillsTapsDies Thanks - that makes sense. For practice I have a couple of angle plate castings to bring into true. I'm certain those will debug much of the process!
Thanks for watching! Spindle centre height as specified is 2 1/16. The head was designed to be exactly on the spindle height of a Myford 7 series lathe when on the boring table - as these lathes had the head and tailstocks hand fitted at the factory they are all slightly different - mine has come out at 2.077. I will probably make a riser block for mine to use on the mill more often than not.
@@DrillsTapsDies Thanks for that, a riser block is a great way to go. The myfords are absolutely beautiful machines and this is a fitting accessory. I'm really enjoying watching you tackle the various setup problems and your various tooling. Thanks for sharing your project.
After uploading this I notice that I am wearing a ring for a number of the machining operations. This is an INCREDIBLY BAD IDEA. I will be more careful in the future!
My wife was an ER nurse for 20 years and she can tell you in gruesome detail why jewelry in the workshop is a real no-no. Get a small 2 inch or so square box and put it in the top of your toolbox. When you enter the workshop make a habit of putting rings and wrist watches into the box ... your fingers will thank you.
Really good advice. It is absolutely not something that is worth risking your fingers for!
RotarySMP sent me over and I’m super glad he did. I’ve subscribed and looking forward to binge watching all you content to catch up. 👍👍😎👍👍. This is going to be a very interesting build
Fantastic - Thanks for stopping by!
Same here, just started working through the backlog 😄
Same here!
You are a good man for making this series. Many many thanks.
Thank you. I hope you find the series useful!
For someone who claims not to be a videographer you did an excellent job. Your narration and editing were also very good.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Your filmmaking is entirely sufficient, I assure you. I enjoy your sharing what you know and what that knowledge means; perhaps with that wisdom I'll try one of these in the future.
Thank you.
Absolutely agree!! Compared to some others I have seen, you are light years ahead!!
Excellent work. I made one of these. The GHT design is very flexible. Mine uses a straight shank ER25 collet holder.
only just found your channel. very good video, so I have subscribed. your format is spot on so don't change the presentation, looking forward to more, Thanks for sharing
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
So glad I found this series. Looking forward to watching it to conclusion and will gladly subscribe. 👏👏👍😀
Fantastic Video of the GHT VDH, like others, I have the castings and book, purchased several years ago. You are now showing the building of this unit in a precise and user friendly way. Thank you for your time on this project. Saved all build parts, thumbs up and Subscribed for future. Regards Beagles.
Thank you very much. Mine sat on the shelf for about 4 years before I eventually made a start!
I cant wait to get back on a mill. Files and grinders for now. Thank you for documenting this! Lookin good
Thanks for watching. It's amazing what you can do with an angle grinder and a file!
@@DrillsTapsDies it really is! My shop is a 4x8 patio for now. Its not about what you make but how you make it.
I too have had this kit for a long time as I have been building my mini machine shop. Thanks for showing us the setups you chose and things to look out for. I look forward to watching and finally completing this kit.
I decided that if I waited until I had the time to really think the project through I was never going to start it. What you see here is me just taking things one component at a time. Nothing has come back to haunt me just yet but there is still time. Good luck with your build!
I have a similar casting kit. Thank you for putting this up. I intend to reference your fine work when it's time to start. Very well done. I gasped when I saw the part wiggle during the drilling operation. But you managed well inspite of it.... Whew!!!
Thanks for watching. I hope it is useful even if just to highlight some of the things not to do! Good luck with your build it is certainly an interesting project!
I really enjoyed this video. I built the original G. H. Thomas VDH 40+ years ago and watching you work brought back MANY pleasant memories. In my opinion, the finished condition of the spindle thrust faces and spindle bore as presented in the video will cause problems and shorten the useful life of this tool considerably. However, I believe these issues can be corrected with the machinery you have and the investment of a couple of hours at most. Firstly, the the spindle bore should be lapped. This will improve the both the parallelism and finish of the bore and the effective bearing surface. The spindle should be lapped for the same reasons. Additionally the technique used to face the 2 spindle bore thrust faces virtually insures a lack of parallelism and lack of squareness to the bore. Add in the poor bearing surfaces and all your other good work will be for not.
I suggest that you use a ring lap to finish the spindle bearing surface to a VERY good fit in the lapped (use a real lap, not sand paper on a stick) bore in the casting. Do all of the turning, threading and lapping of the spindle a ONE SETTING. Without moving the spindle in the lathe, mount the casting on it and secure it with the split cotter. Support the outboard end with your best dead center lubricated with white lead. Run the lathe at a Very Slow speed and at one setting, face both of the thrust faces to removed all traces of the milling operation. The banjo mount boss can also be turned at this setting to improve any finish or dimension issues. Upon assembly, the spindle will run smoothly, without camming and very little adjustment for a very, very long time.
I hope you take these suggestions in the spirit that I offer them.
Cheers,
F. C.
Thanks for your input.
Unfortunately the spindle and bore are already together and any lapping now will only make the fit worse. I will probably blue up the thrust faces and scrape them in if necessary to get them square and parallel but lapping at the point of manufacture would have been a much better idea!
As it is the spindle I have made has a rather unpleasant bore so there is always a chance that I will remake this part in the future, in which case I will look back on this advice. Regardless it is good info for anyone looking to build their own.
Thanks for watching!
Great project! Interesting to see your process for setting up and clamping such an awkward part. Looking forward to catching up on the rest of your videos.
Thanks for watching!
Hi just found your channel & subbed. I have done the sensitive knurling tool by Hemingway kits 8 part series & am on with the large bore steady rest for the Myford 7.
Regards.
Steve.
Thanks for watching. I’m following your steady rest build with interest. My lathe didn’t come with one so it will be interesting to see how well the Hemingway one works before I shell out for a myford original.
Subscribed and following with interest .
Thank you very much. Hopefully a couple of installments each week; I have a feeling this could take a while!
I just came across your channel. Great video. Look forward to more videos.
Thank you - definitely more to come.
Great video. I have one of these to make in the near future so very informative. Many thanks.
Thanks very much. I have found it a reasonably straightforward and enjoyable project so far. I think the only thing I would definitely do differently is to use the original thread designations from the book and keep everything Whitworth and BA but this probably annoys me more than it should. Good luck with your build!
Just found this videos. Great to see, I made a VDH as a project some years back.
Thank you. It is an enjoyable project so far. I'm quite tempted to make the Hemmingway filing machine I see you have made also - have you found it to be a useable tool?
@@DrillsTapsDies Yes, it was useful when doing some parts for the Otto Langen engine (filing the excenter shieves). I made the Headstock dividing thingy out of my VDH as I bought a milling machine after i hade made it (milling ops on my myford lathe as in GHT's book). The mill came with a very nice dividing head.
It is similar operations I’m thinking of. I might give it a go next.
Came over from RotarySMP, Liked and Subscribed. :o)
Thanks for watching!
Same!
Rather impressive work.
Thank you so much!
Came from rotarysmp and loving the channel. Keep up the nice work and video format is good. Quick, informative and to the point. Sub’d
Thank you so much. I appreciate you stopping by!
Same!
Thanks so much for posting this series. Really looking forward to seeig how it works out! I'm following along as well, you've inspired me to make one myself. My setup is a bit different as I'm in the US and won't be using it on a lathe. After I complete the head, I'll order the mill base.
@Ed Dembowski Great to have you around! I think mine will spend more time on the mill than on the lathe. When GHT designed this it was really uncommon for a home workshop to have a mill. Thanks for watching!
14:15 damn how I love the simple things in life.
Never gets old!
Hello, I’m another new arrival from RotarySMP. Thanks for choosing to vlog this project. Your cadence and style in this early video are superb, in my estimation; I’ll be binging the rest for certain. Cheers!
Edit: can I assume your channel name is parallel to Eats Shoots & Leaves ? Well played. 👍
Thanks for watching - yes you are absolutely right regarding the name. I had a data book titled "Drills Taps & Dies" and just thinking of the poor chap made me chuckle every time I saw it!
Brownell gunsmithing supplies has a product called Accraglass that is intended for bedding rifle actions into stocks. It can also be used to increase the rigidity of your shimmed mill column.
Just remember to lightly oil either the base or the column to avoid permanently joining the two together.
Thanks for the tip. I have had a couple of people point out that I should man up and fix it so I will check that out!
@@DrillsTapsDies Stefan Gotteswinter corrected the tram in his benchtop mill using just such a technique. The gap caused by shimming was filled with one of the modern epoxies so as to regain stiffness; the clever part was the compressibility of the shims, which were copper. That allowed for fine tuning until the epoxy hardened.
@@624Dudley Yes, I have seen his video. The annealed copper wire trick is brilliant and I doubt it is something I would have thought of myself. I’ll add fixing the mill to the end of the (long) list of things to do!
@@DrillsTapsDies No rush. 😄
I'm just starting the same kit - thank you for this great guide to other ways of working it!
Here's a newbie question for you. After surfacing the first face, you mount to an angle block and do the base. Why not turn it over, face the opposite end (other end of the spindle bore) and then hold in the vice to do the base?
Asked by a guy who doesn't have a decent angle plate but does have a good vise.
Thanks for watching.
I think the primary reason I went for the base after the first face is that is the order Thomas suggests in his book! This makes sense on the lathe as the face being machined is at 90degrees to the mounting surface on the boring table. On the mill though, it would have made more sense for me to flip the part and bring the other face parallel while I had all of the clamps to hand.
In my case I would still use the angle plate to deck the base. It allows almost all of the machined surfaces to be clamped against the plate. Where as my vice jaws would only grip the bottom (top?) 1” of the spindle housing. I also don’t trust my vice to guarantee squareness when holding something like this!
I think if you find some way of providing secondary support with jacks (I should have done this on the angle plate too) and checking square, any technique that safely results in a correctly square and dimensioned part will be okay.
@@DrillsTapsDies Thanks - that makes sense. For practice I have a couple of angle plate castings to bring into true. I'm certain those will debug much of the process!
What the rough spindle height? Asking for a friend...
Nice video 👍
Thanks for watching! Spindle centre height as specified is 2 1/16. The head was designed to be exactly on the spindle height of a Myford 7 series lathe when on the boring table - as these lathes had the head and tailstocks hand fitted at the factory they are all slightly different - mine has come out at 2.077. I will probably make a riser block for mine to use on the mill more often than not.
@@DrillsTapsDies Thanks for that, a riser block is a great way to go. The myfords are absolutely beautiful machines and this is a fitting accessory.
I'm really enjoying watching you tackle the various setup problems and your various tooling. Thanks for sharing your project.
Good 👍👍👍
Thank you!