friend of mine gave me a 4 inch four jaw chuck for my 9 inch lathe, and since I don't have a backing plate I figured that I would cast one out of some cast iron, or bearing bronze which I happen to have a bunch of.
So I started a pattern yesterday by cutting up some oak and gluing it together so I could make it round today.
heres the pattern in its first stages.
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Bronze would look prity
Easier to melt as well
John
been thinking along the Bronze line, I don't have any trouble melting Cast Iron, just not real interested in the mess it makes on the lathe. Anyway depends on how I feel when its time to melt some metal.
DA
the iron that I've melted all machined nicely with no problems thats not to say that the next batch won't be a bear.
I have to scrounge my bronze and don't have a lot but I have enough of one type to do this with, and besides who else in the neighborhood is going to have a bronze backing plate on their lathe besides me.
I would go for the bronze
John
C'mon John, go for the gold. Ooops, am I not on the olympic site?
pattern with a couple coats of rattle can paint and the just added wax fillet, co a couple more coats of paint and I should be ready to pour tomorrow afternoon for sure Tuesday morning but may wait till Wenesday when my coffee drinking buddy shows up.
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have the pattern ready to mold up and pour but the winds blowing about 30 MPH so no metal casting today.
poured the backing plate today, whats funny is the metal went in the furnace yellow as gold and came out of the mold looking a lot like copper and the stuff I used was all the same color and not a bit of copper in it. Anyway heres the photo
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