I had noticed that my big drill press wasn't giving me vertical holes, so today was the day to try to true it up. The table had been finished with a pass from a very large flycutter or face mill - something around 16" diameter judging from the tool marks. Checking with a square showed that the table needed to 'nod' to true up front to rear.
Since I now have a lathe that's big enough (the table is almost 14" diagonally), I decided to face the table. Because of the large diameter, I needed to use carbide at the slowest lathe speed to get an acceptable cutting speed for the cast iron table. The brazed carbide cutter has a 1" shank and is very solid - necessary due to the interrupted cuts.
You can see the original tool marks, especially on the rim at the top.
As shown, the centre hole was a bit off centre. A touch-up with a boring bar made short work of that.
Shimming with aluminum foil at the top of the table support arm gave enough nod to level the table. A much nicer finish than the original.
Since I now have a lathe that's big enough (the table is almost 14" diagonally), I decided to face the table. Because of the large diameter, I needed to use carbide at the slowest lathe speed to get an acceptable cutting speed for the cast iron table. The brazed carbide cutter has a 1" shank and is very solid - necessary due to the interrupted cuts.
You can see the original tool marks, especially on the rim at the top.
As shown, the centre hole was a bit off centre. A touch-up with a boring bar made short work of that.
Shimming with aluminum foil at the top of the table support arm gave enough nod to level the table. A much nicer finish than the original.
Mike
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.