Todays Project - What did you do today?

[ml_woy]

A while back I was digging in a drawer and found a revolving tailstock turret which came with my Craftsman 12” 1942 lathe that I purchased in 1985. The part was dirty and missing a couple of parts. I had never thought I would find a use for it giving I was not doing repetitive work. Well an hour of time cleaning it up and I find it is in good condition and made by ENCO. I did not even realize that ENCO was in business in 1942, let alone manufacturing parts. Well quick look in the ENCO catalogue finds that they are still producing the item under part #326-000 and selling it for $66.76. Probably now it is made in China not the USA.

Well I figured out that the Turret uses 3/8” round stock, drilled and tapped for a ¼-20 set screw to hold the bits in place. I then placed an order with ENCO for some 3/8” drill stock and set at making a set of holders for my reamers, and drills for reaming, tapping and drilling. After completing the holders I designed and built an index to hold the reamers and bits. The unit is going to hang on the side of one of my tool boxes right next to my lathe. I also took the time to build a holder for small size taps and incorporated it into the index.

Here are some pictures of the index, index drill holders and tap holder.