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Facing technique on a lathe

Hi all.

I have been trying to teach myself to turn metal on a 12 X 36 lathe. One of the projects in the Bedside reader is for a simple depth gage. I have sucsessfully turned the body from a piece of scrap steel (heritage unknown) and set the piece up in the 4 jaw to "mill" the sides flat. The first side is no problem. When I turn it over to do the opposite side, I can't figure out a way to make sure both sides are parallel. I don't have any gage blocks, and there is little room between the jaws in any event. How do you guys do it?

Thanks for the help.

Reply to
Kelly Jones
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Either unscrew completely and reverse the chuck jaws or unbolt and reverse them depending on the type of chuck that you have. This will alow you to grip on the outside of a cylinder or disk and you will have a surface on each jaw making a "stop" so your part will fit into the jaws the same distance when tapped lightly into them. If your part is too thin to extend beyond the jaws you'll have to space them with equal shims like four lathe bit blanks of equal size, etc. or use a dial indicator to set the distance equally at each jaw. Don't forget to remove the "shims" beforer turning on the spindle or they'll fly. HTH Randy

Reply to
Randy Replogle

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