SCREWY TUESDAY #34 HOLDRIDGE RADII CUTTER tips tricks ideas

Our Holdridge (forgot the model) has an adjustment screw on the bottom of the yoke… for fine adjustments up and down, we move ours around the shop a lot and never shim the thing, we just use the adjustment screw. I would be surprised if your doesn't have one… look on the very bottom of the tool.

You don't give up easily, that's for sure.
I've been known to "go down the rabbit hole" with a "great" idea at times, but when the best laid plans of mice and men don't pan out it's time to stop and re-evaluate the other options before pressing ahead.

You'll either have to let all your balls rest against a shoulder, or turn down the tip of the arbor so it can sit firmly against the bottom of the hole without fouling where the thread runs out. Ran into that problem today...

Now I know where "Nasty Subtitler" went for his 2 days vacation...

My very first mike about 30+ years ago was that Combimike.... Was more like near $200 at the time... Still have it, in mint condition.

Nice idea about the threaded holders... If you want them to repeat more accurately, you could bring them to lean on a true shoulder instead of relying on the threads alone to get them tight... ;)

what if your adapter was screwed up against a turned shoulder? might take out some of the wobble.

Love those subtitles.

Like that idea of a coupling nut for ball turning - must try that out - as long of course the centers all match - concentricity, thread to thread. Guess you showed that! Could of course make our own coupling nuts out of hex. Could always use a jam nut on left of large thread for locking and fine positioning.
Gotta chuckle Chuck - I often misname stuff when recording - then correct or comment when editing! You are not alone.:)
That first new ball turned out nice even if slightly under size. Leather in the grip jaws works well too for protection when undoing. Certainly practice helps with ball turning.

A screw will never be a precision locating/centering device.
You need a taper for that.

cool. nice work .....

If you intend to make a large amount of balls... I think your idea to make an arbor for each size removes weak links in the chain plus you'll have the ability to shape each arbor to allow the radius cutter to swing the proper amount.... It would also allow you to run the ball material to be turned to shoulder against the arbor every time.... Good luck... :o)          O,,,

I see says the blind man,,, ah, ha I'm blind says the semen!           ;o)            O,,,

Enjoyed Chuck... plenty of ball puns in the video and comments. I'm with RR and a few others, some form of register face would help repeatability. In hindsight, making individual arbors might have been easier than screwing around with those nuts... but, hey hindsight always comes too late.

I think the same Malcolm if it works like a chuck it will all was tighten to the same place and acurusy would improve

My holdridge has a tool with the cutting tip set to the left just for that application. Cut the ball and leave the excess material around the arbor, change the tool and finish. It's an extra step but it works.

try making and Arbor that has a Shoulder for your adaptors to tighten up on..     looking good though.  I hope my idea helps.. thanks for sharing

Hey Chuck, like the arbor. I will have to get started on making one similar to it. I have to set the center height on my cutter, and start teaching myself the math you were talking about. Did you figure that out or is there a web sight I can look at? Keep the good videos coming. Thanks Rick

Chuck, I think you would get dead nuts repeatability if you made the arbor so the adapters i.e. couplers would seat against a shoulder and then made your own adapters instead of modifying those couplers that you have. I do believe that a part of the runout issues you encountered was related to the tolerance used to machine those couplers. Were they not designed for coupling all-thread? If so, then in most applications being a few thou off would be insignificant. Correct? Just a little food for thought that I hope you find helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for the tips and tricks! It might be too late, but I was thinking that you could use your tig welder to fill the original threaded holes in the couplers. Then re-drill and tap it concentric. That way you would still have all the sizes. If you bore the hole to the next size, you'll end up losing the smallest one. Thanks for the video! I really like that radius cutter.
-mike

Chuck what is going to be the end product ? Perhaps a means to do this
http://mathscinotes.com/2014/09/taper-measurement-using-gage-balls/
more easily or ? ? Or perhaps make your Screwy balls more easily out of other materiel or etc. ??

Think Brian may have asked kind of the same question below, but what are you doing with these balls? Are they going to be for your "screwy-balls"? if so, what are you doing with hole that you used for chucking it up? Oh, and have to ask, SHIRTS??????

Good to see the copper's coming in handy -
I enjoyed this episode!

Brent