New To Me Lathe and Chambering Setup

[Jud96]

Well I dove in head first and bought myself a lathe, tooling, and measuring tools to chamber barrels in my basement shop! I purchased an old Rockwell 11x25” lathe that was a one owner machine that was used by a fab shop owner who made repairs and parts for himself on it, so it appears to be in great condition. I plan to make some spiders for it as well. I believe having a lathe at home will be much more convenient than having to drive to work to use Pierce’s machine and with having my own stuff I can do whatever I want with it and to it. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to get it all set up and going!

Below is the list of everything I’ve got on the way for this project. I have more things to add and I have other useful machinists tools already on hand. I’m open to suggestions on tooling or anything else helpful. Thanks!

-Rockwell 11x36 lathe
-AXA QCTP with multiple holders
-VNMG style turning tool
-ER16 style threading tool
-6mm boring bar
-eBay floating reamer holder
-Digital 0-1” and 1-2” mics
-Mitutoyo 0-6” digital depth mic set
-0-1” and 1-2” thread mics
-Interapid 312B-15 indicator

 

[nwmnbowhunter]

Pics!!!

 

[WSnyder]

Congrats! I own a Rockwell 11x36 myself. My outboard spider is a threaded sleeve that replaced the outboard spindle nut. The cover hinge pin is removable so you can take the cover off for oiling or gear changes as the spider it too long to allow it to swing open. The original owner made a slide in removable sleeve but I didn't care for it so I made the threaded one.

 

[Jud96]

Congrats! I own a Rockwell 11x36 myself. My outboard spider is a threaded sleeve that replaced the outboard spindle nut. The cover hinge pin is removable so you can take the cover off for oiling or gear changes as the spider it too long to allow it to swing open.

Great idea!

Pics!!!

I’ll get some whenever I get it all setup!

 

[55fairlane]

A Rockwell is a very nice machine. Had a few at the place where I served my apprenticeship.
Now, let's improve your machinist skills, and make a bunch of things you need around the shop. So many "gunsmith" types do everything the hard way, learn the techniques used in the shop, make the tools you need, you will learn so much, and your work will turn out great.

Let's start with a floating chamber reamer holder, here is a scan of the one I made....

 

[shortgrass]

A Rockwell is a very nice machine. Had a few at the place where I served my apprenticeship.
Now, let's improve your machinist skills, and make a bunch of things you need around the shop. So many "gunsmith" types do everything the hard way, learn the techniques used in the shop, make the tools you need, you will learn so much, and your work will turn out great.

Let's start with a floating chamber reamer holder, here is a scan of the one I made....View attachment 1494516View attachment 1494517View attachment 1494518

Jud has some machining skills and has chambered more than a few barrels. His first post (in this thread) says he just wants to have a machine of his own, at home, instead of having to use his employers (Pierce Engineering) machines all of the time, to do personal work.

 

[Judd]

Congrats!

 

[butchlambert]

A Rockwell is a great chambering lathe!

 

[Jud96]

We got the lathe in the basement! Time to level it, mount the tool post, and get everything setup and ready to make some chips!

 

[AlNyhus]

Looks good. A white vinyl table cloth on the wall will be your friend. A white vinyl shower curtain also works...you can use the ring holes to hang it. You just wipe the oil spatters off.

Looking forward to more pics. -Al

 

[boltfluter]

We got the lathe in the basement! Time to level it, mount the tool post, and get everything setup and ready to make some chips!
View attachment 1500821

What a nice older machine! One owner is a great find. Looks to be the perfect size for barrel and chambering work. Have fun and keep us posted.
Paul

 

[butchlambert]

Looks like a Rockwell.

 

[clowdis]

Agree with Al, you're going to need something on that wall to protect it from the oil that's going to cover it shortly.

 

[WSnyder]

The black sleeve belongs over to the left where it covers the shear pin for the lead screw and keeps it from falling out of place. While you’re at it you might just want to check the pin and make sure it’s there and okay. It should tap out easily and if straight and undamaged it’ll go right back in. The hole for the pin is offset so the lead screw will only align in one position. The pin should be of a soft material like brass so it’ll shear if you crash it.

 

[WSnyder]

A couple of PDF manuals. Make sure you keep the worm wheel (#503/MCL-166) in the apron lubricated especially if you’re using the power feed often. Replacements are hard to come by and that part is known to wear.

 

[LVLAaron]

For wall protection... Go to one of the better big box stores in your area head to the sheet goods section. You can find 4x8 sheets of "white board" for 20 bucks. It's a hardboard with a slick white coating on it. I put some up behind my mill because I use air a lot there to clean chips and the walls were getting nasty.

Lowes has always carried this product. Menards will have it too. Never seen it at a Home Depot.

Works well for workbenches that don't see too much abuse... but if they do get banged up... it's cheap enough to replace

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Those 'ol Rockwells are good lathes, similar to a South Bend. They have a short headstock like the South Bends so they make good chambering lathes as you can run most barrels through the headstock and use a spider on each end. If you have never owned a lathe before, learning to grind tool bits on HSS is a good place to start.

One note, those lathes don't have a whole lot of power, so you should look into neutral/positive tooling if you plan to use carbide. A small boring bar would be a good investment.

Before you start making too many of your own tools, such as the floating reamer holder which @55fairlane posted, I would buy one from PTG and focus on chambering a barrel. Not that it wouldn't be a good tool to make, just that depending on your lathe skills it might save you valuable time to do what you want, rather than making all the tooling to do it yourself.

I like your list of tooling you have ordered already. The VNMG bits are good to get into tight spaces, but those are negative rake and that may or may not be an issue on the Rockwell, *IMO*. The small boring bar is a very useful tool for chambering.

 

[jdh47]

It looks to be a pretty clean machine. Congratulations.

 

[Jud96]

Between work and life I have been very busy, but I’m finally making headway on getting my lathe closer to being able to chamber.

My lathe has a spindle tube that’s below flush with the gear case cover and it’s threaded on the O.D. so I had to make a spindle tube extension and then I fitted my outboard spider to the extension. I’m not a fan of how I ended up connecting the spider to the spindle extension, but I’ll see how it works. I also made my inboard spider. I still have to drill and tap the backing plate for it, or use the face plate I have and bolt the spider to it. I’ll be using 1/2-20 set screws with 3/8 ball bearings in the ends so they gimble on V-blocks that will have 3/8 ball pockets in the the back side of them.









The final thing I’ve made is my adjustable reamer stop. I wanted to make my own and have it work with everything from 223 Remington up to 338 Lapua without needing separate length stop collars. The reamer shank passes through the body of the reamer stop and there’s a 10-32 set screw to lock the stop to the reamer. The reamer shank then goes into your reamer holder so the stop has no influence on the reamer other than to act as a stop. The “lock nut” is engraved with .001 increments and each revolution is .025 with every .005 having a longer line. The body of the reamer stop is threaded most of the way and it has a flat milled on top with a reference line running the full length so you have a lot of adjustability for different length reamers. I also added a brass set screw to the “stop collar” to prevent the collar from accidentally coming loose or possibly over tightening when it’s pressed up against the barrel tenon. It’s a simple 3 piece system that has been working well so far. I don’t get to chamber on the clock, so I gave it to our chambering guy and he’s used it to chamber about 10 barrels so far.

Let me know what you guys think of my setup so far. My next thing to do is make miniature V-blocks to go between the set screws and barrel. I’m also going to make a barrel tenon “sleeve” to slide over the barrel tenon and then use my depth mic to measure through the back of the sleeve down to my headspace gauge to have a more stable and accurate method of measuring headspace. I’ll also use this sleeve in conjunction with a ball bearing to measure cone depths on barrels as well. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[WSnyder]

spindle tube extension

Why not drill and tap the extension and just use it as the spider? That's what I did and it works great. Shorter that way.