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Next up was the tubes to run in the slotted bushes for the dual-screw vice. The original plan was to have these threaded onto the shafts, but I couldn't face another bit of 2.5 mm pitch thread cutting, so I just took a bit of the tube and skimmed the OD down to 25 mm to fit in the slotted...

I then put the block in the milling vice and spot drilled four hole locations. I then drilled the holes out 5.5 mm and counterbored 8.5 mm. Here's the finished block. You'll notice that the counterbores are open into the central hole. My original plan had been to mount four cap screws...

I started this morning with a bit of a tidy-up and then sorted out the other two hand-wheels. I didn't bother taking photos of that process as it was exactly the same as the first hand-wheel. I then fitted a cut-off bit of 50 mm EN1A into the chuck: I faced the end, chamfered the corners...

Last job of the day was to start work on one of the hand-wheels. After playing around with a few different approaches, I concluded that the best way to mount the hand-wheel on the lathe was with the jaws pressing against the inside of the outer rim. The pilot hole wasn't concentric with the...

The threaded sleeve was then mounted in a collet block on the milling machine and two holes were spotted and drilled. These will be used with an angle-grinder style pin spanner to tighten the sleeve onto the threaded rod. Similarly, I mounted the washer in the mill vice and milled a couple...

I then slid the travelling steady along a bit and turned the body of the threaded sleeve down to 25.5 mm. Then it was time for lunch while it all cooled down. My first postprandial task was then to take the final cuts to bring the shaft down to be a smooth running fit in the bearing housing...

With the concentricity problem fixed, I could get on with some of the steel parts. I started by putting a bit of 50 mm EN1A into the three jaw chuck and pulling out my infrequently used fixed steady. The stock is too big to go through the bore of the chuck and it would be quite wasteful to cut...

Last year for my other half's birthday, I made her some brass pattern weights and a stand for them to sit on. When I was making the stand I had a test run for the base and wasn't very happy with it, so it got tossed into the "might-be-useful-at-some-point" drawer. Today it was useful! I...

I woke up this morning firmly of the opinion that the non-concentricity of the hole on the moving jaw of the standard vice was something I can't live with. The one on the fixed jaw of the dual-screw vice I think I can - it's only really visible if you look really closely, unlike the one on the...

Here are all of the brass parts fitted (but not adhered) into their holes: This test did highlight some issues unfortunately. For two of the parts (one of the thread bushes for the dual-screw vice and the central bearing for the standard vice), the larger hole in which the flange sits isn't...

I spent this afternoon turning lots and lots of brass. I started by putting the vice rail bush in the photocopier: With both of them complete I could do a quick test fit of the standard vice parts to make sure it slides okay. It's difficult to tell at the moment (without the screw present)...

Yes - that was the feature I was referring to by my rather contrived name "robustness of the history" in my post above - how well the CAD system copes when you go back and change things. Tools like Sketchup can't do this at all; all the parametric CAD systems I tried (Onshape, Fusion, ZW3D...

Anyone still reading this?!?! :LOL: The part then came off the lathe and I scribbled over it in pen and marked the intended length of the flange. I then clamped it in the bandsaw vice and sawed off the excess: Then it was back in the chuck for facing and turning the outside diameter of the...

I then put my upside-down tool in the tool post, set the lathe to run backwards and faced off the end: I then turned the outside diameter down to about 0.5 mm over the target diameter (40 mm). Once that was done, I wandered off and did some tidying at the other end of the workshop for half...

I've had a couple of evenings where I had to do things that weren't in the workshop (boo, hiss!), but was back out and turning brass again this evening. As I said in an earlier post, a lot of the parts are going to look very similar in terms of the process, so I probably won't post many...

What I didn't mention is what I actually decided to use myself. I do occasionally use 3D CAD for stuff that has to be kept private, so I ended up buying ZW3D Lite (after much thought I just couldn't bring myself to take the risks associated with Fusion 360 and I would never be willing to pay...

I did a trial of about 13 different CAD programs for about 3 months a couple of years ago from among the "relatively affordable" set. I concluded that Onshape was best by far, although it has one disadvantage (all your models are public and so someone who is very very keen on searching could...

I like my low angle one, but only because of the versatility. I've got a standard angle one that I picked up for next to nothing in a junk shop, but the low angle one is the one I usually reach for. I bought a couple of spare blades for it and have a 25° one, a 38° one and a 50° one, giving a...

Any photos of the leaves?

Most of the rest of the parts will be made entirely on the lathe. This is all of the turned parts in the project (excluding the aluminium hand wheels, which will also need a bit of tweaking to modify the central hole): The long ones are the simplest: three bits of threaded rod with a small...