Neck Turning Tool for Lathe Mounting

parshal

Member
I've got a few of the PMA neck turners and have decided it would be nice to have one mounted on my lathe rather than fiddling around with drills, etc. Basically, something round like the pumpkin or this, which I know little about.

What have others used mounted in a lathe?
 
Last edited:
Parshal,

Why not just do them in the lathe without using any sort of neck turning tool? Somewheres, Jackie posted a tutorial on turning necks on his Monarch 10EE lathe. Search around and see if you can find it it. Looked like a slick way to do it.

Justin
 
That would work but my PMA turners don't have the mandrel sticking out the back. Now that you say that, though, I seem to remember PMA had something that would mount their turner into something round that could be chucked. Maybe I'm remembering wrong but it does give me the idea to make one.
 
why not do it the other way around??
put the case in a k&m case holder in the chuck, and
hand feed the cutter.
i do this in two passes(two cutters)
last cut is about .0005 for match brass
 
That's one of the things I was thinking about. But, stopping/starting the lathe every time to get the brass out of the holder seems like it would get old.
 
That's one of the things I was thinking about. But, stopping/starting the lathe every time to get the brass out of the holder seems like it would get old.
It’s also hard on your lathe switch. I didn’t come up with it on my own but had heard that was how Ron Hoehn was turning brass when he was alive. The way I’m doing it, the lathe spindle is never turned off until you’re finished. It takes me about 45 minutes to neck turn 100 necked up .220 Russian cases.

Using one of the C type turners and chucking on a mandrel sticking out the back of the turner makes for a dangerous situation with the turner sticking out in front of the lathe chuck. The Pumkin is tailor made for using in the lathe. The Pumkin gets its fine adjustment from the minor diameter of the mandrel being .0025” eccentric from the .375” base of the mandrel. It wouldn’t be anything to make a round neck turner that can be chucked up in the lathe especially if you didn’t care to have the fine adjustment dial of the Pumkin. Once it’s set to depth, I don’t readjust it anyway.
 
I'll play. 21st Century turning tool mounted in the chuck. The tailstock is driven to the chuck with a rack mounted on the bed. The handwheel runs the system fairly fast. All mandrels are Melonited, they just get shinier with use.

Video is just a demo for a friend, don't really wear long sleeves, though the belt is set up on loose side to slip.

Watch "21st Century Neck Turner" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/bGV4bfitGKA
 

Attachments

  • 21st Century Neck Turner.jpeg
    21st Century Neck Turner.jpeg
    984.3 KB · Views: 334
Last edited:
as a part time machinist...i aint worried about wearing anything out.
retired means time available to do such things as turning necks.
working brass is so much fun i just processed 1200 308 win cases....dillon 550 makes things easy
fl sized, trimmed to length and then neck sized after expanding.
It’s also hard on your lathe switch. I didn’t come up with it on my own but had heard that was how Ron Hoehn was turning brass when he was alive. The way I’m doing it, the lathe spindle is never turned off until you’re finished. It takes me about 45 minutes to neck turn 100 necked up .220 Russian cases.

Using one of the C type turners and chucking on a mandrel sticking out the back of the turner makes for a dangerous situation with the turner sticking out in front of the lathe chuck. The Pumkin is tailor made for using in the lathe. The Pumkin gets its fine adjustment from the minor diameter of the mandrel being .0025” eccentric from the .375” base of the mandrel. It wouldn’t be anything to make a round neck turner that can be chucked up in the lathe especially if you didn’t care to have the fine adjustment dial of the Pumkin. Once it’s set to depth, I don’t readjust it anyway.
 
I'll play. 21st Century turning tool mounted in the chuck. The tailstock is driven to the chuck with a rack mounted on the bed. The handwheel runs the system fairly fast. All mandrels are Melonited, they just get shinier with use.

Video is just a demo for a friend, don't really wear long sleeves, though the belt is set up on loose side to slip.

Watch "21st Century Neck Turner" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/bGV4bfitGKA

Nez, running it in with the carriage is pretty slick. It looks quicker than using the tail stock and gets your hands away from the chuck when changing out pieces of brass.
 
i got a pumpkin also but also a old style neckturning tool and for that one i use thise method: put a drill holder in the tail stock then clamp the mandril from the turner in the drillholder
and so it is centered and you can clamp it in a 3 jaw clamp (i had to cut offa little bit from the top of the tool to make it fit when closing the jaws )

before i clamped the case holder in the 3 jaw and hold the neckturner in my hand but then you have to stop the lathe to change brass
 
That is slick! I don't turn enough necks to build a fixture like that. But, if someone here wants to make and sell one.....
 
Well if you contact

That is slick! I don't turn enough necks to build a fixture like that. But, if someone here wants to make and sell one.....

Bill from the video you never know....

He may be interested in making one for you.....

Calvin
 
That is slick! I don't turn enough necks to build a fixture like that. But, if someone here wants to make and sell one.....

Don't get to enamored with his fancy fixture, just turn the brass using the technique up to 3:34 using the tailstock to insert and remove the brass from the mandrel. You can make the insertion/removal spud that he made for the fancy fixture but put them in a drill chuck in your tailstock.
 
Back
Top