Barrel spinner/ polishing aid

[eww1350]

That Metobo costs $1200.00.
I found some 1.5"x30" belts in 320 grit for $17 per 10 pack. That makes that Hardin a little more usable. I hate to buy a sander that doesnt use common sizes like ones available from 3M or normal stock items at MSC.

Jay, I just bought a Hardin (Metabo copy) off Ebay for $115...and it takes the Metabo belts...the belts can be purchased at a resonable price on the link below...

Eddie in Texas

http://www.tylertool.com/metabo-626...0&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=35-175366537-2

 

[Jay Cutright]

Got my Kalamazoo belt sander the other day. Still need to order some 600 grit and finer and scotch brite belts for it. Also made a notion to get started on a barrel spinner. Should work pretty nice...hopefully. Will keep the grit away from the lathe at least...

Hey, DSM
I started looking at this sander after you brought it to my attention. It looks to me like the best way to run it would be on the back side of the machine where there is slack in the belt. I was going to research it and see if the motor could be reversed so the unit could be used "backward" without throwing grit up in my face. Can you tell if that motor is reversible? Some motors will run backwards by swapping a couple wires around.
That looks like a decent little sander.

 

[DSM]

Jay, I am not really sure. The motor is a baldor and can be wired for 220 I know. I'm guessing it can be reversed...I don't know much about electric motors though. Haven't had much time to mess around with it nor start on a spinner...ordered bearing though. It is a nice unit...if barrel spinning doesn't work out....I can always sharpen a knives and tooling, lol.

 

[Jay Cutright]

I had this old sander sitting in the garage. I bought it used for $50.00 close to 15 years ago. It was already mounted on a home made stand. I always thought it was a noisey pos and never used it for much. Ground a few pads on the 8" disc on the side of it and decided it wasn't all that good for that either.
Thinking about polishing barrels prompted me to go look at this old sander to see if it was good enough to get started with. The belt size...1"x42". The size that is in stock in about any grit for cheap just about anywhere they sell sanding belts.

 

[Jay Cutright]

This sander has extra pulleys above and below the belt platen and table and a spring tensioned top pulley. I removed the sheet metal guards off the right side of the machine to allow 3 second no tools belt changes and removed the table and platen.
Now I can lean into the belt with the barrel between those 2 idler pulleys and get some good contact on the barrel as the belt wraps around it.
This little sander is turning out to be about perfect for this job.

 

[Jay Cutright]

I had a couple barrels owned by one of them fellars that doesn't care what they look like. He brings them to me and says"just make em shoot". They were sitting waiting to be chambered when this thread came up so I went out there and set up my spinning jig and went to sanding on a few barrels.
The top one was a new Krieger it polished up in about 3 minutes with 320 grit.
The middle barrel was a rough old 6 groove button barrel I started at 100 grit and progressed to 150,180,240 then 320, it took me about 10 minutes to get to that 320 grit sanded finish that I like. They aint chrome by any means but they are presentable and didn't take long to do. No reason to ever polish another barrel on a lathe.
The bottom barrel I threw in just to show off a little bit, I should've turned down the air psi a little before I blasted over that polished barrel. I need to make up another spinng jig on a stand that will fit inside my blasting cabinet to make those jobs a little easier.

 

[skeetlee]

looks good jay!! My spinners are in progress. Wont be long now! Lee

 

[Jay Cutright]

I think I'll like sanding/polishing barrels this way. It's easy and the little bit of mess is over on the other side of the garage away from the lathe.
Only 3 barrels and already I would recommend this to any one thinking about buying a lathe to do barrel work so they would never use the lathe for polishing.

I'll let ya know if I change my mind after I have one get away from me.

Had it not been for this thread and Alinwa's accident thread I probly wouldn't have changed anything yet. I was really thinking a wood lathe and a crankshaft polisher or pipe sander was gonna have to be bought to do the job, that's $1000.00 to polish barrels. I'm doing it for the cost of a couple bearings and some $2.00 belts.

 

[DSM]

Looking good Jay! Looks like a pretty nice sander you had stashed in a corner...its great you found a use for it!

I picked up a steel bar for my spinner. Just need to machine the brackets and centers. I'm making mine pretty simple with .750" thick 6061 plate and held in place by set screws. Probably make the centers out of Delrin. I got it all drawn out in AutoCAD. All I need is time!

Skeet, take a few pics of your progress and the finished unit.

 

[skeetlee]

will do it!! lee

 

[DSM]

Jay,
I looked on the Kalamazoo belt sander I have and it is reversible. There is a tag showing wiring diagrams and specifically said what wires to swap to reverse rotation. I will give it a try when I get the spinner done to determine what if and what mods are necessary.

Was able to mill the two brackets square and lay out what needs machined today. Will mill the square manually on the mill and counterbore the bearing pocket on the lathe. Hopefully next week I will be able to make more progress on it. Below is a couple pics..

 

[eww1350]

Jay, can you describe you method of getting the "snake skin" pattern on your barrel.??..I have trouble with the mesh cover slipping when I rotate the barrel in the beadblast cabinet..


Eddie in Texas

 

[Jay Cutright]

I've had the same trouble before. That's the reason I'm going to set up another spinning jig on wider plates so the barrel will be supported between centers about 6" high in my blasting cabinet. The one in the pic was blasted as I rolled it across the expanded steel in my cabinet floor.

For those that have no idea how it's done. I polished the barrel then pulled a expanded plastic sleeve over the barrel. These are the sleeves that most barrel makers ship the blanks in. Then bead blast the barrel with enough air psi to give the matte finish on the exposed steel then pull the sleeve off and there's the "snake skin" pattern. The one in the pic was done with a black sleeve, it fit tight and has a bigger pattern than most blue or yellow sleeves that I have found.

 

[DSM]

Making progress and then two steps back!

I was tapping 8-32 holes for a button head to retain the bearing and my hand slipped off the stinking tap wrench and broke off my tap! Any suggestions as to removing this broken off tap? I have way too much time into one of these to just scrap it. Worse comes to worse, I'll drill and tap another hole...or just use the one hole that's tapped!

Frustrating when this kinda stuff happens...I simply stopped working when the tap broke!

 

[Jay Cutright]

If you were using a carbon steel tap you can shatter it with a hammer and punch. I've done the same with hss taps but they peen over and don't break up so easy.

You still have time to call MSC to get a broken tap remover delivered tomorrow. Cutoff time for next day delivery is either 7:00 or 8:00 e.t. The tools sometimes cost a little more but the next day delivery is a free upgrade.

 

[DSM]

What about a 1/8 carbide burr or ball endmill? Spin at 1K or so?

 

[Jay Cutright]

Good luck!

I broke a 1/4" tap one time. It was a Irwin Hanson ??s tap. I needed the part, it was way to expensive of a part to start over. I bought a broken tap remover and broke it then started in on it with carbide end mills, they would dull perty quick then a little more pressure they'd shatter. I put several new and used end mills into that hole plus the tap extractor and the cost of the new 2 flute tap.
About a $200 hole!

I still own the part, glad it was something I own.

That hole taught me 3 things
#1 buy quality taps. Irwin is not quality.
#2 less flutes = stronger tap.
#3 buy the tap made for the hole you are drilling, the new one I bought is made for tapping "through" holes, it pushes shavings ahead of the tap. It cut threads so easy I could almost turn it with my fingers.

 

[skeetlee]

I hate tapping aluminum. Sticky ass stuff! Lots of oil when I attempt it!!

I am one step behind you on my spinner. I have my blocks milled and my square tubing cut to length. I bought my bearings one day last week.

I noticed how you cut your squares in your aluminum blocks. I am thinking about cutting mine in a diamond shape rather than a square. If you follow me.
The square tubing I bought is a thicker walled tubing, as I am terribly afraid of having any flex in my set up. If I stand my tubing in a diamond through the blocks, I feel it will be a little stronger, and have less chance of flexing?? Sure in the heck don't want a barrel coming out of the delrin centers.
Sorry about your tap breaking. that sucks. Ask me how I know!! LOL!! Lee


I also always drill my tapping holes with the biggest drill bit allowed on a tapping chart, when I tap aluminum. I am not machinest by any stretch, but this little trick as kept me from braking any taps lately. Lee

 

[DSM]

Tapping was pretty easy...I had cutting fluid all over my hands and turning the T handle. I'd turn 1/4 turn, back up, turn 1/4 back up, repeat until finished. Well, my hand slipped off the t handle bar and wacked the wrench! Not good, lol.

I got you on your square...you are just offsetting it 45 degrees. Either way should work fine. I just don't have a rotating base on my vise to make that operation fast and simple. I still have mill my square to match the radius of my steel bar. Just waiting on the extended end mill and collet to arrive to finish.

That broken tap still irritates me! After I finish, I may make another, lol.

 

[IndianaJames]

I went this way on the orientation...works fine.

Jim

I hate tapping aluminum, too!