Boyd Allen
Active member
Recently my friend Lee has acquired a new Grizzly lathe that they call a South Bend Heavy 10. After he got a stand built, he was nice enough to rechamber one of my 6PPC barrels (first barrel done with the new lathe) that was still in good shape, but getting a little long in the throat. I just got it back via snail mail (mailed on the 5th) and have been sitting here grinning as I inspect the quality of the work. It could not be better.
I titled this lathe heresy, and the reason that I did is because his lathe only ways 662# and you should see the finish on the threads....top drawer all the way. Evidently the lathe is heavy enough to do great barrel work, even at that relatively light weight.
On the barrel packaging thing....when I shipped the barrel to Lee, I did not have a tube or box that I liked, and did not particularly want to run down the schedule 40 PVC and fittings the way that I have done in the past. (That one went on a one way trip.) Then may gaze fell on some foam pipe insulation that came with a new water heater that I had to buy recently. It is a dark charcoal closed cell foam that has an ID that works with the 3/4" corrugated copper flex connectors, and it looked to me like there might work for my barrel. (Because they were in good shape I kept my old flex connectors, and the insulation that was on them. They were soldered at the cutoff valve and on the supply side to the house plumbing, and I did not want to risk the valve while learning a new trade.) Short story shorter, it worked very well. I compressed it with clear packing tape using a series of pieces that went around the package, and which were right next to each other, from end to end, plugged the ends with various bits of cardboard and compressed paper, and cut some full diameter end pieces that were securely taped in place. It could not have worked better. The barrel was very well protected, making the trip both ways without any damage to the package. It was in the same shape when it arrived as when it was shipped. All I did was cut loose the tape on one end so that I could slide the barrel out. It looks good to go for another use.
Off topic: All of you, especially those whose drinking water is chlorinated, need to check your hot water heaters' sacrificial annodes. I was completely clueless on this, and could probably have avoided having to replace my heater if I had checked ours when we bought this house three years ago. After installing the new heater, I pulled the plug that should have had the anode on on its backside, and it was completely gone, which is undoubtedly why my tank developed a leak from corrosion. In checking around, I found that the difference between one manufacturers 6 year warranty heaters and their 12 year warranty units is that the units with the longer warranty come with two anodes. You can learn how to check and replace them on Youtube, and the replacements are around $40 or a little less, a lot cheaper than a new heater.
I titled this lathe heresy, and the reason that I did is because his lathe only ways 662# and you should see the finish on the threads....top drawer all the way. Evidently the lathe is heavy enough to do great barrel work, even at that relatively light weight.
On the barrel packaging thing....when I shipped the barrel to Lee, I did not have a tube or box that I liked, and did not particularly want to run down the schedule 40 PVC and fittings the way that I have done in the past. (That one went on a one way trip.) Then may gaze fell on some foam pipe insulation that came with a new water heater that I had to buy recently. It is a dark charcoal closed cell foam that has an ID that works with the 3/4" corrugated copper flex connectors, and it looked to me like there might work for my barrel. (Because they were in good shape I kept my old flex connectors, and the insulation that was on them. They were soldered at the cutoff valve and on the supply side to the house plumbing, and I did not want to risk the valve while learning a new trade.) Short story shorter, it worked very well. I compressed it with clear packing tape using a series of pieces that went around the package, and which were right next to each other, from end to end, plugged the ends with various bits of cardboard and compressed paper, and cut some full diameter end pieces that were securely taped in place. It could not have worked better. The barrel was very well protected, making the trip both ways without any damage to the package. It was in the same shape when it arrived as when it was shipped. All I did was cut loose the tape on one end so that I could slide the barrel out. It looks good to go for another use.
Off topic: All of you, especially those whose drinking water is chlorinated, need to check your hot water heaters' sacrificial annodes. I was completely clueless on this, and could probably have avoided having to replace my heater if I had checked ours when we bought this house three years ago. After installing the new heater, I pulled the plug that should have had the anode on on its backside, and it was completely gone, which is undoubtedly why my tank developed a leak from corrosion. In checking around, I found that the difference between one manufacturers 6 year warranty heaters and their 12 year warranty units is that the units with the longer warranty come with two anodes. You can learn how to check and replace them on Youtube, and the replacements are around $40 or a little less, a lot cheaper than a new heater.
