# Hello from the NW Calgary



## Andrew James (Dec 13, 2018)

Good Morning, 

    I’m interested in machining parts as a hobby and looking for some help getting some small pieces made for my small projects.

Darryl


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

Lots of help around here...can you be more specific in what you are looking for?


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## Andrew James (Dec 13, 2018)

I no longer have access to my brothers lathe, I moved here a few years ago. I was going to start a new thread for my first little project, lol. 

I need a small piece of solid copper .625” dia.by an 1” long centre drilled 1/4” for a roller on a horse bit I just made.


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

Well the piece of solid copper is the only thing slightly difficult about that...


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

Stainless steel isn't an option is it?


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## Andrew James (Dec 13, 2018)

Copper promotes salvation and encourages the horse to work the bit. I have the copper rod, lol just need it thrown in lathe and drilled.


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

Easy cheesy.   I suspect there will be volunteers close to you willing to help out, but if not I would be happy to help but we would have to mail the item back and forth cuz I'm 3 hours south of you.


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## Andrew James (Dec 13, 2018)

Thank you for your offer, I will create a thread for this project and will wait and see.


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

I'm sure someone close will offer help, they are just in their shops now making cool stuff.   I'm in a meeting dreaming of making stuff. LOL


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## Johnwa (Dec 13, 2018)

ive heard copper is tricky to machine but am willing to try.  I’m south of the Glenmore reservoir.  I know there are members in the north though, so someone closer to you may speak up.


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## PeterT (Dec 13, 2018)

You beat me to it John. I've got a few things on the go right now, but just passing on some copper specific tips from my (limited) experience. It can be very grabby material on conventionally ground drills. Similar issues I was having on brass. I have since dedicated a drill set to 'dubbed' tips that I use on brass & bronze, just dress them as I need them. I would expect they would do better on copper too , but haven't tried yet. WD40 works well as a cutting/tapping fluid. I had to make some 'hammer head' soldering tips back in the days we built our own end-to-end NICD & NIMH packs & those were copper. I don't recall what alloy, it was Metal Supermarket stuff.


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## DPittman (Dec 13, 2018)

I've done a wee bit of copper turning on my lathe and second the suggestion of using wd-40. I found it worked really well.  I read that milk (of all crazy things) works well also. I can just imagine the smell of rotting milk in my shop, yuck.


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## CalgaryPT (Dec 14, 2018)

Andrew James said:


> Copper promotes salvation and encourages the horse to work the bit. I have the copper rod, lol just need it thrown in lathe and drilled.


I learn something every day. That's fascinating stuff for a city boy like me.


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## Janger (Dec 14, 2018)

I’m just a city boy - why do you want your horse to do that? Why have this in the horses mouth at all?


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## Janger (Dec 14, 2018)

Some copper is a nasty blend of heavy metals. Maybe make sure you don’t have beryllium copper rod for example?


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## Andrew James (Dec 17, 2018)

I have no idea what the blend is, picked it up from Metal Supermarkets.


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## historicalarms (Dec 17, 2018)

Janger said:


> I’m just a city boy - why do you want your horse to do that? Why have this in the horses mouth at all?



   This has been done since god was a cowboy...the roller gives the horse something to roll in its mouth with its tongue, keeping it occupied instead of "fighting the bit". It works very well on a horse that constantly throws it's head around while being used.


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## Janger (Dec 17, 2018)

Andrew James said:


> I have no idea what the blend is, picked it up from Metal Supermarkets.



The bill might say what it is. Especially if it was cut to size from the racks.


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## Johnwa (Dec 17, 2018)

The only copper rod they have listed on their website is C110 which is 99.99% pure.


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## Andrew James (Dec 17, 2018)

That makes me feel better! Lol


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## Andrew James (Dec 17, 2018)

Yes the bill says “copper round 110”


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## CalgaryPT (Dec 19, 2018)

historicalarms said:


> This has been done since god was a cowboy...the roller gives the horse something to roll in its mouth with its tongue, keeping it occupied instead of "fighting the bit". It works very well on a horse that constantly throws it's head around while being used.



Kinda off-topic but 20 years ago I took a welding course with a guy who had one of those remaining acreages down by COP. He made authentic western tack for Hollywood movies. His whole business was forging and blacksmithing on his property and FedEx'ing stuff down to California. Pretty cool way to make money from a hobby. He was a big inspiration to me. He fixed a old horse brand that had been in our family for years. Taught me some cool things about horses and blacksmithing too but I promptly forgot it.


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