# Lathe Ball Turner



## Susquatch (Jul 27, 2022)

Anybody ever see a decent ball turner for a lathe out there?

I might make one, but I'd like to buy a decent inside/outside ball turner first. Can't seem to find anything not made in India. After my test bar experience, I'm not keen on sending any more cash in that direction.

Be nice to find something in Canada or even the USA no matter where its made.


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## eotrfish (Jul 27, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> Anybody ever see a decent ball turner for a lathe out there?


Like this one??

New - sat in a drawer for decades.

Make me a reasonable offer and it's yours.


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## YYCHM (Jul 27, 2022)

9" SM Utilathe Restoration
					

My Tiwaneses 1340 works exactly the same. Probably a gear positioning issue that the first inventor of internal power cross feed saddle mechanismns overcame and everybody else can't come up with a more simple cost effective method so they just fallow suit.




					canadianhobbymetalworkers.com


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## Susquatch (Jul 27, 2022)

eotrfish said:


> Like this one??
> 
> New - sat in a drawer for decades.
> 
> ...



PM coming.


YYCHM said:


> 9" SM Utilathe Restoration
> 
> 
> My Tiwaneses 1340 works exactly the same. Probably a gear positioning issue that the first inventor of internal power cross feed saddle mechanismns overcame and everybody else can't come up with a more simple cost effective method so they just fallow suit.
> ...



Very Cool Craig! 

Did you use it to make the ball for your tool post handle?


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## YYCHM (Jul 27, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> Very Cool Craig!
> 
> Did you use it to make the ball for your tool post handle?



Ya, that ball is one of the eggs I turned.


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## Susquatch (Jul 27, 2022)

YYCHM said:


> Ya, that ball is one of the eggs I turned.



Too funny, but it looks just fine to me! 

Make another egg for the other handle! 

And I agree with @RobinHood. If it works, leave it alone.


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## Rauce (Jul 27, 2022)

I bought a cheapy one from India on eBay, it’s not great but it is okay for the price. I welded in a reinforcement and it made it a lot better. 

I don’t even see any of the same style for sale anymore, I bought it a couple years ago.


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## PeterT (Jul 27, 2022)

Holdridge Radii is probably the most common tool (USA made, probably designed in the 60's). Very spendy as new but they can be had more reasonably used if you look around. I have one purchased used in minty condish & it works. There are things I don't particularly care for, mostly around their cutting tools. But the accessories collection afford a pretty wide diameter range of innies & outies vs many other designs are more limited, so kind of depends on what you want to do.

There are lots of plans & variants for these insert style turners. I suspect that's what some of the imports are based on. John Conroy made a very nice robust rendition with smart bearing choices, you can find his build on the forum. The thing to pay attention to is lathe mounting. They all vary a bit although a bigger lathe with typical compound works as the more common platform.

I lust for a Hardinge style & have contemplated making one. It would suite my purposes better & I would also integrate my standard cutting tools.


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## Dabbler (Jul 27, 2022)

Monarch made a very robust ball turner for the 10ee.  Saw pictures of a resto in one of the hobby machine magazines last week.  about as heavy and built like a tailstock.

... you can adapt a boring head to be  a small ball turner.  lots of vids on youtube... (!!)


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## Susquatch (Jul 28, 2022)

Rauce said:


> I bought a cheapy one from India on eBay, it’s not great but it is okay for the price. I welded in a reinforcement and it made it a lot better.
> 
> I don’t even see any of the same style for sale anymore, I bought it a couple years ago.



I plan to skip over the India trip.

@eotrfish and I agreed on a price and I'll drill the lantern bar to attach a 5/8 bar to fit my BXA Tool Post, and then begin the process of designing and making something more direct. But who knows, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and it will be good enough to use forever. I'm not against that outcome.

There are things to love and things to hate about the ones from India.


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## Susquatch (Jul 28, 2022)

Dabbler said:


> Monarch made a very robust ball turner for the 10ee.  Saw pictures of a resto in one of the hobby machine magazines last week.  about as heavy and built like a tailstock.
> 
> ... you can adapt a boring head to be  a small ball turner.  lots of vids on youtube... (!!)



Still don't have YouTube fast play. So still fighting YouTube.

Downloaded and installed VLC for fast play. But then discovered I can't really download videos. Yes, download works, but it's a proprietary format that breaks the video up into cryptic chunks. I found various programs that will download but they all violate YouTube terms and cross into pirate territory. I'm not into that. 

For the time being youtube and I are not friends. No way in hell I'm gunna listen to the likes of Tom Lipton droning on for an hour just to learn a 15 second piece of good info. 

I'll google ball turner boring head - maybe someone somewhere wrote something up on it.


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## Susquatch (Jul 28, 2022)

PeterT said:


> Holdridge Radii is probably the most common tool (USA made, probably designed in the 60's). Very spendy as new but they can be had more reasonably used if you look around. I have one purchased used in minty condish & it works. There are things I don't particularly care for, mostly around their cutting tools. But the accessories collection afford a pretty wide diameter range of innies & outies vs many other designs are more limited, so kind of depends on what you want to do.
> 
> There are lots of plans & variants for these insert style turners. I suspect that's what some of the imports are based on. John Conroy made a very nice robust rendition with smart bearing choices, you can find his build on the forum. The thing to pay attention to is lathe mounting. They all vary a bit although a bigger lathe with typical compound works as the more common platform.
> 
> I lust for a Hardinge style & have contemplated making one. It would suite my purposes better & I would also integrate my standard cutting tools.



Wow Peter..... As usual, very comprehensive suggestions. 

Any chance you could list what those are in order so I have a hope of finding them on line and learning more?

I see India is basically copying number 2. Without actually using one, it seems quite intuitive and flexible. I just wonder about that bearing and rigidity.


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## trlvn (Jul 28, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> Still don't have YouTube fast play. So still fighting YouTube.
> 
> Downloaded and installed VLC for fast play. But then discovered I can't really download videos. Yes, download works, but it's a proprietary format that breaks the video up into cryptic chunks. I found various programs that will download but they all violate YouTube terms and cross into pirate territory. I'm not into that.
> 
> ...


Um, you do realize that the Youtube video player (at least the web version) supports playback at different speeds, right?  Ala:






Click the gear icon and then select "Playback speed".


Also, if you hover the mouse over the playback progress bar, most videos (not all, but most) will show thumbnails of content at that point,  In the screen capture below, I scanned along until I saw the scene change to the surveying instrument.  If you click the playback progress bar at that spot, playback will start there.






I hope I'm not belabouring the obvious.

Craig


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## Susquatch (Jul 28, 2022)

trlvn said:


> Um, you do realize that the Youtube video player (at least the web version) supports playback at different speeds, right?  Ala:
> Click the gear icon and then select "Playback speed".
> 
> 
> ...



I think you forgot I almost never use a desktop.

The only thing worse than Watching at 2x on my phone would be tied down to a desk watching a video stutter its way along from data bandwidth overload.

Fastest speed on my phone is 2x.  So an hour video is still 30 minutes. Ya, that's only half the pain, but then add in all the stops and starts while my phone buffers that data and it's basically unusable.

I need to download in the background and watch at my leisure later - probably in bed.

It's ok Craig. I chose to retire to a farm knowing what would happen to my internet access. I can live with it. Please forgive my occasional bitches about youtube.

PS - I'd never trade my 40x80 shop/barn for faster internet....


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## PeterT (Jul 28, 2022)

Sorry, original post pics were a bit jumbled.


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## Susquatch (Aug 5, 2022)

As posted earlier @eotrfish and I came to an agreed price and I got this lantern style ball turner from him. It arrived yesterday.






Now it's time to adapt it to my BXA Toolpost lathe.

The top and bottom of the rocker bar are already flat and the sides are pretty good. Not at all like my other lantern style tools. So right now I'm thinking about making a special tool holder for it instead of trying to adapt it to a 5/8 holder by adding a 5/8 bar to the side of the lantern bar. I can, either machine an existing 5/8 holder for it or make an all new one.

So I measured it all up and decided I'll prolly go with making the 5/8 slot in a tool holder a bit bigger to accept the lantern bar.

The bottom of the lantern bar needs to be about 1/2 inch above the base of the tool post (top of the cross-slide) to put the cutter on center of the spindle.






I'm also thinking that it might work best mounted on the right side of the tool post instead of the more traditional back or left side. Again, I'll have to rig it up to get a real sense of it. But that doesn't change the need to make a tool-holder adapter.

If I position the bottom of the blade 1/2" above the bottom of the tool holder, I am left with about 1/4" at the top.







I can't imagine any ball turning job that would require big heavy cuts. So right now, I'm thinking that it all works out pretty darn good!

Edit - For reference, the holder is 1.75 high, and the lantern bar is 2 thou under an inch. 

Other thoughts?


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## PaulL (Aug 5, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I can't imagine any ball turning job that would require big heavy cuts.


If you do want to beef up your tool holder you could easily add material above, basically up to clearance for the QCTP's handle.  Bore out a channel for the height adjuster if needed.


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## Susquatch (Aug 5, 2022)

PaulL said:


> If you do want to beef up your tool holder you could easily add material above, basically up to clearance for the QCTP's handle.  Bore out a channel for the height adjuster if needed.



I don't see what you mean. 

FWIW, I had thought I would simply make a taller/fatter tool holder if it wasn't gunna be big enough. But I think 3/8 on the bottom and 1/2 on the top is plenty. 

I was also thinking about leaving it at 1/2 and 1/2 and milling down the lantern bar a bit instead. But I kinda like the idea of having a holder that could also accommodate 1" cut off blades, so I'm leaning toward the 3/8 & 1/2. I also like the idea of leaving the lantern bar a virgin so I can sell it if and when I make something bigger or better.


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## PaulL (Aug 5, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> I don't see what you mean.


I think you did, actually - "taller/fatter".  All good.


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## YYCHM (Aug 5, 2022)

Susquatch said:


> As posted earlier @eotrfish and I came to an agreed price and I got this lantern style ball turner from him. It arrived yesterday.



Do you mind sharing what it set you back?


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## Susquatch (Aug 5, 2022)

YYCHM said:


> Do you mind sharing what it set you back?



Sure, I'll send you a PM.


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## Susquatch (Sep 12, 2022)

The day has arrived to mount my ball turner. 

I widened the tool slot in a BXA Tool Holder from 3/4" to a wee bit over an 1" by taking 0.150" off both top and bottom of the slot. 

I used @thestelster 's trick to set the depth of cut. Set the cutter down on a piece of thin paper, zero my Z/U, then raise the knee by the thickness of the paper and added a thou. It worked perfect and cleaned off the old blackening on the bottom of the slot while widening to 1.050.

The 1" bar of the lantern style ball turner fit the slot perfectly. A bit of compound angle voodoo and I set the height with a tenth to spare. 






I'd guess that the rigidity isn't phenomenal, but it's gotta be better than if used as designed with a lantern style tool post.


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