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Hello from the NW Calgary

Andrew James

New Member
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
 

Andrew James

New Member
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.
 

Andrew James

New Member
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.
 

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
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.
 

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
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
 

Johnwa

Ultra Member
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.
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
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.
 

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
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.
 

Janger

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

Janger

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

historicalarms

Ultra Member
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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