Tip 54—Shedding some light lathe facing operations--Steven Lang

(Left) Dental mirror attached to block. (Middle) End of part in natural shop light. (Right) End of same part with light reflected on end of part by dental mirror. (Click on any photo to view a larger image. Sorry, no larger image available for 3rd photo.)

GM Engineer Steven Lang offers another suggestion that can help you see what you are doing on the end of a part held in the lathe. When adjusting the tool height in a rocker tool post. If the tool is too high it will not cut properly, and if it is too low it will leave a "nub" on the end of the part during facing operations. Adjusting the tool tip height until the nub is just barely removed is easy if you have enough light to see what you are doing. No need for extra lights taking up space and generating more heat--just make better use of the light you've got.

This PowerPoint image from Steven shows some of the features. (Click on image to view a large photo.)

To take care of this problem, Steven mounted an old dental mirror to a 1-2-3 block and set it up so he could see the end of the part when looking straight down at it. This saves your neck muscles and gives you a dead-on end view of the part being turned. It also has the added benefit of reflecting light onto the faced surface, making it even easier to see what you are doing. In the left-hand photo above you can also see that Steven uses a 3-to-1 clip-on magnifying mirror mounted to a second indicator stand in order to get a magnified view of the end of the part.

From Steven Lang, Columbus, MI

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