jim, Author at James Rathbun

The Gib Screw T-nut on the Lewis Horizontal Mill is a knuckle buster.

Gib Screw Locking Tool

Posted on July 11, 2022July 11, 2022

Over the July fourth holiday this year, I decided on an impulse project to build a gib screw locking tool for my Lewis Horizonal Mill. After a intro milling project,…

Project Headstock Spider: boring out the spider to the correct diameter to accommodate the spindle of the South Bend 9A.

Headstock Spider – Boring Down

Posted on June 29, 2022November 18, 2024

Once I had the Headstock Spider out of the Lewis Horizontal Mill, I needed to open up the bore to have a snug fit on the lathe’s headstock. The first…

Check location location and orientation with some drills on my South Bend Lathe 9A Headstock Spider.

Headstock Spider – Drilling and Tapping

Posted on June 28, 2022June 28, 2022

The headstock spider for my south bend 9a lathe made some great progress with the help of the Lewis Mill and decent vise. Up until now, I have only built…

DSLR time lapse movies

Posted on June 27, 2022January 17, 2025

Lately, I have been on a night time photography kick. After a evening of night time imaging with my DSLR I built a quick time lapse movie from over 350…

ER32 Collets for the Lewis Horizontal Mill

Posted on June 27, 2022June 27, 2022

After acquiring a Lewis Horizontal Mill, I took stock in my inventory of tooling. My current skillset in milling is that of a complete “newbie” hobbyist, so I am literally…