Dogs, Dog Plate, and Centers and Die Making

[John P.]

Making up some 7/8-14 tooling for use in making reloading dies.

Have not had the dogs out for exercise in a long time so decided to turn between centers just for grins.

Using 8620 alloy steel, these are big chain link pins for heavy duty drag chain conveyors used in Industry for conveying nasty stuff. I have a couple of milk crates full of then, in diameters from 5/8" up to 1-1/8". Handy for making a lot of stuff around the machine shop. Case hardened with a tough core, I anneal them in the wood stove for easier turning.

I will post more photos as the projects progress. On tap will be a set of 500 Jeffery reloading dies.

 

[CAustin]

There is another AH member who has recently advertised for 404 dies I think. He is willing to even rent some

 

[K E Johnson]

That is definitely old school. The lathe dog has a square head set screw instead of an allen “safety dog” I have never had a Morse taper sleeve for my headstock. I just turn round stock 60 degrees and have dog drive off of a chuck jaw. Been quite a while since I have turned between centers.
Will be waiting for updates.

 

[John P.]

Yea I like old school. The beauty of dog driving, especially with a proper face plate with one driving slot as shown, is you can remove the work piece to check a thread fit, then return it to the lathe, without losing timing when threading. And without having to re dial in the work. This will be a threaded arbor (7-8"-14) used for holding die lock rings while knurling.

I worked in industrial machine shops in the past, much of our work was making big shafts for pumps, motors, sawmill equipment and such. Start by centering both ends of the stock, then rough out the shaft using a chuck, steady rest and the tailstock center. When it was time to finish the bearing fits, all of which had to be true and concentric to each other, it was faceplate and dog time. We would turn the shaft end for end when working on the precision fits. Big lathes, big work pieces. Spent a lot of time on a 30 inch Monarch with 20 feet between centers. 5 ton bridge crane overhead.

I will take a photo of the dog pack, I have maybe 20 of various sizes.

Back to the dies, I have a set of RCBS in 500 Jeffery but I want to make a set using neck sizing bushings in the resize die. Similar to this set:

 

[John P.]

There is another AH member who has recently advertised for 404 dies I think. He is willing to even rent some

Right now I am without 404 Jeffery reamers. Sold them along with some barrels to a gent that was in need. Might have to order another set.

 

[John P.]

I have two presses with the 1-1/4 insert bushing, which may be removed to allow use of large diameter dies. Think I will make the new 500 Jeffery dies this size.

This is a universal die, 1-1/4" diameter, with a removable floating insert cut with the chambering reamer. Precise bullet seating for the big cartridges. Micrometer adjust for the seat depth.

The cartridge is a 408 Chey Tac.

 

[John P.]

That is definitely old school. The lathe dog has a square head set screw instead of an allen “safety dog” I have never had a Morse taper sleeve for my headstock. I just turn round stock 60 degrees and have dog drive off of a chuck jaw. Been quite a while since I have turned between centers.
Will be waiting for updates.

One of the first things we learned in Machinist Apprentice School was to keep you hands away from a spinning dog, and to always wear short sleeves when running the lathe.

 

[Shootist43]

John P, this is obviously a "labor of love." ENJOY IT!!

 

[John P.]

John P, this is obviously a "labor of love." ENJOY IT!!

74 Years old, retired, everything paid for, finally getting to play in the shop! Life is good. Catching up on a bunch of back burner projects.

 

[Shootist43]

This type of activity will keep both tour mind and machining skills sharp. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see that other AH Members ask you to do a bit of machining for them.

 

[John P.]

Start of the threading, layout bluing to check the pitch

Almost complete

Threading complete

With the 1-1/4" adapter

With a standard RCBS die

The dog pack. 19 of them. Some duplicates, but too many is better than not enough.

 

[John P.]

This type of activity will keep both tour mind and machining skills sharp. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see that other AH Members ask you to do a bit of machining for them.

I subscribe to the rule of Clint Eastwood: "Don't Let The Old Man In".

Meaning keep your brain active!!!! No sitting in front of the boob tube guzzling beer.