I've been wanting a lathe ball turner for years. I've been reviewing various designs but they all seemed to come up a little short of what I was looking for. When Robert Bailey's Lathe Ball Making Accessory appeared in the Nov/Dec 2003 issue of The Home Shop Machinist, I knew it had all the features I liked. It took a couple of years to get started on the project, but it is now nearly complete. My shop days average 4 to 6 hours, 8 or 9 hours are rare, some days only up to a couple of hours in the shop due to other things that need taking care of.

This project also involved two side projects for jigs and fixtures. The 1st was a design for a radius setup jig used with a rotary table. It assists in setting the imaginary center point of a radius on the rotary table. The second side project was to build a dial numbering fixture to accurately hold dials for numbering with a hand stamp. It is based on Allen Blaney's article in the Apr/May 2006 Machinist's Workshop magazine.

Robert's design was changed to fit my Emco-Maier Super 11 and make use of materials I had available to me.

1. My Super 11 has a slotted crossfeed table that the compound bolts to. This tool replaces the whole compound assembly when in use, so a cast iron bearing holder had to be made. This new part remains attached to the ball turner.
   
2. A larger bearing was used, as I had no existing design constraints.
   
3. Robert had used a nice brass upper dovetail that he had received from a fellow machinist. I elected to use cast iron for both of the dovetail halves and beefed them up to .75" thickness. I changed the dovetail design slightly to better match the way the compund and crossfeed dovetails were made on my Super 11. I made both the upper and lower dovetails 2-5/8" wide to accomodate the updated design and add a bit of cross-section strength where the dovetail cut comes to a sharp inside corner. I just wasn't sure if the cast iron would be as strong at these points as the brass upper dovetail Robert used.
   
4. I eliminated the adapter (Item 17) and just made it part of the knob which I machined from aluminum.
   
5. While I was making up the drawings for the changes, it occurred to me that a floating dial would be a nice addition in place of the setscrew. I disassembled one of my Super 11 dials and discovered the really slick way they designed them. I designed my ball turner dial to use the Emco-Maier technique, which uses an arched spring that rides in a groove to press against the inside of the dial and provide the needed friction.
   
6. In addition, I noted Robert's use of a 3/8"-20 thread for the screw (Item 15). This seemed like just another one-time purchase for a tap, so I elected to use 7/16"-20 for mine. This required the hole through the upper dovetail to be 1/2" instead of 7/16".
   
7. My screw was made of 15/32" stock so larger bushings were used in the bearing block (Item 13).
   
   

3/13 Purchased cast iron from Preston $40.

3/13 Rough sawed cast iron block for bearing base 4-3/4" square and cut off corners to remove bulk of material.

3/13 Mounted in 4-jaw, faced to 13/16" and turned OD to 4-1/2" for .375" of thickness.

3/14 Reversed in 4-jaw, centered, faced to .75" thickness, remaining .375" thickness of OD turned to 4-1/2".

3/14 Bored to 1.875" for bearing sleeve.

3/14 Made 5/8" high by 1.875" OD by 40mm ID bearing sleeve for 6203 bearing. (Item 5)

3/15 Counterbored 3, 8mm bearing base mounting holes at 90, 180 and 270 degrees.

3/15 Drilled and reamed 7/16" aligning pin hole at 0 degrees. This duplicates Super 11 compound mounting.

3/15 Drilled and reamed 2, 3/16" radial lock pin holes at 45 and 315 degrees, tapped 1/4"-20 lock pin setscrew holes.

3/15 Made 2, 3/16"D x 7/8"L brass lock pins with sperical end. (Item 9)

3/15 Started layout of base. (Item 1)

3/15 Rough cut 4-3/8" arc on base, drill and tap for face plate mounting.

3/15 Mounted base on face plate with concave side out and faced, center bored .250".

3/16 Flipped base plate and faced convex side flat, machined 4-3/8" edge, bored .500".

3/16 Ground and sanded surfaces smooth, drill and tap 5 handle holes 5/16"-18.

3/16 Turned center for .500" press fit in base and .625" press fit in bearing, rough bored to 13/64". (Item 3)

3/16 Roughed centering rod and finished spherical/knurled end. (Item 4)

3/16 Single pointed 3/8"-16 thread on handle. (Item 8)

3/20 Forged handle end flat, drilled 5/16" holes 1" apart, polished.

3/20 Rough sawed cast iron for bottom dovetail block, machined to 2-5/8" width, sawed dovetail slots. (Item 6)

3/21 Machined top of dovetail to width, machined dovetail.

3/22 Cleaned up sharp edges on bottom dovetail.

3/22 Layout of bottom dovetail holes with height gage and surface plate.

3/22 Mounted mill vise and indicated square.

3/22 Cut bottom dovetail to length and machined square.

3/22 Bored and reamed .75" hole for nut.

3/22 Drilled lower left and upper right mounting holes #7.

3/22 Drilled and reamed upper left and lower right .25" alignment pin holes.

3/22 Drilled 3/8" corner radius holes for bottom dovetail cutout, rough sawed cutout, machined cutout.

3/22 Clamped lower dovetail to base at back location.

3/22 Clamped assembly on mill and drilled through #7s and drilled/reamed .25" alignment pin holes.

3/22 Clamped lower dovetail at forward location.

3/22 Clamped assembly on mill and drilled through #7s and drilled/reamed .25" alignment pin holes.

3/22 Drilled #7 holes in lower dovetail to .25" and countersunk.

3/22 Tapped #7s in base 1/4"-20.

3/27 Cleaned and Tool Black base, bearing base, bearing sleeve.

3/27 Cleaned and Loctite 271 bearing in sleeve.

3/27 Cleaned and press fit/Loctite 680 center to base.

3/27 Cut .75" brass stock for nut. (Item 7)

3/27 Setup and clamp lower dovetail to 90 degree angle plate on mill, drill W through dovetail and nut.

3/27 Remove nut and drill lower dovetail through 11.5mm clearance for 7/16" tap.

3/27 Reinsert nut, tap 7/16"-20, mark dovetail and nut orientation.

3/27 Remove nut, drill lower dovetail 1/2" through.

3/27 Part nut to length.

3/27 Reamed center to 7/32", turned center rod to fit center.

3/28 Machine material for gib to size, .076"T x 15/32"W x 3"L, polish with 320. (Item 11)

3/28 Rough cut top dovetail stock, machine square to 2-5/8" x 3". (Item 10)

3/28 Machine waste from center of top dovetail.

3/28 Machine top dovetails to slide fit on lower dovetail using gib.

3/29 Used Clover 240 carbide to lap top and lower dovetails.

3/29 Drill and tap top dovetail for #8-32 gib screws.

3/29 Mark and drill gib setscrew dimples.

3/29 Layout top plate and rough saw to shape. (Item 12)

3/29 Machine top plate to layout lines.

3/29 Rough saw cutout and finish machine to size.

3/29 Make 2, 1/8"D x 1/2"L alignment pins.

3/29 Layout top plate holes, clamp to top dovetail, coordinate drill/countersink/tap holes, press in alignment pins.

3/29 Turn 6-3/4" screw to 15/32", single point 7/16"-20 thread to fit nut. (Item 15)

3/30 Machine bearing block and press in bushings, ream bushings. (Item 13)

3/30 Machine collar. (Item 16)

3/31 Drill and tap 2, #10-32 holes in collar.

3/31 Machine knob with built in sleeve and pressure spring groove. (Item 19)

3/31 Machine dial, make arched friction spring. (Item 18)

4/1 Machine .154"T x .875"OD x .472"ID spacer for between knob and bearing block.

4/1 Machine finger knob.

4/7 Drill and tap knob for finger knob.

4/7 Drill knob and screw for roll pin.

4/7 Machine 38 degree nose on lower dovetail.

4/7 Fit and lap parts for smooth operation.

4/7 Drill clearance hole for center rod in lower dovetail.

4/19 Round corners on top plate and bearing block. Built radius jig for radiusing corners on mill/rotary table.

5/16 Tool Black dovetails, top plate and collar.

5/16 Make 7/16 mounting base alignment pin and press in mounting base.

5/16 Press pivot bearing onto base center shaft.

June Working on improved design for ball turner tool post.

7/3 Mark 50 divisions on dial. Used technique described by Allen Blaney in A/M 2006 Machinist's Workshop.

7/3 Began secondary project building a dial numbering fixture for holding dial and number stamps.

7/26 Number divisions on dial.

7/28 Rough saw and machine tool block, tool black parts. (Item 21)

8/1 Machine first ball for handle!