Home Machinist's Journal

I had this incomplete die filer laying around for decades. So, I took some time over the weekend to get it up and working again. With some scrap metal I fabricated a drive shaft with an oscillating drive head. I made the drive shaft longer than necessary. Since I was using a lathe as my power source, I had concerns about the spinning chuck being too close to the die filer working area and a hazard to me. And all this maybe being a good idea but possibly causing some kinda weird vibration at the oscillating drive when under load. But, after a test run, all was good.  So, now I need something to file on, lol. There is no name on the die filer other than "Pat Pending". It had a #2 Morse taper for mounting. I changed it to a #3 Morse taper to fit my lathe. The white felt thing (umbrella) under the die filer table was my idea for keeping the filing swarf out of the moving parts. I guess time will tell.
diefiler.jpg

I've heard of die filers that mounted in a lathe, but have never seen one. Thanks for posting a photo of yours!

I also like the spill-proof oil container you have on your cross slide. Is it fastened in place there, or does it just happen to be sitting there in your photo? I assume that is what it is anyway, it looks like some sort of container with an acid brush sticking out of it.

That container just sits there with cutting oil in it. My lathe is set-up for coolant. But, I do not want the maintenance that goes with it. So, that little container is all I have to help in machining. For me, it's good enough. And I try and stay away from machining stainless! The container is shop made and I did not make it. Can't remember how I found it, it was too long ago.