Adam Savage’s One Day Builds: Lathe Tailstock Repair!

7 thoughts on “Adam Savage’s One Day Builds: Lathe Tailstock Repair!”

1. I thought you might make a hole in the collar for the bolt to go through (with an inside recess for the bolt head, and probably a larger-than-bolt head access hole across the bushing from the through-hole) so the bolt could stay intact and become more of a ‘consumable’, easily replaceable part with no welding involved.

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2. Two things: It’s a pet peeve of mine when Adam says “Tolerance” when he means “Fit”. Tolerance is the amount of variation allowed in a manufacturing process. “Fit” is how tight or loose things fit together. I guess the confusion is understandable because Adam builds things to fit together, he doesn’t build things to engineered tolerances. Secondly, (and more important) that bolt isn’t “Grade 8” any more after he welded on it and screwed up the material properties. It might work for him. We’ll see.

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3. I would have loved to see Adam do a collab wither either My Mechanics or Hand Tool Rescue, they are awesome perfectionists and do thing “right” to the original. Adam is good, but he could learn from these folks how to “truly” repair/restore his machines.

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4. Longshot

   You are right it will anneal it a down to 5 ish in the weld area which is still 125Kpsi (say 80K psi due to the welding) but I doubt it would matter that much given the size of the bolt it has 50 mm of 3mm fillet weld conservatively holds about 4000lbs /1800kg , with a safety margin that is about 2200lbs while a 5/8 bolt at grade 2 would still far exceed that at about 20000 lbs. Doubt it will be a problem

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5. I fully agree that the grade 8 properties will be dramatically modified with the welding.

   But this great fix of his lathe brings up a good subject that I would like to see Adam explore further. That is, the subject of “Grade” classification of bolts, why we have it and how do you identify the grade. Adam mentioned that the bolt was a grade 8 because of the gold color. I believe the gold color is from an alodine surface prep that the manufacturer put on the bolt to help reduce rusting while it is in storage. While the grade classification is forged on the top of the bolt head when it is made, there will be 5 marks for grade 8. To make sure I’m correct, check Machinery’s Handbook, a reference book all Makers should have.

   Don’t quote me, this is off the top of my head…. All marks that define the grade of the bolt are forged into the bolt head. No marks = less than grade 3. The mfg mark means a grade 3. One radial mark = grade 4, all the way up to 5 radial marks = grade 8, the highest standard production grade. Most American made “Allen” or socket head machine screws are not marked, but are grade 8.

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6. Hey Adam, great video as always. One thing I note from all your tool improvement videos is how to be safe, especially when it comes to the table saw. One of the makers on YouTube I follow is Izzy Swan and his latest video is for a safety addition when using larger sheets of material https://youtu.be/RZmbZLZLrb8 you might also like to watch his earlier videos on table saw jigs which he uses to make things like spindles and even a bowl

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7. Cool video bro.It reminds me about my latest repair while I have a lot of problems with interior waterproofing of basement. Shit was bad until I discovered Basement Waterproofing Toronto do a quality job with all plumbing questions and even give me a huge discount. Not to mention a free estimate.

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