bill van snorkle Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 The way I see it, you need a lathe and a milling machine to make a lathe, so how did they make the first lathe ? Some useless trivia. Apparently it is not possible to make perfect ball bearings in earths gravity, but they can be made in space Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 The way I see it, you need a lathe and a milling machine to make a lathe, so how did they make the first lathe ?Bill. They used a rotating camel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02GF74 Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 The way I see it, you need a lathe and a milling machine to make a lathe, so how did they make the first lathe ?Some useless trivia. Apparently it is not possible to make perfect ball bearings in earths gravity, but they can be made in space Bill. taking it one step further back, I've wondered how one would make a flat surface or a straight edge without having either to begin with. for fllat surface: take two rocks and rub them against one another in random motion with some sand as grinding paste? re: ball bearings? are you saying they cannot be perfectly round since gravity will stretch them when you come to neasrue them (but then woulddl the ruler be stretched by the same amount? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 I would guess the way to make a flat surface is to get two surfaces and coat one with marking blue (or wode). Place them together and blue will be transferred from one to the other where highspots coincide or where highspots in one fit into low spots on the other Turn one through 90 degrees and repeat. The highspots on the non-coated plate will be coloured a darker blue than the other marks. Scrape the high spots away and repeat until both surfaces end up with an even coating of blue when pressed together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocKeR Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 The humble mobile phone, preferably with a nice AA man at the end! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02GF74 Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 The humble mobile phone, preferably with a nice AA man at the end! does your mobile operate on clockwork? Title says "mechanical" inventions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark90 Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 As a matter of interest, how do they make bearing balls? Like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Brilliant. If ball bearings roll, then why do we lubricate them? surely this would make the balls skid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugwash Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 most ball bearings are subject to huge pressures - we lubricate them to reduce friction (which reduces wear, heat and all sorts of other thing which iam sure someone much more knowledgeable than me will be able to discuss), and protect the bearings somewhat from erosion. This pressure will force the surfaces together and force the bearings to roll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 you can't make ball bearings with a lathein fact i reckon you'd need ball bearings to make a lathe Err...wrong on both counts! The CNC shop I use makes BIG balls on a CNC Lathe which are ground, polished, hardened and used in specialised BIG bearings. The earliest lathes (something like a bow lathe) would not have ball raced bearings - more likely a wooden bush lubricated with tallow or something. A lathe is a relatively simple machine that leads to the production of a wealth of other tools and machines. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugwash Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 dammit simon, you're undermining my ballbearing theories here, UP THE BALL BEARING (tallow? wooden bushes? pah they are nothing on ball bearings) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocKeR Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 does your mobile operate on clockwork? Doesn't everyone's? Hush ma mouth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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