Dear Steve, You should have no problem with machining the piece. I wonder if that Taig lathe isn't the same one that Alvin Lewis Sadler has. When I was in his home last year, while returning from the Harley Davidson Milwaukee bash, a complete disappointment, he showed me his LITTLE lathe. I think it's what you have. Anyway, that tool didn't make much of an impression on me. I found it very hard to set up and line up things to be machined. So you just might have your hands full.
If I were you I would use a cold rolled steel boring bar, not aluminum or brass. If you have welding equipment available you can braze a piece of the drill bit (that's hardened) to the end of the bar and then grind it to suit your needs. Just becareful not to heat the HSS more than to a very dark red so as not to anneal it. Your right on about the files and the aluminum stopping up the file teeth. I even use a sharpened broken hack saw blade to pick out the aluminum from between the teeth. Too bad we don't live close together. I'm in Mexico City. I could really give you hand with the machining. You could give me a hand with your patients. You should get yourself a dial indicator to align things up. The cheap Chinese ones are cheap and good enough for your needs when setting up things to machine. All you need is one with a �" movement. Your idea of using steam oil for cutter lubication will work. The slow way we machine things everything will work. Steam oil has tallow or lard in it and that's a real help. Lard is very good when it come to tapping steels. Apply the oil with a �" paint brush. The reason for oil use is so that the chip can slide off the cutting tool easily. That way the tool doesn't heat up that much. Otherwise the chip begins to weld to the tool and that friction will really heat up the cutting edge. When you machine with hard cuts at optimum speeds on much heavier machines, then flooding the cutting tool with cutting oil, beside lubricating the point where the tool makes contact with the piece being machined, the coolant really cools off the tool and the work. But you will never get to that point in machining. Some cutting tools are perforated so that pressurized coolant can pass through them to cool the tool better. Be well and good luck. As a last resort you can always buy an LGB locomotive. Arthur--Mexico City
