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@davidgilbreath sent me a small project. He wanted to adapt a K&M saddle to a Baltimore Brass stand, but it didn’t fit.

The tubing used is 3/4” OD steel tubing with an inside diameter a bit less than 5/8”. The opening in the K&M saddle is 0.640”.

I pondered just drilling out the K&M to make it fit over a 3/4” tube. But the hole in the saddle has a square bottom and would have to be plunge-reamed to keep the bottom of the hole square. I could have done that, but my reamers only go up to 5/8”. And a 3/4” reamer would not fit in either my drill press chuck or in the tailstock of the lathe. And fixturing it wouldn’t be easy—it’s rubber-covered and no way to clamp it down rigidly.

So, I made an adapter. It fits inside the tubing and is secured there with a taper pin. And the part that sticks up out of the stand has very little slop inside the K&M saddle.

Hot off the lathe:


In David’s K&M saddle:


This part goes inside the tube. It was a zero-clearance light press fit, but I didn’t want it working loose and installed a taper pin.


I used gun bluing to hide the taper pin. The pin is a standard No. 2 taper pin, hammered in place and then trimmed and ground smooth.




It does add an inch, but that could be subtracted by trimming the other end of the tube.


Strong enough for David’s BATs, and mine:


Rick “perfect small project” Denney

Rick Denney wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 12:03 amBaltimore Brass stand

Nice. Where did you get the nice big knob?

Another project suggestion: miniature tuba mouthpieces like Miraphone used to give out.

Yes. I'll take a Mini-Denney.

If Rick is anything like me, he's going to be pulling over and picking up any fairly large diameter bolt, any machinable looking piece of steel/aluminum, or whatever type of metal that he sees laying on the curb or in the gutter.

Rick probably isn't a person to do this but, I could even see offering to pick up scrap metal - but designated as solid/not sheet, and maybe offering to do this on nextdoor and local facebook pages until he had enough junk laying around to pick through.

A friend of mine was walking down the street with Hans Moennig - legendary woodwind repairman - in Philadelphia. Hans leaned over into the gutter and picked up a big bolt. He told my friend exactly what he was going to machine it into and for what purpose.

Mark wrote:

Rick Denney wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 12:03 amBaltimore Brass stand

Nice. Where did you get the nice big knob?

Tractor Supply, in the specialty connectors aisle.

Similar to catalog number 91185A815 at McMaster-Carr.

Rick “buck-fifty each, but ten to a bag” Denney

bloke wrote:If Rick is anything like me, he's going to be pulling over and picking up any fairly large diameter bolt, any machinable looking piece of steel/aluminum, or whatever type of metal that he sees laying on the curb or in the gutter.

Rick probably isn't a person to do this but, I could even see offering to pick up scrap metal - but designated as solid/not sheet, and maybe offering to do this on nextdoor and local facebook pages until he had enough junk laying around to pick through.

A friend of mine was walking down the street with Hans Moennig - legendary woodwind repairman - in Philadelphia. Hans leaned over into the gutter and picked up a big bolt. He told my friend exactly what he was going to machine it into and for what purpose.

While learning, I’m using known steels. But I made a grinding wheel bushing last night from 1045, which is NOT free-machining like the 12L14 pictured above. Pretty similar to a Grade 8 bolt. I learned a lot about endless strings of razor-sharp, blue-hot chips.



Rick “didn’t get burned or cut, but did get scared” Denney

The Big Ben wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 2:06 pm Project suggestion:

Valve stem, button and top valve cap for horn of your choice. Button can be all metal or with pearl inlay. Extra points for making bottom cap. The same setup to make the top cap will probably work for the bottom cap. Knurl the edges of buttons and caps? It's your project, man...

These parts can get a horn missing them back in action. Buy them from Allied, you say? Allied won't sell to you and, besides, the horn is old and no parts are available.

That is an impressive lathe! I’m super jelly, but truth be told I just don’t have space for a machine like that.

I’m going to second Mr Ben’s suggestion, especially for the finger buttons. I’ve got a few original large size York buttons (looking for partners) that I could supply as a template for measurements……..