[Maglin]

Well I thought I would put this out here for everyone. I talked to Matt at QMT today about some parts for the PM45 mainly the splined sleeve and spindles for the mills. He is able to get a splined sleeve for a little under $70 ea. + shipping. Since these come from China shipping is kind of pricey. I'm looking at ordering one in the next few weeks along with a NTB30 spindle if he is able to get the spindle. The R8 spindles are $115 and the NTB30 spindles I would image would be around the same price.

I see people getting grizzly parts and then they don't work for one reason or another and this is the exact same part(s) that will work. If anyone else is looking for either of these parts how about we place a small bulk order for these at the same time to decrease the cost of shipping. Just an idea.

[pete from TN]

Hey man that is cool. Honestly tho I bought my splined coupler from MSC in Atlanta for like $46.00.. They only had two or three in stock so you might have to wait on an order a bit but they do have them. As far as the 30 taper spindle that is something I have considered a bunch of times. I still dunno about it. R8 or even TTS is readily available and relatively cheap. 30 stuff can be a little more expensive and is maybe a bit harder to find. It really is a toss up. I would venture to guess the 30 taper stuff might show a little improvement in tool rigidity but not having ever used a 30 taper it is hard to say.

How far along are you on your Bad Boy RF45 cnc conversion you are doing? I liked your pics of the knee mill. That looks like a good old machine. I am anxious to see another RF45 CNC doing some work around here. There are a few others almost done as well. It will be interesting to see your mesa stuff and how it runs these machines.

Have you done anything with that turbo car yet? haha peace

Pete

[Maglin]

My turbo car has the motor/tranny and most of the drive line in now. I have half of the engine harness reran and cleaned up. Really only have to put the turbo on, build a turbo elbow to conect to the downpipe and install the megasquirt. It's slow going as I lost intrest in it a long time ago. Now I want to get it finished and dyno'd and sell it so I can get some more stuff for the mustang.

On my 45 I have the nut mounts roughed out and ready to be bored and threaded for the nuts. I couldn't use my face plate to hold the parts so I hit a wall with not having a 4 jaw. I'm getting my lathe swapped out for a 12x36 geared head lathe. It's has a D1-4 spindle and all the chucks. So I will be able to finish my nut mounts. My X nut doesn't screw into the saddle. It has the threads in the nut so I have to make some press in pieces for the saddle so I can attach the nut mount from the top. I'm realizing that making parts is a lot longer process than I had thought. Especially when you are trying to make to a set dimension. I think once my new lathe gets here I'll be spending a lot more time on it.

As for the NTB30. I have the availability of getting tool holders for it for 2.50/lb from spirit surplus. Also the autodraw bar setup will be a lot easier as I won't need near as much force applied to the drawbar to positively seat the tools. It's just something I'm throwing around. I'm going with the R8 initially. I'm also looking to add some more bearings to the spindle to add some rigidity to it and not have it bow in the center.

Maybe I'll look at MSC for the splined sleeve. That is a lot less for the part.

[pete from TN]

Well man that is the lathe that I have here. A 12x36 Gear head, Gap bed engine lathe. It is pretty decent and I have actually owned it for around 15 years now I guess. It is repeatably accurate and I have gotten good service from it. The camlock lathe chuck is also pretty nice. I can change back and forth from faceplate to three and four jaw chucks in a minute or two.

Take your time on the conversion, there is much to do and takes some time. I am sure you will do a great job on it. Congrats on the new lathe man...peace

Pete