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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    61

    Talking Busybee 10 X 18

    :rainfro: Yippee!!
    I just picked up a 10 X 18 from busybee yesterday.
    I will be doing a CNC conversion on it eventualy as time permits.
    This is an awsome machine, they also had the 9 X 20 and there is no comparison between the two. I will post more pictures over the next few days
    Mark
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails carrige and head stock.jpg   carrige scale.jpg   shifters.jpg  

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    61
    :rainfro: Hello again,
    The more I play with the 10X18 the more I like it.
    The initial clean up was easy, no major grit or crud just a coating of light grease that wiped off easily. during the cleaning I disassembled the apron. carrige, cross slide, compound and tail stock, the fit and finnish were exellent.
    my only minor disappointment was the compound, the gibbs and dovetails will require some attention.
    This lathe is massive and The test cuts I took today were impressive, out of the box with only a cleaning and minor gibb adjustment it removed .125" off the diameter of a 1-1/2 304 SS bar in 1 pass with an exellent finnish.
    I have a 3" torrington roller bearing race i'ts very hard and the lathe took a
    .02" depth of cut, the swarf was bright red coming of the tool and the finnish
    was as smooth and shiny as the original ground finnish.
    I see very little mention of these machines, has any body else done a CNC conversion on a 10 X 18?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails apron scale.jpg   cross slide ways.jpg   back gears.jpg  

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    I just bought one of these today! Its my first lathe and and I am a bit lost and excited at the same time

    Unpacking was relatively easy except for trying to move all 360# of this machine around!. Not much grease, what was there came off with degreaser and not much scrubbing.

    Ran some aluminum through it and it is really smooth...question I've got though is does anyone know what scale the dials are? I haven't put much effort into figuring it out but it doesn't seem that its metric or inch

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    25
    I've had my 10x18 for two years now and have been fairly impressed with it for the price. As for the dail graduations, on mine, the crossfeed is .1mm on the diameter, the topslide is actually .002" per graduation. The dail on the leadscrew handwheel I have found useless as the leadscrew on mine is 7tpi. The goodnews is the tailstock is right on as the dail reads.

    The only major problem I have had was yesterday I stripped the two studs for clamping the topslide down. I found a 5/16" grade 8 bolt is a perfect fit in the circular groove and I just had to open the thru holes in the topslide 1/16" to clear. I would reccomend doing this before you go to far, as it is really annoying when your in the middle of a job and you strip the studs.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    Thanks for the tip on the bolt, picked some up on the way home today. I just spent some time running a few test pieces and it seems mine is set up the same as yours in terms of dial graduations & accuracy.

    I picked up a chuck and arbour as well, I'm guessing I just wack the arbour into the tailstock? Sorry for all the newbie questions, I'm learning as I go

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    25
    The best way I find to install the chuck onto the arbour is, to clean the socket and arbour with laquer thinner or acetone to degrease, then chuck the arbour in the freezer for an hour and then I place the chuck on the arbour press and use it to seat the arbour into the chuck. If all else fail you can give it a few good taps with a dead blow hammer or a block of wood and a steel hammer. Good luck.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    Worked like a charm, thanks for the help.

    I'm going to try and get into the headstock, my lathe is in my garage/shop which is usually kind of cool (maybe 5-10 deg C) and I find the lathe a bit slow to start up. Wondering if some fresh moly grease would help things out?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    61
    It"s great to see there are others with this lathe, seeing all the groups for the mini lathes and the 9X20's I was starting to feel like an outcast.

    The headstock should have oil in it not grease, there is a sight glass for the oil level on the lower right corner as you look at the headstock.

    Mark

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    Mark, I was wondering what the sightglass was for. I tried to read the manual but that was a waste of time, I have no idea what they are trying to say. I looked at the diagrams but can't really get a clear view of how to drain the oil. Is there a drain plug or do we need to drain it with a turkey baster?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    61
    Yeah the manual is almost useless,
    the oil drain plug is on the chuck side of the headstock
    down low near the back.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    25
    Mine has been slow to start up lately in the cold weather, my shops not much warmer until I turn on the heater. What I do is chuck up a piece of bar and let the lathe run at 550 rpm for 5-10min. I have found after that thier is no problem.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    839
    The oil could be changed to a differnt type/weight but I would check with the manufacter to see what would qualify as a replacement. They may even have a recemendation for colder weather operation. It is probably just the tickness of the fluid/oil that is draging things a little until it warms abit. I would be very carfull in trying something like this. But there probably is a oil/fluid that is proven that will help this out.


    Jess

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    601
    The problem with switching the viscosity is the head will still warm up to the running temp, and thin the oil out. I'd just keep warming the lathe up until you get heat.
    On all equipment there are 2 levers...
    Lever "A", and Lever F'in "B"

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    It runs great after 5-10 mins just as Jwood mentions, but I am a bit worried about the wear on startup..I can picture the oil as a big lump of grease until it gets warm. I would guess that the oil they are using in there is a heavy weght oil and maybe not of the best quality. I was in busy bee today and asked the guy about a different viscosity but he didn't know anything about it...might wait until the manager at the store comes back from holidays and ask him.

    I am wondering if a multi-weight oil like a synthetic manual gearbox oil would work? They tend to be a heavy weight oil to help w/gears in contact and also are thin enough in the cold so that you can shift you tranny.

    Nick.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    839
    I am sure if you can find out what it is suppost to have you should be able to get something to help it out abit. But do be carefull because heat & ability to handle load will be important. With that said it is probably not a very good quality oil that they have in there and it may be a simply choice in upgrading the oil with something of better quality that could handle heat & load better & still be easy on it in the cold & heat. If you have a Infra red temp gun it might be good to run it & get it at full temp to have something to compair to if you do change the oil. Maybe the manager will know more than his helper when you go talk to him.

    It doesnt sound like this has given anyone any trouble by being a little slow & draggy till it warms. But I am kinda like you I would think it could wear something a little quicker if it had to go threw this alot (probably the electric motor if anything).

    If you have some kinda portable heater you could help warm it a bit before you start it.


    Jess

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    I thought about heating things up a bit since I have a construction type 220V heater in there, but it would cost a fortune....between the wife and I we're always driving in and out of the garage so its impossible to keep it warm....well, I guess I could but the electric bill would be a little out of control

    I spent a bunch of time on it tonight, maybe I'm making too much of this but starting it up the belt was squealing (slipping) so that got annoying in a hurry...it all was good when warmed up though. I'm going to try and find something that works when cold & warm. All of this won't matter when its the middle of july and I'm cursing the heat..but.....

    that said I'm really happy with this machine, it drilled a nice 2 1/2" x 1/2" diam. hole in 6061 aluminum real easy...also took off 1/2" diameter in 6 passes. Nice power, solid machine..seems really accuracte. I'm glad I bought it. For $1000, it sure beats just about all of the 3 1/2x and 7x mini lathes out there.

    Nick

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1810
    Two comments - don't use a multi viscosity oil in such a gear box. There are too many detergents and modifiers that are designed for use in an engine, not in an enclosed gearbox. If the dealer can't make a better recommendation, check with the engineering department of the manufacturer.

    Second - on the heat issue - why not keep a 100W light bulb or a small heat lamp of some sort on underneath the headstock? Maybe even set it up on a timer or a thermostat. This way, the head would always be warm - an advantage if you like in an area with a condensing environment.

    Scott
    Consistency is a good thing....unless you're consistently an idiot.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    601
    Just a thought, I've used a small magnetic heater to warm up oil pans on heavy eqipment. They are self regulating, so the amount of power required to keep it warm wouls be small.

    Acctually you could get the stick on oil pan heater! It would be more efficiant than the mag type, and they are also self regulated. You could stick it on the head, plug it in and forget about it. Most come with an insulated pad that you put over top of the element after you apply it to the oil pan, or in your case the headstock.

    I just did a quick google and this is what I mean http://www.etipinc.com/universal.asp?cat=maint
    On all equipment there are 2 levers...
    Lever "A", and Lever F'in "B"

  19. #19
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1810
    DSL PWR's on to something. Good find!

    I would just imagine keeping the machine at a relatively constant temp would be all around better than warming up the headstock. If you used the pad heater DSL found attached to the headstock, not only would the headstock stay slightly warm, but the heat would also migrate through the bed of the machine. If nothing else, it would certainly help in the spring and fall when you get those days where everything sweats because of the tempurature inversions, heh? You have those days up there in the great white North?

    Scott
    Consistency is a good thing....unless you're consistently an idiot.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    32
    Hehe, yeah we get a couple of those days up here, funny weather this winter, days are in the 50's and the nights are in the teens (F scale), so pretty much perfect condensing conditions

    ..good idea on the pan heater, I will go shopping tomorrow and see what I can dig up.

    Scott, on the multi-vis oil what I meant was I was thinking of using the oil that's meant for use in manual transmissions, not engine oil. My logic was that the gears in a manual tranny have constant contact and impacts, and are exposed to all kinds of temperature extremes...also these oils are usually permament or extremely extended change intervals..Was thinking this might be a very similar environment. I'm guessing Shell or Mobil or someone like that puts out a better gear oil than whoever supplies the factory in China.

    Anyhow there should be some "spec" oil for all these mini lathes, they are all built the same for the most part, and the one line I could actually understand in the owners manual said to change oil after 10 hrs of use (it was really bad english, but that's what they were getting to.

    Nick

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