[bodysnatcher]

Starting this post for an 8x14 Lathe Mod. Got the lathe last night.
Was going to put it in the basement, Little turd is too heavy for my
old age, lol.

Going in the garage, with the bandsaw and mill(coming). Living in the frozen tundra, now i have to build a few walls in the garage today, and heat the dang things...currently 4 degrees F....brrrr

Intention is to Mod the Lathe to CNC, along with line boring the head,
to accept a 1-1/2 thru hole spindle, which i will make at work, bearings, bushings, yada, i have some other ideas i wanna try with this overweight
lego block.

Nice condition received from HF, could'nt be more pleased...It also still comes
with dual prisms, both rails...nice. The ways are hardened. Goig to be a slow process until i get the temp in the garage up to at least 50....tomorrwow i hope.....

Few pics attached///

Btw the dang camera date is wrong ...lol it's 12-15-09

[TroyO]

Hehehehe....don't ya love the smell of new toys in the morning? ;-)

Congrats, looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

[ibuildstuff4u]

Small world, I live in the frozen Tundra too! How far away is Appleton from you?

Dale P.

[BobWarfield]

Hehehehe....don't ya love the smell of new toys in the morning? ;-)

Congrats, looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

Does cosmolene smell anything like napalm?

Heh, that's a downright sporty looking machine with that red.

How do chucks attach? My 9x30 has a "faux camlock" as I call it. Sort of through bolts that correspond to the cam studs. I like it better than a threaded spindle.

A real easy and useful first mod for it is a tailstock cam lock. I made one after looking at how the Little Machine Shop kit worked:

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCLatheTailLock.htm

Cheers,

BW

[bodysnatcher]

Lol yeah chinese molassas....

Dale P., Appleton is about 1-1/2 hours south east, i have a son in law that lives there, maybe on a trip i'll look you up....

BoB W. yes indeed, and thanks for the tailstock info. Chuck is 3 cap screws.

Basically yesterday i started in the garage, (-2 degrees) with a kerosene
heater..yeah well after an hour of that, i dis-emboweled the little red thing
into 15 pieces and hand carried it into the basement...waaaaaaaarmer.....

Just can't do long term garage freeze no more...No idea how the mill is getting down there,,,

The following pics were taken last night during molasses removal...still ain't done...lapped the cross-slide after seeing it, found 1 screw for cross slide backlash nut reversed (photo) still got a sticky problem moving the carriage back and forth, have not looked at the gib strip yet

This machine is # 525 on the rails...hmmm. Anyway a few pics, and on i go today with the rest...

[bodysnatcher]

I'll tell you for 430.00 with 20% coupon, this little thing is a bargain.
Oil ports that are accessible not hidden under paint. Way wipers that albeit
are not superior,,,but they are there, and solid tool post(cross slide), i am sure glad i got this over the 9x20.

I made a 6" rotary table, with interchangeable tables at work for when the
mill arrives, they are sitting on the 10" angle sine plate just visible.

and the wipers lol, small but there...

400.00??? can't beat this bargain..

[BobWarfield]

It's a copy of the lovely little Emcoturn Austrian lathes. Sweet design. Every $ of manufacture is put to productive use with no bling, just solid functionality.

I had not had my 9x30 apart far enough to see there are oil grooves on the cross slide. You'll be able to put a one shot oiler on it very easily, if you so choose. I really love the one on my mill.

Probably the one thing about the basic guts of these little lathes I would change is to convert to tapered dovetails. Adjusting all the little setscrews is just a nuisance. Having a tapered dovetail would be sweet.

Somewhere, once upon a time, I saw a write up where someone had done that, but it's been lost in the mists of time.

I'd love to see one of these CNC'd with a nice 2 or 3 HP VFD motor on it. I swapped in a treadmill motor on mine, and that's been really sweet. But I think you could feed one of these little monsters more power and the CNC would love it. If nothing else, you'd need to start with more power and a nice little VFD to maintain enough power over all the speeds that you aren't changing pulleys all the time. Just a "Hi-Lo".

The other thought I'd had while entertaining the notion of building it a bigger spindle was to just make a dedicated 5C spindle like a Hardinge. But then I thought, why not 16C? That'd be sweeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt!!!!!!!

:cheers:

With your work CNC's, you should be able to turn out a nice spindle. Probably could even hard turn something that's pre-hardened. Be sure to turn your taper with the spindle in the bearings so it's true to their axis, but I bet you knew that.

Cheers,

BW

[bodysnatcher]

I don't know nothing.....well my wife infeers that ...J/K

I am present having 2 problems, which although un-related to CNC, i'm a perfectionist,(my damn OCD)...anyway i basically stripped the whole dam thing.

The carriage is still rough, and i have nailed that down to the apron gear, and track. Im not sure what i want to do about that at this point, they mesh for chit.

The compound is really tight in one spot and loose 180 degrees opposite. I think i have nailed that down to the inside threads that mate to the compound shaft is drilled just enough off center from the ways/dove's that it binds.

I turned down the socket heads to shimmy the flange a little left or right, took a break and typing this before i go back downstairs and get a much bigger hammer...

i want to try the compound on a MT 2 or 3 just for the hell of it...

lateers.

[BobWarfield]

The carriage is still rough, and i have nailed that down to the apron gear, and track. Im not sure what i want to do about that at this point, they mesh for chit.

The compound is really tight in one spot and loose 180 degrees opposite. I think i have nailed that down to the inside threads that mate to the compound shaft is drilled just enough off center from the ways/dove's that it binds.

I've never liked the carriage for anything but rough positioning. Could never use it to feed for nothing. That's a big argument to get on with CNC'ing it, I suppose.

RE your compound, I have found the gib is really finicky to get adjusted properly (hence my ramblings about a tapered gib). Play with that a bit before committing too much mayhem elsewhere with a "bigger hammer".

Best,

BW

[kawazuki]

Just wondering seeing the picture of the underside of the headstock - will you have enough casting left for a 38mm through spindle? Those bearings are aparently 35mm id and look to have about 10mm? cover?

[bodysnatcher]

BoB
yeah i played with the gibs its all working right now...i opened the counterbores for the soc cap screws..allowed me to shift the whole thing
plus the gibs...thanks....

Got it running, but i have to machine 3 (nut-shoulder-thread) bolts to replace
those damn soc cap screws for the chuck...what a PITA they are, gonna replace em with my own invention..

I cant read chinese, i can figure the damn speeds out lol, until i go vfd/treadmill. i swear that damn belt (v) is to short to go over one set of pullys. i got to find some heads up for the 6 speeds, cause that damn belt won't strech...

Kawasuki

there are bosses on each bearing side, it looks (have not measured yet) like the bosses (wall) is another 1/2" thick. Leaving 3/16 on each side i think i can make it. I will take a few photo's of it tomorrow (the head and bosses) we'll all have a looky see.

thanks guys...im off to find info somewhere on the damn belt setup....

bill

(p.S) Bodysnatcher is the name i use for gaming lol, i should have not signed up with that one lol

[BobWarfield]

FWIW, the faux camlock chuck system on my 9x30 is pretty nice.

The backplate looks like this:





The shoulders on the 3 bolts line it up. There is a thin piece of metal that rotates. It has big holes that taper down to small. You loosen the bolts, twist the thin wafer, and pull the chuck.

Put the new one in, twist the wafer, and then tighten the nuts on each stud.

Cheers,

BW

[bodysnatcher]

That is sweet...i need to design something better for the 8.

Just no reason to mess with 3 darned soc bolts. I have 2 Dr.(old age lol)
appts. today, so i will design later i hope

thanks Bob

Bill

[bodysnatcher]

Sorry for the blurred pics, was in a hurry this morning. As you can see the spindle bosses are indeed 1/2 per side bigger than the current bearing...

Could even mill the bosses off and replace with steel plates...chuck side no problem, gear side...huge problem..runs into toothed gear plate, and small gear....cnc'd not then an issue, except...well i have to look again to be sure.

pretty close on alignment out of the box (head/tail) just a little adj needed...

I'm off work and machine access till jan 18th, so i'll putz and looky at bearings for another spindle, and vari speed $$$...damn expensive lmao....

bill

[TroyO]

There was a thread a few months ago about fitting a 1" through spindle in there. Best idea I came up with was using bearings that are close to the same size, but have a larger center. Mostly because I don't have access to a way to bore out the headstock, etc. But, i also wasn't sure about the likelyhood of throwing the outer bearing race into the lathe and managing to knock off the right amount and keep it concentric either, LOL.

Anyway, if you could trim the outer race sucessfully it then has a 1.4961 inside bore, which might buy you 1" + a smidge. Or bore out the headstock, if you have a way to to it.

Note the bearing linked to is for sizing info, you'd probably want a higher quality of the same series.

Below excerted from http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89083
_______________________________________________

What about this one:

http://bearingsdirect.com/store/inde...t_detail&p=911

SIZES: ID: 1.4961 x OD: 2.4803 x W: 0.6693 INCHES

and knock .0396" off the outer race? (A little more than 1MM)

[bodysnatcher]

TroyO

was at the doctor lol, and the most wonderful idea, being a machinist crossed my mind, how to do the 1-1/2 (+/-) spindle. I'm not keeping it a secret, but i want to check something now that i am back home. If i find what i think i might find, you won't have to bore out the head....rather than write a long to do i must check first....stay tuned


bill

[bodysnatcher]

Basically issues are resolved except moving the carriage is still like rolling a ball over cobblestone. Decided to strip machine again.
Pics show track gear beveled one side only, and very rough filed(in china) end. Track itself has pretty big burrs on it, and the carriage feed roll pin on inserted part was lol. Harbor freight orange primer, before top coat lmao.
I will replace bushings, deburr track and gear.

On the issue of 1-1/2 thru bore spindle. I have drawn up plans that basically will give a person not 1-1/2 but 1-5/8 thru bore. Utilizing the open space where the current bearings are (2"o.d.) and making 3 plates with the new bearings on the outside of the current head casing. The only thing i have to finalize is what i prefer to have, a backing plate, or threaded 2 1/4x8 spindle.
hmmm

I'll put the drawings on autocad in the near future...need to fix my cobblestone first...

bill

[BobWarfield]

On the issue of 1-1/2 thru bore spindle. I have drawn up plans that basically will give a person not 1-1/2 but 1-5/8 thru bore. Utilizing the open space where the current bearings are (2"o.d.) and making 3 plates with the new bearings on the outside of the current head casing. The only thing i have to finalize is what i prefer to have, a backing plate, or threaded 2 1/4x8 spindle.
hmmm

I'll put the drawings on autocad in the near future...need to fix my cobblestone first...

bill

"I see!" said the blind man.

So how large is the existing hole? 1 5/8", I assume?

BTW, if you're going to mount the new bearings in new plates anyway, you can choose to rough out the hole further without much regard to precision.

Obviously there will be a limit to the value at some point of a spindle with huge bore in such a small lathe. I'm kind of curious though what bore is necessary to have a "gunsmith's 8x14 lathe".

Grizzly's 12x36 Gunsmith's lathe is 1 5/8", so maybe no need for any larger bore.

Almost makes me wonder what the cost is to order the spindle for that lathe and what it would take to fit it to the small lathe. Probably pretty expensive.

The other thing that's nice about the approach is you can build and test the spindle before you have to take the lathe out of commission.

Cheers,

BW

[bodysnatcher]

yeah exactly...i love modifying and creating where no one else would think..
why bore existing bosses, the only hinder point is the gear side plate will have to have a lot of modification to fit. There is 2 mods in my mind....the easiest is if your going cnc, your throwing out everything anyway so a plate will fit...but, for those that are keeping it manual...that is going to take a bit more time and challenge and design...i am approaching every mod for both cnc'rs, and manual stayputs...only fair...

the current bosses are 2", so i fig the new spindle od will be 1-7/8 +-
and ID 1 1/2 to 1 5/8 figuring wall thickness.....

I presume i will turn it out of either a2 or d2, d2 will be a killer $$$ but hardening it will be easy, or i can turn it out of alum.....disposable lol lol lol

bill

am
another thought would be to turn it +- .010...harden and finish with ceramic tooling... i did that in repairing 14 live centers for the lathes...but you can only take .001, .002 with ceramic on harden pieces...too many flames lol

P.S. also Bob ...your exactly right...at some point, you pass the point of useability......1-1/2 hole with a 5/6" chuck is about the extreme,but my LORD...an 8x14 with a 1 1/2 bore? for chump change? the possibilities are endless, won't be a 9x20 or 10x22 that can touch it capability wise

[BobWarfield]

Yeah, you'll have to bore out the chucks too based on my experience, LOL.

The tool steel would be nice, but there are intermediate way points between tool steel and aluminum. 4130 pre-hard comes to mind, and there are grades of stainless that would also be interesting. All this needs the right tooling, of course, but it's doable and maybe less finicky than tool steel. My tendency would be to hard machine it in the hardened state so you don't have to get it ground.

Also, I would plan to machine the taper with the spindle bolted up to the machine to minimize the runout. It'll come out better machined in place. That will also dictate your materials somewhat if final machining is to be done on the small lathe, although you could use a toolpost grinder.

Cheers,

BW