Thread: No holiday down south, but a new lathe!!!

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Sorry it took so to get back about locking the apron(had to go check on a new garage Im going to get FINALLY) Mine has a square head bolt on the edge of the apron that locks it down.Would post pics but dont have any way yet. Francis

C9X--I am just at the initial set-up and "farting around" stage. I have been trying each of the basic steps, i.e. facing, using a center bore tool in the tailstock chuck, parallel turning, manually and by power feed, and internal boring.--Very light cuts and no lubricant. Why??---Because the lathe base/cabinet with drip catching tray is on back order. I have a small dilemna right now, as the lathe is setting in my engineering office. Its still 40 below in my garage, and the garage is full with the Wild Canary in one bay, my wifes daily driven Toyota in the other bay, and no room for a lathe right now anyways. I have already been spoken to "severely" by my good wife earlier today, over the smell of Varsol which has now migrated thru the entire house (I was clearing off all the yucky packing greease this morning while she was at work). now I am in the doghouse over "stinky house syndrome". Jeez, we need some summer around here. Then she can park outside, lathe can move into garage---peace will return to the household.---Brian

Does anybody know what is involved in removing the top slide on one of these? There are only two studs with nuts visible, but all they do is lock the rotation of the top slide. I removed the nuts from both studs completely, but it appears that the underside of the toplide has a rotary bung that extends down thru the top of the cross slide. with some kind of locking plate on it, and there is no access to it. I have a nifty milling plate that bolts to the cross slide for milling on my lathe, If I can figure out how to remove the top slide.---Brian

How does your tool holder come off?

Mine, you loosen the upper tightening handle a bit and slide it out of the T groove.

Your garage may be big enough to set the lathe against the back wall and still park cars.
Mines 24' x 28' measured on the outside.
The 19' long pickup and both of the 21' roadsters fit inside along with the lathe and small mill.

Those nuts are for locking down the angle of the compound slide and may have to do with the removal.

My lathe has two locking bolts with square heads that come in from the side, loosen them more than you would for simply swiveling the compound slide and it lifts straight up and off.
You may be able to do the same.

Get yourself a couple of dedicate end mill holders.
These usually plug into the headstock taper.
More accurate running than using the chuck to hold them.
The end mills are so hard they can slip and damage a chuck.

You lost me on "facing with a boring bar in the tailstock chuck."

Facing is cutting the workpiece transversely with the cutting tool in the tool holder.

Fwiw, I limit the cut depth to .025 in steel and aluminum.

Use care when you remove any of the slides, you can lose specialized bolts and washers and the gibs have a way of dropping out when you lift the piece free.

Brian Move the cross slide to the back till it stops moving you should be able to push it the rest of the way off be carefull at this point you dont want to drop it. Turn it over and look at the bottom if there is nothing holding it in remove the nuts that control the rotation and it will come out maybe a little persuation will help. Hope this helps you thats how mine comes off. Good luck......Francis

Originally Posted by C9x

How does your tool holder come off?

Mine, you loosen the upper tightening handle a bit and slide it out of the T groove.

Your garage may be big enough to set the lathe against the back wall and still park cars.
Mines 24' x 28' measured on the outside.
The 19' long pickup and both of the 21' roadsters fit inside along with the lathe and small mill.

Those nuts are for locking down the angle of the compound slide and may have to do with the removal.

My lathe has two locking bolts with square heads that come in from the side, loosen them more than you would for simply swiveling the compound slide and it lifts straight up and off.
You may be able to do the same.

Get yourself a couple of dedicate end mill holders.
These usually plug into the headstock taper.
More accurate running than using the chuck to hold them.
The end mills are so hard they can slip and damage a chuck.

You lost me on "facing with a boring bar in the tailstock chuck."

Facing is cutting the workpiece transversely with the cutting tool in the tool holder.

Fwiw, I limit the cut depth to .025 in steel and aluminum.

Use care when you remove any of the slides, you can lose specialized bolts and washers and the gibs have a way of dropping out when you lift the piece free.

C9x---Sorry about my confusing post. I meant that I have #1--Tried facing, where the workpeice is held in the chuck and the tool is in the tool holder, and the tailstock is totally "out of play" #2--Drilling a center hole, where the workpeice is held in the 3 jaw chuck, and a small chuck inserted into the tailstock holds a "centre drill" to put a drilled "centering hole" into the end of the workpeice farthest away from the chuck. The centering tool is stationary, and the workpeice is rotated by the 3 jaw chuck. The tool is advanced by turning the handle at the rear of the tailstock. #3--Holding the one end of a long peice in the chuck, while supporting the other end with a "live center" in the tailstock, snugged into the prepared "centering hole" to keep the end of the workpeice from moving while I took a "parallel" cut along the workpeice using a tool ,mounted in the tool holder and using the lead screw to move the compound rest, and #5 --a repeat of #2--Same deal, only this time with a real drill held in the tailstock chuck to drill a hole in the end of the workpeice opposite from the main 3 jaw chuck..

Problem solved!!! I took the two nuts of the studs that lock down the rotation of the top slide again, and used a little "gentle persuasion" to lift out the topslide. It is a precision fit into the 30 MM machined hole in the top of the cross slide, thats all. In the picture you can see the milling table laying beside the cross-slide, waiting to be installed.---Brian

For your first real project, make your wife a solid brass paper weight.

I make them occasionally and they are well received by the ladies.

Some of the cutting - due to the curves - are free form.
Make a shallow step in the bottom to accept the green felt.
You can get two types of green felt in the fabric store.
Ones plain and the other has a sticky back.

No big deal on the accuracy bit, just a little eyeball engineering to get you familiar with the lathe.

Wanna get fancy, I cut a recess in the top and use a touch of JB Weld to epoxy a coin into the recess.
Choose a year of coin that means something to her.

I've been making them out of 2" diameter stock and telling the girls they are scaled down to fit a womans hand.
(Works for me....)

Originally Posted by brianrupnow

Problem solved!!! I took the two nuts of the studs that lock down the rotation of the top slide again, and used a little "gentle persuasion" to lift out the topslide. It is a precision fit into the 30 MM machined hole in the top of the cross slide, thats all. In the picture you can see the milling table laying beside the cross-slide, waiting to be installed.---Brian

Picture?

Wrench in one hand, typing with the other and drinking coffee . . . you are a talented man....

I see the pic now . . . didn't come through at first.

Now you need T-nuts....

Brian,If you had a nice cross slide rotary to mount on that angle plate I see,you could do some neat multi-axis machining.Coming from a full CNC shop that all looks like a lot of set up to get the job done.I guess with limited space you don't have much chioce.Good Luck with the new toy.LOL,,LOL

Don---You are right of course, but I'm enjoying "playing".---Got my first milling "set-up" figured out. This is to make tapered aluminum shims for the end of my headlight bar that doesn't fit.

If all you need are thick, tapered aluminum washers just make them more than twice the thickness you need and cut the angle on a bandsaw.

I've done that with some 15* angled washers for an early intake on a late SBC.
Not real early, the one with the four inner bolts in a square pattern so it could adapt to a later block that had angled holes in the head.

I've also made thick angled aluminum washers for headlight stands by making a thick washer then cocking it in the lathe chuck and cutting until the wobbling face was running true.
These are quick and easy to do.

All you have to do there is make one side flush with the chuck jaw and have the other side stick out a certain amount on the two remaining jaws.
Measure that amount and duplicate.

A ruler is adequate.

In fact, one of the handiest tools you can own is a 6" long machinists ruler.
Not very expensive, get one of the American name brands and they'll be sufficiently stiff to take some very accurate measurements.
Very handy for setting dividers.

C9---The tapered peices I have to make are 1 3/4" wide x 3 1/4" long and taper the long way, from 3/8" thick down to nothing at the other end. Then they will get sawed and filed into an oval, to fit between the headlight bar end (which is designed to fit a 30/31 fender) and is being used on my car with a 28/29 fender package.---and I don't have a bandsaw

Gotcha.

The ones we made were for a 1938 Morris 12.
SBC, T-350, S-10 rear axle, etc.

They mounted direct to the fender.

Use your lathe to make a big round tapered washer.

Buy a bandsaw, the little ones at Harbor Freight work just fine with a little tuning up.
You'll be amazed at what you can do with them.

Then cut the big washer close to the oval size you want with a series of straight cuts.
Bring it to size on a bench style belt or disc sander.

Now that you have a lathe, you definitely need a bandsaw.

I would guess the Busy Bee is like HF and runs sales now and then.

I've had my HF bandsaw for 22 years and it was used when I got it.

Works a treat....