Mini lathe (and mill) discussion.

[TonyHallo]

Had a friend that is flying the same RC Guys Cherokee as in my avatar reach out for help on his nose wheel. After a season or two the nosewheel develops excessive slop. Offered to help out so he sent the nosewheel over for repair. Gave the mill and lathe a 6 beer workout last night. I'm pretty sure the gear is made from recycled beer cans, dead soft.
Used a 3/4" endmill to open and clean the bore in the bearing block, machined and fit a 3/4" brass insert that is held in place with Loctite retaining compound, then bored to final dimension, about .0015 clearance. Sent it back today, one day turnaround.

 

[dhal22]

You're hired, I'll find something. Great work.

 

[TonyHallo]

Send it!

 

[TonyHallo]

I needed a break from the home remodeling and economy revitalization project for some fun work. Been thinking about adding powered crossfeed to my 9x20 lathe. I extended the worm gear shaft that turns when the feed screw is turning, built a gear train up to the crossslide screw with an engagement knob. The knob with the brass acorn nut is in the disengaged position

Here it is shown in the engaged position. Push in to engage the feed. The knob is held in place with a spring loaded detent ball, it snaps in and out. The gear train increases to speed 5 times since the worm shaft turns rather slowly.

And a view from the top. The feed rate is .0013"/rev in the roughing position and .0007"/rev in the finish position. Gives a nice finish but a little slow.

 

[dhal22]

Auto cross feed is definitely on my bigger lathe purchase.

 

[TonyHallo]

Just about every lathe project starts with end facing. I'm really happy with the hack I came up with. I had increased the size of the cross slide handwheel too make facing easier but have since reduced it after adding the power cross feed. I have added a chip guard to the cross feed gearing, added a reverse tumbler for the feed screw which allows feeding the tool in both directions, and currently working on a camlock for the tailstock. Will post some photos later.
Reminds a lot of the Taranis radio, spend more time hacking than flying, my Model B is 8 years old now and time for a replacement, was hoping to hold off to see what remote ID brings us. I do like Open TX.

 

[TonyHallo]

Auto cross feed is definitely on my bigger lathe purchase.

What machine are you looking at? That PM 1030 a nice machine that you were looking at.

 

[TonyHallo]

Here are the photos of the chip guard for the crossfeed gearing, should keep all the turnings out.

Here is the cam lock on the tail stock, bought from the Little Machine Shop. The parts are for a 7 x 14 lathe however the specification said it fits some 9 x20 lathes, possibly but not this one. Used the sleeve and piston from the kit and made the rest. Milled the tailstock so that the piston and sleeve would fit, make new cam, handle and longer bolt for the clamp plate.

And finally the reverse tumbler, should have done this 15 years ago, didn't think I needed it but now that I have it I use reverse feed often. Shown here in the forward position, tool moves right to left on the bed and moves in on the cross slide. There is a position for neutral as well, runs quite in neutral, eliminates are the gear mash noise. I have many hours of use on this lathe, bought it in 2006, still the original belt. It is a little skinny thing I thought would break in a couple of hours, not so. May have just given it the kiss of death!

 

[TonyHallo]

A before and after. I salvaged these drawers from a friend's daughter's basement, they are Lyon brand and I expect pretty old, works great for me. The drawer sixe is 36" x 24" x 2 3/4" and open the whole way, industrial stuff from a storeroom I suspect. I can get all my tooling and measuring equipment in without a problem.

 

[dhal22]

Nice setup. I have a mini lathe and Mill and want to skip the benchtop size when I upsize.