Building a New Lathe

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RobWilson:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Its not that bad John , looked canny last time I was there :thumbup:

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: very nice Steve , they came out a treat :bow: :bow: ,,,,, aye Black is a good for a lathe :thumbup:

All interesting stuff this lathe building :med:

Rob

John Rudd:
Intrigued to know what you going to make the head and tail stocks from?....saddle etc too?

Keep going.......lol :D

vtsteam:
John, I'll make the rest of the parts, but I did buy an upper tailstock casting for an Atlas 10" that I found on ebay. I really had designed the tailstock in my head already, but saw this one, and it was too cheap not to make an offer. It was priced at $19, and I offered $13, almost hoping it wouldn't be accepted. But it was, and I received it today.

It's completely stripped, no internal parts, no base, all sold more luctratively by an ebay lathe breaker. But it saves me having to fabricate a tailstock body, and it's a nice heavy iron casting. Odd parts like this tailstock are cheap because of low demand, compared to the usual run of handwheels, change gears, etc. Not many lathes are missing a stripped upper taistock casting.

It's also larger than I'd planned -- I intended a 7 or 8" swing lathe, not a 10" but when I make the tailstock base I think I can lower the swing to 9", so I'll settle on that. This will be one of the very few 9" x 12" lathes extant, probably. :loco:

I'm finishing the tailstock base pattern, now, and hope to cast it tomorrow.

vtsteam:
Casting the tailstock base

Pattern:

The shake out. A simple combo sprue and riser right into the top worked. But just barely -- the metal nearly got sucked out of the sprue. This is Zamac, not aluminum, and its shrink characteristics are pretty impressive! Casting was perfect however. Casting is about 4" by 6" by 1" and used over 6 lbs of metal.

The other side. Some superficial sand fusion on the skin under the sprue where the metal was hottest exaggerated in the photo because of the lighting, but the casting is really perfect and is machining beautifully. It should be finished tomorrow.

mexican jon:

--- Quote from: vtsteam on March 24, 2015, 09:53:17 PM ---Casting the tailstock base

Pattern:

The shake out. A simple combo sprue and riser right into the top worked. But just barely -- the metal nearly got sucked out of the sprue. This is Zamac, not aluminum, and its shrink characteristics are pretty impressive! Casting was perfect however. Casting is about 4" by 6" by 1" and used over 6 lbs of metal.

The other side. Some superficial sand fusion on the skin under the sprue where the metal was hottest exaggerated in the photo because of the lighting, but the casting is really perfect and is machining beautifully. It should be finished tomorrow.

--- End quote ---

Casting looks pro quality :D

Can I ask :scratch: what is the thinking behind casting a fairly simple part rather than using standard stock i.e. a piece of plate :thumbup:

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