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Building a New Lathe

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vtsteam:
Thanks PK,  :beer: I laughed when I read about the laser! I can just imagine the felt was gone in a bit of smoke. Probably didn't smell too good.

I wasn't sure that making felt wipers for the spindle was a good idea or not. I don't think the 7x12 Asian mini-lathes have them. I think they use same size plastic bearing covers without packing. I was wondering if they use O-rings instead. But a tear-down video I watched didn't show them. The spindle in this lathe is designed for a mini-lathe and purchased on sale.

The covers and felts are almost all fitted as I write this. I was a bit worried that they were too tight, because there was definite drag on the spindle with the front felt in place. But I put a few drops of oil on the felt, and there was a big reduction -- enough to feel that friction will probably disappear altogether with a little break-in time once the lathe is working. Otherwise It's pretty tricky to try to trim back a small amount of felt, once they are cut out. Well, maybe if a laser worked! (and you had one).

Thanks again PK, that was funny!

vtsteam:
Finally finished putting the covers on!  :ddb:

That was a lot harder than I thought. Locating them on a round corner casting with draft, and drilling and tapping holes so they didn't interfere with the spindle or hit the spindle bore was really tricky and time consuming.

I probably could have made the clearance bore on the covers a bit wider than I did, but I used the same dimensions that the mini-lathes show for their plastic bearing covers. Since they don't use any seal or packing (to my knowledge) they show only about a mm clearance to the spindle, in order to keep swarf out.

With the hard felt seal, that opening could have been larger, which would have made locating the covers a little less of a hassle. Oh well, They're in now and I can move on.

awemawson:
Looks very smart and has a classical look to it  :thumbup:

S. Heslop:
Glad to see you're back at it. It's amazing how much the paint transformed it. It looks real swish!

vtsteam:
Andrew, thanks very kindly -- it means a lot coming from you!

I kinda like the way jewelers lathes look, and also I really love the Rolls Royce lathe (I'll find a link in a little bit), though I know I'm not at their level of workmanship. Still, I wanted to make this a personal lathe, and I like old machines, so it's kind of coming out that way. I didn't draw plans for anything except the headstock -- it's just evolved along with this thread.

Kind of ironic that I started it 3 years ago asking folks here what lathe I should buy, because I wanted to build engines right away, and the Gingery wasn't up to the job, and my Craftsman too big to fit on the bench of my tiny shop. I said I didn't want to build a lathe, because that would just delay building engines. Somehow that concept slipped..... Uhhhhhh, yes Steve it would!

When this thing is done, I am building engines  :wack:

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