Building a New Lathe

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Neubert1975:
what a day i had, but at least i now know i´am not the only one that experiences those days.
as i always say when i have days like yours, tomorrow is better ;-)

i dont know if its of any use, but i have learned that if i have to hit spot on in a hole or a punch mark, than i place the drille (in a drille press) over the hole. and by hand reverse the drill while lightley pressing with the drille press, then it will center.

:beer:

Neubert1975:
Nice save, and nice work :thumbup: :beer:

vtsteam:
Thanks Simon and Neubert. :beer: Sure glad it worked! Happier today than yesterday, for sure.

I tapped the two remaining holes today, and man that steel is tough. Nearly an inch thick, too. I was beginning to wonder if I'd break the tap, for my next dufus performance. But I went slow -- sometimes only an eighth of a turn before backing. I got through it.

I was a little surprised to find out that the flywheel fit on only one way, with those three holes. The spindle flange itself is not perfectly drilled, apparently, and I copied that in my plug gauge. Oh well, at least it goes on one way. I stamped numbers at the holes in the flange and the face plate, so I could put them together more easily in the future.

I mounted everything, now bolted together, and it spins nicely in the bearings. So I tried one other thing that I think I mentioned a way back in this thread. That is, mounting my new 5" three-jaw chuck directly to the faceplate. It's very simple to add. Three flange head hex bolts through the faceplate slots.

The chuck is easily adjustable to center with a DTI -- just make the bolts finger tight, then rotate the chuck by hand, and tap the high side lightly with a wooden mallet until centered. Then tighten the three bolts. It's very quick. You can tighten the bolts with a socket wrench -- the headstock clears the bolts on the side.

I think this is going to be my standard chuck mounting method. While I could have made the usual backplate adapter for the chuck, it would have to extend out from the headstock the same distance that it does on the face plate. The spindle flange is deeply inset into the face plate to reduce overhang. So it's the same as a backplate.

It would be a lot harder to change over with a backplate adapter than with the faceplate-- not much space for an allen wrench behind the spindle flange, and they're much harder to manipulate back there.

With the way I have it now, I can also easily remove the chuck (with work in it) to bring to the mill, and then replace it using the DTI-mallet method again.

I think this is going to work well for me. :thumbup:

vtsteam:
I should add that I'll probably drill three holes in the faceplate rather than use the present slot mount so it's a closer fit on the bolts. And I might make a thin disk to fit the rear register of the chuck, and dowel pin that to the faceplate and include a retaining screw for it. That would be easily removable when using the faceplate alone. Then chuck replacement will be repeatable. But for now I'll probably just use it as is.

Getting very close to being able to turn with it. Next up is drilling and tapping the top of the cross slide to take tool holders, accessories, compound slide, T-bars, etc. I haven't yet decided on a hole pattern, but will probably do that tomorrow. This is getting exciting for me! :dremel:

awemawson:
Then all you need is a set of radially drilled holes on the edge of the face plate, and a suitable detente pin, and you have a nice simple.dividing set up

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