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| vtsteam:
Thank you guys kindly! :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: |
| S. Heslop:
Fantastic! I didn't even notice it was being turned on the homemade lathe till I read the text. I guess that might say something about how professional it looks! |
| tom osselton:
Glad to see it all come together well done! |
| vtsteam:
Thanks Steve, Tom, :beer: :beer: I'm very happy to have built one instead of buying one as I'd originally set out to do in this thread. Though I never thought it would be a few years in the doing. I'm looking forward to the day when I can build engines with it. Well, it's not finished quite yet, but the end is in sight. Today I fitted the three jaw chuck to the faceplate. Three easily accessible hex bolts fit in the slots. Tighten lightly, put a clock on the work (a new tailstock ram), rotate by hand and tap the chuck with a wooden mallet to read half the difference between high and low readings, rotate again to check. In about 30 seconds it's turning within half a thou. Tighten the bolts and you're done. I don't know how long it takes to adjust a Set-Tru or other proprietary chuck system, I do know how long it takes to center a 4 jaw chuck, even with the two key method. I think this simple system may be faster and easier. I guess you could say I just have a larger diameter backplate than most lathes -- one that's more useful on it's own, too. And a register would just restrict my ability to clock it in to true center for any size work, and no matter what the scroll wear. I thought about making a thin chuck register plate to to fit on the faceplate, but have decided against it as actually less accurate, in the long run. Why lock the chuck into one permanent position? I like the fact that I can use a regular crescent wrench and hex bolts above the headstock too, rather than trying to fit an Allen wrench in behind the spindle flange, as is done on the Asian mini-lathes. Much easier with a bigger backplate er...faceplate. |
| vtsteam:
I borrowed the tailstock ram and lock, guide, and wheel handle out of my Craftsman and temporarily installed them into the new lathe's tailstock casting. That allows me to use the new lathe to start making its own ram and tailstock hardware. I fitted a Jacobs chuck to the tailstock and began the first drilling operation, preparatory to boring a Morse taper in the end. Drilling: |
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