Building a New Lathe

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vtsteam:
Thanks Andrew, Pekka, Neubert! :beer: :beer: :beer:

I bored the recess wider, and it was definitely slow going with such a thin long bar, but it did cut, and after a trial fit with a piece of acme all-thread, there was enough clearance to press the insert home.

Next step was to start on the jack screw. I cut off a 6" length of Acme rod, chucked it in the 3 jaw, and began turning the threads off of a 2-1/2" section. That will be the part that passes trough the tailstock end cap, and will accept the handwheel.

I had the tailstock itself apart, so couldn't use it as a support center for turning off the threads. So I had to take light cuits.

vtsteam:
But I got there eventually, and it was nice to have the three tailstock ram pieces together and functional.

I still need to make up thrust bearings for the jack screw, and mill a groove along the ram to complete these components. But not today. :beer:

Neubert1975:
any progress on this nice project ? :beer:

nel2lar:
Steve
Checked in on your lathe build and as usual I am not let down. You have done an amazing job and you will enjoy it for years. I love all your documentation and it shows the true craftsman you are. Beautiful build.
Nelson

vtsteam:
The tiny shop has languished for a long time while I worked on many other projects and chores over the last couple years. But longing once again to build engines, I've cleaned shop and moved the new lathe to where I can work on it again and got ready to finish the tailstock ram. It needs a slot, clamping cam pieces, thrust bearing, and handwheel. Slot was next on the agenda.

Things were eventually reasonable again after much mischief from mice, condensation and time. Unnecessary stored items were moved out, the floor swept. I oiled cleaned and lubricated the lathe ways, removed some surface rust from the 3 jaw chuck. Then I hooked up the lathe's DC motor controller, removing the XL timing belt from the headstock, and gave it a spin. Unfortunately the controller, a Cycletrol 150 (manual attached) had suffered, and though it spun the DC treadmill motor and responded to the potentiometer to increase speed, it didn't act right. I couldn't slow the motor very much -- minimum speed was too high, and it ran inconsistently, sending odd momentary pulsed jerks to the motor while running

I thought maybe the problem might be that the potentiometer had become noisy. I rewired with new wire, and soldered connections (I had used alligator clip jumpers for testing in the past) and tested the pot with an ohmeter. But it seemed okay, and nothing I did made a difference. BTW it always seemed odd that the only pot that worked was a 1 megohm resistance, when the manual called for 50K ohms, but that's the only way it worked in the past.

There are also three trim pots on the controller's circuit board one for min speed one for max speed, and one for max current. Adjustments to these three still did not solve the problems.

Since I was pretty much at the limit of my circuit solving capabilities here, the tailstock ram slotting has been put on hold.

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