| Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs |
| Mini Lathe Upgrades |
| (1/16) > >> |
| Brass_Machine:
I have finally settled up any long hanging projects have started to get on with my shop upgrades. I hope this one is the start of many. I am going to start with my mini lathe. I had started out with a mini lathe that I bought from Harbour Freight. As one of my 1st machine tools, it has been through a lot of aluminum and steel. Unfortunately, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. I have a laundry list of mods that are going to happen to this lathe. 1st thing will be to upgrade the tiny bed. 7x10 is actually a lie... 7x8 is more like it. I happened to come across a sale at LMS for a 16" lathe bed. Unfortunately it is for their hi torque lathe and not for any other of the Chinese lathes. Price was good... so challenge accepted. This is the bed: Old lathe: Off we go! Eric |
| Brass_Machine:
Tonight I stripped the mini lathe down to see what I have to work with. Side by side: The new bed is actually 8" longer than the old one. :thumbup: Now we get into the hurdles. The 1st. The headstock mounting holes are not the same. Easy to rectify however. The 2nd issue. The mounts for the motor are not the same either. Decisions... |
| Brass_Machine:
So the official upgrade bed kit from LMS comes with a different style motor mount. This bed doesn't have the appropriate holes for that one either. Some of the options: 1. Do a little work with the mill and machine the appropriate holes for stock mounting. 2. Drill out the holes for the above mount. 3. Custom motor mount. |
| Pete49:
Go for a custom mount. That way you can make it an exact fit and attach it as you want. I'll be watching this rebuild with interest Pete |
| andyf:
Hi Eric, It will be interesting to see how you get on. I gather from the Yahoo 7x12 Group that the headstock for the "Hi Torque" variant is longer than the "traditional" one, and this is reflected in the spacing of the holes for the fixing bolts in your photos. As you say, not a big job to drill new holes and bung up the redundant ones. I also understand that the brushless motor in the Hi Torque version may be shorter than the traditional brushed motor. Do you reckon your old motor will fit in the space provided, lengthwise? Even if it doesn't, I'm sure you will be able to devise a way of mounting it futher outboard, rather than half tucked under the bed. Andy |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |