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Extending the cross slide travel on a 7 x 12 mini lathe
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Twinsquirrel:
Well this is something Ive been meaning to do for a while, the cross slide travel is not what it could be on the mini lathe and I often feel I could do with an extra inch or so (no sniggering). The idea came from this site http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/ty/7x10/xslidemod.html



As the first job for my new mill I decided to live dangerously and mill out the excess material on the saddle :dremel:, believe it or not this is how it looked from the factory  :scratch:



And after a bit of judicious metal murdering just enough material was removed to allow the full length of the screw to be used..



Heres a few boring pics of turning the spacer..

Finishing cut, 34mm



Parting off, total length of spacer 25mm, I know I shouldn't really use the live center to support the workpeice when parting but I find it easier that way. BTW the new taper bearings in the lathe have greatly increased my confidence when parting...look I even managed to take a pic while parting!!



I got a bit over-excited and forgot to take any pictures of the milling but here is the finished part..



And here it is mocked up on the lathe..



The only thing left to do is extend the shaft on the cross-slide screw then I should be good to go..

David




Darren:

--- Quote from: Twinsquirrel on March 29, 2009, 05:01:49 PM ---

 believe it or not this is how it looked from the factory  :scratch:





--- End quote ---

I hope they've got those rats trained better these days  :ddb:

That's some very nice work so far David. What do you mean by "extend the shaft on the cross-slide screw"

I suppose you will show us soon enough?  :thumbup:
cedge:
TS...
That was one of the best mods I ever made to my little 7x14. Adding onto the lead screw and stepping up to a 5 inch chuck made it all work together. The lead screw mod was no big deal. I ordered a spare from Little Machine Shop, cut off what I needed and then drilled and reamed the end of the original to accept a turned down end on the new one (light interference fit).  I secured the joint with red loctite and used the bronze lead screw nut to align the thread ends.  I bit of hand dressing with a small jeweler's file quickly had things moving quite smoothly.

I seriously doubt you'll ever regret this one. You'll certainly be nicelyy surprised by how much added capability you've gained.

Steve
bogstandard:
Nice work David.

The confidence to do things like this gives you greater scope in getting your little basic lathe into a much more versatile machine. A tweak here and a fiddle there will make it into a totally different machine from basic.

Don't let how tut-tut's do things stop you from doing what YOU want to do, ie tailstock centre. If it works for you, use it, you are the one doing the job, no-one else.

As long as you are not creating a safety issue by doing it, then it is OK.


John
sbwhart:
Well done that man  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Using the centre when parting is OK I do it myselve from time to time when sercumstances demand it, you just have to be carfull at the last little bit I back the centre off to let the job drop away.  :headbang:  :headbang:

Have fun

Stew

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