Lathe come home. (No, I don't have a lithp, why?)

[footfootfoot]

Long

So, I've been working on candlestick designs and have made a few prototypes as well as making some mandrels and task specific chucks for other quick, salable turning projects.

I've been using a pre-1939 Walker-Turner Driver L-752 that I was given about 20 years ago. It was in pieces and in rough shape, I cleaned it up, painted it, and got it back together as best I could; the spindle was pretty gnarly but it worked.

Over time it's developed a lot of run-out and last week it had gotten to where the centers couldn't line up because the point of the drive center was almost 1/8" off radially from the tail center.

Time to tear it apart. I couldn't remember what it looked like inside and was surprised to see just how fucked up the spindle was. I got it out and removed the bearings, which appeared fine.

I checked the spindle, nominally 1"x12tpi RH thread inboard and 12tpi LH thread outboard w/ #2MT and 9/16" bore. As I measured with my calipers I found that the spindle was .994" where the inboard bearing is seated, and .992" everywhere else. It is all grooved and scarred from set screws that had been loose and the 4 step pulley slipping around the spindle, and other hackery that predated me.

I figured I'd just get a new spindle and call it good. Well, there's not much call for 78 year old spindle replacement parts and it is a unique item, so I figured I'd make do and just throw some new bearings on since one of them was OEM C.1939.

On researching the thing a bit it turns out that W-T made the spindle in an unusual diameter, 25.21mm or .9925" (although I read .994") and fitted it with a custom bearing from SKF, one that doesn't even show up on their website. Apparently W-T wanted you to buy replacement bearings from them rather than SKF. So the front bearing is a weird number (FH I-70372 EC) and the rear bearing is (L-05-Z)

Turns out, that the outboard bearing is a replacement and the wrong size, it's a 6205 which is supposed to be 25x52x14mm which is weird because it easily slides all the way along the spindle which is supposedly 25.21mm. the bearing measures 1.001" and the spindle measures .994" at its widest so it makes sense that the 6205 would slide, but how did the ID get stretched?

OEM bearing, FH I-70372 EC, fits tight but my measurements don't equal 25.21mm, they come in at .995" or 25.27mm. And that explains the tight fit. My caliper is zeroed, but maybe it is just wrong.

So I can the 78 year old bearing back in or try to find another that fits it. I don't think they make them, nor the outside bearing either. One option would be to turn down the spindle to a common bearing size. There are occasionally WT heads for sale on ebay but who knows what conditon the shaft and bearings are in?

I've got to stew on this. I'm not sure how much of this makes any sense. I'm not even sure I understand it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Either turn it to a smaller diameter or have it spray welded and turned to your bearing.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Either turn it to a smaller diameter or have it spray welded and turned to your bearing.

Thanks. I will do that.

[Clodfobble]

Mr. Clod bought a lathe once, because it was on some incredible clearance sale and it seemed like the kind of thing worth playing with.

It sat in the garage, completely unopened in the box, for like 7 years. Then he sold it. I'm actually glad, because lathes make a lot of damn sawdust.

[Griff]

We can haz pics?

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Mr. Clod bought a lathe once, because it was on some incredible clearance sale and it seemed like the kind of thing worth playing with.

It sat in the garage, completely unopened in the box, for like 7 years. Then he sold it. I'm actually glad, because lathes make a lot of damn sawdust.

Shavings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIvROyV2n6w&t=3m3s

Originally Posted by Griff

We can haz pics?

Coming

[glatt]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

It is all grooved and scarred from set screws that had been loose and the 4 step pulley slipping around the spindle, and other hackery that predated me.

You could be describing my lathe here. It also needs some tuning up. I think that the morse taper hole in the shaft is slightly off center. I had trouble measuring it last time I checked, just putting the tool rest next to the taper and eyballing is as I spun it by hand. Too much hackery to even see where the taper truly begins. I since have gotten a dial indicator, which would help in diagnosing the issue. And I also need a new spur drive, I think. It's all hacked up and grooved from where it spun instead of gripping and there was some grit or something in there. That shouldn't be too hard to find. a MT drive spur. I bet I can get one for $20.

Maybe next year when I am done with the bandsaw, I can turn my attention to getting the lathe to run well. It might be a lost cause though. Not worth the effort for such a low end machine. (Old 40s' home hobbyist Craftsman.)

[footfootfoot]

Is it one of the lathes with a tube as the bed? If so, sell it.

Here's a great website with a ton of info:http://www.woodturningonline.com/

Here's a photo of the spindle for now. The left side is the inboard side.

[footfootfoot]

I got my computer sorted for the time being and was able to reload photo-shop!

Here is the lathe story so far.

My friend's kid just moved back into town after making his fame and fortune in CA in the computer world. He has mad skilz with some CNC software called Solidworks and he wants to start some sort of business here having to do with manufacturing something or other involving CNC machines and machinists and this software.

He said he'd show me how the software works by drawing/creating instructions for a replacement spindle for the lathe, using dimensions for commonly available bearings. While we're at it, I'm having him also draw a new 4 sheaf pulley with indexing because the current pulley is bent.

In the meantime, I put the headstock back together with the old parts and made some custom shims to help solidify things.



Without spindle assembly in place. Sort of dungeon-y in the basement. You can see the drawers in mid construction. I built the stand about 20 years ago and I'm getting around to putting in the drawers to keep the various giblets handy and chip free.



Here are all the parts for the headstock/spindle assembly. arranged L to R = outboard to inboard. Stop collar, Bearing flange, spacer/washer, split ring, bearing spacer, [4 sheaf pulley], More spacers (not sure why they are here, I think it has something to do with the other bearing's dimensions, OEM bearing C. 1935, Front bearing spacer and circle clip, Bearing flange.

The spacer/washer, next to the bearing with blue seals is to prevent the stop collar from hitting the seal of the bearing instead of the inner race. It is not original to the design, but is needed because the bearing is not OEM.



Here is the spindle with two spacers, the double row bearing, the bearing flange, and just visible on the right is the front bearing spacer.



Here is a close up of the front bearing spacer. It has a ring clip that rides in a groove in the spindle and locks into a slightly dovetailed recess in the outer face of the spacer, locking it into place on the shaft, preventing it from moving away from the bearing while also pressing against the inner race of the bearing, keeping it from moving.



The single row bearing is a modern replacement and has an ID that is 25mm, the spindle at the position where the bearing rests is .007" smaller than the bore of the bearing. It just so happens that Labatt's Blue cans are .0035" thick and so make a perfect shim.



To keep shit in place while I'm pressing the bearing into place on the shaft I figured Red Loctite might be a good choice to glue the shim to the bearing. I wanted to ensure a good bond so I found a 1" sanding drum and used it to expand the shim against the inside of the bearing, then I went to work for the day.



Seems pretty good. I rolled the edge of the shim so it lay flat against the curve of the face of the inner race. (not shown)



Here is the front bearing pressed into place with the single shield facing the correct way, unlike the first time I installed it, facing the wrong way.



The head stock from the inboard side showing the old grease fitting and the coolest part of the lathe, IMO, the indexing pin. It is spring loaded so it can be kept out of the way when not used. The pulley has 48 index holes. It looks like at some point someone ran the lathe and let the pin make contact with the pulley because a number of the holes are a bit pooched. I need to clean them out a bit because they are sort of swaged over.





Cleaned out the bearing rest (wc?) with EasyOff, it was pretty grimy in there, but look how sparkly it is now!

After I installed the whole assembly in the headstock, with the bearings oriented correctly, I noticed that I left out the two bearing shim/spacers making me have to pull both bearings and take the thing apart, yet again. I fucked up the beautiful shim I made, but managed to salvage it and get it to fit again perfectly. Finally, everything was back together. This time I also shimmed the pulley to try and offset some of its out-of-true due to being bent. (Aside: seriously, how the fuck do you bend a 4 sheaf pulley?"



I also added another spacer, cut from 1" glav. water pipe, that rests against the inner race of the inboard bearing, spacing it from the pulley. This is my addition and is mainly to ensure that the pulley cannot drift towards the indexing pin, which judging by the scars on the pulley index holes, seems to have happened at one time.



Looking down before the spindle assembly is replaced.



Everything is back together, except, wait. What's wrong with this picture? I forgot to put the belt on. That would really suck if I had a regular belt; I'd have to take the whole frigging thing apart again and that would be one time too many. Luckily, I switched over to these powertwist belts years ago and I can just unlock it and put it on.



NOW it's done, let's check alignment.



Looking down, the live center at the tailstock is about 1/8" back, and looking from the front, it is about 1/32" low. The front to back is adjusted with two screws, the up and down, I added shims to the tailstock bed to raise it.

The drive center still has about 1/64" runout so that may account for some of the offset.

I'll see if I can get to turning today.

[glatt]

Very nice! Good looking lathe.

Is the motor tensioned just by its weight, hanging below the table?

[classicman]

Very cool. One thing I've never done with wood is work on a lathe.

[Griff]

I made shavings in high school but little else.

[footfootfoot]

Yeah the motor is on a hinged board and its weight creates the tension. One plus is that it is a lot safer; the belt will slip if anything really grabs hold. Downside is,iIt won't prevent a catch from ruining a piece and it does vibrate a bit.

I'm thinking of tightening it to eliminate the vibration.

Classic, you will get hooked if you try wood turning. My teacher had us spend almost 8 weeks on spindle work before we moved to bowl turning. At that point everyone saw god. The teacher told us if he'd taught us bowl work first we'd never bother to learn spindle turning.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You dumb fuck, dump that turkey and get a CNC machine, that kid will make you a fortune.

[footfootfoot]

I've been turning a bunch of small items for a few upcoming crafts fairs. Keeping the price point under $20. and choosing things that can be made quickly and still look nice.

One thing is little lidded boxes, some completely out of wood and others made from heavy cardboard tubes wrapped in decorative bark or paper, with a small disk set into the bottom and a decorative turned wooden lid.

I made a jig for the band saw and I can cut a disk in about 10 seconds, gluing the paper to the tube takes about a minute or two, the turned lids from rough blank to polished finish take about 10 minutes.

Pics to follow.

Anyway, last night I smell smoke and think the boiler has blown back. I check it out and it's not even running. I look out the window to see if a neighbor is getting some late season grilling on, nope. But I do see smoke. I shut off the lathe and the dust collector and see a nice blue plume of smoke coming from my motor.

I attach the dust collector to it and run it for a while to cool it off. This morning I took the motor outside and blasted it with compressed air. The finest sanding wood dust was everywhere in that thing.

It still runs, not sure if it will smoke again, but now I am going to build a cover for it and always use dust collector when sanding.

Here's a coffee scoop. My first attempt, took about 45 minutes to learn, second one was about 30 min. I think I can get it down to 15-20,