Author Topic: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?  (Read 21756 times)

Offline Buell

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Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« on: November 28, 2016, 07:37:18 AM »
Hi all I hope this is the right place to post this if not please advise.

I have just bought a used mini lathe Axminster type sc2.. And it's my first lathe. With that in mind I would like to get this machine to the Best it can do. Ironically the chap that owned it was an engineer ...umm not sure about that..bolts loose no adjustments made still sand in components etc. Anyway I have to put it right and sort it out. If anyone has done a lot of mods on these and worked out the ones that really make the difference I would love to know what and how. Here's hoping for a nice Christmas list ! God I hope it's max 10 !
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2016, 09:23:56 AM »
Thanks for that just ordered them.
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2016, 09:59:14 AM »
I have the slightly bigger Sieg C3, the super model with brushless motor...

I have added a qctp to mine (Arceurotrade sell a suitable one)

I changed the gibs from the rough steel ones to nice shiny brass ones.Same for the saddle retainers...

I have made an extra crosslide from a billet if cast iron with tee slots across for holding stuff....

Changed the plasticy handwheels and gears for more blingy polished ally ones...

Mine has the camlock for the tails stock, but I converted an early C3 tailstock to the same design..easy peasy... :dremel:

Made a saddle lock that utilises the holes for the trav steady.

Did have a saddle stop but gave it away with the C3 I repaired...

Cant think of anymore for the moment, but welcome to the forum  :thumbup:
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Offline wgw

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2016, 10:39:50 AM »
I have a chester 8", a bit bigger but same family. What I have done, roughly in order. -- Strip and clean, take out gib strips and clean up with fine file and/or emery paper. This made a big difference, not yet fitted brass gibs. Drill and tap ( M6) 4 holes in cross slide, for fitting angle plate, etc. Fit a hand wheel to end of the leadscrew. Make an expanding mandrel for outer end of spindle, mostly for a handle for screwcutting but also to fit a gear wheel for indexing. This is just basic no-cost stuff but does make difference.

Offline Lew_Merrick_PE

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2016, 10:40:38 AM »
Buell -- #1) Line up and "fix" your tailstock (tapered) bore to be concentric and aligned your spindle.  #2) Change your tailstock over to a "cam-lock" clamp to your bed.  #3) QCTP.  Others will occur to you as things progress, but this is (from my view of the universe) the places to begin.  In terms of item #1, my spindle was out of concentricity by (nearly) .015 in and out of alignment by (about) .005/inch of tail bore travel.  In terms of item #2, I cannot tell you how much time is saved each day because I do not have to "find" the wrench to tighten things.  In terms of item #3, think about it...

Here's a "How To" document.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2016, 02:38:34 PM by Lew_Merrick_PE »

Offline Meldonmech

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2016, 12:14:16 PM »

 Hi Buell,
                There is a wealth of information in the Yahoo Group for the 7x12 Mini Lathe user group. see betagroups.yahoo.com
                 I joined the group several years ago and have made a number of mods to my lathe.

                                                    Hope you enjoy your modding as much as I have.
                                                                                                                                Cheers David
                       

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2016, 12:49:31 PM »
I can see I'm going to enjoy this Forum...lots of good ideas from Guys that Know this machine very well...ummm looks like I'm gonna get to know it intimately.

I have rebuilt bike engines..car engines all to an acceptable level but the tolerances on this in order for it to perform correctly ....well they have to be spot on ! Go slow with me guys ! Thanks for all the ideas already !
Buell -- #1) Line up and "fix" your tailstock (tapered) bore to be concentric and aligned your spindle.

Sorry not great with the terminology ... My dyslexic ness in basic terms.. Make sure the two centres are in line with each other ? Being tail stock and centre of the chuck ? Tapered to concentric  what's that about ? Any link would be Fabtastic . Thanks again
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Offline Roger B

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2016, 01:14:41 PM »
I have a somewhat older version of the mini lathe from Einhell. The two important mods I did were to replace the ball races in the headstock with taper roller bearings and to remachine the tailstock base to remove the play. I think that it is referred to here:

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,2866.msg49175.html#msg49175
Best regards

Roger

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2016, 03:41:50 PM »
I have the 7x10". Actually, that is what it started as.  This is what I have done:

1. 16" Bed
2. 4" Realbull Spindle
3. Extended cross slide
4. Internal metal gear
5. Top adjustable gibs
7. Tapered headstock bearings
8. dual half nuts
Science is fun.

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Offline bp

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2016, 01:12:01 AM »
Welcome to the Mad House!!

I've had a Sieg C3 for over 10 years.  This is what I've changed, more or less in order of  importance or effectiveness...
1/  Change spindle bearings to taper roller bearings
2/  Change carriage gibs from the waste of space originals to taper gibs
3/  Make a REALLY rigid post and clamp-on style QCTP
4/  Change cross and compound slide gibs to brass
5/  My original drip tray and chip shield were painted black, awful light sucking finish.  I cleaned, rubbed them down and repainted them white, vast improvement!!
6/  Made a more effective half nut retaining strip, from flat bar, rather than the original two washers

This lot should keep you busy!!
cheers and best of luck
Bill



Offline Eugene

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2016, 03:37:32 AM »
Mike Cox has a web page devoted to the mini lathe and mods thereto, all of them described in detail and evaluated for utility.

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com

Clever chap and writes clearly on everything from a QC toolpost to a spindle lock via hand wheels and speed controllers. 28 lathe mods in all plus umpteen tooling and accessory projects.

Eug
« Last Edit: November 29, 2016, 04:29:42 AM by Eugene »

Offline Henning

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #12 on: November 29, 2016, 04:29:13 AM »
I have the slightly bigger Sieg C3, the super model with brushless motor...

I have added a qctp to mine (Arceurotrade sell a suitable one)

I changed the gibs from the rough steel ones to nice shiny brass ones.Same for the saddle retainers...

I have made an extra crosslide from a billet if cast iron with tee slots across for holding stuff....

Changed the plasticy handwheels and gears for more blingy polished ally ones...

Mine has the camlock for the tails stock, but I converted an early C3 tailstock to the same design..easy peasy... :dremel:

Made a saddle lock that utilises the holes for the trav steady.


This is the list! I've done the same ones as above with the exception of the extra cross slide. One thing to mention is that whenever you do something plan ahead so you do any lathe work before you dismantle your lathe... DAMHIKT...
Henning

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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2016, 04:39:29 AM »

This is the list! I've done the same ones as above with the exception of the extra cross slide. One thing to mention is that whenever you do something plan ahead so you do any lathe work before you dismantle your lathe... DAMHIKT...

Great now you tell me that. :doh:  Does that mean I can buy a Milling machine ! I have the smallest workshop known to mankind.....oh sod it will build a bigger workshop as well as fixing the lathe ! This addiction is getting worse being on this Forum.....where's the Help page !
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Offline Henning

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2016, 03:23:16 AM »

This is the list! I've done the same ones as above with the exception of the extra cross slide. One thing to mention is that whenever you do something plan ahead so you do any lathe work before you dismantle your lathe... DAMHIKT...

Great now you tell me that. :doh:  Does that mean I can buy a Milling machine ! I have the smallest workshop known to mankind.....oh sod it will build a bigger workshop as well as fixing the lathe ! This addiction is getting worse being on this Forum.....where's the Help page !

Well, in my defense I told you as soon as I saw your post

The small workshop syndrome will never disappear either I'm afraid. I've doubled the size of mine and it's still waaaay too small.

There's a toolhoarders anonymous around here somewhere for help and I believe there's a branch of a couple others as well, like "rather be in the workshop dreaming up stuff I have no room to build group" and also the "if I only had (insert tool here)- group".
Not really sure any of those will do you any good though... hasn't worked for me.
My trailer is firmly attached to the car awaiting picking up of what I believe to be a rather nice wood turning lathe later today and if all goes well I'll have an Emco unimat 3 as well will go great with my V10P.

SWMBO usually tell people that I'm not interested in tools. She upholds it's a genetical disorder...
Henning

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Offline PekkaNF

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2016, 05:16:09 AM »
My wife was complementing me, because now there is a clear path cross the room in the garage and on one bedroom that is coming my clean "metrology lab". They still have too much stuff but I'm getting control over it slowly.

Lew's document was interesting...I think I could follow intent and procedure pretty well. Only in the end it was a little unclear how the tail stock part was installed over the alignment rod. I think that one peg on the steady rest is made loose and rod has been removed from the chucked weldon holder, then the tail stock upper part dropped into it's place (on epoxy) and finally the rod pushed trough, tightened and collets put finaly to allign the tail stock?

What ever you do. Don't use the lathe parts to "lap" ways. It looks fine, feels fine and is all wrong.

Pekka

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2016, 08:31:04 AM »
Best thing I did was get divorced...I remember her saying every time I came home from work " Your not leaving those tools in the hallway are you ?"  My reply was the same every time .." When you start paying the mortgage and your names on the mortgage I will take them out " I now live in a 3 bed place and One of the bedrooms is converted to a leather working studio !....at this rate the other 2 will be a Machinery shop !
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Offline Lew_Merrick_PE

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2016, 10:58:42 AM »
Lew's document was interesting...I think I could follow intent and procedure pretty well. Only in the end it was a little unclear how the tail stock part was installed over the alignment rod. I think that one peg on the steady rest is made loose and rod has been removed from the chucked weldon holder, then the tail stock upper part dropped into it's place (on epoxy) and finally the rod pushed trough, tightened and collets put finaly to allign the tail stock?

Essentially, yes.  The main difference is that I used my (vertical height) indicator set-up to verify that my rod was not deformed as the tailstock and epoxy stack-up was aligned.  My tailstock and chuck/collet now align within .0001 inch TIR.

Offline hanermo

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #18 on: December 01, 2016, 09:05:54 AM »
Removed compound.
I changed to a BXA QCTP.
Fitted a ground ballscrew to x.
Ac bearings for x.
Changed to CNC.
Small steppers. Removed. Bigger ones. Removed. Gecko drives. Removed.

I will likely fit the 7x with spare small ac servos, 60V, as I have a set of 10.
And a pokeys ethernet controller, good for 125 kHz.
Another idea is machining a new 7-8x minilathe from scratch.
As a technology demonstrator, probably circa 100 kg in mass.

Then made a big, rigid, bed.
Back in 2005-2006, +/-.

650x500x120 mm, steel sides 12 mm thick, preloaded with 2 sets of 3x15 mm rebar, crossed and welded under tension.
Granite top.
Concrete filling.
Rigid mount.
Approx 150 kg in mass.

The bed was the best improvement.

Then got a 12x industrial lathe.
Never used the 7x since (once for polishing something.)
Go figure.

Then fitted the 12x for cnc, 3 times.

Now with 32/4 mm ballscrew on z, ac servos x and y, ac servo spindle.
Yesterday with encoder threading finally connected (yeah).
MPG finally connected (yes, yes, YES !!!).
Redoing servo mount today...

The 7x minilathe was fine, but my stuff is all steel and bigger, so it was just too small for me.

Offline steampunkpete

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2016, 04:35:19 AM »
Quick change tool-post
Arc Eurotrade brass gibs for top and cross slides.
Better gibs for saddle (my own design)
Ball-race bearings for top and cross slide lead-screws (gets rid of most of the backlash and feels really smooth)
Longer cross-slide lead-screw for longer slide travel
Shim lead-screw nuts (eliminates the horrid three-screw, never right, loosens twice a week arrangent - turns head and spits)
Lever lock for tailstock
Emco T-slot plate bolted to cross-slide (to fit vertical slide for small milling jobs)
Handle for headstock
Dividing head arrangement for headstock (mostly used for marking out)
Taper bearings for headstock

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2016, 03:05:39 PM »
Ok so it's completely in Bits now....just the way I like it.

Step 1.. Tapered bearings...Any preference...Fag...Skf..Timken etc ?  Do I have to modify anything else as dimension slightly different ?

Step 2 .. Brass taper Gibs with screws adjustment

Step 3.. Polish ways and clean as best as Poss..

Step 4 Tail stock quick clamp

Step 5.. Slides sort out all adjustments etc..

Eat Xmas dinner
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Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2016, 03:40:35 PM »
Ok so it's completely in Bits now....just the way I like it.

Step 1.. Tapered bearings...Any preference...Fag...Skf..Timken etc ?  Do I have to modify anything else as dimension slightly different ?




Eat Xmas dinner

Step 1..... Buy decent taper rollers.....no preference from your chosen names...
You will need to polish the journals where the orig bearings sat on the shaft....If you remember the bearings were tight on the shaft and the casting....( werent they?) the new bearing inner races need to slide on the spindle journals to achieve correct preload....so polish the journals with some fine emery until the inner races are a tight push fit....dont take off too much, remember you only need to polish them....
The spacers on the shaft will need replacing, the new bearings are a different thickness to the old ones. I used some 6086 ally bar, plastic is no good for taper bearing preload, material stability....

Rework so far should have you ready to reassemble the headstock...by the way, it might pay you to get metal gears instead of the plastic ones.....( something often overlooked in a rebuild like this)
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #22 on: December 02, 2016, 04:03:34 PM »
Appreciate those answers.. Didn't think about the external plastic covers being plastic ! Ahh..whats the deal with the changing over to metal gears ? I have heard The noise factor...The fact that something than give rather than it all being rigid in the drive chain. also am i right in thinking that although you change the main Gears for steel the smaller ones still end up being plastic ? so in all that you still have some Plastic ? or you can replace all ?

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Offline Swarf North

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #23 on: December 03, 2016, 03:17:39 AM »
Nachi tapered roller bearings have been reputed (in a letter years ago, on the Arc Euro site?) to be excellent.  I don't know of any information comparing these with the other brands you mention, though.

Grant

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #24 on: December 03, 2016, 07:27:54 AM »
Gone with the Skf as these are the ones on My bike and have had no Bother with them in 6 years headstock.

I'm looking at the headstock today and I'm understanding the design of it...

So new taper bearings go in and the exact position of where they end up on the craft is determined by the plastic spacers that are fitted at the end of the shaft ? Reason  I ask is obviously to understand, but the Journal (if that's the right word) that both bearings are positioned on are some 2mm+ than the bearing.  So dependant on thickness of the spacer /s before the two locking nuts....determines exactly how much of the shaft is sticking out toward the chuck ? Or Am I missing something simple.

If I don't ask I won't learn...sorry if it's basic.
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Offline Chilliphil

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #25 on: December 03, 2016, 07:47:41 AM »
I hope you keep asking basic questions! I'm more of a newbie than you and am following this thread with great interest. Thanks to all contributors.

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #26 on: December 03, 2016, 10:00:17 AM »
Only when we stop learning do we loose interest in life.
Had thought I would make some of these in Ali....or Am I just wasting my time and materials ? Also maybe the Engineers on here could explain the relief on the back, that goes around the shaft ?  I guessed it was so that any debris that does get past the plastic doesn't get jammed between the shaft and plastic....being that it's a larger space ? That's what I thought anyway.
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Offline Kjelle

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #27 on: December 03, 2016, 03:53:32 PM »
Buell, check Arc' s site, they have instructions for this job there! I havn't done this conversion, but remember reading those files and thinking it can't be that hard to do this.

BTW, you riding a Buell?

Kjelle

Offline mexican jon

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #28 on: December 03, 2016, 03:57:44 PM »
People say you only live once ! I say thank F@*K can't afford to do it twice.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #29 on: December 03, 2016, 04:01:13 PM »
Buell,
I did do a write up on changing the bearings on the minilathe when I did my C3, Ketan did ask if he could publish it in his website, not sure if he did...but I remember putting back the original bearing shields......
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #30 on: December 03, 2016, 04:12:35 PM »
Hi guys thanks for all the info and help ..much appreciated. I have seen lots of people do the conversion...with interesting tools and pullers and the like ! I have it all apart no issues at all just another strip down day. Think as I'm doing this I will try and make the plastic end caps in Ali...That is if I don't cock it up !

Yes Buell Xb1200 and Husqvarna Supermoto.

Just finished a few bits...needed something to do !
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Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #31 on: December 03, 2016, 04:15:07 PM »
eccentric millionaire financed by 'er indoors
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #32 on: December 03, 2016, 05:41:46 PM »
Thanks very much that clears up and shines a light on some stuff.... But I'm still puzzled ! ...sorry

If we polish the journals so that it is a "hard hand push " to get the new tapered bearings on...then what's to stop me Pushing them even further with say an Even harder push with a Blunt drill in the tail stock . Yes I know that was a bit over bored but you get the idea. I'm not trying to be crazy about this but at what point do they stop Moving on the shaft ? We know that the original shaft was very tight and the new taper bearing will not go on this..so we polish and smooth and make it a firm fit but there is a part of me that is interested because if it does move backwards then gears and belts etc will be mis aligned  maybe ?  Is it just the mere fact that we have two Hard fitting bearings fitted that it's very unlikely to happen...

The new and the old bearings are after all the same dimension on the shaft...just we don't want them to fit as tight as before, because it could damage and preload them to much. I'm guessing here as I'm not an Engineer...Just a Heating One !

Ps if you say Enough...I will drop this !! :lol: :lol:
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline mexican jon

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #33 on: December 03, 2016, 06:14:46 PM »
The bearing need to be a sized fit  :scratch: this allows the nuts on the drive end to be tightened so as to put load on the bearings  :thumbup: the fact that the whole assembly is held together stops the possibility of any movement, the fact the inner races are also locked by the shoulders means that the shaft and bearings spin together. Simples  :headbang:
People say you only live once ! I say thank F@*K can't afford to do it twice.

Offline picclock

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #34 on: December 18, 2016, 09:51:05 AM »
FWIW while you have the headstock off replace the speed change gears for metal ones. ARC will supply, though one of the ones I had from them was very poorly cast.

The other mod I found most useful was an additional gear reduction from the motor and belt replacement. This allows higher torque at the cost of lower speed, which I have found very useful.

Removal of the compound slide and replacement of it with a solid metal block also improves rigidity allowing better finishes and parting.

There is some other info and pictures which may (or may not) be useful on photobucket :
http://s917.photobucket.com/user/picclock/library/7x14%20Real%20Bull%20mini%20%20lathe?sort=3&page=1

Best Regards

picclock
Engaged in the art of turning large pieces of useful material into ever smaller pieces of (s)crap. (Ferndown, Dorset)

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #35 on: December 23, 2016, 12:21:38 PM »
Thanks for all the ideas and Info on this was a Great help.

So far Have replaced the Bearings with taper version..To be fair was Very easy, Only note was th use your instinct when putting the new races on the shaft. One of the journals was a slight different fit to the other so had to polish the faces as described just a little bit more. Only noticed this when it went easy over there outer journal then when it came to the One closest to the headstock was solid...So off it came and polish a little more./Guess if i had a Mic I might have noticed it.  I also made some replacements to the plastic outer race covers in ali. Anyway started to rebuild it and started with the adjustable gibs brackets etc.. Not going to plan. I ended up asking someone to make them up for me !! But when I got them I wasn't happy..Feeling fed up I went out and got a Mini mill  :hammer: Now if i could just work out how to Use this machine  :clap:  I know its throwing myself in at the deep end but have Set it up and Have to say first bit of the brackets is just great. I read somewhere to get the Taper correct there is a clever way or should i say Easy way ? My idea was to put a pair of parallel bars under the work piece and put a 1mm drill under one end to give the taper ? I have limited tooling jigs etc Honestly don't even have parallel bars at the Moment ! Any tips would be great. Did see a post By Spuddevans which was fab so basing it on that at the Moment.

Happy Xmas All
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Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #36 on: December 23, 2016, 02:49:39 PM »
Great to hear you are making progress...

Take yout time and think about what you are trying to achieve.......

Best wishes  for the festive season...
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #37 on: December 27, 2016, 04:20:57 PM »
As its Xmas ...I get some time to play with My first mill. Having never used one before, the learning curve was somewhat steep. Today I spent some time Try to make the Gib brackets.. Go easy as everything here is my first attempt at working with Machining steel. Any comments welcome. I still have the gibs in bras to do which i feel will be even harder. The first pic is the Mistake..best to get that out of my system..just the wrong angle i choose  whoops !  :bugeye:
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2017, 01:30:54 PM »
I have finally got the brass gib strips done and the Brackets..But i have a question to all that have done this. Do the Adjustment screws tend to loosen as there is nothing to stop them unwinding ? My thought was to drill and tap a locking grub screw to lock the adjusting screw.. or is this Not needed ?

will post pics soon...If i don't mess it up at the end ! Still learning.
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2017, 01:49:30 PM »
The gib strip adjusting screws should have lock nuts on them......thats what mine was like before and after modding...
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Offline John Stevenson

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #40 on: January 08, 2017, 01:54:39 PM »
Just fit the one metal gear to the spindle as this is the hard one to replace if the original plastic one breaks.
Leave the lay shaft gear as plastic as if it shears it will protect everything else but be easy to change. Also has the advantage of being quieter than two steel gears.
John Stevenson

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #41 on: January 08, 2017, 04:28:47 PM »
Sorry my mistake didn't make it clear... The adjustment screw here....do you think it needs a locking grub screw underneath on the Bracket  to stop it vibrating loose ?
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #42 on: January 25, 2017, 06:52:44 AM »
Need to replace the 80mm chuck as it didn't come with inside out jaws ...Unless I'm missing something ! Whats the biggest size sensibly you can fit ? I guessed 100mm but was wondering if You can fit a 125mm without damaging the electronics ? spoke to Arc they said 100mm max .. any Comments on this much appreciated before i spend my money !
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #43 on: January 25, 2017, 07:23:27 AM »
The advice offered by Arc is to be heeded......Ketan ( the proprieter) has worked very closely with mini lathe manufacturing ( Sieg in this case) so knows the limitations.....both mechanically and electronic wise...
Personally if you feel you need to go to a chuck bigger than the 100 mm the mini lathe can comfortably accomodate, you have the wrong machine......

I have three lathes ( and I'm not bragging....some folk have even more..!!  :lol: ) a mini lathe that has the std chuck or can use an ER 32 collet system,  a Chester 9 x 20 biggest chuck is 125mm or can take ER32, and an SPG equivalent of the WM290.... That currently has 160mm chucks but looking to add 200's

All three have their respective purpose, small to big jobs when needed...
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Offline Buell

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #44 on: February 06, 2017, 04:10:25 PM »
Have need of a Knurler ...so with that in mind was just wondering if anyone had bought one of the Chronos ones that says it can go unto 50mm for Ģ18.00. Seems to good to be true when the wheels alone would cost Ģ7.00. Im guessing the effectiveness of this tool is its rigidity. My holder is max 10mm Square. With this in mind I have thought of getting the Kit from Hemingway, but having never built a kit wonders just the Complexity of it ? so would welcome any advice on their kits as well. Many thanks in Advance
If you don't succeed ...try try try again...you can't fail trying.

Offline hanermo

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #45 on: May 12, 2017, 12:35:34 PM »
When I was actively using the 7x ...
I put a 125 mm chuck, 4 jaw, 5", on it and never took it off.

Electronics and frame are not the issue at all.
Std bearings can take a 1000 kgf load, radially or vertically.
Thats how metal lathes must work.

The 7x was too small for me..
but was an excellent learning platform at low cost.

Offline hanermo

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Re: Top 10 mods for Mini lathe please ?
« Reply #46 on: May 12, 2017, 12:46:15 PM »
Btw ... fwiw ... as a funny anecdote ...
I know (he taught me a lot) the guy(s) (Mi***n who designed the HAAS St lathe series.

He put in the 800 kg steel bar, and then pushed the button to deliberately crash the lathe at 3000 rpm.
And ran for his life.
It was a test to validate safety, that nothing comes through the enclosure.
Nothing did, enclosure was bulged.

Video is restricted IP, I donīt have a copy, and could not post it if I had it.
The chuck, tools, stuff was destroyed.
Lathe was fine.
Same lathe was still running in production 12+ hours / day, some years later.
Have seen it, myself.

A heavy piece running high rpm has huge potential energy.
My ex-workplace, had a client with a mistake on a lathe with heavy workpiece.
After it perforated the roof above, it lodged into the next floors ceiling (no injuries).