Extending the cross slide travel on a 7 x 12 mini lathe

[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 , believe it or not this is how it looked from the factory 



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]

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

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

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? 

[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 

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.   

Have fun

Stew

[Twinsquirrel]

I'm glad you guys didn't shout at me for the live center/parting thing. I know it's silly but I'm a little wary of showing my setups sometimes in case I'm doing something stupid. I always think safety first though.

Darren,

This is the shaft that needs extending to accomodate the spacer.



Steve,

Am I right in thinking that you extended the threaded part of the shaft? I was thinking of just extending the non threaded part as I will not be fitting a bearing?

[shoey51]

great job there Steve
I wouldnt be game to do that to mine

[Twinsquirrel]

Shoey,

Nothing ventured nothing gained eh? He who dares, wins Rodney.

David

[cedge]

TS...
The shoulder flange of the lead screw goes between the old and new parts. You'll want to add on to the threaded end.

Steve

[Twinsquirrel]

ah I see, I've counterbored the new spacer to keep the shoulder in its original position, I thought this might work?

David

[cedge]

David
Seems like a lot of work to reach around one's thumb to touch one's elbow...(grin). The mod has been successful untold numbers of times. Reinventing the wheel seems a little like a lot of work only to get unproven results.

Steve

[Twinsquirrel]

Noted Steve, I have ordered a new screw but in the meantime I may have a go with my original idea as I can easily change tack if it all goes south.

I guess Im just a rebel without a clue 

David

[winklmj]

So how'd it go with this mod. I've started a similar mod this weekend. I'll be adding a ball-bearing as well similar to the mod on GadgetBuilder's site.

[Sorekiwi]

Its been 4 or 5 years since I did this same mod on mine, so the details are a little "fuzzy".  But I think I left the leadscrew in its origional location, and turned up an extension for the unthreaded end of the screw.  I also added a ball bearing in the extension spacer.

I could go out to the shed and look at the lathe, but its cold and raining tonight, and I think there are monsters out there...

[andyf]

There's another, very similar, recipe for extending the cross-slide travel on here:
http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/cross-slide-extended-travel.html
by Mike Cox, who had the idea for the swing-up toolholder for threading. At the end, he reckons it could have been done without milling out the slide. There's a mod for extending the top-slide travel on there, too.

Mike has only just started his site, but it will be worth keeping an eye on it if you are into improving your mini-lathe; I know there are things like a T-slotted cross-slide to come.


Andy