TSL change gears, or the lack thereof

[kb58]

I bought an old TSL-800 a couple months ago and it was missing the change gears. It was sad that the original owner had the change gears at one time but forgot what they were for and threw them out! Ugh! So how big a deal is a missing set of change gears? Well, it depends on whether you plan to cut threads, or maybe need to drive the carriage at some specific speed. Psychologically, them not being there probably bugs me more than actually needing them, but so be it.

I ran across this series of Youtube videos on making an electronic lead screw:

His design and methodology impressed me enough that I decided to build one, and most of the parts are already ordered. I'll update this thread as it progresses.

 

[RJSakowski]

I ran across this series of Youtube videos on making an electronic lead screw:

His design and methodology impressed me enough that I decided to build one, and most of the parts are already ordered. I'll update this thread as it progresses.

I viewed the ELS design and build videos and was also impressed. Although I have all the change gears for my 602 lathe and the the ability to reverse the lead screw for left hand threads, I am tempted to make this modification. I expect that circuit boards will be made available fairly soon which will save my the bother of making my own. I'm not sure that I would want to go the route of populating a SMT board either.

At any rate, I will be following your progress with this project.

 

[Winegrower]

My Takisawa fortunately does have a full set of change gears but the standard gears cut everything I would likely need. The major exception is 13 TPI, which requires a gear change.

 

[kb58]

Understood, but I like to build stuff, and who knows what threads might be needed in the future.

The trick with the TSL lathe will be mounting the stepper motor so that it's not ugly, in the way, or requiring big holes in the castings. Right now I'm thinking that it might fit above and forward of the motor, with a belt up to the gear feeding the QCGB. Mounting options will become more obvious once the stepper arrives.

 

[RJSakowski]

The beauty of the ELS is that thread pitch sizes are done at the touch of a button. Throw into the mix, the ability to change from metric to inch threads, left hand or right hand and to switch to power feed all by pressing a few buttons and the ELS is irresistible.

I don't do as much single point threading with my 602 as I should because of the required gear changes. They aren't that complicated but I am lazy in that regard.

I guess that an analogy would be the the conversion to a VFD. It seems that a major driver for the modification is the intense dislike for changing belts.

 

[RJSakowski]

Understood, but I like to build stuff, and who knows what threads might be needed in the future.

The trick with the TSL lathe will be mounting the stepper motor so that it's not ugly, in the way, or requiring big holes in the castings. Right now I'm thinking that it might fit above and forward of the motor, with a belt up to the gear feeding the QCGB. Mounting options will become more obvious once the stepper arrives.

On my 602, I am considering mounting the stepper motor at the right hand end of the lead screw. There is a convenient space directly below the lead screw that will fit the motor and the motor will be out of the way on that end. Additionally, the internal change gears can be eliminated from the drive taking gear backlash, power sucking friction and gear noise from the lathe.

 

[kb58]

I'm not familiar with the 602 and don't know if it has a carriage drive in addition to a Acme lead screw. If it has both, and the stepper is put on the Acme shaft, how can the carriage drive be used?

 

[RJSakowski]

I'm not familiar with the 602 and don't know if it has a carriage drive in addition to a Acme lead screw. If it has both, and the stepper is put on the Acme shaft, how can the carriage drive be used?

The 602 just has a single lead screw.

 

[kb58]

Ah, in that case, it's a great place to put it!

 

[kb58]

And so the journey begins. Already compiled and loaded the code, but nothing's going to happen until the rest of the stuff arrives.