Busy Bee CX706 compound mount upgrade.

[slow-poke]

I recently moved and discovered one of my new neighbours is also a hobby machinist (considerably more skilled than me).

It turns out that my neighbor has a similar 10” lathe to the one I just purchased. He has upgraded his 10” Precision Mathews lathe in numerous ways. One of the upgrades was the replacement of the somewhat flimsy mount for the compound slide. The original is secured with just two bolts that are somewhat inconvenient to access. The improved mount is wider, beefier and attaches with 4 T-studs that are easier to access. This base adds a fair bit of rigidity. My friendly new neighbour made me one and I’m including a few images. The last image shows the original 2 bolt mount for comparison.

 

[ThinWoodsman]

That's a good idea. I've been trying to think of ways to improve the crappiness of the saddle on my 7x16 lathe, and this might help a bit.

 

[machPete99]

Better get that chuck key out of the chuck before somebody gets hurt!

 

[Mitch Alsup]

Better get that chuck key out of the chuck before somebody gets hurt!

I was going to say "never leave the chuck key in the chuck--even when you are not using the lathe--it develops bad habits"
But you beat me to it--good job.......

 

[markba633csi]

That two bolt mount plate is a weakness on lots of import lathes- and they just keep doing it.
Nice improvement
-Mark