Buying a new lathe

[GaryK]

Here's something you won't see if you have the DRO and scales that came with your PM1236:



Diameter mode with a .0001" reading on the screen.

I just got my 1 micron scale for the cross slide mounted and working. Reading in tenths is nice!

The new scale was a drop in replacement. The hardest part was routing the cable.

Changing the setting in the DRO was also very simple. It's in the book that come with it.

Gary

 

[tripletap3]

I know, chuck porn. It looks awsome. My 3 jaw is actually pretty decent as it came and it maintains .003 pretty much all the time. The 4 jaw on the other hand isn't so. The jaws are rough adjusting and one jaw doen't like any of the 4 positions at all. I am afraid to run it over 300 rpm as it starts to shake the lathe around like a one bladed ceiling fan. I will mess with it some more later but for now I have too many other money making things that need to get done first. If I spend the time on those then I can just buy a decent chuck with the money I make. All my gunsmithing goes to beer and tools anyway.

Ok I want to update my last post. I did take some time this evening to take a second look at the 4 jaw chuck. The first item I found was a 1/4" long mangled spot in one of the pinion gear teeth. There was also a tooth on the problem jaw that was damaged. I used the dremel tool to clean up both pieces and also spent some time deburing and cleaning up all the sharp edges were the jaws move. I cleaned everything well in the parts washer and lubed it up good. I used a 3/8" socket adapter in my drill and ran the jaws in and out about 20 times each. Much Much smoother and there are no more hang ups. I then mounted the chuck on the lathe and measured run out on the outside at .012. Yuck. After investigating I ended up turning the inside ridge on the back plate down a few thousands and was able to tap the chuck until I got the run out down to .001. Pretty smooth at 330rpm but at the 550rpm mark it still shakes. I do all of my work at less than 500 so this should help a bunch.

 

[darkzero]

Here's something you won't see if you have the DRO and scales that came with your PM1236:

snip...

Diameter mode with a .0001" reading on the screen.

I just got my 1 micron scale for the cross slide mounted and working. Reading in tenths is nice!

The new scale was a drop in replacement. The hardest part was routing the cable.

Changing the setting in the DRO was also very simple. It's in the book that come with it.

Gary

Gary, have you had a chance to use it much? On another forum some had replaced their X scale with a 1 micron too since their original one got damaged. I wanted to do the same, figured I'd do it if/when my scale took a crap. Doesn't seem like my scale would just fail out of the blue but now that your posting about it I'm interested again. I'd love to hear any feedback you might have on difference from the 5 micron that might convince me sooner. )

Thanks

 

[darkzero]

Ok I want to update my last post. I did take some time this evening to take a second look at the 4 jaw chuck. The first item I found was a 1/4" long mangled spot in one of the pinion gear teeth. There was also a tooth on the problem jaw that was damaged. I used the dremel tool to clean up both pieces and also spent some time deburing and cleaning up all the sharp edges were the jaws move. I cleaned everything well in the parts washer and lubed it up good. I used a 3/8" socket adapter in my drill and ran the jaws in and out about 20 times each. Much Much smoother and there are no more hang ups. I then mounted the chuck on the lathe and measured run out on the outside at .012. Yuck. After investigating I ended up turning the inside ridge on the back plate down a few thousands and was able to tap the chuck until I got the run out down to .001. Pretty smooth at 330rpm but at the 550rpm mark it still shakes. I do all of my work at less than 500 so this should help a bunch.

Hey Chuck,

My stock 4-jaw had similar issues as yours. Lots of ruff edges to deburred & one jaw did not move smoothly in any of the slots like yours which bothered my the most. I remember I was also not happy about the run out of the chuck body but since it was a 4-jaw it did bother me that much. I don't recally any bad vibrations caused my it but then again I did not use it much. At least you were able to remove the back plate. I used a hammer & chisel but couldn't get it apart (yes I did take the screws out the front). I didn't pound on it really hard but I felt it was more enough where it should have broke free. I ended up selling it on ebay for $150 so it covered almost half of the Fuerda 4-jaw I replaced it with & couldn't be happier with it.

 

[GaryK]

Gary, have you had a chance to use it much? On another forum some had replaced their X scale with a 1 micron too since their original one got damaged. I wanted to do the same, figured I'd do it if/when my scale took a crap. Doesn't seem like my scale would just fail out of the blue but now that your posting about it I'm interested again. I'd love to hear any feedback you might have on difference from the 5 micron that might convince me sooner. )

Thanks

I actually used it on my first project HERE. It worked great. I needed to remove a couple of tenths and it worked just like it was supposed to.

For me I hated the idea of .004" increments and if I could fix it I would. It seemed like guesstimating. Well, I fixed and I'm very happy with it.

Gary

 

[darkzero]

I actually used it on my first project HERE. It worked great. I needed to remove a couple of tenths and it worked just like it was supposed to.

For me I hated the idea of .004" increments and if I could fix it I would. It seemed like guesstimating. Well, I fixed and I'm very happy with it.

Gary

You meant .0004" right? )

Well that's good enough for me, you got me sold (that's easy). I really want one now. No need for the bed though IMO.

 

[GaryK]

Ok I want to update my last post. I did take some time this evening to take a second look at the 4 jaw chuck. The first item I found was a 1/4" long mangled spot in one of the pinion gear teeth. There was also a tooth on the problem jaw that was damaged. I used the dremel tool to clean up both pieces and also spent some time deburing and cleaning up all the sharp edges were the jaws move. I cleaned everything well in the parts washer and lubed it up good. I used a 3/8" socket adapter in my drill and ran the jaws in and out about 20 times each. Much Much smoother and there are no more hang ups. I then mounted the chuck on the lathe and measured run out on the outside at .012. Yuck. After investigating I ended up turning the inside ridge on the back plate down a few thousands and was able to tap the chuck until I got the run out down to .001. Pretty smooth at 330rpm but at the 550rpm mark it still shakes. I do all of my work at less than 500 so this should help a bunch.

Glad you got it worked out. Just saved yourself $300+.

I use my drill with a 3/8" sq drive all the time on my chucks. Especially when I reverse the jaws on my 4J chuck.

Gary

 

[tripletap3]

I still plan on replacing it sometime this spring but for now it will spin. I am trying to prioritize my machine tool purchases because there is so much I need to get for my next phase of work. If something might not be the best but if it works it gets sent down the list.

 

[GaryK]

You meant .0004" right? )

Well that's good enough for me, you got me sold (that's easy). I really want one now. No need for the bed though IMO.

Yea, .0004".

You mentioned that you don't have an Esson DRO on your lathe so this might not apply. This is the 1 micron scale that I just installed.



Gary

 

[GaryK]

Gary, have you had a chance to use it much? On another forum some had replaced their X scale with a 1 micron too since their original one got damaged. I wanted to do the same, figured I'd do it if/when my scale took a crap. Doesn't seem like my scale would just fail out of the blue but now that your posting about it I'm interested again. I'd love to hear any feedback you might have on difference from the 5 micron that might convince me sooner. )

Thanks

After using the 1 micron scale for a while I have found something I need to be careful with.

Make sure you move to the dimension you want to cut after you turn on the lathe.
I find that when I turn on the lathe my number changes a couple of tenths due the lathe spinning up.

This is no big deal, but you just need to be aware of it. With my 5 micron scale I never saw this because the movement was in the .0004 hole of the scale.

If you're not working in tenths for your part, then you don't have to worry about it at all.

Gary