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- Nov 27, 2012
- Messages
- 7,899
Congrats Gary. Looking good!
The balls are cool but now you need one for the QCTP, the tailstock lever, & all the gearbox handles!
I never checked the taper on my chuck backplates but on my 3 jaw chuck that came with the lathe it does not release easily like all my other D1-4 stuff so I assume it's off. I have to tap it with a mallet lightly to break it loose after releasing the cam locks. My other chucks fall right off the taper when I release the cam locks & they repeat pretty much dead nuts when I put them back on.
If you get unsatisfactory run out, try switching pin holes. I got .002", then switched pins, just under .002" , then finally on the last try I got just barely over .001". Normally that's good enough but I'm spolied with Set-Tru checks so I removed the 3 jaw from the back plate. Faced the front, then I turned down the boss slightly. This allows me to adjust the run out tapping with a mallet & indicating off a Thomson Linear Shaft. I can get it down to .0003" often pretty quickly. However if you have a hard bump or crash it can easily knock the chuck out of alignment but I never have issues like I did using this method on my mini-lathe.
The stock 3 jaw I kept but I only use it for holding small diameters that my 6-jaw can't hold & for sanding/polishing. It's my "beater" chuck. I use a Bison 6.25" 6-Jaw set-Tru most of the time. The Bison backplate is blanchard ground like the chuck so it was a bolt on affair, adjust to just under .0002" & call it a day. It also goes back on with the same TIR as long as you put it back with the same pin configuration. All my D1-4 stuff is marked so they go back on the same way everytime. I also got rid of the stock 4-jaw as I was not happy with the quality. I replaced it with a Fuerda 8" 4-jaw which I'm happy with for the price.
My tailstock is only .001" high but side to side alignment was pretty off so be sure to take some time checking that. The taper in my tailstock ram was not bad but it was not that great when checking with a taper & layout fluid. Reamed it with a roughing reamer followed by a finishing reamer & now it seat very nicely without having to really hammer on it like before. I put caps on the pins on the tailstock that the levers rest on. Something about them when they clank drives my nuts. The cushion makes me much more sane now.
On the thread dial, the gear that rides along the leadscew is not keyed. Mine eventually came loose after quite a few threading jobs so you might want to check it before finding out in the middle of a threading job. I Since it's not keyed, you can fine tune it to line up with the arrow more accurately if it's currently not lining up.
Also check the spindle brake assy. Mine worked fine just bolting it together. Then one day when I really had to stomp on it, I found that the micro switch lever was not aligned as good as it should be. Stepping on the brake cuts power first, then engages the drum brake as you press down further. Letting go of the brake restores power to spindle after a reset. However when I stomp on it hard & fast, the micro switch
does not fully release & I had to cycle the brake up & down a could of times to get it to release. A quick adjustment to the roller & bracket was all that was needed. Yours may work fine as mine did initially but I don't like to find things out like this in the middle of a project as I tend to stop working & fix it right then & there.
I didn't add weight to the right base intentially at first but I have filled it it up with "misc junk" to help add weight. I like the idea of adding 100lbs of weight in there though. Good idea!
If you have an optical or laser tachometer handy, it's useful to check the feed rates. My feed & threading chart is different from yours (& most others) I have seen (values are different). Essentially it's the same with only minor variances. But on my chart A1 is listed to be the slowest feed rate when set up for imperial. Using my tachometer I found that I can actually get 6 other feed rates slower than what my chart says (very little differences from each other though) & D1 actually gives me the slowest feed rate. My chart does not list any D configurations other than D4. It's aslo handy to give you an idea of what your actual spindle speeds are.
Here are the speeds that I measured.
The balls are cool but now you need one for the QCTP, the tailstock lever, & all the gearbox handles!
I never checked the taper on my chuck backplates but on my 3 jaw chuck that came with the lathe it does not release easily like all my other D1-4 stuff so I assume it's off. I have to tap it with a mallet lightly to break it loose after releasing the cam locks. My other chucks fall right off the taper when I release the cam locks & they repeat pretty much dead nuts when I put them back on.
If you get unsatisfactory run out, try switching pin holes. I got .002", then switched pins, just under .002" , then finally on the last try I got just barely over .001". Normally that's good enough but I'm spolied with Set-Tru checks so I removed the 3 jaw from the back plate. Faced the front, then I turned down the boss slightly. This allows me to adjust the run out tapping with a mallet & indicating off a Thomson Linear Shaft. I can get it down to .0003" often pretty quickly. However if you have a hard bump or crash it can easily knock the chuck out of alignment but I never have issues like I did using this method on my mini-lathe.
The stock 3 jaw I kept but I only use it for holding small diameters that my 6-jaw can't hold & for sanding/polishing. It's my "beater" chuck. I use a Bison 6.25" 6-Jaw set-Tru most of the time. The Bison backplate is blanchard ground like the chuck so it was a bolt on affair, adjust to just under .0002" & call it a day. It also goes back on with the same TIR as long as you put it back with the same pin configuration. All my D1-4 stuff is marked so they go back on the same way everytime. I also got rid of the stock 4-jaw as I was not happy with the quality. I replaced it with a Fuerda 8" 4-jaw which I'm happy with for the price.
My tailstock is only .001" high but side to side alignment was pretty off so be sure to take some time checking that. The taper in my tailstock ram was not bad but it was not that great when checking with a taper & layout fluid. Reamed it with a roughing reamer followed by a finishing reamer & now it seat very nicely without having to really hammer on it like before. I put caps on the pins on the tailstock that the levers rest on. Something about them when they clank drives my nuts. The cushion makes me much more sane now.
On the thread dial, the gear that rides along the leadscew is not keyed. Mine eventually came loose after quite a few threading jobs so you might want to check it before finding out in the middle of a threading job. I Since it's not keyed, you can fine tune it to line up with the arrow more accurately if it's currently not lining up.
Also check the spindle brake assy. Mine worked fine just bolting it together. Then one day when I really had to stomp on it, I found that the micro switch lever was not aligned as good as it should be. Stepping on the brake cuts power first, then engages the drum brake as you press down further. Letting go of the brake restores power to spindle after a reset. However when I stomp on it hard & fast, the micro switch
does not fully release & I had to cycle the brake up & down a could of times to get it to release. A quick adjustment to the roller & bracket was all that was needed. Yours may work fine as mine did initially but I don't like to find things out like this in the middle of a project as I tend to stop working & fix it right then & there.
I didn't add weight to the right base intentially at first but I have filled it it up with "misc junk" to help add weight. I like the idea of adding 100lbs of weight in there though. Good idea!
If you have an optical or laser tachometer handy, it's useful to check the feed rates. My feed & threading chart is different from yours (& most others) I have seen (values are different). Essentially it's the same with only minor variances. But on my chart A1 is listed to be the slowest feed rate when set up for imperial. Using my tachometer I found that I can actually get 6 other feed rates slower than what my chart says (very little differences from each other though) & D1 actually gives me the slowest feed rate. My chart does not list any D configurations other than D4. It's aslo handy to give you an idea of what your actual spindle speeds are.
Here are the speeds that I measured.
Spindle LOW - Actual | Projected | |||||
RPM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
A | 283 | 1398 | 850 | 235 | 1200 | 700 |
B | 78 | 389 | 235 | 65 | 330 | 200 |
C | 218 | 1075 | 656 | 180 | 910 | 500 |
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