Enco 12x36 Lathe Rebuild (Picture Heavy!)

Chapter 4: Man this thing is dirty

So now that the lathe was in the garage the fun could begin. Each night after work and cooking dinner, I would venture out with a headlamp and plastic tub to strip parts from the machine and carry them down the basement. I could only stand the cold for so long, so half of the time I would be cleaning parts in the basement.
Lathe Teardown.jpg
Lathe Lifting Strap Setup.jpg
(The big 2x4 was used to loosen the chuck)

Each part was meticulously cleaned and coated in a thin coat of oil to prevent rust. Each part was labeled with a number matching the grizzly parts list. Fortunately I only have 2 bolts which I failed to label, but they are big and I have confidence that they will identify themselves as I reassemble the lathe.

For reference, the basement was pretty and clean before this whole thing started (and before the mill and the rest of my tools arrived).
Basement Layout.jpg
Basement Layout 2.jpg

I don't have too many pictures of the actual cleaning, but you get the idea. I went through 8 rolls of paper towels, 2 bottles of rubbing alcohol, a bottle of citrus de-greaser, a jug of dawn dish soap, and a quart of engine oil. I found the rubbing alcohol to be the best for cleaning the sludge from the parts as it readily mixes with grease and oil and dries quickly (it does eat through the paint on the basement floor though). The citrus de-greaser worked well for some of the parts like the leadscrew which could be soaked overnight in a PVC pipe filled with the stuff, but wasn't great for general cleaning. I have read elsewhere that the citrus stuff will bleach the paint and etch metals, but I found it to be very mild and did not find any issues with its use.

Apron Gearbox Teardown.jpg
Apron Gearbox Junk.jpg

The collection of parts quickly grew and It started to consume the basement floor (I don't own workbenches yet).
Labeled Parts 2.jpg
Labeled Parts 3.jpg
Labeled Parts.jpg
Labeled Components.jpg

Some of the larger and dirtier items were cleaned in the garage whenever it was nice enough to do so.

The apron was partially disassembled for cleaning and flushed with lightweight oil. When I dumped this oil into my oil tub, several roll pins fell out. I carefully checked all the shafts in the gearbox and they all had their pins, so these must have fallen in during factory assembly and sat there until now. Free pins! (I needed one of these later after destroying a different one). It's much cleaner and shiner now!

Apron Gearbox after Cleaning 2.jpg

The quick change gearbox was fairly dirt free, but did not spin smoothly at all. I could barely spin the input shaft with all my strength. As I began cleaning it with a toothbrush, an incredible amount of grit and dirt started sloughing off. After 4 hours of cleaning and flushing with light oil, the gearbox spins smooth as silk and the input shaft can be turned between two fingers. I did replace the bearing on the keyed shaft which the arms are mounted to as they were blown (Open bearings in an open gearbox? Who thought that was a good idea?). I am impressed by the oiling system in this lathe, each bushing in the gearbox has a feed tube from an oil reservoir.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for Chapter 5: Hope the stairs can take it

Apron Gearbox after Cleaning 2.jpg
 
Dave, thanks for that idea! Definitely going to do something similar. I heard rumors that the motor cannot be thrown in reverse as it is still spinning down or it will continue to run forward. Very jealous of your setup and tooling! DRO will definitely be needed in the future.
 
For cleaning use denatured alcohol and S100 motorcycle wheel cleaner.
 
Chapter 5: The stairs say.... UGHHHH

So at this point just about everything was clean and I was able to grab a buddy to help move the base casting. I'd estimate it weighs around 250lbs or so and is awkwardly long. We planned everything out and got to work. The casting was lifted up on the engine hoist and rolled down the driveway to the side door of the house. We took the door off and built a crude ramp from 2x4's to slide the lathe down on. I drilled a small hole through the riser on one of the steps leading into the house to run some rope to a friction system chained to the floor joists.
Engine Hoist 2.jpg
Ramp.jpg
Ramp for Lathe.jpg
The plan was to ease the lathe onto the ramp manually and use belay devices to carefully let rope out and ease the lathe down the ramp. Belay devices are used in rock climbing for holding the rope for a climber and to arrest a fall. They are rated for several thousand pounds of shock loading and I had no concerns using them (we used two for redundancy).
Belay.jpg
(Not me again! Thanks A. for the help!)
Hole in stairs.jpg
Lathe in house 2.jpg
Lathe on Stairs 3.jpg
No more pictures from this point on, but the casting was lowered to the bottom where the engine hoist lifted it up and over to its final resting place

With some careful planning and reinforcement of the stairs, the move went without issues.

Up next: Chapter 6: Where did I put that one bolt? - part 1
 
Chapter 6: Why do these things have so many parts?

With everything downstairs and cleaned, reassembly and alignment can take place. As we head into this chapter, understand that this is where things are right now, and I won't have another 6 chapters for tomorrow, but I'll keep this thread up to date as best as I can.

The headstock was lifted onto the bedways first, and I installed a Fenner (off brand Fenner) link V-belt between the motor and countershaft. I will test this out and replace the other belt too if I like it.
Headstock after cleanup.jpg
The back gear was adjusted to fully engage and everything was greased.

As an aside, if anyone has some advice on how to properly load a grease gun, please let me know. I probably wasted 4 hours trying to get it running, and even still I get 5-10 pumps and then it hits and air bubble and I have to spend another 20 minutes priming it. I'm going crazy. For grease I prefer Loctite ViperLube synthetic grease. It is odorless, clear, and forms long strings as it runs between the gears which really helps make sure it fully coats everything. It is rated as a high performance bearing and gear grease, and can be used in food product machines.

Next the quick change gearbox and change gears were installed and lubed. During greasing, one fitting snapped off at the threads. I ordered what I think to be the correct replacement and I will have to come up with a way to extract the other half from the hole. (You can see the missing one on the reverse tumbler gear just under the spindle.

Change Gears after Cleaning.jpg

The carriage was installed and the gib tightened. Its amazing that a feather touch to the gib adjustment screws can make it so tight that it will not move. Once my way oil (Mobil Vactra 2) arrives, I'm sure this will be less of an issue.

Carriage after Cleanup.jpg

Gearbox after cleanup.jpg

Next the apron and feed rod were installed. Since the feed-rod bracket was removed for cleaning, it needed to be aligned (if I had to do it again, I would not remove this part). It was particularly a pain because the part couldn't be reached by an Allen key when the apron was bolted on. My procedure was, move the carriage to the end of travel, loosen but not remove the carriage bolts and gently snug the bracket. Run the carriage back and forth along the travel, and the feed-rod will push the bracket into alignment. Then move the carriage all the way to the end of travel, drop it down again very carefully as to not change the bracket alignment and snug up the screws. This was repeated until the feed-rod spun smoothly across the full range of travel.

Half Assembled Lathe.jpg

And this is where things stand as of last night. I will continue to post updates as I have them.

Here is a picture of the el-cheapo QCTP I bought off ebay (Bostar AXA).
QCTP.jpg
 
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Thanks for all the pictures and the story to get your lathe in the basement and cleaned up. I recently helped someone move a Sheldon 12in lathe into his basement so appreciate the effort.

I forgot to say before, welcome to the forum.

You will enjoy using the lathe when re-assembled. Taking it apart to clean will soon feel to be worth the effort.
 
"When I was a boy" we used to tuck that lathe bed under an arm and carry it down the stairs. Just kidding, nice job, and a good write up. Cheers, Mike
 
Chapter 6 Continued...

Didn't have too long to work last night but I do have a few updates. Got lucky with the spindle and the 2.25" x 8 TPI chuck fit without issue. Remeasured the bore now that is nice and clean and I'm seeing .00015" runout along the entirety of the MT5 taper, .0015 axial runout on the nose of the spindle (this should be easy to cleanup), and about .0001 or so of endplay when I push as hard as I can against the ends of the spindle. I assume with a threaded chuck this really means nothing since it will only seat on the threads, but oh well. I'll have to clean those up really nice.

Adapter Plate.jpg
Headstock 4.jpg

Next I assembled the leadscrew and spindle lever. This was fairly painless except that I forgot to put the bearing shroud on the leadscrew before I installed everything else so it all had to come apart again (I can almost hear my dad telling me to slow down). I had used some masking tape to hold the bolts in the bearing block that supports the screws at the tailstock end, and it ripped off all the paint under it when I peeled it off. I may repaint some parts down the road.

Leadscrew.jpg
Leadscrew 2.jpg
Leadscrew 3.jpg
(OK so you cant really see the missing paint in the photo, I'll have to get a better shot)

The biggest pain point was installing the spindle lever. There is nothing to retain it at the headstock end except for a bore, so it can easily back out of the hole without you noticing and fall off the roller arms of the micro-switches. When I pushed it back in, I bent one of the arms of the switch slightly. I was able to straighten it back out, but the clicking of the switch is not very reliable. I may order a spare from grizzly ($16 each), or better yet find a whole new brand or style of switch. I don't like the configuration on this lathe. Furthermore, the whole lever seems to be tensioned by a setscrew on the bearing block located near the tailstock. This seems a little hokey, and an 1/8 turn of the screw takes the lever from falling due to gravity to completely locked. I would much rather have a nice ball and spring detent system seen in many other places around the lathe.

As you can see in the above pictures, I did install the cross slide and adjust the gib. It moves very smoothly (although a little tight) with around .003-.004" backlash. I could easily adjust this out, but so far, that small amount of play is fine and I don't want to wear out the screw.

Cross Slide.jpg

It might be hard to see here, but the cross slide only has +/- 45 degrees of markings on it, and my compound slide only has a single line on the side (reads 0 when the compound is parallel to the ways). This is going to make it very annoying to set angles beyond 45 degrees. Is this what your lathes look like as well? I might have to carefully scribe a second line on the compound to read 0 when the slide is perpendicular to the ways.

Finally, both the cross slide and carriage hand wheels rub slightly when spun, and I'm pretty sure it is the vernier ring rubbing the casting. I'll have to blue it up to see where the transfer is and lightly sand the parts down for a better fit.

Carriage Handwheel 2.jpg
Cross Slide Handwheel.jpg

Still waiting on the spindle oil, so I can't run it in yet.

Questions for you guys:
1) What kind of paint is used on machine tools and where can you buy it? I know there are some more and less toxic varieties and I'd like to stick with something that can be rolled on if possible.
2) What is the trick for adjusting the spindle lever such that it is easy to use, but is not a risk of falling down (especially when in the up position)?
3) Has anyone tried alternative spindle lever designs?
4) What does your lathe look like as far as the angle markings on the compound slide?
5) What is the cheapest decent quality (oxymoron I know!) DRO one can find for a lathe?

Cheers,

Mike
 
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Many options for paint. Take a look at YouTube videos like Keith Rucker, Halligan142 for example. They have done a number of restorations including painting.

I think you may need to replace the springs in the spindle lever, especially the one which pushes the lever into the "OFF" detent position. May need a stiffer spring(s).

My spindle lever feels fine so no need to consider redesign.

The markings on my compound slide stop at 55 deg, so worthless for threading. Why they did not go to 60 deg is a mystery.

My solution was to cut a piece of wood at the desired angle, insert a rare earth magnet, and use this to set the angle for the compound for threading.

Angle_block_to_set_threading_angle_7616.jpg

There are a number of threads on the forum about DRO recommendations. As you mentioned cheap and decent quality may not go together.

Yuriy's TouchDRO is perhaps the cheapest. Uses Android phone/tablet for display.

I have a Shooting Star CBX on my mill which is an inexpensive unit.

You need to decide on the type of scale. Glass scales have to be purchased at the correct length. I have glass scales on my Grizzly lathe. Works well.

The scale on the carriage is on the right so it covers the carriage lock.
 
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