Hendey Lathe Refurbish

[682bear]

I disassembled the motor and began the cleanup process this afternoon...





As you can see, it's in need of a cleanup...

Overall, aside from being nasty, it's in pretty good condition. I'll be working on this for a few days cleaning and painting it.

-Bear

 

[Jim F]

By "under load" I mean with motor running, not with spindle turning.

I keep forgetting the cone heads had threaded spindle noses; the spindle nose on my gear head is a long taper, keyed to work well in reverse.

I wonder if/how lathes with threaded chuck mounts can work with the spindle turning backward at all? I've been finding the ability to turn backward useful but I can see how people live without it.

The fellers across the pond make a drawbar type retainer.

 

[682bear]

Not much to talk about lately... just cleaning and painting the motor. It's about ready to reassemble. Meanwhile, I did machine a couple of t-nuts to mount the compound slide (if I ever locate one)...



While paint is drying, I've been working on other things that I've been neglecting while working on the lathe, like changing oil in 2 of our vehicles and installing a new dishwasher in the kitchen.

Sometimes I'm forced to put my projects aside and do things that NEED to be done...

-Bear

 

[Nogoingback]

Did you know that the first Jiffy Lube was opened by a guy that wanted to work on his lathe more?

 

[682bear]

I re-assembled the motor this morning...



Hopefully it will still run. I did not put the wiring connection box back on yet... I'm really wanting to put a bigger box on it, if possible. The box that was on it was very small... with 6 splices in it, it was very tightly packed. Looking for ideas if anybody has any...

I began re-modifying a pre-modified compound to use on the Hendey. I found an old South Bend compound that someone had modified the mount swivel on. I finished milling the swivel off, then put it on the surface grinder and ground what remained flush with the bottom of the base...



I drilled and counterbored 2 holes to bolt it to the cross slide, then machined a center swivel pin out of a piece of scrap (17-4 PH I think)...



My South Bend doesn't enjoy cutting that material.

I machined it to have a light press fit into the base of the compound...



The pin locates in the center hole of the cross slide.

Installed...





My spare BXA tool post fits in it...



And looks like it might actually work out pretty well...



Now I need to clean the compound up and slap some paint on it.

-Bear

 

[hman]

Nice marriage!
Something old - check
Something new - check
Something borrowed - check
Something blue - OK, just need to get out some paint

 

[682bear]

This morning I decided to start planning where to mount the motor controls. I wanted them in an out of the way but easily accessible location. I probably won't use them much, but still would like to retain their functions.

I started by setting the motor in place... (ouch- that thing is HEAVY), then installed the pulleys and mocked up a belt. I clamped the switches in place in the general area that I would like to mount them...





Everything looks pretty good. The front switch is fairly close to the belt, but has plenty of clearance considering that these switches should never be used with the motor running.



I have found a design flaw with the transmission gearbox/ flat belt tensioning...



The bolt that the arrow points to is turned to adjust the flat belt tension. It pushes up on the gearbox, which hinges on the circled pin to tighten the belt. This pin, of course, is behind the input shaft pulley.

So, as the flat belt is tightened, the v-belts from the motor to the transmission loosen...

So as you remove tension from the flat belt (which I always do when I'm finished using my lathes), the v-belts become tighter.

A happy medium will have to be found between the two... I may be overthinking this, after all, this system has obviously worked fine for many years... I'll work on that later.

I'm about to go out to the shop and smear some paint on the compound and tailstock while the weather is warm.

-Bear

 

[AllenHendey]

So, as the flat belt is tightened, the v-belts from the motor to the transmission loosen...
So as you remove tension from the flat belt (which I always do when I'm finished using my lathes), the v-belts become tighter.

If I understand the geometry correctly, it looks like that bolt will have a much greater effect on flat belt tension than on V belt tension?

 

[682bear]

If I understand the geometry correctly, it looks like that bolt will have a much greater effect on flat belt tension than on V belt tension?

I would say that is correct... I will have to wait until I get all of the belts installed to see just how much effect it actually has.

With my mocked-up belt on, I lifted the front of the transmission maybe an inch... there was a noticeable change in the v-belt... of course an inch is a lot on the flat belt, it wouldn't take near that much to take tension off. We'll see...

-Bear

 

[Superburban]

Might be able to fit an idler pulley for either belt, either spring loaded, or maybe even with a weight to control the tension.