HF 8x12 just arrived

I bought it on EBay. I could not find one ANYWHERE else. It was a one off auction.
 
Finally got it up and running. The big problem was that it weighed 256 pounds and thats more than I weigh and it was sitting in the driveway about 100 feet from the bench it was to go on.

I have a rent house and the renter is about two axe handles between the eyes, big enough to go grizzly hunting with a switch. His son is a little bigger. I asked them to help me....I supervised....

I have the grease cleaned off of it. Wasn't as hard as I was given to believe. A little WD-40 and a rag and in 15 minutes it was clean.

Ran it at all speeds for 10 minutes and it is about ready to actually make something.

ALL the screws in the gear cover hinge had fallen out during shipping and I will have to replace all four of them. But I am thinking that I may remove the hinge and put some dzus fasteners on it so it doesnt have to swing but just pull straight, completely, off. It wont work well swinging because the lathe is sitting in a 2" deep chip pan and there isnt room to swing it.

Three questions:

First question: The cogged belt is running about 1/8" off the outside edge of the upper gear. Is there an adjustment to make it run closer to the center of the gear?

Second question: The idler that runs on the V Belt is supposed to be clamped in position, I think, but I would rather it was spring loaded or hydraulically loaded so it wont need readjusting. Thats the way Jaguar does their timing chain and it works pretty well !

Third question: Is there any reason that I should NOT run the lead screw in "left handed" mode? I prefer the carriage does NOT feed toward the chuck...for safety reasons.... I have seen what happens when the cutting tool hits the chuck jaw.....not prety.
 
You can run the lead screw left handed. There a quite a few that thread that way with the cutter turned upside down. Makes it easy so you don't have to thread to a shoulder.

Bob
 
I am getting there. I just bought a 4 jaw chuck at a garage sale for $10 and a dozen loose cutting tools of various sizes for $5. I still need a QCP but the ones I see are too expensive and I dont really understand how they work any better than what comes with the lathe.

The 4 jaw is 4.5" in diameter but the mounting in the back is for a 2.25" diameter shaft with a setscrew. The outside diam of the rear mount is 3" and tapered slightly up to the chuck.

I am trying to figure out how I might modify it to fit to the HF 8x12
 
I assume that the 8x12 came with the typical 4 way tool post. You really can't mount 4 tools in this without 3 of them getting in your way. You also need to adjust the height of the tool using shims. Once adjusted they are fine, but changing tools is slow and a little tedious. A QCTP will allow you to mount multiple tools in multiple holders and switch between them in seconds. Also, you just release the clamp and adjust a nut to set the height and lock it in place once it is adjusted. Then you can switch between turning, facing and boring quickly and easily. There are several threads on this forum about where to find good prices on them. Probably an AXA size for that lathe, but that is only a guess, since I don't own that type of lathe. Personally, I believe they are a good investment and I beleive you would be glad you made the investment.

On the 4 jaw chuck - can you post a photo or two of the four jaw? Maybe someone can give you some ideas on adapting it. Does your lathe use a flat faced spindle to mount he chuck, similar to the 7x10?
 
Here are three pictures of the chuck.

I "misspoke" on the dimensions. It is 5" in diameter, 2.25" ID on the rear mount and 3" OD at the end, tapering to the back of the chuck.

The pictures show it all

Yes the 8x12 has a flat plate. I might be able to put this chuck into the 3 jaw chuck and remove the shaft mount from the back to a flat face and then driill and tap holes in the back to match the plate.

Or I could sell this to someone that needs this particular chuck and use the money to buy one for this lathe

IMG_20140715_152807[1].jpg IMG_20140715_152851[1].jpg IMG_20140715_152903[1].jpg
 
If it was me and I get adventurous sometimes. I would find someone with a bandsaw and cut most of the back off the chuck. Then either mount it backward on your lathe and face the back off or have a machine shop do it. Then turn an adaptor plate for your 8x12 and drill and thread it.

Bob
 
unioncreek said:
If it was me and I get adventurous sometimes. I would find someone with a bandsaw and cut most of the back off the chuck. Then either mount it backward on your lathe and face the back off or have a machine shop do it. Then turn an adaptor plate for your 8x12 and drill and thread it. Bob
Click to expand...

I think my plan is to chuck up a 3" long piece of 1.5" galvanized pipe into the 3 jaw chuck on my HF lathe and then on the protruding end I will chuck the 4 jaw chuck, properly centered and tight. Then I can use a cut off tool to take off the majority of the extension and then face it.

Is there any reason NOT to do it this way?? It will save a lot of elbow grease on a hack saw.
 
That sounds like something I would do. As I have said before, half of machining is figuring out how to do something using only what you have to work with.

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.
 
jimisbell said:
I think my plan is to chuck up a 3" long piece of 1.5" galvanized pipe into the 3 jaw chuck on my HF lathe and then on the protruding end I will chuck the 4 jaw chuck, properly centered and tight. Then I can use a cut off tool to take off the majority of the extension and then face it.

Is there any reason NOT to do it this way?? It will save a lot of elbow grease on a hack saw.
Click to expand...

That may work fine for parting off the excess but not so sure about facing. How straight can galvanized pipe be? If you're planning on using the back face of the chuck to register against a backplate you need it to be as precisely perpendicular to the jaws as you can otherwise you'll always have runout no matter what. Check it with an indicator & if you can bump it true as well as being able to hold it there while facing then it might be ok. If this is not the case with a backplate then I would go for it.
 
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