[Newbie] Info About Force International Ml1440gh-1 Lathe

I dont know much about your lathe. I will comment on the mill. I have a force international mill drill. Very similar to the king other than less weight. My biggest issue is not having the head move on a dovetail. It limits you to use the quil for all travel. If you try to switch from the r8 collet to very long drill chuck holding long drill bit for the same part might not fit. Raising the head on the column will need loosening the lock causing the head to rotate on the round column.
Jack

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
David,

Yeah, that's pretty much the process described in the book I'm reading [and the various manuals for other lathes I've read]. I don't expect to do a lot of it, so I will probably stick with just running the lathe in reverse to make sure the threads turn out right. And doing all the threads the same way makes it easier for me to remember how to do it right [rather than the 'metric threads are done this way, standard threads are done this other way'].

Jack,

Do you have any idea who the original maker of this brand is? From the very limited amount of info I can find, Force International seems to be a House of Tools private brand, or only imported by them.

That's good info about having the head on a dovetail [or for machines with fixed heads, the platform on a dovetail to go up and down]. I would likely be doing at least a little work on small engines [one cylinder or v-2], and would like a little more max. clearance between the quill and the base [yeah, wrong term]. And maybe being able to rotate the head up to 45 degree's [I can see it being occasionally useful/easier to setup an operation vs rejigging the object at an angle]. But this stuff == more money, or tracking down a used unit [which isn't a bad thing]
 
Force international was sold by house of tools. Imported from overseas. Not much info on them. I only found an expired ad for used mill in google search with one picture for the mill I have.

It not so much the max distance between the spindle and the table that will be problem. But being limited to 4" to 6" that the quill travel after setting head (tighten head lock nuts). Plus like you say angled head is good to have. There are ways around angle though. Busy bee tools has better selection of machines too. I bought my mill for $500. Delivered to city I was working in. Saved me about 2.5 hour drive. It is better than princess auto cheapy for rigidity.


After looking closer at your pictures I'm thinking that the dial you have installed might be for metric threading. Is there any change gears with it. That little diagram of gear set up could be a change gear set up before the feed gear box. I know that many of the lathes from busy bee tools have some change gears to switch between metric and imperial threads.
Jack

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Jack,

I can't say for sure what that dial is for, since I can't find the manual and the dial markings have come off, but other lathes have this dial and they all are for standard threads that I've found. But since I don't know for sure one way or the other, and that I'm better at remembering how to do things if they are all the same way [ie, do standard and metric threads the same way, vs one way for metric and one way for standard], I'll probably go for just manually reversing the machine to go over the threads multiple times instead of using the dial and unlocking the half-nut for some threads and manually reversing for others.

The lathe itself does have change gears, the pictures I posted show the diagrams for doing standard and metric threads and even worm gears, which involves both change gears in the side of the lathe as well as configuring the levers on the front correctly [it looks pretty straightforward].

I'm not looking for a real cheap mill [say, one that would retail for under $1000] just because I think it would wind up being too small for some things I would want to work on sooner rather than later, and I'd rather spend more up front than buy something cheap that I would only use a little before having to dump [for not much money] for something bigger anyway [that would cost as much as what I'm willing to spend now]
 
As far as threading goes, there is nothing really wrong with leaving the half-nut engaged and reversing the spindle (and is about the only option when cutting metric threads on a machine with an imperial lead screw) - depending on the job it can get a bit tedious.

If you are cutting a long thread (as in a lead screw), and you are not able to speed change (as in you have a VFD, multi-speed motor that you can change speeds under load, or on the fly gear changes), then the return trip is slow. You are making good progress on sorting that machine out, I'm sure you'll get the threading dial sorted to (after all, they put it there for a reason, you paid for it - I'm sure you will learn to use it).
 
Touchdown!

As part of working around the lathe, I found the plate with the markings for the thread dial.
IMG_0485.jpg

Just needs to be cleaned up and glued on in the correct orientation. Actually, I'm not sure the orientation matters, as it is my understanding that it's more of a 'relative' measurement than an absolute measurement.

But I still expect that when I do get to doing threads that I'll be reversing the machine vs using the thread dial...
 
Without the lathe running, have your gears selected for a known TPI which should have the threading lever engaged on a certain number and then engage the threading dial all the way. Stick on the marking plate with the appropriate number aligned perfectly with the indicator line on the body.

That's how I would try first.
 
There is a mark on the dial face [clearly not an accidental mark] which is likely where the '1' on the plate should go, but I'd have to do a bunch of research and testing to make sure, as I don't have the manual for the machine. And doing threading is still a little ways away for me.
 
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