Metric or imperial lead screw on my 10 x 20 lathe

L

Laz

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I have a import lathe and am trying to determine what lead screw is in it, metric or imperial. I have seen several videos on it but I am still lost.

any help would be appreciated. Planing to convert to a electronic lead screw but I am not sure what I have.
 
Have you got a thread chart or better yet, a manual? What is the make and model?
 
Armed with some metric and imperial thread charts and a pair of calipers or just a steel rule it should be possible to
identify it
 
Small lathe Imperial lead screws are usually 8, 12, or 16 threads/inch. I would expect a metric lathe to have 2, 3, or 4mm pitch threads.
 
Put a scale rule on the lead screw. Do you see a whole number of threads between the end and 1"? Yes? Imperial.

The other tell tale will be if the threading chart mentions a 127 tooth change gear for metric threads. If it does, you have an imperial lead screw.
 
Thanks for all the help. other are exactly 12 threads per inch ( as best as I can measure the lead screw) which makes it imperial. My Lathe is very close to the grizzly G0602 10 x 20 lathe that James at Glough42 converted to a electronic leas screw. The manual for mine, is almost useless and my lathe is even a variant of the one for the manual that came with it. It is a 1hp 110 but varies from the Grizzly in two ways . It has a gearbox that reverses the Lead screw and the gearbox with two knobs that change the speed of the lead screw. Like many of these Laths it claims to be able to cut Imperial and Metric threads.
the gear change chart does not seem to show a 127 tooth gear. To add to the confusion the "manual" shows a metric lead screw, but like I said it is not really the correct manual for the Lathe. My concern is that could there be odd gears in the half nut gear box that could make it act like metric? I think not , but who knows.

I really like the Lathe because it does not have a screw on Chuck, which means it can be used in reverse with no chance of unscrewing the chuck. Even that system is a strange mounting system. I was able to find blank mounts for Precision Mathews . Proibalbaly for me the best part was I purchased this lathe form Wholesale Machine in Detroit for $1300 several years ago. My first lathe.

Once agin thanks for all the help. being new to this site I am not sure how to post pictures.
 
Here are two ways to post pictures. One is to use the attach files using the paper clip at the lower left. Another is to copy the picture and paste into your text.
 
I will try and upload a picture of the gear change chart on the machine. I measured and counted 12 threads in a inch on the lead screw. I also put a Dial on the carragege and counted exactly 12 turns of the lead screw in 1 inch.

There is no mention of a 127 tooth change gear in the charts. Its all very confusing because the stupid manual list under metric 12 in the number of pitch for metric and 15 for imperial. My fear is that the 12 TPI is some kind of weird metric. Its also 60 threads over a 5 inch span.

The kindle r is the plate on the front chart for gear guidance says chart for metric lead screw.

crazy
 
Suspect that you may have an incorrect manual for your lathe. What gears do you have? The gears usually have numbers on them telling you how many teeth they have. Worst case, you can count the teeth. Do you have a complete set of gears?

However, if you plan to immediately change to an ELS, what matters is the lead screw TPI, which you measured and perhaps the ratio in your gearbox, if you have one. You might need to make some stuff for your ELS on your lathe, but don't stress out over it. Collectively, we can get you through that.
 
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