New Enco 12 x36

A bit of movement on this item - managed a start on the stand. I spent a couple of hours Saturday before the race cleaning rust off of steel tubing with a 4" angle grinder. Fun. After I got the tube looking useful, I cut a bunch of the major pieces. Last night I spent a couple of hours welding together the top. The perimeter is 2x2 14 gauge. The cross bars on the head end are 2x2 8 gauge and the tail stock end is 2xd2 11 gauge. Dimensions are 59 1/2 x 20". The lip on the chip pan stands up a bit in the rear because the stand is wider than the outside edges but I figure the weight of the machine will make the sheet metal do what it needs to do. I just felt like a couple of more inches wide made for a more steady base. Legs on the head end will be 2x2 8 gauge and the other end will be 2x2 11 gauge. The 1x2 will be cross braces and such. And, I did get the tool box and will figure out how to mount it. Maybe get more done tonight.

One thing I did that might not seem logical was to fit the long sides and the cross supports before the end pieces. Since my metal chopping equipment isn't all that accurate, better to have the support beams in place and square before anything else. I have a stash of magnets out of old hard drives and they are killer for sticking pieces of metal together. Enough that some require a screw driver or pry bar to get them off. Did corner to corner until the frame was square, then tacked it up. Last things on were the ends. The 45s look nice, weld covers a lot of error -ha. No closeups of welds either. I need a cheater lens for my hood. In the mean time I use reading glasses and unless I can get my face about 12" from the weld I have real trouble seeing much of the puddle or the target. I just work slow and close.

12x36Stand_001.jpg
 
Looks awesome Chris. Can't wait to see her making chips and sitting in her new home.

Mike.
 
A few more nights work and it looks more like a stand. Got another 2 lb spool of .030 wire and now I can work again. Started with legs, I know how to use them. Leveled the top, then used the levels, magnets and careful positioning to weld in 3 nearly vertical legs and one off 1/4". I don't know, so much for precision. It doesn't even have a weld bead yet on the side that leg leans. Fine, I have a hammer.

12x36Stand_002.jpg

Non conforming leg would be the right rear, leaning left.
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Add in the cross braces, some hammering and now we're within 1/16" from end to end. There's about a dozen more pieces to cut and tack in. Typical - need 64" of 1" angle and my piece is 58" long. Back to Lowes, again.
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Thanks , I am a newbie lurker and long time Enco customer (small stuff). When will they dump the really tedious software on their site and compete on level ground with Grizz and others? Still looking for that first lathe but worried that at my low work rate (sporadic use) I will stumble accross problems too late in the new lathe and parts availability in a used one. Great looking machine!
 
Looks great Chris. Are you going to have storage underneath?

I think when I get caught up maybe this fall/winter, I am going to remove the sheetmetal partition in the middle of my cabinet that is between the two end storage cabinets and build a metal framework to put a toolbox on. This way I can have some extra drawers to tooling storage. It seems to be some wasted space that I should be able to use.

Mike.
 
My wife and I maintain a good size website ( http://bigcountryraceway.com )including track pictures, graphics, etc. Its huge work to develop and maintain even a small active web site. use-enco.com works pretty well so I don't know how much they would want to spend in many hours to revamp. It does have some weird hidden corners for sure. Getting things in your cart and checking out is pretty easy, so that's pretty good.

Yep, storage under is in the plan. Not anything fancy but I think you'll like it.
 
Falcon,
like the web site. My son and I used to race stock cars on a dirt track for several years. Lotta fun. Got rather expensive though.

Anyway, wanted to say I bought two 1340 Enco lathes yesterday from a friend of a neighbor. He closed his machine shop a while back and had a surface grinder and these two lathes left. Gave him $1500 for both of them. Just need to move them to my shop before he changes his mind! Built a three phase converter last week to power them. Hopefully they are in descent shape. Don't look to bad on the outside.
 
Dang, that was a buy there. Good score on the machines.

Some progress - not home a lot lately, but did get some more done on the stand this weekend. Got the lower framework tacked in at least.

12x36Stand_005.jpg

My pick for the tail end storage solution solution. On the other end, I think I'm just going to put about 4 pieces of 1" square tube in there 7/16" down from the edge and across the width, then drop in a piece of OSB. I found some black light weight metal baskets at Ross on sale, so I just need a place to set a few things. OSB is cheap and easy to replace if it gets tore up. I don't happen to have a piece of steel that size and don't see a need to spend $40 on one. Should get the leveling feet on tonight and get a start on the removable casters.
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Chris, looking good. Can't wait to see it all painted up with the new lathe sitting on it and making chips.

Thanks for keeping us up to date although sorry to hear that you are not getting much shop time.

Mike.
 
Chris, looking good. Can't wait to see it all painted up with the new lathe sitting on it and making chips.

Thanks for keeping us up to date although sorry to hear that you are not getting much shop time.

Mike.

Thanks. Shop time is why the Mustang is up on stands because it overheated at the TnT back in March. I might get the headers off later this month, maybe even the motor out.
 
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