New PM-1228VF-LB

[StormForge]

Thanks for the great advice gentlemen! I will do some more measurements soon. I got too restless and had to cut some metal. This was a good little test:

Although I made a few mistakes, the lathe did well. I did have some trouble dealing with the very coarse ratio on the carriage handwheel but hopefully that's something that I'll learn to work with.

 

[Aukai]

Looks nice, probably a little heavier than the ones we wrapped string around, and tossed at school......Age check.....

 

[Bob Korves]

You can set the compound parallel with the spindle axis and advance the tool with the compound and with the carriage locked for finer work. You can also power feed at a slow rate. A magnetic back indicator on the ways indicating carriage travel can also be your friend.

 

[StormForge]

I did a quick set of runout measurements as suggested above. It's really probably beyond the resolution of my indicator, but it looks like the highest numbers I was seeing were +/- 0.00025". No worries there for the sorts of things I normally do!

Here are a few pictures for anyone else interested in the lathe. This is the spindle. You can see one of 4 hall-sensor magnets around the circumference:

Here is the power-supply / drive board. Looks pretty nice with good heat-shrink, wire labels, covers for the terminal blocks, etc...:

Here's the only really ugly thing I've found so far. This is the lock for the main carriage. I polished it up a bit and I think it's fine:

 

[StormForge]

More tweaking. I added an adjustable-position handle for the carriage lock and made myself a little stubby (and tight-fitting) allen key for the cross-slide lock. Useful mods that will save me from always having to dig for the right tool when I need to make a more precise cut:

 

[Aukai]

I am following along, watching intently. My machine should have left the building this week, probably see it next month.

 

[StormForge]

Hey Aukai -- I hope your lathe has a safe trip! I'll keep updating this thread as I learn new things.

 

[StormForge]

This carriage stop (and carriage drive shaft clutch) are super handy and the stop seems well-made -- but as delivered it crashes into the screws for the threading indicator:

Some quick grinding on the bottom edge of the stop fixed the problem.

 

[Aukai]

This carriage stop (and carriage drive shaft clutch) are super handy and the stop seems well-made -- but as delivered it crashes into the screws for the threading indicator:

View attachment 243629

Some quick grinding on the bottom edge of the stop fixed the problem.

How did Matt let that get by.LOL Seems I'm going to be busy when mine gets here.

 

[mikey]

Doesn't the carriage stop have a bolt that contacts the carriage? I've never seen a carriage stop without one.