Spent the day tuning up the lathe...... a most excellent machine but had a couple of problems that needed to be addressed.
The most pressing problem, the compound slide would jam. There was no way to loosen and rotate it, 0* too 45* without it getting hung. It is in the engineering of the way the slide is assembled and just life.
To be very clear no words will or are to be thought of as a complaint offering solutions. For any owner of the lathe and wishes to resolve problems.
What caused the jamming, when the slide locks are back off to rotate pass 45* or set the cross slide at that location? There just so happens to be an assembly hole that allows access to the T nuts. Unfortunately as the T nut passes from one side to the other of the assembly hole, or is set at 45* . The T nut drops or twist out of alignment with the T slot, and jams.
Fist attempt was the file all the edges, just rounding them so the were smooth to the touch... Failed
Second measures widths, and file them parallel with consistent heights on both ends. No heavy cuts taken with the file, strictly clean up or dressing ........... failed
Third attempt, with some 1" bar milled a U on the end, reassembling the lathe, machined the OD to fit. When installed, the plug provides a guide for the T nut, as it floats across the hole to pick up the T slot.
If you attempt to make the plug, be sure or you may want to drill and tap a 1/4 x 20 hole. Use some all thread with a jam nut, it will give you a nice way to set and alien the U plug once set and tested .
Also the all thread can act as a removal tool if it should at some time become necessary to remove the plug. Simply install to 2 1/4 nuts at the far end of the all thread and bottom it out the plug will come right out.
Couple of other quickies, pulled the handles off. With sand paper and a flat plate, dressed face of the mount point, smoothed the operations of all.
Last but slick, above I took a shot of some bar I faced, can be plainly seen that to tool hight is dead nuts... nub less. How does one make that a repeatable, quick, and a easy no brainier processes?
Very simple grasshoppers, bring in the tail stop. Extend the quill, move the carriage over. Touch off from the quill, extend the quill and scribe a tool hight reference line.
cheers,
greg