New tool/toy Shhhh! don't tell the wife!

[sicivicdude]

Hey Awk, do you remember this?

sooooo, civic has a lathe hiding out behind the shed ????

Well.... as a matter of fact....

It's an Atlas 10-F H48 with babbitt spindle bearings but the 6:1 backgear option and power crossfeed.

It needs some work to get it 100% It's missing the tool post and I have to put an electric motor on it and get a motor pulley (I have the motor, just need a pulley).

Of course the crossfeed and compound gibs are loose but there's a specific reason why and they're not hard to tighten up a bit by buying two brass feed nuts to replace the Zamak nuts they had from the factory.

The toolpost can be replaced with a new "4 screw" version for $35 or a quickchange tool post for $99. I think I'm going to go with the 4 screw post for cost savings until I get to use the thing and if I find myself using it a lot and changing tooling a lot, I might consider the quick change.

 

[JonS]

Nice, now get ur ass to work. Ahahahahaha!!!

 

[motoman159]

the funny thing is i was just looking at that thread about 5 seconds ago lol

 

[Awk08]

sweet, and yes i remember that qoute.

now, i need a few decorative spindles for an antique chair i'm restoring, LOL

 

[sicivicdude]

sweet, and yes i remember that qoute.

now, i need a few decorative spindles for an antique chair i'm restoring, LOL

Unless they're getting turned out of metal, can't help you there

 

[EZRider76]

Oh man, you lucky dog. I would kill, not for hire though, to get my hands on a lathe....I would even more so love a 5 Axis Machine Center, Word Address FANUC Controller, 32 Tool Change Crib and the room to put it.....be right back, I need to go take a cold shower.

 

[sicivicdude]

Oh man, you lucky dog. I would kill, not for hire though, to get my hands on a lathe....I would even more so love a 5 Axis Machine Center, Word Address FANUC Controller, 32 Tool Change Crib and the room to put it.....be right back, I need to go take a cold shower.

Yeah, me too but you're not going to touch one of those for $450 either!

So the big question is, will it do a blaster head?! It appears so. A blaster head is ~9.5" in diameter and this machine has a 10" swing.

 

[EZRider76]

Yeah, me too but you're not going to touch one of those for $450 either!

So the big question is, will it do a blaster head?! It appears so. A blaster head is ~9.5" in diameter and this machine has a 10" swing.

No kidding, add another 0 for a run down one maybe. Tell ya what, we could go halves, you buy it (your half), store it in my barn (my half) and I will throw in a perk and wire up the barn to run it. Sounds good to me.

 

[sicivicdude]

add 1 zero for a total POS one that's next to the scrap bin. Add 2 zero's for a nice fancy dancy one and I just can't swing that sort of investment

 

[EZRider76]

add 1 zero for a total POS one that's next to the scrap bin. Add 2 zero's for a nice fancy dancy one and I just can't swing that sort of investment

I never said my 1 zero would be completely working. 8-| Like a Blaster of CL, no matter how "well taken care of" and "never beat on" it is, the only thing any good on it is the receipt.

 

[sicivicdude]

well, onto really important things. I'm probably going to grind this bed a tiny bit to bring it back into square (another skill I'll develop domestically I guess) and replace gib nuts to tighten up the crossfeed and compound and then try to cut a long cut and see how bad it's tapered.

Once I know I can cut tight and straight, I'm going to make a spark plug adapter for a blasty head and go for it!

 

[blasterdemon7]

Cool. Keep us updated.

 

[YZ Otis]

well, onto really important things. I'm probably going to grind this bed a tiny bit to bring it back into square (another skill I'll develop domestically I guess) and replace gib nuts to tighten up the crossfeed and compound and then try to cut a long cut and see how bad it's tapered.

Cool old lathe ... wonderin ... how do you plan to grind the bed square?

 

[Racer51]

hey does your have the numbered incremints on the lathe and such and everything. Cause my grandpa's got one to only I cant for the life of me think of whats it called. He use's it to make brass carb fittings for his KXZ1000 and his pool cue sticks full time and has had it for at least 30 years. Back then it probably cost him arround......7,000 new to have it shiped from england and moved to the man cave/basement.
Hey could you make me some "special" fittings for my 450R shock??? I say special cause I drilled out the hole 1 american drill size over and cant find meaty enough fittings for a 1/2'' swing arm hole on the bottom.if not it's not a big deal still good find on the lathe

 

[Blaaster]

/\ /\ /\

Cmon civic heres a challenge for you.

Or would it be better if he asked his Grandpa to do it just to keep it in the family.

 

[sicivicdude]

Cool old lathe ... wonderin ... how do you plan to grind the bed square?

I misspoke about the process needed. If you do it by hand it's called "scraping" a bed but I've been reading up on it.

Basically, the process involves "mapping" where the bed is worn (usually in the area right beside the chuck where the carraige is moved forward and back the most) and figuring out if there is a serious taper to the cut or other problem and then hand filing the bed BY HAND using the carraige as a guide and prussian blue to see the high spots. Old worn lathes can need as much as .010" taken off the surface of the bed to true them back up

The process is apparently a tedious hand learned skill that I won't know if I'll need to master until after I see how badly worn the bed/carraige/crossfeed/compound slides are.

Racer, one of the upgrades planned for this machine is numbered turn dials on the cross feed and compound levers. Currently, they're marked in 1/32" or some bull like that 8-|

It's going to be a while before I get this thing up and running and tested out (and possibly completely rebuilt) but I'll let you know as it grows nearer.

 

[Racer51]

Thats cool thanks besides I have to rebuild my lower and top end now so I got more than enough to do lol So I can wait. Yep that's what he has to in tenth's of thousands of an inch on it, going back and forth. So he know's exactly how much material he's taking off. but yea let me know whenever you get it going. BTW you should make a catch tray below to sweep everything into for easy clean up and mabey a back stop or something.

 

[Quadrider10]

dont use an electric motor, use a blaster motor! 4 times as much powa!!

 

[YZ Otis]

Racer, one of the upgrades planned for this machine is numbered turn dials on the cross feed and compound levers. Currently, they're marked in 1/32" or some bull like that 8-|

Interested to see how the scraping works out...
FWIW: Picked up sum disposible calipers and a couple of these digital linear things on sale at Harbor Frieght a while back .. think they where about $12 - $14 ... a little modding here & there and it's been pretty handy on my old sloppy $600 Logan. Gets slimmed with coolant & oil and ya gotta be careful bout slammin it with the tail stock but it's been workin good for a couple years. Nice to be able to take out the backlash, touch off, zero the readout, make chips and keep track of where ya are

 

[sicivicdude]

Interested to see how the scraping works out...
FWIW: Picked up sum disposible calipers and a couple of these digital linear things on sale at Harbor Frieght a while back .. think they where about $12 - $14 ... a little modding here & there and it's been pretty handy on my old sloppy $600 Logan. Gets slimmed with coolant & oil and ya gotta be careful bout slammin it with the tail stock but it's been workin good for a couple years. Nice to be able to take out the backlash, touch off, zero the readout, make chips and keep track of where ya are

I'm not sure that I need scraping honestly. Have to try it on a test piece once I get the thing turning and cutting to see if the bed needs scraping.

I did go out there and "play" with the carriage back and forth. I removed the tailstock to get onto a piece of the bed that hardly gets any wear and I could wiggle the carriage just as much back there as I can right up at the chuck so perhaps it doesn't need scraping as much as it needs just tightening. Going to tighten it a little first and THEN see about scraping if it's necessary. I inspected all of the gears including the leadscrew direction changing gearbox and I can't find a worn or chipped tooth anywhere and that's really saying something as some of the wear parts on these are cast out of Zamak (Zinc aluminum magnesium and copper) and are known for chipping and breaking on older machines. It's completely possible that in its former life, the PO treated it very gently and it's in need of adjustment and a few replacement parts but not total overhaul.

I know I'm going to have to replace the gib nuts if I want it to not be hopelessly loose on them, they're known for being quite loose even on a machine that's not been beat on at all. The replacements are brass or bronze instead of zamak and start off tighter and stay tighter a LOT longer.

Interesting idea with the calipers. What are these digital linear things you're talking about? Have a link?