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

[YZ Otis]

Your lathe looks to be in good condition ... Just get it operational ... you can improve & fix stuff as ya go ... I get excited for folks when they get a mill or lathe, their perspective changes a little bit ... ya start to view things as machineable materials regardless of their original intent or purpose
The digital linear thing is the one in the pic ... the slide & scale of a digital caliper without the stainless arms ... a cheap add on for mills, drill presses & such ... just mounted the scale to the carriage & the slide to the cross slide ... I picked'm up browsing a harbor freight store a couple years ago but didn't see any on their website today. Here's the same cheap dro idea on ebay with a remote readout, but a lot more than I spent. This one looks really cheezy but so does mine ... LOL ... stuff like this is pretty vulnerable hanging off the carriage on a lathe.

New 6" Digital Readout Scale Magnetic DRO For Bridgeport Table Mill Lathe Linear | eBay

Another Otis opinion about little old lathes .. don't go hog wild buying carbide tooling. Great stuff but it likes speed, power & rigidity. Learn to grind your own tooling to get the cut & finish you want.

 

[goodman24x]

get a siezed up crankshaft and cut the rod off or just hook a bungie to it up high out of the way. You can start lightening flywheels.

 

[super noober]

very very cool man, SCD Racing is growing by leaps and bounds, other builders better watch out theres a new kid in town lol I:I I:I

 

[sicivicdude]

Alright, I ordered crossfeed and compound gib nuts to tighten up those assemblies, made an offer on a 4 position tool post with a parting tool already on it, and purchase a few used felt wipers for the carriage. I'm going to keep my eye out for a 1.5" x 8 keyed chuck, a 1.5" x 8 machinist plate with the mounting slots, and possibly a 4 jaw independent chuck. I can think of situations where all of those could come in handy separately.

I did a little "light research" and found the way to adjust the carriage slides and figured out I really don't need any scraping (at least not yet ) so I'm ready to get this thing turning!

I'm also on the lookout for a new motor. The one provided was obviously wrong (1hp large frame) so I did some more "light researching" and was introduced to the idea of a variable speed drive. The simplest and least expensive option is to rip the guts out of an older treadmill (one that has the large rotary knob for speed). Most of them are "rated" like 2hp but lucky if they actually put out about 1/2hp (what I need anyway) and the variable speed drive intakes 115V power and outputs an infinitely variable speed (upto the max obviously!)

I went on searching on CL and asked around a few folks at work and might have two leads already. One guy at work says he swears his wife has an old treadmill out in the storage building I could have for free and I found one on CL nearby for $25 and yet another for $65. Things are looking up!

 

[sicivicdude]

The seller accepted the $40 offer on the toolpost with a 1/2" cutoff bit installed! YAY!

I pulled the "guts" apart on this thing in preparation for the replacement gib nuts. I lubed things and spun them as I went and I haven't found ANYTHING out of place so far. I adjusted the compound and crossfeed screw lash (simple enough) and am thinking about getting small "pancake" bearings for them as the lash adjustment is basically just tensioning the screw shoulder against a steel washer

I also adjusted the wedge tension for the crossfeed and compound and found very little wear (from the tightest spot to the loosest spot is nearly no movement at all)

I put out an "all-call" for motors yesterday, AC or DC. I had a few people get back to me and one of them is paydirt.... he had an old 1/2hp table saw 1725rpm reversible 115V motor he kept after the saw bearings went bad. He said I can have it. It's not a variable speed drive (yet!) but I should be able to turn the head with it anyway!

 

[sicivicdude]

McMaster-Carr

I was looking at the "steel thrust ball bearing" versions. They're relatively thin, relatively cheap and still take a decent load (20 lbs!)

 

[sicivicdude]

I rode out to TSC (tractor supply company) and picked up 2 pulleys, a 4" and a 2" to run the motor with. $22 total and money well spent so far!

 

[sicivicdude]

Well, I ran the monster today.

Twostroker99 got a 1/2hp fan motor from work (fans bearings flew apart and the shop manager kept the motor for giggles) and brought it by Thursday. I went to Tractor supply last night and picked up two steel pulleys each with set screws bosses made onto them:

Phoenix Steel Drive Pulley, 5/8 in. Bore, 4 in. OD - 1185112 | Tractor Supply Company

One 4" and one 2" OD (similar in size to the stock pulley that came originally on this lathe) and BOTH had to be hacked apart to make what I wanted.

First off, turning the set screw ends away from each other, the small pulley actually went down inside the big one and the outer set screw wasn't even touching anything. I set about cutting one boss off including the set screw area and then one off that was exactly flush with the pulley. I then welded the set screw boss to the inside (between) the two pulleys so they end up with their belt grooves ALMOST side by side but with the lock screw between them and them both solidly mounted to it.

I still don't have all of the parts to run the machine fully (tool post and gib nuts) but I did run the head around today just to make sure I didn't have any "run in" issues with heat or chatter problems. So far so good!

 

[sicivicdude]

Parts arrived today and I made my first cuts tonight!

First off, adjusting the slack out of this machine is proving to be "fun" I played and played and played. I got it down really well but it's not super tight either.... probably going to have to live with what I have, now.

The new gib nuts tightened up the gib screw lash A LOT.

I had to redesign this toolpost as the piece simply wouldn't work with this lathe. Luckily, I had the fab skillz to make the pieces needed to put the toolpost on after a quick trip to Ace Hardware.

The first job was boring the ID out of a power steering pump pulley for a buddy of mine. It was a "press fit" of .065" and I only reduced this to .025" as the press is the only thing holding the pulley tight to the 3/4" shaft.

Tomorrow, the task is to work on the toolpost mounting method a bit more (still not pleased with the way it's setup right now) and try to cut a BR8ES spark plug apart to make an adapter for heads

Pictures tomorrow!

 

[sicivicdude]

I also had a pleasant surprise tonight too.... For a little backstory: my father was a professional instrument maker in a prototype shop for about 25 years. During this time they did all kinds of funky stuff and stock piled all sorts of specialty tools. He has a small "upper" kennedy machinist box full of some random bits and pieces (some really useful parts too!) that left with him when he moved on.

I asked him today about some piece of tool steel so I could make some basic bits. He called me over this afternoon and started loading crap into the toolbox. There towards the end of his purging process he said; "I intended to give this to you one day anyway. I figured if you got involved in car work enough you'd find a use for this stuff eventually".

Included? Starrett .030" runout gauge with magnetic base, EXACT .005/12" machinist level, about 60 pieces of tool steel, several cobalt centering drills, and a huge pile of TiN end mills. Basically, the jackpot!

 

[slickerthanyou]

I also had a pleasant surprise tonight too.... For a little backstory: my father was a professional instrument maker in a prototype shop for about 25 years. During this time they did all kinds of funky stuff and stock piled all sorts of specialty tools. He has a small "upper" kennedy machinist box full of some random bits and pieces (some really useful parts too!) that left with him when he moved on.

I asked him today about some piece of tool steel so I could make some basic bits. He called me over this afternoon and started loading crap into the toolbox. There towards the end of his purging process he said; "I intended to give this to you one day anyway. I figured if you got involved in car work enough you'd find a use for this stuff eventually".

Included? Starrett .030" runout gauge with magnetic base, EXACT .005/12" machinist level, about 60 pieces of tool steel, several cobalt centering drills, and a huge pile of TiN end mills. Basically, the jackpot!

Now that is Awesome!, You better go give the Mrs some tool!

 

[sicivicdude]

I fiddled farted around with the lathe again tonight... just a quick update really. I had an issue with the "tool post" I bought, basically it sucks LOL. The major disappointments are as follows:

It is actually more involved to change the bit than I originally thought. Because the cutting tip is on top of the tool (hand ground tool steel we're working with so far) and every piece is ground different but the tool steel is actually indexed to the bottom of the holder, the actual tool height changes with every piece of tooling I bolt in. I bought 10 1/2" fender washers tonight and have been stacking them to kind of figure out a method. This is definitely something I'm going to have to take care of in the near future....

The t-nut that's SUPPOSED to fit an atlas lathe, doesn't.... plus, with the differing tool heights, a threaded t-nut wouldn't work that well anyway. Not only would I have to "shim" the tool post, but I'd have to get a bolt that's long enough for any tool height and then shim the bolt head! I "redesigned" it... I went and bought a 1/2 -20 grade 8 bolt and nut much longer than I needed and cut the hex head off of it. Then I cut a piece of plate steel down so it would slide into the t-nut slot and drilled a hole in the middle. I then put the bolt in the vise and set the hole over the shank of the bolt and welded the plate to the shank. What I have now is thread that sticks up out of the t-nut slot that the tool post can sit down on top of and I can simply apply fender washers under the tool post to raise it without fear that the bolt won't tighten the post down.

The crossfeed I have been able to dial nearly all of the lash in every direction out of it. It has about .002" lash on the gib, and nearly no movement in any other direction yet is still nice and easy to move. The compound however, is loosey goosey in practically every direction.... More fiddling is needed on that part!

My 3 jaw chuck has about .003" of runout (which is apparently acceptable for most jaws but I was hoping for it to be a little closer). I think I need to get out the old finish ground drill rod and mic the runout to determine which of the 3 jaws is the offender and take a file to the inside diameter. I think I could achieve better results with filed jaws than with what I've got.

I did however achieve my first objective.... I have made a head adapter mandrel. I parted off a spark plug and then drilled it out through the middle. I then cut a piece of 3/4" round down so that I had a .002" press fit and a shoulder to straighten it up at the top. I installed the round into the vise, heated the spark plug end, and smacked it down with a few taps from the hammer. Now it's all cooled off!

I installed the mandrel into the chuck already and screwed a head on. I used the runout gauge on the head sealing surface and it was only moving about .006". I'm right proud of myself!

 

[the_mrs]

Now that is Awesome!, You better go give the Mrs some tool!

Hey, now...We've already got 2 kids! LOL.

 

[YZ Otis]

Tomorrow, the task is to work on the toolpost mounting method a bit more (still not pleased with the way it's setup right now) and try to cut a BR8ES spark plug apart to make an adapter for heads

Good to see ya having fun with your lathe ... if you're breakin the ceramic out of plugs here's a little project that can be handy ... just a plug end ... drilled for the indicator & taped it for a thumb screw ... made it so long ago I can't remember where the thumb screw came from but it's been real handy for finding TDC on lots of engines & setting up degree wheels ... it lives on that cheap indicator so I can always find it ... That cheap indicator is usually on a mag mount on the lathe for carriage travel
~

 

[sicivicdude]

That's not a bad idea Otis. May have to fab something like that up!

For now, here's my head "mandrel". It's a piece of 3/4 round stock about 5" long with a "neck" turned down to be a press fit inside the drilled end of a spark plug (a brand new NGK BR8ES too!) so that the threads and gasket are the "load bearing" end of the tool. Once the mandrel is threaded into the head, the entire assembly is slid in until the head cooling fins hit the chuck so that the mandrel can't run out excessively (spaghetti noodle!)

And some of the work I did with it tonight

 

[YZ Otis]

Looks like fun ... ya have ta choose what ya dial in to ... factory or someone else's cut may not be a good starting place ... looks like you're cutting into the fin on one side & leaving a step on the other ... that shoulda showed when ya first touched off ... how ya gonna chuck that double plug head ?

 

[Triple_B]

Wow that is a sweet head civic! Damn! That JonS's?

 

[sicivicdude]

Looks like fun ... ya have ta choose what ya dial in to ... factory or someone else's cut may not be a good starting place ... looks like you're cutting into the fin on one side & leaving a step on the other ... that shoulda showed when ya first touched off ... how ya gonna chuck that double plug head ?

I have a program that calculates MSV for head design. That's a "home grown" head design for my yellow blaster (in my sig)

Not only does my lathe have a little run out BUT the spark plug holes are not always tapped perfectly straight either! I indicated the head with the runout gauge on it while slipping the mandrel in the chuck just a bit to get it as straight as I could Plus, as long as the combustion chamber is centered around the spark plug hole, it doesn't matter if it's not perfectly flat to the original mating surface. I:I

Wow that is a sweet head civic! Damn! That JonS's?

No, JonS's head is pictured in his build thread. THAT one is for me

 

[JonS]

Wow that is a sweet head civic! Damn! That JonS's?

you can check mine out in the "REBOOT" thread. I:I

 

[sicivicdude]

Just a real quick update.... pic will follow tomorrow

There are many enthusiasts out there who believe that Atlas lathe's are as good (if not better with a few modifcations) as any new lathe you can get. One of those gentleman has gone about outlining a few modifications that he thinks are necessary in order to "update" the old Atlas. The machine includes a power crossfeed which was revolutionary in the time and age of this machine (the '40's!). Unfortunately, Atlas didn't put much thought into where they put it. The recessed the actuation knob under the crossfeed handle. Every time I would activate the power crossfeed, the handle would hit my hand. The recommendation is to create an actuation handle that hangs out the bottom so a simple lever action actuates the power crossfeed knob.

I took a 1/2" stainless 5" long bolt and drilled it through. Then I welded a piece of 1/4" round rod to it at a 90 degree. Then I made a bracket that would allow the bolt to pivot and use the lathe itself to make a replacement power crossfeed handle that included a groove in it for the 1/4" round rod.

I still need to do something about a handle for the end of the bolt (to thread on) so I have something to grab onto but so far, so good.