“New” Lathe progress

So as some of you know we had a lathe & surface grinder donated to us. We picked them both up on Friday. Big thanks to all that helped with that. @LukeStrickland, @somecallmery, @dallasmagna, @Chris_Wischkowsky, @Know and a few others. We have been working on them cleaning them up and getting them ready for service. Friday evening we started cleaning them up. The lathe in particular appears to be in great shape. We cleaned it up a lot already. Chris, myself, @David_A_Tucker, @hon1nbo, @Photomancer, @BobKarnaugh & @EthanWestern

It’s a 16x40 with DRO. The accessories we received with it were quite a few tool holders, several chucks including 2 4 jaws, a 3 jaw, 5c collet chuck & a steady rest.

We temporarily wired it up yesterday evening to give it its maiden DMS turn. It’s not quite there yet to put into service. We still have some work to do to get it up to snuff. I did fix the DRO & smoothed out some of the tapered gib for the compound.

First turn

I didn’t get a pic of it cleaned up or loaded up on the trailer.

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Thank you, and everyone else who helped!

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Played with this beast a bit tonight. I think we have a keeper…

I dig the fact it has a foot brake.

Extended use of the surface grinder will lead to a severe case of Popeye arm…

That Lathe looks awesome. I’m pumped about that steady rest.

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Ah, a surface grinder will be nice to use on Damascus billets for making knives. I love it.

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@Team_Machine_Shop How about we get this lathe on the floor and wired up. She may need some small stuff done here and there but otherwise seems ready for some use.

Myself & @Chris_Wischkowsky were discussing this just a couple hours ago. We need to get a back made to go behind it. Probably put an RFID lockout. Id like to see the compound GIB cleaned up more, but isn’t necessarily an issue. We need to change the oil, it takes DTE 24, Which we have. We should change the belts. Also need to replace the buttons & indicator lights. For giggles pull the top cover to look at the internal gears to see the shape of them.

I’m looking at backplates now for the 5C collet chuck

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Get with @Chris_Wischkowsky and send me links and I’ll order.

Opened the gearbox tonight. Looks quite beautiful. Nothing obviously wrong to me.

Looked at the belts too and they seem fine. I agree all the fluids need drained and replenished.

Oh, the compound screw is bent.

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Love the oiling system, seems to have good lubrication for each of the gears.

No visible debris, chips, or gunk.

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Anyone around care to measure the push button hole diameters? I think they are standard sizes.

I’m surprised that the lathe compound screw is bent, I presume the lead screw? Is that right? That thing is like 3/4’. It didn’t appear to be bent when I had it apart.

Yep, the lead screw. I saw it wobble when I took the compound apart. Plus it varying between snug and loose as you turn it was another clue. Might could straighten it.

Let me know if you want to convert any of the panel/indicator lights to LED. I have a source.

The gib isn’t quite perfect yet either. I worked on it on the surface plate for about an hour before I stopped. I want to work more on it. It was really bad surface finish.


I do want to check the compound at the gib socket with gauge blocks for parallelism.

May need to take you up on that. My source is KELE. I used to have a lot of that stuff laying around but since I no longer do automation, I dont have a readily need for them anymore. We may be able to get them from a few places locally including Tanners, Temperature Controls or Industrial Controls.

I cleaned a lot of the gunk off of the lead screw

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Does it run on 220V? Single phase? I’m adding it to the Tools list (marking it as not yet operational). Thanks.