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Haha, I knew someone would notice the screws. The hardware store ran out of #2-56 x 1/4" panhead screws so I put those on just to get it together. I'm replacing them before it goes back to him. Nope, not a runner yet. I'm working on a nice wooden base and a burner before I try tweaking it...

I did present it to my Dad, but unfortunately it wasn't yet a runner. I got the whole engine finished, but I didn't have time to make a burner or get it mounted to a base yet. I tried running it with a BIC lighter but it wasn't happening. Here's the engine as it sits now: It makes a...

Well, I'm still plugging away on this. As I mentioned, I won't see my Dad until Saturday so there's still a chance. Things haven't gone quite according to plan, and I've left a lot of the 'fiddly' stuff until now, so progress is slow. I have gotten a lot of good work in the past few days. I...

Same idea with high-performance engines. You let the block 'season' before you machine/build it.

Woohoo, two nights in a row I manage to get in a little shop time. I flycut the sides of the cranks to smooth out the pins, and then finally cut out the middle of the crank with a small endmill. I also made some good progress on my pair of connecting rod ends, shown below the cranks.

The time is flying by! Between Christmas parties, decorating/cleaning the house, and working on my wife's present it seems like I never get to the shop. Last night after the kids' pageant at church I snuck out for a couple hours of work. I machined a blank for the connecting rod big-ends. I...

Yeah, I was running them pretty fast. 1800 rpms I think, but I'd have to double check what speed my bridgeport is capable of in 3rd high. I didn't have any trouble with the first hole. I think I may have gotten a piece of aluminum stuck to the end of the bit. I cleaned the chips off, but the...

Oh man, Christmas is coming up fast and I still have so much to do (in addition to a few woodworking projects for my wife and others). Fortunately it turns out I won't see my Dad until the 29th, so that gives me a few extra days breathing room. Anyway, I spent all last week in Texas, so I...

I fully intend to take the lathe apart as-necessary to figure this out. As I mentioned early on, I'm working on a Christmas present right now and I can't take it apart until that's finished. Fortunately I can limp it along until then. Since I'm not taking it apart until then I figured I'd...

Bret, I'm looking for a good machinist level to either buy or borrow. Norman, while I agree that your approach would be the most thorough and leave no possibility of contributing factors, the fact remains that 8 weeks ago when I bought this lathe it was making good parts. The previous owner is...

I levelled the lathe with a Craftsman digital level. No, it is not a precision machinist's intrument, but it does level to .1 degrees and the lathe is still reading dead 0 across the ways at the headstock, across the ways at the tailstock, and along the flat way. I would note that the amount...

The gibs are all fine, I went over them this evening. The carriage only has a gib at the rear, because ordinarily the cutting force of the tool would keep the front of the carriage in contact with the bed. The rear gib has little-to-no effect on this because it is the front of the carriage...

I had an AXA on my 10" lathe, and I have a BXA on my 14" now. I'd go with the BXA. The extra rigidity is nice, even with small work, and 12" swing is well within the height adjustment. I think with the AXA you'll find that you're always at the top of the adjustment to get a level tool, and...

I've checked the gibs, but I'm not sure how tight they can be on a machine that uses servos and not handwheels. They're not abnormally loose, but I'll admit that doesn't mean much. On a side note, when I pried back the leadscrew covers I doscovered that this machine has a 1 1/8" leadscrew...

If I have to re-make it I'll make 2, but I'm hoping that I can dissolve the bit with the Alum trick which doesn't really require any great time or effort on my part. Of course I'd like to make another one, I'm not entirely happy with this one, but I don't have any more 1x2 aluminum and it would...

Since I'm trying to work out a surface-finish issue with my lathe, and my reamers and other bits came in, I got back to work on the "standard". I was making two, but after forgetting to add half the diameter of my edge-finder to the location of the crank-bearing-bore I ruined one :wall...

Took another look at the lathe last night. I removed the servo again and tried to adjust the headstock end of the leadscrew. While there were in fact adjustments built in (see pics) I discovered that after proper adjustment was obtained the mount was drilled and roll-pinned in place. It could...

Also, upon further reflection (and working from my fuzzy memory) I think the holes that mounted the servo/thrust bearing assembly to the lathe were slotted. Not the ones I loosened last night, those are the screws that affix the thrust bearing to the servo, but the ones that mount the whole...

Ok, so it does indeed seem to be something to do with the leadscrew, leadscrew bearing, or leadscrew ballnut. The striations turn out to be the same pitch as the leadscrew. I did some disassembly and investigation last night with interesting results. It turns out that if I loosen up all the...

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a bearing or coupler problem. Thanks for the tips! I suspect the spacing of the striations is the same as the leadscrew pitch, although with the covers in place I can't actually compare them. Certainly makes sense.