BAZMAK a second Lathe

[bazmak]

When I first joined this forum I bought a 7x16 mini lathe.Paid approx. $1200
for an improved spec.Metal gears,tailstock camlok etc.Over a period of time
I did most of the major mods and threaded them.I was very happy with the lathe until the board blew and i then upgraded to the SC4 which I am happy with
However I miss certain functions of the smaller lathe.The tumbler reverse gears
to disconnect or reverse the leadscrew.The ability to pick it up and move it around without bolting down etc etc
When rearranging my tiny shed I realised I had room for a second lathe 7x14
I ordered the cheapest one I could find $630,plastic gears but had a tailstock camlok,a 4" chuck which I assumed was an 80mm and a 550w motor,so I ordered one with the intension of doing a no of mods before I put it to use
Second time around should be quicker and more efficient.I have learned a lot since my first one.
So I made the mods to one end of the shed and built a 10" wide bench and drawers.Lathe arrived today,order took 3 days.Packed in heavy duty cardboard boxes and at first inspection looks ok.Took off the old plug and fitted an ozzie one.Everything as stated,with the 4" chuck and a 72mm spindle housing.Wasnt expecting that,now all my chucks will fit both lathes
Had the lathe running and only problem so far is when the speed dial is
rotated to 0 it still keeps turning slightly.Any advice.This will keep me interested in Life for a while.Nice to be able to strip down and still have a lathe and mill for making parts

 

[goldstar31]

Baz, I presume that both machines have mainly interchangeable bits. I've got Myfords and whilst they are not quite everyone's ideas of perfection, I can swop between both and also so called 'Myford' fittings on my mill and grinders.

It's quite ancient and not really worth much in terms of 'investment' but it works well.

Regards

Norman

 

[bazmak]

Yes that's why I bought the cheapest I could find,most parts fit both lathes
so no need to pay for extras,and I wanted to fully mod it at leisure
What blissit on its new bench then pick it up,turn around and place it on my workbench,and I have a lathe and mill to use while I mod it at my leisure
Unusual in that the first 7" lathe had a 55mm spindle nose and I had a 3Jaw
and collet chuck to fit mu rotary table and indexing head.But the lathe has a 4" 3jaw with 72mm spindle the same as the C4 so everything fits.I am also going
to buy the QCTP for it as I have not ever had one.Money saved on the lathe
buys it.Ready to rock

 

[goldstar31]

Hi Barry- I'll not be the only one who will look forward to your future exploits.

As for QCTP's , I have two and should never look a pair of gift horses in the mouth.

I suspect that I will be offered a second hand 7 x ??? in the near future. Really, I must Metricate or whatever it is called as it is far cheaper to buy petrified stuff here now.

Yesterday, I came home with a subtable so that I could transfer Imperial stuff onto my 'terrified' mill drill.

I've gone Apple and now hope that some kind offspring will teach me how to post or whatever the latest buzz word describes it

Happy Easter everyone.

Norm

 

[Wizard69]

Yes that's why I bought the cheapest I could find,most parts fit both lathes

so no need to pay for extras,and I wanted to fully mod it at leisure

What blissit on its new bench then pick it up,turn around and place it on my workbench,and I have a lathe and mill to use while I mod it at my leisure

Unusual in that the first 7" lathe had a 55mm spindle nose and I had a 3Jaw

and collet chuck to fit mu rotary table and indexing head.But the lathe has a 4" 3jaw with 72mm spindle the same as the C4 so everything fits.I am also going

to buy the QCTP for it as I have not ever had one.Money saved on the lathe

buys it.Ready to rock

Sounds like a good move for extending your shop capacity. These 7x ??? Lathes often end up serving needs similar to watch makers lathes that where common in hobby shops at one time. That is a small lathe to handle delicate stuff.

As for the QCTP try to find one suitable for both lathes if you can. The idea being to be able to use holders on both lathes. Do be aware of a possible negative here, which is the lack of stiffness in these small QCTP. A DIY design might make sense.

 

[Herbiev]

Looks great Baz. Where did you buy it from?

 

[oldboy]

The 250-000 QCTP will fit both your machines, however not available in Aus can be obtained from Arc Euro in England or LMS in the US.

Barry

 

[joco-nz]

Multiple lathes hmmm ... one day. Looks like a fun little project.

 

[bazmak]

Herbie I bought the lathe on Ebay from amazing items Search metal lathe
and you see lots of blue ones $660 free postage or $610 with $50 postage
Lots of supplies,came from Sydney made an offers and finished at $630
Well I stripped down the carriage.No nasty surprises.Castings were good
No fiiler to hidden areas but there again no paint.Lots of sharp edges.Deburred
and cleaned up .Carriage ways were finished well so fixed wet and dry and
polished/bedded in the carriage.First job was new gib plates,the supplied ones were all loose and the lathe would have been unworkable
When I modded the original 7x16 I played with adjusting the existing plts
No good,so I made new ones beefier from brass and mounted with studs
big improvement but then did the tapered gib mod.The Bees Knees
The rear gib is the most important as the cutting action tries to lift the carriage
Lots of room so I made the tapered gib mod
The front gib is more congested and is not as important as the cutting forces
push the carriage down on to the ways and a couple of thou play is ok
so I made a heavier gib plate machined down to give 2 thou play which I can shim if required.The carriage is now nice and solid and free,if need be I
may bed down with lapping paste.Its just a question of how far to go
I am doing this mainly for the exercise don't know how much use
I will get out of the lathe.Thoughts so far.The lathe is everything I expected
from the cheapest version I could find,but would not be satisfactory for
anyone who is prepared some time and effort in improving/modding

 

[rodw]

Looks good Baz, I forget how clean my lathe was before I started to actually use it!

Multiple lathes hmmm ... one day. Looks like a fun little project.

Nah, build your own CNC one. I know you want to and so do you!

 

[bazmak]

I did this mod to my first lathe.No mill so I ground and chiselled the
carriage,made a new extended housing and fitted skate brgs which I found to be not necessary.Much simpler this time around.Milled out the underside
of the carriage to expose an additional 20mm of leadscrew thread
Made a 25mm brass housing extension to act as a bush/brg and made a
simple leadscrew extension.Cross slide travel now increased from 65mm to 100mm
All at the front where its required.This mod took a couple of hrs the original
mod too quite a few days.Far simpler and works really well.Also cleaned up the cross slide and checked adjusted the gibs.Casting and gib good just needed to
deburr everything and may put a coat of paint to the inside faces
I am really enjoying this.The next mod is one I did not do to the original lathe
That is to get rid of the 2 locking cap screws to the compound and fit locking
screws to the sides

 

[goldstar31]

Thanks, Barry for continuing a creative and informative account!

I've been following the market trends here and note the huge drop of second hand prices here in the UK. So I DID get a further phone call about a similar metric lathe! which has been no where and done precious little.

I'll try to keep up to date although the continuing family matters take priority. This is only a game not a LIFE

Cheers

N

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I suppose that it is already 'organised chaos' having just had a phone call from yet another Goldstar. A merlin and Griffon engine fitter (1949 vintage). As one used to say 'Balls to Doctor Bangalstein!'
N

 

[bazmak]

This is a worthwhile mod that I never got to do on the original 7x16 lathe
Well worth the effort,about 3 hrs.Basically to get rid of those 2 annoying
cap screws that can only be got at by removing the compound.Basically the same as used on the MYFORD lathe Photos are self explanatory. PHOTO BUCKET DELETED
Note,i was not happy with this mod as cutting forces rocked the compound so i took
it back to its original design with the 2 hidden capscrews

 

[DJP]

It looks like 3 hours of entertainment and pleasure instead of work. I too will replace worn or poorly designed parts with more robust versions so I share your satisfied feeling.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[bazmak]

Made a simple scale/protractor from 1.5mm alum angle so I
have access to the new compound locking screws
Marked the angles from the old plastic one but not overly happy
Will probably remake in the future with more professional engraving
However all 3 slides are adjusted and work well.The 2 main mods also work well.Assembled everything back together and its starting to feel like a lathe
Have not done anything with the apron yet but one thing does need doing is
the plastic carriage handle has stripped threads to the grubscrew and is not
square to the shaft.WOBBLES.Not a big issue but will probably fit a better handle when I do the apronmods etc.Next is to strip it all down again
so I can start on the tailstock alignment and mods.Its wonderful when the stripdown only takes minutes.Will soon be able to use it and make a few items
Carriage lock and stop etc

 

[mechman48]

Looks good Baz, I forget how clean my lathe was before I started to actually use it!



CLEAN!! you mean you're s'posed to keep it clean, Aaaaaagh! th_wtf1

George.

 

[bazmak]

I stripped the lathe down,about 10mins bliss.I used my new digital height gauge to check the headstock and tailstock heights.The tailstock measured 3 thou higher.PERFECT (or so I thought).Fixed wet and dry to the bed ways
and did some polishing,and without checking I knew it was perfect.???
I then took the tailstock apart and between the upper and lower castings a brass shim fell out,6 thou bloody chinese.So I had to start again checking
heights and tailstock for horizontal.After 1 hr I finished up with a single
10 thou shim in the same place the other fell out.Now to start the mods
Took it all apart,deburred,tapped holes,fitted new screws etc.Had to skim
10 thou off the bearing housing to reduce backlash to near zero and with some grease etc got it turning nicely.Feels right.Then started modding
1-changed the cap screw from uside access to top access
2-Fitted blocks and push/pull screws for lateral adjustment
3-Cleaned and modded the clamping T block.
Photos tell the story

 

[bazmak]

Made and fitted a brass block with push screws to rear
Block also increases tailstock footprint for better stability
Next to check the alignment

 

[bazmak]

First I set out align the tailstock.Just eying with a loupe.Front to back was easy
with the push/pull screws.Vertical was more fiddly.Where the 6 thou shim dropped out I replaced with 10 thou and finally finished with 8 thou.I then used the 6" rule method to fine tune.First time use for me and so easy
Final test will be to turn a test piece for parallel.For the purists I know
that the centres are spot on in 2 planes but are the headstock and tailstock
2 dimensionally inline with the ways.Will need to buy or make a No2 MT test bar to find out at a later stage.Made a simple carriage lock.Almost ready to
turn her on and make chips.Seems a shame to get her dirty

 

[goldstar31]

Might I add a comment, please?

Of course Barry's most useful comments about a 6" rule are really only valid on a new or unworn lathe. Having said that, using a rule or whatever to set a lathe tool IS a good way to set up things- or round things on a mill

Thanks Barry

Norm