best mods for 7x10 mini lathe & mill what's yours?

[sourdoughsmitty]

Well after playing for a week and making a few smalltools I made a list of mods to help this model that I found online
1changing to ball bearings on both cross and compound ,now as the original holes are somewhat sloppy would a properly sized bushing do as well ???
2 ball bearing on the carriage drive crank , there again as in #1 above would I be better served with a properly fitting bushing?
3 buying the 14" bed for it , anyone done this ?is it wothwhile? I do mostly fishing tackle repair with this lathe
anyone have the specs on making my own belt drive for my mini mill ?
4 plans for the groz type qctp or similliar ?
thanx smitty

 

[compressor man]

I have performed quite a few (some rather amateurish :-\ ) but I feel that the best thing that I have ever done to my 7x12 lathe is modifying the compound and cross slide handles. I made new handles that let the actual part that you grasp with your fingers spin as you crank it. Did that make sense??? Wow, this made a BIG difference to me and I recommend anyone taking the time to do this. I guarantee that it will be time well spent.

Regards,
Chris

 

[BillH]

Best mod I did was to sell my 7x14 and buy a 8xXX or larger lathe.

 

[cfellows]

Best mod I did was to sell my 7x14 and buy a 8trash or larger lathe.

Great if you can afford it, but there has been a lot of very nice work done on the 7 x 10, 7 x 12, etc. It's a lot of lathe for the money and puts metalworking within the reach of many folks who couldn't otherwise afford it.

Chuck

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Best mod I've made for the my 7x12 mini-lathe (thus far) was covering the carriage apron. Otherwise swarf gets in there very easily and messes things up.

I'm currently working on a DRO system using digital calipers.

 

[ozzie46]

Quick Change tool Post and Camlock on tailstock.
Loosening bolt to move tailstock gets tiresome real quick. :big: :big: :big:


Ron

 

[Cedge]

Smitty
By the time I upgraded to the C4 Lathe, my 7 x14 Micromark was modified to the max.

--Extended Cross slide travel for cutting up to 7 inch diameter materials
--Extended cross slide lead screw for full rearward travel
--fitted it with a 5 inch chuck
--Cross slide nut center drilled to remove backlash
--DRO's both axis and tail stock
--Independent variable speed power feed on longitudinal lead screw
--Spindle mounted Indexer
--All custom hand wheels and locks
--Tool rack mounted behind splash guard....(perhaps the handiest mod of all)
--adjustment points on rear of saddle to remove any lateral movement

The little fellow now sits there gathering dust and taking up valuable counter space, but I enjoyed every time I ever used it. I somehow can't seem to decide to sell it.

Mods to the little X2 mill were not quite as extensive.

-- Belt drive added
--Extended Z rack
--Adjustable Sieg Power Feed
--DRO, on XY&Z
--Spring loaded spindle stop
--Upgraded all locks with LMS kit
--LED table lighting

Again.... after upgrading, it gathers dust most of the time, but does do some second function drilling and a bit of milling.

Both machines delivered everything the were designed for and more. No regrets for having begun my long learning curve using them. The day eventually came when I wanted to upgrade to better stuff.... even if I didn't need to. By then I knew these machines and their quirks and easily worked with them or around them without thinking much about it.

Steve

 

[compressor man]

Great if you can afford it, but there has been a lot of very nice work done on the 7 x 10, 7 x 12, etc. It's a lot of lathe for the money and puts metalworking within the reach of many folks who couldn't otherwise afford it.

Chuck

Thanks Chuck! I will be the first to admit that bigger lathes are better in almost every way than smaller ones. But just for hobby use a 7x12 may be all the lathe some people can afford. So why not spend some time making it the best tool that it can be.

Chris

 

[sourdoughsmitty]

Great info all ;D,
Chuck's reply is also right on the money ,it is a lot of lathe for the money , I was looking for a larger one preferrably a 9" south bend but most that I looked at were pretty clapped out. I answered aqn add for both a 7x10mini lathe and mini mill for 500 . These were 2 years old with only 4 hours on them ,the guy got bored and put them away!! ;D they still had the usual packing grease in all the places these also came with a fair amount of both lathe and mill tooling as well as a milling vise I added it all up at todays prices and figured more than 1200$$ here.I have beeen looking on the web and finding a lot of users of this level of machine tools. So far it has become somewhat of a hobby in itself improving these and making tooling for them it will be easier now to wait and find my s/b thanx all smitty

 

[slick95]

smitty ,
With nothing more than the quick change tool post mod (A2Z Little Machine Shop) for my Micro Mark mini-lathe and the mini mill without mod I built my first IC engine, the Odds and Ends Hit Miss:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=7773.0

Great machines that fit my budget at the time and I'll never regret the purchase...

Jeff

 

[cfellows]

I've had a Logan, 11" x 24 lathe for over 15 yeas. I would also buy a 7 x 12 to add to my shop if I could find one at a good price. I keep watching Craig's List but no luck. One popped up about 4 months ago for $350 nicely tooled, but it went fast, before I saw it.

Chuck

 

[black85vette]

I started with a 7x10. Didn't really find the need to mod it all that much. Did spend some amount of time cleaning, smoothing, and adjusting to get it to perform better. What made it more useful for me was additional tooling. I bought:

4 jaw chuck
Face plate
Quick change tool post
Milling attachment & collets

I used it for several years and ended up giving it to my son. It still works well. I ended up getting a 12"x48" lathe so I could work on larger pieces not because the 7x10 couldn't hack it.

On the mini mill I think adding a 1/2" plate on the rear of the upright to stiffen it was a good idea. I added a power feed but it does not make the mill work better, it just reduces arm fatigue.

Don't know that the longer bed is worth it. I usually ran with the tailstock removed unless it was being used and found that I had enough room most of the time.

 

[Troutsqueezer]

For the lathe, I'm with Zee, #1 mod should be the apron cover.

#2 should be a carriage stop because the carriage will want to move away from the work piece when you are doing some facing.

#3 for me was installing a plug behind the chuck in the opening that leads back into the gear assembly. Turns out a screen with a rubber rim that I pulled out of a garden sprinkler was the perfect size for a friction fit.

As for upgrading to a larger, more expensive lathe, well, I can afford to buy one but until my mini lathe self destructs or doesn't do something I desperately need it to do, I'll be keeping it.

-Trout

 

[seagar]

I replaced the plastic gears in the head with metal gears.

Ian(seagar)
Coffs Harbour
Australia.

 

[websterz]

Unless you are cutting a lot of tapers or single-point threading do yourself a favor and replace the compound with a solid block that you can mount a QCTP to. This will increase the rigidity of the machine ten fold.

 

[black85vette]

Unless you are cutting a lot of tapers or single-point threading do yourself a favor and replace the compound with a solid block that you can mount a QCTP to. This will increase the rigidity of the machine ten fold.

Forgot about that. I also did this and it works great. Helps a lot with parting cuts. Also makes for more room and clearance when cutting.

 

[BillH]

You can buy the HF 8x12 lathe on sale for what a new mini lathe goes for and it is a much more rigid machine.
I think my little Taig lathe is very nice.

As for mods... I do this for any lathe I own, I bolt the lathe to a big hunk of channel iron to increase the rigidity.
I would also make a spindle adapter for the mini lathe so you can mount the Taig 3 jaw chuck and use it for soft jaw work. Soft jaws are amazing.

 

[black85vette]

#2 should be a carriage stop because the carriage will want to move away from the work piece when you are doing some facing.

Trout

A way to work around this is to engage the lead screw with it not turning, hand turn the lead screw to get the carriage in place, then make your facing cuts using the compound set on axis with the carriage. Of course the carriage stop is easier than that, but this is a quick work around.

This is also a good way to be able to measure your cuts using the dial on the compound.

 

[Dunc1]

The Model Engineers' Workshop (aka MEW) (3w.model-engineer.co.uk) had several articles by David Fenner on the Generic "7 x" (depending on selling company the bed may be 10, 12, or 14 inches) lathe. Started around Dec 2007 and ran through 2008. Check this website for back issues or reprints. (Usual disclaimer). Written by David Fenner. A book, The Mini-Lathe, ISBN 978-185486-254-9, by the same author (based on the articles in MEW) is also available: see 3w.specialinterestmodelbooks.co.uk or Amazon.

MEW (above) has other articles by David Fenner on the lathe.

The first part of the article (unpacking & cleaning up) is available here:
3w.arceurotrade.co.uk/reviews/C3_Articles.html

Of course, the "3w" at the start of the websites must be changed to "www" for an active link.

The not-to-be-missed site is Frank Hoose' 3w.mini-lathe.com

Another: 3w.mini-lathe.org.uk/index.shtml

There is a Yahoo group as well:
hxxp://groups.yahoo.com/group/7x12minilathe/ (change "hxxp" to "http" for an active link)

 

[hobby]

Made a handle for the leadscrew. That in combination with a dial test indicator, lets me preset the carriage more precisely when setting a carriage stop, for a particular cut.

Made a tailstock cam, by looking at the pieces advertized in the LMS. com site.

I bought a QCTP the cheaper brand with dovetail, but the block was so big it got in the way of the tailstock when I want to machine close to the end, so I made the same dovetail toolpost, only with the back corner completely cutted away, so the tailstock dosen't interfere with it.

And I can't forget the Taper jig I invented for it., It's one accesory that dosen't get used often, but when I need to machine a taper that utilizes needing the tailstock to hold the work piece this baby fits the bill perfectly.

A modification, yet to be done, I am going to make a whole new crosslide, either castiron, or steel, or maybe aluminum, haven't decided yet, that is going to match the sherline design, which is a crosslide with just 2 dovetails, so as to position the toolpost anywhere I want it.
As well as utilizing it for holding all kinds of accesories for machioning on the lathe.

That's about it for now...