Mah Lathe

[IZwack]

So I've been meaning to get a lathe for a while now since the process of shipping metal stock to my brother (who lives in the west coast), having him turn it on his lathe, shipping it back to me, and then shipping it back to him if the dimensions are incorrect is too time consuming. So I picked up this old Altas 6x18 Mark-2 lathe a few weeks ago and I finally got around to building a stand for it. I haven't wired the motor up yet and I am also waiting for a replacement belt to arrive. It's not large (some might even say its "cute") but i think it'll be good enough to make driveline parts and so on.

Lathe with stand (made from mostly scrap steel):

The lathe came with two motors - that one sitting on the bottom tray is 1/4hp so I'm probably not going to use that one. The one I have mounted behind the headstock is 1/2hp so I'll try that one first.

The device:

Aluminum catch tray:

A smaller pan on the right to hold parts, wrenches and whatever. The cover over the motor, on the left, was also bent in a wide "U" so that I can put small stuff on there temporarily:

And finally there's a storage bin thingy to hold boring bits, a drill chuck, parting bits, and so on:

Oh and this handle broke while I was transporting the lathe - it rolled and BAM! But no its no biggie.

 

[Baddecision93]

Awesome!!

Got immediate plans for something or just gonna play around with it for a little bit?

I'm envious that you know how to use that thing...I wouldn't know where to begin.

 

[section525]

What are your first plans with it? I just helped my Pa load up my Grandpa's ol lathe last weekend to take back to his shop. I think you should make some dimple dies fo sho.

 

[IZwack]

I'm envious that you know how to use that thing...I wouldn't know where to begin.

Well I'm not very comfortable with lathes - I'm more used to vertical end mills like Bridgeports and so on. So it will be a learning experience once I get the motor all wired up.

What are your first plans with it?

The goal is to make the rear axle disconnect unit for my project. And there are some other things like the hand throttle system that goes behind the steering wheel. But as for the first projects, that's probably to just get used to something rotating horizontally instead of vertically.

I just helped my Pa load up my Grandpa's ol lathe last weekend to take back to his shop.

Your family has errythang.. errrrrrrythannngg. Need hydraulic hoses? Oh no prob! Need a part turned on a lathe, no problem senior!

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Nice lathe. I work on an old 14" Rockwell lathe:

I just finished tearing everything down, cleaning it, applying its appropriate coating and reassembling everything short of the headstock. I'm still not done adjusting the gib screws though, I might take out the gib plates and lap em a bit with some fine grit- I don't like how the screws are adjusting at the moment.

 

[Brian1]

(some might even say its "cute")

Thats the first thing I thought before I even read through your post :

Good starter lathe though, happy turning!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Could you make a lathe how to thread? Start with identifying the parts on the lathe, and a demonstration of how to make something simple.

 

[snoranger]

What are your first plans with it?

Make a new handle. :

 

[IZwack]

So this 6 inch lathe just wouldnt do and a few things were breaking so I picked up a 10 incher from upstate NY before New Years. Its an Altas 10-D probably built in the second half of the 1930s. Its the "early model" - Babbit bearings, not rollers but so far, it rolls pretty smooth. Where as I could man handle the 6 incher by myself, this one probably weights nearly as much as a loaded axle and I needed my friend's help to unload it from the vehicle.

Start of breakdown:

Naked lathe bed ready for cleanup:

The lathe came with a taper attachment and the gear on the carriage handle was destroyed - no teeth at all. Fortunately, there was one on E-bay.

After some cleanup, inspection, and reassembly, this is what it looks like ready to rock:

The business end:

And the back side:

Modified the old stand to accomodate the new 10-inch:

 

[Rick]

You're a nut! I love it

 

[IZwack]

You're a nut! I love it

Thanks, but you know as well as I do that it takes a nut to point out another.

 

[Turdle]

So now you can put the square peg in the round hole?

 

[IZwack]

Or put a square peg in a hexagonal hole

 

[IZwack]

After adding a quick change tool post, the first project for the new 10-incher is a bicycle headset press. There are plans on the web for more cheap solutions using parts from the local hardware store but I figured this would be a good first product for this lathe. It's made from aluminum with Delrin as the interface to the headset "cups" to minimize marring.

Delrin part is "press fitted" into the aluminum:

With CaneCreek 40 "cups":

Add a 12-inch long threaded rod, 2 nuts and its ready for business:

 

[section525]

Izzy that came out great! You should sell that kit!

 

[IZwack]

Thanks!

The cost of raw material is already more than the cheaper solutions out on the web so we're already in the negative profits from the start. But on the other hand, if we move production to China and import the parts by the thousands, then we might get somewhere

 

[IZwack]

Made some washer thing for my bolt-on bike hub tonight. The steel serrated part was purchased from E-bay and it will be JB-Welded to the aluminum part to minimize the chance of loosing them during emergency trail repairs.

 

[IZwack]

cog spacers and a stem spacer: