Well, it has been two years now with my PM1340GT so I thought I would revive my old thread with a new modification(s).
I had a guy back out on me on a job this weekend that I had scheduled in the shop so I had some free time Friday night and Saturday morning. Since my wife had breakfast plans with her sisters on Saturday I decided to knock another item off of my "Want To Do" list as my "Need To Do" list is actually shrinking.
I have never really liked the cheap feeling plastic knobs on my lathe but seeing as how they weren't affecting the performance of it I kept putting off doing anything. I saw Mark's (mksj) new knobs for his lathe which turned out so nice and it got me thinking to machine some new ones for mine as well. Friday night after getting home and seeing that I had some free time I decided to address the knobs on my lathe.
Chucked up some 1" 60601-T6 I had in the metal rack. I turned it to .820" to match the original ones on the headstock and two on the apron. I then added a taper for aesthetics and few grooves with a form tool that I ground again for aesthetics before running some aluminum polish over them and parting off.
Two down and only five more to go. Once I got a drawing with some measurements of how I wanted them to look they actually went quite fast.
Here are the two on the gearbox at the headstock end installed.
Once I got the four smaller ones completed, I grabbed a piece of 1.250" 6061 I started on the larger ones for the tailstock and one on the carriage. These ones I turned down to 1.10" but incorporated the same grooves and taper for a matching look.
Knobs on apron completed and installed.
Tailstock knobs installed.
While I had swarf on the lathe I decided to knock out one more item on my "Want To Do" list for the lathe. I hate having to grab a 3mm allen wrench each time to lock down the compound slide, so I decided to make a lever to perform the function. I started with a piece of .375" stainless steel and used my 5C collet chuck.
Turned and threaded to the 6MM-1.0 thread pitch required.
Lathe work completed for the two components.
After installing for a test fit I marked where I needed to drill and tap for the handle.
Completed and installed. Unlocked position. I also drilled and installed a small roll pin to act as a stop/rest.
Locked position.
After cleaning the lathe, mill and the rest of the shop I still had the whole afternoon to relax and hang out with my son and wife and enjoy the great weather we had over the weekend.
Mike.