Saw this baby on CL . Had one blurry picture that said " lathe no motor $25". I figured I could throw a quick treadmill motor on it and flip it. He was about 5 minutes away so I called and told him I was coming to get it. I emptied out the back of the pickup wondering if he would help load it. When I got there I backed up to his garage and then he came out the front door carrying this. I laughed and at first thought about leaving but as I checked it out it was built pretty well. I offered him $20 and took it home.
As I had it sitting on the bench wondering what the heck have I done then the idea hit me. I set it up on the mill and now it is an indexer. I changed out the pulley with what was a treadmill flywheel to use for a turning handle and a mount for my templates. I will use the circle dividing software from blocklayer.com to print out what ever steps I need. I did have to make a few centers as it has a weird taper.
I first chucked up a small hunk of random steel and made some test cuts. It was very stable. So I threw a piece of aluminum and knocked out a 6 sided object. It works even better than I hoped. I have a 21 tooth gear I need to tackle here real soon.
Here she is sitting on my mill. The mill has a 30" table and the lathe is 35"
This shows the thickness of the bed rails. Pretty thick for a small machine.
As I had it sitting on the bench wondering what the heck have I done then the idea hit me. I set it up on the mill and now it is an indexer. I changed out the pulley with what was a treadmill flywheel to use for a turning handle and a mount for my templates. I will use the circle dividing software from blocklayer.com to print out what ever steps I need. I did have to make a few centers as it has a weird taper.
I first chucked up a small hunk of random steel and made some test cuts. It was very stable. So I threw a piece of aluminum and knocked out a 6 sided object. It works even better than I hoped. I have a 21 tooth gear I need to tackle here real soon.
Here she is sitting on my mill. The mill has a 30" table and the lathe is 35"
This shows the thickness of the bed rails. Pretty thick for a small machine.