Going To Buy A Lathe... Thoughts, Input Solicited By Inexperienced Dufus

4gsr said:
I got your phone number....

And no I would not call her..... Kind of works both ways here...
Click to expand...
Ken, LOL, but you don't have HER number... LOL

But don't worry bro, I've got your back!

Either way... LOL

Thanks!

Mark
 
By the way, my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were here today, and while all the ladies tacked up a storm in the house, we men-folk went out to the barn and played with the lathe. We pulled the lid off the gearbox again, and yep, I don't remember if it was Ken who suggested it, but yes, that odd round cover on the chuck end of the gearbox must have housed that electromagnetic brake. That's what's missing from there.

Jim turns out to have been right, I think, about my odd device with the plunger. There's an angle bracket at the other end of the gearbox where that device must have mounted, and it's only possible purpose could be to interrupt operations if you open that door. So good call on that one Jim!

Also, played around with controls some more, checked out the cross and carriage, and figured out precisely where to add way oil. Figured out a few other things since I had help. I know now that the gearbox oil pump is definitely operable. I see how they ran the e-stop wiring and the electromagnetic brake wiring, both of which transit the gear box, through copper tubing that has fittings on either end and constitutes a conduit for each.

I'm afraid though that without the electromagnetic brake, the e-stop won't accomplish much beyond power off the machine, but I may see what electromagnetic brake parts are still available and put that back in service.

It's not like I'm going to be a production shop, so I have time to wait for it to coast to a stop. Son-in-law remarked that other than the aforementioned sipped range gear damage, everything in the gearbox looked remarkably good and clean.

I do think ill wind up replacing the split/half-nut though. It's got a bit of slop when it's engaged to the lead screw.

Thanks!

Mark
 
Replacing the half nut set. You maybe rethinking that when you get the price on new one's... There's several threads on rebuilding half nuts for the lathe. Might be encourage to go that route.

As for the electric brake, they are available. They can be easily be adapted to your lathe. I put a electric clutch-brake setup on a ancient lathe I rebuilt a long time ago. It was nice, I could dial in the brake to slide to a stop or stop the spindle on a dime! And on a lathe that had a headstock full of half worn out gears, it didn't sound good when you had the control maxed out stopping the spindle on a dime. Supply us with a accurate OD of the shaft, within .005". That way some of us can do some looking and see what we can come up with. I do recall some one using a disk brake from a automotive braking system and adapting it to a lathe. Too much to think about right now!
 
4gsr said:
Replacing the half nut set. You maybe rethinking that when you get the price on new one's... There's several threads on rebuilding half nuts for the lathe. Might be encourage to go that route.

As for the electric brake, they are available. They can be easily be adapted to your lathe. I put a electric clutch-brake setup on a ancient lathe I rebuilt a long time ago. It was nice, I could dial in the brake to slide to a stop or stop the spindle on a dime! And on a lathe that had a headstock full of half worn out gears, it didn't sound good when you had the control maxed out stopping the spindle on a dime. Supply us with a accurate OD of the shaft, within .005". That way some of us can do some looking and see what we can come up with. I do recall some one using a disk brake from a automotive braking system and adapting it to a lathe. Too much to think about right now!
Click to expand...

Ken, I wouldn't have thought half-nuts so expensive, but then, what do I know?
Of course, they pretty much have you where they want you on something like that, don't they?

As for that shaft, it's kind of a 6-spline shaft(if my mental picture is accurate.) if hazard a guess that it's maybe 1-3/4 ish in OD on the outside of the splines, but that's pure guess, and it's sure to be a metric measurement. What I'm finding so far is that much of the hardware on the outside of the lathe is imperial, while inside the gearbox, it's all seemed to be metric. Of course, I haven't put a wrench to nearly everything outside, never mind inside.

Interesting to think of doing this with non-original parts. I guess there's no reason why not.

Thanks Ken! You always give me something upon which to ponder.

Mark
 
markamerica said:
Ken, I wouldn't have thought half-nuts so expensive, but then, what do I know?
Of course, they pretty much have you where they want you on something like that, don't they?

As for that shaft, it's kind of a 6-spline shaft(if my mental picture is accurate.) if hazard a guess that it's maybe 1-3/4 ish in OD on the outside of the splines, but that's pure guess, and it's sure to be a metric measurement. What I'm finding so far is that much of the hardware on the outside of the lathe is imperial, while inside the gearbox, it's all seemed to be metric. Of course, I haven't put a wrench to nearly everything outside, never mind inside.

Interesting to think of doing this with non-original parts. I guess there's no reason why not.

Thanks Ken! You always give me something upon which to ponder.

Mark
Click to expand...
4gsr said:
Replacing the half nut set. You maybe rethinking that when you get the price on new one's... There's several threads on rebuilding half nuts for the lathe. Might be encourage to go that route.

As for the electric brake, they are available. They can be easily be adapted to your lathe. I put a electric clutch-brake setup on a ancient lathe I rebuilt a long time ago. It was nice, I could dial in the brake to slide to a stop or stop the spindle on a dime! And on a lathe that had a headstock full of half worn out gears, it didn't sound good when you had the control maxed out stopping the spindle on a dime. Supply us with a accurate OD of the shaft, within .005". That way some of us can do some looking and see what we can come up with. I do recall some one using a disk brake from a automotive braking system and adapting it to a lathe. Too much to think about right now!
Click to expand...
Ken, here's another dumb question. Couldn't the same thing be accomplished with a Stearn-type brake motor?

Just another in a string of dumb questions...

Thanks!

Mark
 
markamerica said:
Ken, here's another dumb question. Couldn't the same thing be accomplished with a Stearn-type brake motor?

Just another in a string of dumb questions...

Thanks!

Mark
Click to expand...
Mark,
I'm not familiar with that type of brake. Send me a picture or a spec page on one.
 
4gsr said:
Mark,
I'm not familiar with that type of brake. Send me a picture or a spec page on one.
Click to expand...
Ken, here's a link to their site. I stumbled on a motor equipped with this setup on eBay. Looks like it's designed to bring the big motor to a stop, unless I'm completely misunderstanding the concept, which admittedly, is a distinct possibility:

http://www.stearnsbrake.net

Thanks!

Mark
 
markamerica said:
Ken, here's a link to their site. I stumbled on a motor equipped with this setup on eBay. Looks like it's designed to bring the big motor to a stop, unless I'm completely misunderstanding the concept, which admittedly, is a distinct possibility:

http://www.stearnsbrake.net

Thanks!

Mark
Click to expand...
Never used one, have seen them over the years being advertized.
 
4gsr said:
Never used one, have seen them over the years being advertized.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ken, The only thing about this is I noticed a couple on the 'bay (Motors equipped with these Stearns brakes) and it just prompted some questions in my mind. The spindle on the lathe is clutched, so would stopping the motor work as an effective spindle brake? Not sure how that would work. You'd still have the inertia of the chuck, the spindle, and the load spinning it. Would the clutch just let it slip, or would you risk just beating your clutch to death? These are all unknowns to me.

Just happened to run across a motor so-equipped, and I've seen a few of these along the way in my life. Just not sure if they're useful in this application.

Thanks!

Mark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top