Maximat Compact MK4 coming soon to a forum near you !!!

[The Legend]

The sh*t really hit the fan here so it'll be a couple more days.
I don't see a grease fitting but can make out a couple tiny cross-drilled holes where the gears ride.
When I can remove the part, I'll be back.
Stay well.

Uh oh , you too man take care of yourself first and foremost !!! My lathe isn’t going anywhere lmao

 

[The Legend]

So it’s been a bit , here’s an update on my end for anyone interested , I mocked up a shaft to hold the compound gears and the reversing tumbler lever assembly , this was made by turning down a bolt to ensure concentricity and fit of some bearing bronze bushings I had I turned the outside of said bushing to fit( with a tolerance +- 0.005) between the gear hole and the shaft , since I had no way currently of making threads yet or with the current situation with Covid-19 going out and getting a matched bolt was sort of out of the question so I used what I had and necessity breeds invention so I took an oversized bushing made of what felt like delrin and I basically compressed that into the threaded hole with the nut and bolt which gave the shaft a tight fit onto the main casting , lastly to prevent any spinning loose or rubbing of steel on steel I placed needle bearing that fit the shaft well between the gear and the hex end of the bolt/shaft here’s some pics of that.
There is also a bushing fitted between the shaft and the actual tumbler (green)
It has been about a week of having the lathe like this and it seems to run really good I’ve tested with both feeding and threading and have confirmed my machine is set up for imperial

 

[The Legend]

Next update , just some interesting things in my time learning the lathe and mill and getting it making chips with really only what I’ve had on hand and what really awesome things I’ve been able to get through the mail so far , firstly just yesterday I learned that I’m 45 mins from precision Matthews which is great because I immediately ordered an AXA wedge type qctp set and it came today along with a low profile live center !!! I got the tool post installed and fitted directly to the compound via a bolt and was able to adjust the height to a point that seems to work well I can get tools lower and higher than the work so the range seems to be good without alteration of the post itself

 

[The Legend]

As far as projects , I’ve made a few fun little things playing around , since it’s difficult to get HSS blanks I’ve taken to grinding old broken taps and center drills I had in my stash of junk that were made from HSS and have made a general purpose turning tool and over the past few days have made a 60deg threading tool on my bench grinder , I did get some cheap braces tooling from HF before stuff got really bad and I cleaned them up to the point of usability for now but with all that said my latest project was making an adapter for the little 1B Jacobs chuck that came with my lathe so by looking at the chuck it stated
3/8-24 for mounting so I set up a piece turned down to 3/8 and started cutting 24tpi (this is of course after about 4 days of practice on aluminum and and self teaching ) I believe I may have taken a little bit too much from the minor diameter but the threads function and snug the chuck up to the piece , this was then turned and adapted to fit in a MT2 center drill holder for the tail stock , once turned down I milled a flat spot on the mill to give somewhere for the set screw , lastly I took my new kneeling tool for a spin to give this piece some grip when getting it unscrewed from the chuck. all in all it seems to fit well and I’ll be testing it out here soon.

(this first pic is a little pendulum keychain I made as a gift)

 

[mikey]

Congrats on getting her up and running. The first one of anything is special so it's awesome your lathe is functional now and that you cut threads and knurls!

I always tell guys to buy some aluminum or 12L14 mild steel and just practice turning, facing, drilling - you know, all the basic stuff that we all need to learn. Focus on turning to dimensions, hitting specific target diameters and obtaining clean finishes. Much of what we do will depend on these basic skills. Learn to listen to the lathe and feel how it feels when it's cutting right. Use manual feed and find that sweet spot where there is a slight resistance to the feed. If you get chatter, slow the speed and/or increase the feed. So many lessons come from just simple practice.

The lathe will teach you how metal likes to be cut if you listen to it.

 

[Z2V]

The lathe will teach you how metal likes to be cut if you listen to it.

Ha, if I could only hear it,

 

[The Legend]

Thanks Mikey , in my practice so far I learned an important lesson which is it really takes the experience for things you “know” to sink in such as the first time I made a serious attempt at getting a particular measurement I was off by 10-11 thousandths then it clicked that I have to double the amount taken off since this lathe doesn’t pre account for that , ever since my measurements have been a LOT closer but it definitely is a feel and sound kinda thing running the lathe depending on what material I have started to get a feel for how fast it likes to go what DOC and I should also say I switched the lathe and milling head motor and pulley assemblies as the mill had the original set up where as the lathe appeared to be an aftermarket sort of thing that only offered me like 3 speeds all of which were sorta too fast but now I’ve got the lathe to about 12 rpm options and some very nice back gear sort of set ups that really help out with the nerves when threading.
I’ve also really enjoyed grinding my own HSS stuff as so far it’s given me the nicest finishes and easiest cutting and I’m proud so far that my ingenuity has proven up to the task of improving the lathes functionality

 

[Stsguy]

I think I have the same unit if you are still working on this I'd love to get some Info ..like parts where to find

 

[Questjon]

I think I have the same unit if you are still working on this I'd love to get some Info ..like parts where to find

Hi - I also have a Maximat Compact Mk 3 - I had the same problem with the broken gear wheels you show in your pictures - I solved that temporarily by 3D printing the gear wheel and using the old bearing that was in the broken wheel. - I am ordering some items so I can make my own gear wheel in the future from stronger plastic.
I will post some pictures later.