- Joined
- Nov 27, 2012
- Messages
- 7,899
Well I don't have it any more but it's still in the family, I gave it to my brother. I only had the lathe for 8 months before I out grew it but I did learn a lot with it. It turned out to be a great lathe with the mods I did to it. Figure I might as well share for those who have one.
They used to go on sale for $449 & I got it with 20% off, came out to $385 out the door. Now they are listed for $1000!
As you may know, HF calls it an 8x12 but it is actually an 8x14. The Lathemaster CQ6120X320 is the same lathe, made in the same factory.
Here it is in it's final days in my garage.
First thing I did was add some thumbscrews for the gearbox & spindle covers since these would be opened quite often.
These do not come with a back splash as they picture it & when I called to order one I was told they were no longer available. I called Lathemaster & was able to get one for $35. Test fitted perfect, then painted black.
The belt that came with mine was a O-710 but the manual called for a O-720. Belt changes were not easy as the belt seemed a bit short. So I used a Fenner Power Twist belt. Stock belt is 3/8" wide so I used size 3L. The entire geabox assy was disassembled, deburred as needed, cleaned, & readjusted for proper gear mesh. This made a big difference in noise reduction. At the bottom of the gear assy is a SHCS that you can loosen to disengage the gears from the spindle when the leadscrew is not in use, this also makes a big difference in noise reduction, virtually quiet.
If you cut threads often, the speed reduction pulley from LM is well worth it. There are planetary gears inside it used to reduce speeds & reverses direction so remember to switch the spindle in reverse in order for the spindle to turn CCW. These are the speeds I measured with a Monarch Pocket-Tach 100.
The two most common QCTPs for these are the A2Z & the Aloris type AXA. Both offer 1/2" tool shank max capacity. I did not like the idea of an aluminum tool post & holders so I choose to go with LM's modified AXA QCTP.
The LM QCTP is a standard AXA size that comes with hardware so it bolts right on with no modifications to the compound slide needed. However, you need to use their modified tool holders in order to use 1/2" shank tools. They are just standard AXA holders that have their mottoms milled so they sit lower on the TP.
However in my case, I found that they were not milled down enough & I still could not low enough to reach the center of the spindle.
I had my holders milled an additional 30-40 thou in order to reach center line.
Left: stock LM holder, Right: milled LM holder
I purchased an AXA parting blade holder, it also does not sit low enough to be used properly. Initially I had to use the blade upside down with the spinlde in reverse.
I had the parting blade holder milled to take care of that issue so the blades could be used "correctly".
However, the parting blade holder must be used with the compound slide parallel with the spindle.
An alternative to having to have your holders milled everytime you get a new one, Little Machine Shop used to offer a milled down version of the compound slide which allows the AXA QCTP to be used as is. You could have you compound milled down where the TP would sit or purchase a replacement from LMS & have it milled.
A bit off topic, here's a DTM QCTP that was going to go on the lathe. DTM is no longer in business but it was said that they had improved on Aloris' design. The story is that a number of workers left Aloris to form their own company called DTM who were also located in Clifton NJ. That TP was very nice, smooth, & had great lock up, I wish I got the chance to use it.
Here it is next to the LM AXA clone. You can see the wedge guides which is one of the "design improvements".
With 14" between centers, I often ran out of room. One way to get the most out of it possible was to shorten the drill chuck arbor to get more TS travel. I also made a MT "plug" to keep chips out of the TS ram when not in use. I also replaced the set screws for the half nuts levers with shorter ones & shortened down the spacer for the thread dial to gain a tad bit more carriage travel. Or you can remove the thread dial entirely to get even more travel.
It was only a matter of a few weekends before I stripped the cheap compound studs. I replaced them using nuts inside the crosslide & used metric SHCS instead. I found it much more convienent to use a hex key for the compound which was the same size for the carriage lock.
I started out using a drip pan from the local auto parts store as a chip pan.
Later I replaced it with a pan made for a pet cage.
Here's where I mounted the work lamp.
Some threading....
They used to go on sale for $449 & I got it with 20% off, came out to $385 out the door. Now they are listed for $1000!
As you may know, HF calls it an 8x12 but it is actually an 8x14. The Lathemaster CQ6120X320 is the same lathe, made in the same factory.
Here it is in it's final days in my garage.
First thing I did was add some thumbscrews for the gearbox & spindle covers since these would be opened quite often.
These do not come with a back splash as they picture it & when I called to order one I was told they were no longer available. I called Lathemaster & was able to get one for $35. Test fitted perfect, then painted black.
The belt that came with mine was a O-710 but the manual called for a O-720. Belt changes were not easy as the belt seemed a bit short. So I used a Fenner Power Twist belt. Stock belt is 3/8" wide so I used size 3L. The entire geabox assy was disassembled, deburred as needed, cleaned, & readjusted for proper gear mesh. This made a big difference in noise reduction. At the bottom of the gear assy is a SHCS that you can loosen to disengage the gears from the spindle when the leadscrew is not in use, this also makes a big difference in noise reduction, virtually quiet.
If you cut threads often, the speed reduction pulley from LM is well worth it. There are planetary gears inside it used to reduce speeds & reverses direction so remember to switch the spindle in reverse in order for the spindle to turn CCW. These are the speeds I measured with a Monarch Pocket-Tach 100.
RPM | |
Projected | Actual |
2000 | 2459 |
1000 | 1269 |
620 | 840 |
420 | 205 (RP) |
210 | 103 (RP) |
125 | 60 (RP) |
The two most common QCTPs for these are the A2Z & the Aloris type AXA. Both offer 1/2" tool shank max capacity. I did not like the idea of an aluminum tool post & holders so I choose to go with LM's modified AXA QCTP.
The LM QCTP is a standard AXA size that comes with hardware so it bolts right on with no modifications to the compound slide needed. However, you need to use their modified tool holders in order to use 1/2" shank tools. They are just standard AXA holders that have their mottoms milled so they sit lower on the TP.
However in my case, I found that they were not milled down enough & I still could not low enough to reach the center of the spindle.
I had my holders milled an additional 30-40 thou in order to reach center line.
Left: stock LM holder, Right: milled LM holder
I purchased an AXA parting blade holder, it also does not sit low enough to be used properly. Initially I had to use the blade upside down with the spinlde in reverse.
I had the parting blade holder milled to take care of that issue so the blades could be used "correctly".
However, the parting blade holder must be used with the compound slide parallel with the spindle.
An alternative to having to have your holders milled everytime you get a new one, Little Machine Shop used to offer a milled down version of the compound slide which allows the AXA QCTP to be used as is. You could have you compound milled down where the TP would sit or purchase a replacement from LMS & have it milled.
A bit off topic, here's a DTM QCTP that was going to go on the lathe. DTM is no longer in business but it was said that they had improved on Aloris' design. The story is that a number of workers left Aloris to form their own company called DTM who were also located in Clifton NJ. That TP was very nice, smooth, & had great lock up, I wish I got the chance to use it.
Here it is next to the LM AXA clone. You can see the wedge guides which is one of the "design improvements".
With 14" between centers, I often ran out of room. One way to get the most out of it possible was to shorten the drill chuck arbor to get more TS travel. I also made a MT "plug" to keep chips out of the TS ram when not in use. I also replaced the set screws for the half nuts levers with shorter ones & shortened down the spacer for the thread dial to gain a tad bit more carriage travel. Or you can remove the thread dial entirely to get even more travel.
It was only a matter of a few weekends before I stripped the cheap compound studs. I replaced them using nuts inside the crosslide & used metric SHCS instead. I found it much more convienent to use a hex key for the compound which was the same size for the carriage lock.
I started out using a drip pan from the local auto parts store as a chip pan.
Later I replaced it with a pan made for a pet cage.
Here's where I mounted the work lamp.
Some threading....