# One Good Reason To Have A Gap Bed Lathe!



## xalky (Dec 21, 2013)

I need to do my brakes on my work van. It's an 06 Chevy E3500. The rotors all had plenty of meat left on them so I decided I was gonna try and turn them myself. I located it from the hub area and bolted them to a face plate. I had to remove the gap bed section so that the rotor would clear the ways. I have a 12" lathe and these rotors are like 14" in diameter. It took me a while to figure out how to mount and locate the first one but now that I have it figured out the next 3 won't take long at all. 

Now I can do my brakes at my leisure plus save about $80 to turn the 4 rotors. It takes about an hour and a half to do 1 rotor, because i can only do one side at a time, I can walk away from the machine and let her run on auto cross feed.





I had to use a large boring bar to get the reach I needed. But it worked out well. It's obviously not as quick as using a Brake lathe. 

I basically did it because I can. If I was busy, I would just brought them to get turned, but they don't work nights and weekends and I do. They mic up nice all the way around, within .0005. I'm happy about it.

It's gonna cost me about $100 to do brakes on all 4 wheels with the new ceramic pads. Can't beat that with a stick! 

Marcel


----------



## Bill Gruby (Dec 22, 2013)

Please don't say you walk away from the lathe while it's running and not watch it. Ouch. It could be could spell  disaster if something fails. Just think of what would happen if it failed at the second you got back and you were in the wrong position.

 Nice approach though to get the job done.

 "Billy G"


----------



## xalky (Dec 22, 2013)

It's not like I'm leaving the room. I can see it and hear it the whole time. It's a very slow feed and a light cut, .010-.015 max. It takes about 30 mins to make a pass at 110 RPM. :LOL:


----------



## Bill Gruby (Dec 22, 2013)

You Neophytes, it is not common practice, nor good practice to leave a running lathe at any time. It matters not how far away you are nor the speed of the lathe. An accident only takes a split second to happen.

 "Billy G"


----------



## xalky (Dec 22, 2013)

I agree with Bill totally. I certainly didn't want to send the wrong message that it's OK to walk away from a running machine. That's never OK. 
I've been running machines for years, and I know what a tool gone awry sounds like. 

In this case the cut is a very safe simple cut with loads of time to stop things should a tool break. As I said I'm right there, throwing a glance over every 30 seconds and checking things out.

Marcel


----------



## blay127 (Jan 6, 2015)

where did you chuck up on the rotor and did you indicate the mounting face to make sure its running true before cutting? i need to do mine too, just afraid of all that nasty cast iron powder


----------



## xalky (Jan 6, 2015)

I did indicate it. I do remember indicating the inside hub diameter and the hub face. These were pretty large rotors for my 1 ton van. Heck, if I can remember how I exactly grasped them, that was over a year ago, I can barely remember what I ate yesterday.:lmao: I remember having 2 different setups, one for the outside face and another for the inside face. If I were to do it again, I'd just take them to an auto parts store and have them do it. The setup time was a killer, not worth it IMO.)


----------



## GA Gyro (Jan 6, 2015)

The part about 'walking away' from a machine that is making a cut... 
Which worries me:

Someone months from now... could read that post and determine it was OK to do so....
And either get hurt or tear something up.  

IMO good catch to make issue of not paying attention to the machine as long as it is running. 

At the heating and AC forum I frequent... we have a NO DIY policy... for this very reason. 
Some HO's (homeowners) could well read something and get seriously hurt... or worse.


----------



## Micke S (Jan 6, 2015)

Quite interesting. Can you post before/after pics on the surface for this operation?


----------

