# I needed a Carriage Stop



## louosten (Jan 29, 2021)

I have a 12"x24" Taiwanese Lathe dated 1982, and branded as an Enco 92010 model. Pretty good machine, and having been cared for by previous owners, it is still reasonably accurate. It did not come with a carriage stop, which I needed; after doing endless searches for a proper accessory, I came to the conclusion that I'd probably have to make my own. After going through some planning, and finally doing the machining, I came up with this:







I know there have been other posts about making carriage stops, so I'll refrain from the boring details unless there is sufficient interest in this particular reincarnation of a useful accessory. Most of the dimensions are not critical, and modifications can be made; but since this would probably fit most of the asian lathe bedways, someone might find the exercise useful.

Let me know, and if it does appear useful to enough people, I'll post some details of the process...

Lou O.


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## DavidR8 (Jan 29, 2021)

Looks good!
Details would be definitely appreciated


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## benmychree (Jan 29, 2021)

Why the springs?


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## sdelivery (Jan 29, 2021)

Nice looking peice. Have you tried it out? I think you are going to want to leave out the springs as you need your stop tight to the way.
I like it and you can continue to modify it as your needs and skills progress.


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## Mitch Alsup (Jan 29, 2021)

If the bolt were replaced with a micrometer head, you could use the stop for both roughing and for the finish pass.

I, also, see no reason for the springs--just a point of weakness.


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## .LMS. (Jan 30, 2021)

springs make sense to me - push down on the bolts to open the bottom, slide onto the bed, release, it's held in place for tightening instead of the bottom being flippy floppy while tightening.


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## MetalPlane (Feb 1, 2021)

Made a similar stop. When using the feed, I couldn't disengage the feed fast enough and ran into the stop. I found the reason they use a "Plastic" drive gear on my Jet 9X20 lathe Expensive lesson. I assume the springs are to avoid this problem. HAve you had a similar problem? do the springs help?


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## Weldingrod1 (Feb 1, 2021)

I would counter bore a pocket around the clamping screws; going solid on the spring and then squashing it isnt going to make for a happy spring! You want the washers to touch the body.

Otherwise, nice job on the stop!

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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## .LMS. (Feb 1, 2021)

Weldingrod1 said:


> I would counter bore a pocket around the clamping screws; going solid on the spring and then squashing it isnt going to make for a happy spring! You want the washers to touch the body.


If you look closely at the pic, it looks like the OP did exactly that - the bore is wider than the bolts and the springs recess into the bore.

Speaking of the OP, wonder where he went.....


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## louosten (Feb 1, 2021)

The 'OP' has heard your pleas, and will respond with construction details...


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## louosten (Feb 3, 2021)

louosten said:


> The 'OP' has heard your pleas, and will respond with construction details...


OK, Gentlemen. I've compiled a procedure of sorts, to enable you to build a similar contraption to the one mentioned earlier. The details are pretty simple and straightforward, but it took me a while to decide how to build it:

I had a few parameters to consider; size, one clamping bolt or two; accessible from the top, where to put the stop bolt, how big to make the actual clamping piece; simplicity of fabrication; and others.

I couldn't find the preferred configuration online, so I made a cardboard cutout of the general shape, that would fit the ways on my lathe, and give me the clamping force I wanted:

The cutout would need to fit fairly well, as indicated by the picture:


I decided to make the body from a spare block of aluminum I had...to big initially but it was pared down to the correct size after marking it out:

The block was then squared up to facilitate vise holding to drill the required holes:

With all the holes drilled, the block is semi-finished:


I used 1/4" x 21/2" socket-head cap screws for the clamp, and one 5/16" fine thread bolt for the stop itself. All the bolts, springs, nuts, and washers can be purchased at your friendly Ace Hardware Store. The springs are there to keep the parts together, and they disappear into the counterbore to allow the clamping bolts full travel against the block.

Since my block was bigger than I needed, I cut out that portion before milling operations:


Then I proceeded to mill down to the inscribed lines as indicated from the scaled cutout:


After the horizontal milling, I needed to come up with a way to mill the 90 degree way angle. I didn't have a fancy tilt angle plate, so I used an inverted angle iron with the block bolted with the clamping bolts:


After a little clean-up with a file, the majority of the work is done. You need to make the clamping plate, which I formed from a piece of 3/16" plate steel. This could be as thick as 1/4" but probably not necessary:

I need to mention my clamping philosophy. The contact area for the clamp, in my mind, needed to be as large as possible. When I measured the edge under the way, it was about 1/2" from the outside to the surface of the carriage rack. I wanted to get as close as possible to the rack and still have some play, so when you investigate your clearances, please check this. Also, as you draw the clamp up to touch the way, there only needs to be about 1/32" or even 1/64" of 'negative clearance' to create an awesome clamping force. By that I mean that the clamping bolts are basically putting the metal of the clamp in compression, almost a shearing action, that will guarantee holding power:


Here is the finished carriage stop against the carriage apron:


I think the final result turned out OK. I had to do some file clean-up on the way 'Vees' due to the angle iron not having been precisely aligned...but overall it behaved as intended. Like I said in the beginning of this thread, the project is sort of experimental with only the rudimentary configuration given, however it can be modified in a myriad of different ways. 


I think the important takeaway is to make sure that you make some measurements on your particular machine to insure that the dimensions reported here will work...good luck!


Lou O.


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## riversidedan (Jun 15, 2021)

why does it have to be metal why not some kind of  coated hard wood


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## benmychree (Jun 15, 2021)

riversidedan said:


> why does it have to be metal why not some kind of  coated hard wood


It is doubtful that wood would be hard enough to allow enough clamping force to not slide on the ways.


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## riversidedan (Jun 15, 2021)

so those springs must be to tension the block down on the ways


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## benmychree (Jun 15, 2021)

riversidedan said:


> so those springs must be to tension the block down on the ways


They just maintain some tension on the bolts until the bolts are finally tightened down, they are not really necessary to the operation of the stop.


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