# Clausing 4904 Restoration Thread



## Buickgsman

I might as well start an official restoration thread for my 4904 and just make posts to it as I go.  SO here goes..  I cleaned the ways, the tailstock, and the cross slide.  The ways cleaned up very nice, barely a nick or scratch in them and the carriage moves like glass across them.  The tailstock was tough to move towards the end of the travel so I cleaned up a few burrs and polished it and it works smoothly now.  I also cleaned up the cross slide which is totally beautiful.  Overall, I am pretty thrilled with the lathe.  It will need a spindle bearing and a few other bits and pieces and a paint job, but for the most part this should be a pretty straightforward job.  First up will be getting the VFD mounted and wired up properly.   Attached are a few pictures of all the shiney metal i cleaned today.


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## Kennyd

Subscribed!

I look forward to seeing your progress Bob :thumbsup:


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## PurpLev

off to a good start. looking forward to how clean and shiny that puppy is going to be at the end


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## toag

lol lathe number 3? love it!!
can't wait to see the rebuild


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## Buickgsman

yep... lathe #3.  I did just list my Craftsman lathe in the for sale section.  I will have a hard time letting it go when the time comes,but i dont have the space for all this cast iron.  The clausing and the heavy 10 are keepers however.


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## Buickgsman

I started to think about how I was going to wire a forward/stop/reverse switch into the lathe and I had this new- older Arrow-Hart switch, (made right here in Hartford CT which is cool) and so I needed to adapt it to the stock lever/ rod setup.  I made this new adapter to couple the rod that runs through the headstock to the switch.  If I don't bore the center hole too large it should work nicely.  Then all I will have to do is shim the switch down from the bracket about a quarter of an inch and it should work great.  I'm looking forward to getting this wired up so I can control the lathe properly.


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## ScubaSteve

Man, I just love the lines of these Clausings. Burly and kind of a nice mix of modern and old school. I sold my lathe, but these are looking good. Too bad they're pricier than the average south bend, et al....


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## Sodle

I have a 4900 series, not restored, but it doesn't need that right now. Pics. Later


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## Buickgsman

Here's todays progress.  I bored the center hole for the shaft that goes through the headstock and drilled and tapped the set screw holes and installed a stop that limits the switch travel.  Everything fits perfectly.  At some point I will have the bare steel pieces black zinc coated to match all the original parts.  Next up is making 4 spacer to hold the switch lower down on the original switch bracket.


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## woodtickgreg

Subscribed! I love build threads.


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## Tamper84

Subscribed!! Hopefully this gives me ideas with my lathe!!

Chris


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## Ulma Doctor

subscribed!
a clausing will be my next lathe. it will be nice to see your restoration. 
 i started with an atlas. i love it, but, but they are bit too light for heavy work.
until then i'll live my lathe life through you....lol
thanks for the post!!
mike)


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## Buickgsman

I did a little more housekeeping on the lathe this weekend.  I finished up my switch adapter and installed that and then shimmed the switch mounting plate so it would all work.  I also adjusted the back gear engagement lockout so that when the switch is in the OFF position I can engage or disengage the back gear.  When it is in forward or reverse the back gear lever is locked out.  Next up is wiring the switch to the VFD and I am going to try and get some info on wiring a speed control potentiometer to the vfd also.  I'm going to hit up Kenny :hi: for some help there.


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## Kennyd

Buickgsman said:


> I'm going to hit up Kenny :hi: for some help there.



Kenny?  Kenny who? 

Answering your PM shorty:lmao:


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## Chuck K

I just joined the group recently and have been lurking for a couple of days. I bought a 4904 today, so I will be following your rebuild with interest.  I should be picking my lathe up later this week.  Mine has the extended cross slide casting, but no taper attachment. Keep the pics coming and at some point I'll post some of mine.


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## Buickgsman

Chuck, congrats on the purchase and we can't wait to see pics!


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## Chuck K

Thanks, I hate waiting to pick up a "new to me machine", but the fellow I bought it from is in the snow removal business and we're bracing for about 8" of snow here tonight.  It's going to be a couple of days before he can load it for me.  I have been scouring the net for info on 4904s in the meantime. Whats the procedure for running it in back gear?  I didn't see a pin to unlock the bull gear.  The owner didn't know it even had a back gear, but then he didn't know how to engage the feeds either.  Over all it seemed to be in fairly good condition.  Just needs a little tlc.

Chuck


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## Buickgsman

Chuck, send me a PM with your email and I can forward you the manual for the 4904.  The back gear is as easy as flipping the lever in the back of the headstock and pulling the pin at the end of the spindle.  

Bob


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## Chuck K

Bob, You've got mail.

Thanks, Chuck


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## Buickgsman

Tonight I looked more into my wobbly chuck dilemma and also wired the switch up to the VFD.  I was a little nervous about making the connections in the switch so that everything would work right but I took a few minutes and sat down with my ohm meter and confirmed which leads to wire up to.  Then I got lucky and found a post on another forum that basically laid out the wiring and programing of the parameters so it was super simple and worked great the first time!  I also received my enclosure today so I am going to start planning that out.  In the pics, the black, green and red wires are the switch wiring.  When I install the enclosure I will probably change them to non standard colors so they are never mistaken for a power cord.


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## Chuck K

Buickgsman said:


> Chuck, send me a PM with your email and I can forward you the manual for the 4904.  The back gear is as easy as flipping the lever in the back of the headstock and pulling the pin at the end of the spindle.
> 
> Bob




Bob, Thanks for the manual.  I didn't see the pin on the end of the spindle.  I'm not familiar with clausings so I never thought to look there.

Chuck


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## Buickgsman

I spent some time over the last few days getting the VFD installed into its enclosure.  I'm happy with the way it came out.  I did have to dummy up a board to mount it to until I get the machine over to the wall where I can mount the enclosure more permanently but this will do for the time being.  The enclosure is a 8x12x7" with clear front. I cut the aluminum plate the VFD is bolted to on the CNC Plasma at school which was a nice easy first project with that.  I needed the practice on the software so I figured what the heck.   I used liquid tight connectors for the conduit and it came out great.  I'm not looking forward to undoing it when I start the cleaning and painting process, but I will get over that.  Right now the VFD is wired to control forward, stop, and reverse from the lathe switch, and the next external control will be a pot for the variable speed which I think I might mount right on the front of the enclosure.  I do like how Kenny has his wired, so having the knob on the front of the lathe is a possiblity too.  Some pics of my progress...


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## Kennyd

Everything looks great Bob, any luck finding a pot yet?  Offer still stands if you want me to send you one...

Having the pot mounted in the belt cover has been very convenient, just be sure to add a plug so you can remove the cover easily if you go that route.


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## Chuck K

"Right now the VFD is wired to control forward, stop, and reverse from the lathe switch, and the next external control will be a pot for the variable speed which I think I might mount right on the front of the enclosure."


Bob, I'm curious...how do you have the vfd wired to the control?  I was under the impression that you couldn't have a switch between the vfd and the motor.

Chuck


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## Buickgsman

Chuck,

I was under the same impression until I looked at the VFD instructions and got some guidance from others here.  The switch is merely a control device.  It doesn't power the VFD.  The forward stop reverse switch is just that..  a switch and you program a control parameter that allows the VFD to be controlled by the switch (low voltage).  Just like the potentiometer...  one can be added externally and the parameter can be set to allow the pot to control the RPM.  Its very cool how it works.

Kenny, I haven't had a chance to look for pots yet..  thats next.  I shouldnt have any problem finding one.  I'm debating on where to put it.  I'll dummy it up and see where I like it best.  Thanks!


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## Chuck K

Thats really interesting.  I have a 1 hp Chinese vfd sitting on the shelf that I could power my clausing with.  I kind of dismissed the idea because I didn't want to give up the original controller.  Sounds like I have options.

Chuck


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## Kennyd

Chuck K said:


> Thats really interesting.  I have a 1 hp Chinese vfd sitting on the shelf that I could power my clausing with.  I kind of dismissed the idea because I didn't want to give up the original controller.  Sounds like I have options.
> 
> Chuck


Chuck, there are lots of threads here detailing how to rewire the drum switch to control the VFD.


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## Buickgsman

I did some minor things over the last few days on the lathe, mostly tidying up and I had the graphics teacher at school make these decals up for me.  I'm still on the fence with them as far as the look I was going for, but I think they will work.


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## mrbreezeet1

Where did you get that enclosure for the VFD?
Thanks,Tony


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## Buickgsman

Hi Tony,  I got the enclosure on EBay...  

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NONMETALLIC...953?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fad85cc9

Bob


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## mrbreezeet1

Buickgsman said:


> Hi Tony,  I got the enclosure on EBay...
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/NONMETALLIC...953?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fad85cc9
> 
> Bob



Nice set up. 
OK, Thanks,


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## Sodle

Not a restoration item, but a change I use and find handy .
On the crossfeed and compound dials I got tired of looking for the allen wrench all the time to re-index the dials, SO, I measured the heads of the shcs and took a 1"dia, piece of AL. knurled it, drilled it to the depth of the head on the shcs , parted it off so the drilled hole didn't come thru and pressed it on the shcs head.
Bingo! NO more searching for the wrench hiding in my pocket,just two small handy knurled "knobs".

Hope It works for you too!

Steve in Coal Country.:thinking:


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## PurpLev

Sodle said:


> Not a restoration item, but a change I use and find handy .
> On the crossfeed and compound dials I got tired of looking for the allen wrench all the time to re-index the dials, SO, I measured the heads of the shcs and took a 1"dia, piece of AL. knurled it, drilled it to the depth of the head on the shcs , parted it off so the drilled hole didn't come thru and pressed it on the shcs head.
> Bingo! NO more searching for the wrench hiding in my pocket,just two small handy knurled "knobs".
> 
> Hope It works for you too!
> 
> Steve in Coal Country.:thinking:


 got pic? mostly out of curiosity. mine does not have socket set screws for the dials, but a knurled screw very much like what it sounds like you made for yours.


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## Buickgsman

I had to read this twice to make sure we were on the same page..   my lathe has thumb screws to zero the thumbscrews...  i believe thats what they were supposed to have= super easy.  McMaster has them if you need some.

Bob


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## Kennyd

Mine had/has thumbscrews as well...


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## SBreels

I got my 4900 from work. They were getting rid of it.
Has anyone put DRO’s on theirs???
I got a set on eBay for $200 and they work pretty good so far.
Just curious on others experiences.


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