10" Atlas rebuild

[iron man]

Wow, what a beautiful job you've done on your lathe iron man! Very nice work, bet it's a hoot to use now. Your last pic of the large dial setup... don't suppose you have any pics of the locking mechanism/nut on the end and the bearings you mentioned. Did you make the extension tube and dial or what did the dial come off of something bigger?

Thanks Bob I dont have pictures of the part I machined but i can explain how I did it. I machined the cylinder to accept two bearings that press in and each end the press up against a shoulder. At the end where the dial is it is counter bored a bit for a needle type thrust beaaring I had laying around just so the dial would spin free. I had made a new lead screw so I made it longer and I machined it so when you tighten up the nut that holds the handle on it pre-loads the bearings but does not affect the dial.. The stock one uses the dial as a thrust surface, (very dumb) under the pressure of a cut you cannot spin the dial I avoided that.

The dial I make my own now but before I did that I called this guy up and got him to sell me a 200 space dial only. You could use any 200 space dial that you could retro-fit.

http://tallgrasstools.com/AtlasDials.html

It is alot more accurate and easy to read I dont have to stand there and divide what the dial is saying in half anymore less mistakes and that is what I am use to running anyway. Thanks for the comments. Ray

 

[stevecmo]

I'm curious about the dial also - whether you made it or purchased it. That's a mod that I HAVE to do on my Logan but don't really have the means to make a dial. I need to purchase a rotary table and dividing head for my mill, so I keep postponing the dial conversion. I've looked places hoping to find larger dials as replacement parts but so far haven't turned up a good source.

Nice job on the lathe too! :thumbsup:

Steve

 

[iron man]

I'm curious about the dial also - whether you made it or purchased it. That's a mod that I HAVE to do on my Logan but don't really have the means to make a dial. I need to purchase a rotary table and dividing head for my mill, so I keep postponing the dial conversion. I've looked places hoping to find larger dials as replacement parts but so far haven't turned up a good source.

Nice job on the lathe too! :thumbsup:

Steve

Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.

 

[Gadget]

Wow, that's very impressive. I should do something with mine but am afraid I would only make it worse.

 

[schor]

Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.

Thanks for the tallgrass link.

Any chance you can take your cross slide mod apart and take a picture of the parts?

 

[iron man]

I think that would be possible give me a couple days things have been a little wild lately. There really is not much to it, I will look there might be some photos of it apart I have somewhere. Ray

 

[stevecmo]

Give the guy at tallgrass a call he will make a dial for any lathe I would suggest you just buy the dial and make the rest of the parts.

Yes, I'm familiar with Tallgrass and have dealt with Jan in the past. I just can't justify $150 for a dial. Maybe I'm cheap.......but I prefer thrifty or frugal better. )

So did you buy the dial from Jan?

 

[iron man]

Yes, I'm familiar with Tallgrass and have dealt with Jan in the past. I just can't justify $150 for a dial. Maybe I'm cheap.......but I prefer thrifty or frugal better. )

So did you buy the dial from Jan?

I am not sure who I talked to he agreed to sell me just the dial for $40 which is not to bad considering all the work that goes into one. I made some aluminum shims for the jaws of my chuck and machined the rest of the dial the way I wanted it. I also doubled the legth of the cross slide nut this really helps with back lash and probably helps with reducing chatter.

On the other hand I am cheap as well I like making the dials on my lathe, an easy way to index off of your lathe is start tearing apart old machines until you find a gear that has 200 teeth,, machine it so you can secure it to the back of your spindle. Now make a spring loaded pludger that fits in the teeth every space score your line on your dial. I purchased a 1/16th stamps from grizzly for little of nothing and they work good finish up with those...Ray

 

[caveBob]

Thanks Bob I dont have pictures of the part I machined but i can explain how I did it. I machined the cylinder to accept two bearings that press in and each end the press up against a shoulder. At the end where the dial is it is counter bored a bit for a needle type thrust beaaring I had laying around just so the dial would spin free. I had made a new lead screw so I made it longer and I machined it so when you tighten up the nut that holds the handle on it pre-loads the bearings but does not affect the dial.. The stock one uses the dial as a thrust surface, (very dumb) under the pressure of a cut you cannot spin the dial I avoided that.

The dial I make my own now but before I did that I called this guy up and got him to sell me a 200 space dial only. You could use any 200 space dial that you could retro-fit.

http://tallgrasstools.com/AtlasDials.html

It is alot more accurate and easy to read I dont have to stand there and divide what the dial is saying in half anymore less mistakes and that is what I am use to running anyway. Thanks for the comments. Ray

I'm kind of in the middle of doing something very similar. Used a 5" long chrome moly tube that I JB-Welded onto the nut. Turned down a couple steps on the dial mount end on the inside to house an acetal bearing for radial load, and like you, have needle bearings for axial load. Just need to make a fitting on the end for the outer needle bearings, then a hub for the dial/reader line.

Just got off of ebay looking for a larger dial and stumbled across a bridgeport dial:



Milling Machine Part- Dial w/200 Graduation Table/Cross - $36 shipping included
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milling-Machine-Part-Dial-w-200-Graduation-Table-Cross-/171021870749

200 divisions, but from the specs on that page... ~3.25 diameter. Ought to be here within a week... and should be just a tad easier to read...

 

[Mondo]

....<snip>...Just got off of ebay looking for a larger dial and stumbled across a bridgeport dial:

View attachment 73059

Milling Machine Part- Dial w/200 Graduation Table/Cross - $36 shipping included
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milling-Machine-Part-Dial-w-200-Graduation-Table-Cross-/171021870749

200 divisions, but from the specs on that page... ~3.25 diameter. Ought to be here within a week... and should be just a tad easier to read...

Are you intending on using that on yer Atlas cross-slide? Hrmmmmm..... 200 divs.... but the screw is 10 tpi....it will still be a full turn to make 10 thou advance. So each full division will equal 1/2 a thou advance. Interesting.