The rear cap screws on. Nothing more than that.
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Beautiful old American Iron and Steel
- Thread starter Batmanacw
- Start date
I was starting to think I was going to have a difficult time getting decent finishes out of the old ME lathe. Last week I fixed the bearings and that helped but I still needed a pretty heavy cut to get near smooth. I was using a TPG322 insert tool.
Then I changed out the TPG322 insert that had a frosted looking tin coating for one with a shiney tin coating and I started getting fairly smooth light cuts with some light lubrication to help matters a bit. I'm so relieved it don't have words. On light cuts it doesn't have the speed to produce a shiny cut but it is able to produce a slick feeling surface that is good enough.
I real like that old lathe.
Then I changed out the TPG322 insert that had a frosted looking tin coating for one with a shiney tin coating and I started getting fairly smooth light cuts with some light lubrication to help matters a bit. I'm so relieved it don't have words. On light cuts it doesn't have the speed to produce a shiny cut but it is able to produce a slick feeling surface that is good enough.
I real like that old lathe.
Okay...... I'm dumb. I forgot to check to see if my T nut was lower than the top of my cross slide when tightened up. It was 0.011" too high!!! No wonder I was having weird issues!
Fixed it and it fixed everything. Much less tearing in the cut. I'm so relieved it's not even funny.
Fixed it and it fixed everything. Much less tearing in the cut. I'm so relieved it's not even funny.
The ME lathe saga continues. I worked with it all day trying to get a combination of tool and feed that will give a nice finish. By contrast, the CJ lathe gives perfectly acceptable finishes easily with all the same tools.
This lathe had a lot of play in the main bearing when I started trying playing with it. I had set back the nose 0.050" to tighten up the taper on the spindle inside the mating babbitt taper. I don't know how long it ran like that 50+ years ago.... I do not know how much distortion there is in the babbitt.
When I fixed it the bearings started off pretty snug and the finish got way better. I decided to tighten up the spindle bearings again to see if I can slightly wear them in.
The spindle has quite a bit of drag right now as the babbitt wears in again. I might flush out the sae30 and run some 20 wt while breaking in.
This shows the difference in finish from earlier today and right now.
I'm not new to running lathes. There is still an issue I'm working through. Telling me about the wonders of hss isn't fixing this issue. I think the bearings will break in over the next week or two and be much better. I've got work to do.
This lathe had a lot of play in the main bearing when I started trying playing with it. I had set back the nose 0.050" to tighten up the taper on the spindle inside the mating babbitt taper. I don't know how long it ran like that 50+ years ago.... I do not know how much distortion there is in the babbitt.
When I fixed it the bearings started off pretty snug and the finish got way better. I decided to tighten up the spindle bearings again to see if I can slightly wear them in.
The spindle has quite a bit of drag right now as the babbitt wears in again. I might flush out the sae30 and run some 20 wt while breaking in.
This shows the difference in finish from earlier today and right now.
I'm not new to running lathes. There is still an issue I'm working through. Telling me about the wonders of hss isn't fixing this issue. I think the bearings will break in over the next week or two and be much better. I've got work to do.
This should get across the difference. Both surfaces of this bar were run at the same 417 rpm and 0.010" per rev. The short section is the tighter bearings.
The difference is huge.
The bearings are much slower to loosen up this time. That is a good thing.
This is the first time I have had a decent cut at 0.003" per rev. It isn't shiny but it is as smooth as a baby's butt.
Today was a good day.
The difference is huge.
The bearings are much slower to loosen up this time. That is a good thing.
This is the first time I have had a decent cut at 0.003" per rev. It isn't shiny but it is as smooth as a baby's butt.
Today was a good day.
Mystery steel about 2.5" diameter. Far left is the Carroll Jamieson at 510 rpm and 0.005 per rev at 0.015" depth of cut with a CCMT. The far right is the Mulliner Enlund running 417 rpm, 0.005" at 0.015" depth of cut with a CCMT. The middle was the ME with everything the same but a TPG322 insert. I know which one I'd take....lol!
I worked on the Carroll Jamieson today to try and clean the bearings because of an issue with a 0.001" wobble in the spindle as I dial stuff in. Turns out the bearings have some wear after a hard 88 years. The spindle is moving better now.
I'm pretty okay with the surface finish on both machines with all the imperfections. Both machines cut accurately. Both function well.
Neither are perfect. Both combined cost me $300 plus some tooling and a vfd. Not bad.
I worked on the Carroll Jamieson today to try and clean the bearings because of an issue with a 0.001" wobble in the spindle as I dial stuff in. Turns out the bearings have some wear after a hard 88 years. The spindle is moving better now.
I'm pretty okay with the surface finish on both machines with all the imperfections. Both machines cut accurately. Both function well.
Neither are perfect. Both combined cost me $300 plus some tooling and a vfd. Not bad.