Busy Bee DF1224G Metal Lathe

[q20v]

Hi everyone,

I purchased this Busy Bee Lathe about a year ago and I'm just about set-up in terms of basic tooling and machine readiness. The pictures below are from the day we unloaded the lathe into my garage. I've since cleaned it up and inspected most of the parts it came with. I will be posting updated pictures in the next few days. My experience with lathes is minimal but I'm eager to learn and have been absorbing huge amounts of information on the net and in books.

Here are the specs:

Busy Bee DF1224G
Swing over bed: 12"
Swing over saddle: 6"
Between Centers: 24"
Spindle bore: 1-9/16"
Spindle speed: 60-1300 RPM
Metric pitches: 0.25-7.5mm
Inch threads: 4-112 TPI
Motor: 1.5 hp
Weight: 620 lbs (280kg)

Included Tooling:

4-sided tool post
Lantern-style tool post
Milling attachment
Numerous collets
Drill chuck
Live and dead centers
3 fly cutters and 2 boring bars
8" 3-Jaw chuck
8" 4-Jaw chuck
Pieces of a Lever Collet Closer

I have already made a few parts which I will describe in upcoming posts, but for now I would just like to say Hello and I look forward to picking your brains!

My next project looks like it will be a handwheel collet closer since the lever closer that came with the lathe is incomplete.

More pictures to come!







Barry

 

[q20v]

Hi again,

Here are a few more pictures of the clean up.

This is where she rooted herself in the garage:


This gummed up oil was all over the machine:


I cleaned it off with WD-40, scraped some of the tougher spots with a straight-edge, cleaned residual oil with brake cleaner, then applied a thin layer of ISO68 oil. Not sure if this is to the book, but it seemed to work well.

3-Jaw Chuck being cleaned:


More gunk:


Re-assembled:




Gears:


Mounted up a crank shaft just for fun:


Thanks for looking,

Barry

 

[Ray C]

Looks great -and the wooden bench is unique. I bet it absorbs the vibration well. How well does it function?

Ray

 

[pdentrem]

Looked like it was still in the cosmoline. Nice lathe.

What is the crank out of? 5 cylinder or V10?
Pierre

 

[OakRidgeGuy]

I am like Ray, how is that bench that you made working out? I am curious.

 

[q20v]

OakRidgeGuy & Ray C

The wooden stand came with the lathe. My original plan was to take it apart and give the wood to my brother to burn in his fireplace, but after I inspected it I found it to be quite rigid and heavy. Down the center of each leg is a full length threaded rod, and after I tightened them all up the stand is surprisingly solid. I decided to keep it for the time being.

The one thing I haven't done yet is level the lathe and align the tail stock. I keep putting off leveling the lathe because I don't yet have a machinist's level, and I'm not quite sure how I'll tackle the adjustments since the stand doesn't have any provisions for this.

pdentrem
Thanks! Crank is out of a 5-cylinder Audi. Ties in with my call sign, q20v, "quattro 20 valve". I had a 1990 Audi 90 for 11 years, now I drive a 1990 Audi Coupe. Both have the same 2.3 liter 20 valve 5 cylinder engines.

Barry

 

[OakRidgeGuy]

years ago, I had a Audi Fox.. it was a cool lil car!

 

[mohocamo]

Hi q20v. I have the same lathe as you and I got it in pieces for $600 can. I thought I couldn't go too far wrong. I posted a thread looking for some help with wiring. What I could REALLY use is a picture of the wiring off the back of your motor. I have been searching the net but have not been fruitful. I found a post here by zonk2 that had pics, but his are different from mine. Same colours, but different configurations. Here is a pic of the wires out the back of my motor. Any help would be great.
Thanks
Joe

 

[q20v]

Hey Joe,

Quite the thread revival. I barely remember starting this thread! I do have a bunch of wiring pics I took for another forum member a while back, they are on my other computer and I will post them up within the next day or two.

And congrats on the purchase. For $600 you definitely can't go wrong. I've been using mine regularly for the past 4 years and it hasn't skipped a beat. Funny though, I read my first few posts above and I mentioned aligning the tail stock.. I only just did this a month ago and it was out quite a bit, about 5 thou if I recall correctly. Got it within half a thou I think it was in the end. It was very frustrating using long drill bits as the hole always came out larger than the drill size! Not sure why I didn't do it earlier...

Barry

 

[mohocamo]

Here is the wiring diagram in the maual