Compound rest help:

O

Old Everything Tech

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My 7 x 14 lathe is a pain to turn the compound rest handle.
I have seen several ways to help.
Drill attachments in the form of forks and "T" handles are good.
But my lathe only has one extension on the crank.
After thinking about this for a time I got to thinking....
How many of the small grinders I have trashed for failed switches and worn gears, maybe 4 or 5.
Well, it came to mind about where I put those old screw in handles.
I found one and examined it.
Hollow inside and 1/4" screw.
I took it to the band saw and cut it down to a useable length.
Put it in the lathe and turned the flange down.
I then notched it to fit the cross bar on the handle.
With a little tinkering I soon had a useable crank adapter for the battery drill that was plastic and would no score the cross-slide handle.
Try it, you will like it.
 
@Old Everything Tech

7x compounds always have been always will be a PITA unless or until you do the Bearing mod. You also need to make a slightly extended feed screw too since the original is too short!

Talking of mods, have you done any/many on your 7x?
 
I did a compound rest mod to access the allen screws under the rest.
I removed the cutter bar holder and the lock down bolt.
I indexed the location of where the allen screws would be located and scribed two lines.
I then center punched a point to drill a clearance hole for the allen wrench.
Only one hole is necessary as a second hole interrupts the jib.
I drilled the hole and had to stop at the angle under the rest.
I then inserted a small milling cutter to fit the hole and continued the cut through the angle under the rest plate.
What I found is that if you snug the left allen screw, the right one will complete the lock down.
So only one hole is necessary.
2nd mod:
I reversed the two top screws in the gear cover so that I could hang the cover on the screws and quickly remove it for change out.
This left only one nut to hold it securely in place.
 
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