How to avoid running into my chuck on power feed.

No clutch on my lathe. The solution is "lots of coffee, Cat-Like reflexes, and paying attention like you are driving in heavy traffic in a chaotic Asian country".
 
I'll jump in but a little late and maybe not the best solution for you but a couple fo years ago I went to go look at a home shop of an aerospace engineer who passed away and the son wanted to unload his machine.
He had a industrial Craftsman lathe with what I thought was a really cool set up to stop the tool from crashing into the chuck. He installed a rail with anvil looking stop to trip the feed screw that you could adjust. He modified the feed screw nut lever to make it longer and to disengage when it passed over the anvil stop. I tested it and it worked great.
These are the only pics I have of the day I saw it and unfortunately the deal didn't work out. The previous owner of this lathe had all kinds of cool machines and tooling that I was able to come home with but not the lathe. He originally designed the food carts for airlines that get pushed down the aisle to feed you your booze and glorified Hungry Man meals. I have one in my shop that was made as a prototype for PamAm and love it.

Not the best pics but should be understandable and could be one solution for you?UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_a13.jpg

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_a15.jpg

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_a0b.jpg
 
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Interesting
What was the purpose of the plate on the headstock?
 
It looks like it is part of the "three-sided-box" which entirely wraps the area where chips could be flung (besides Towards the operator). It is best seen in picture number 3.
 
addertooth said:
It looks like it is part of the "three-sided-box" which entirely wraps the area where chips could be flung (besides Towards the operator). It is best seen in picture number 3.
Click to expand...

Doh!
Guess I should have looked a little less hard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sometimes you just make things from what you have on hand.
 
Set your carriage stop at the end of your cut. With the carriage at this position, spin the chuck by hand, to check for interference. If you have a graduated carriage wheel, set it to zero, at this position. If you don’t have a graduated wheel, mark its position with a grease pencil, or something.
Make your cuts using power feed. As you approach the end point, watch your carriage wheel. Disengage before reaching your reference point on the wheel, and make the final movement to the stop by hand, should only be a few thousandths, with practice.
Shorter answer: disengage power feed before crashing.
 
dpb is correct and he said it better than in my brief description. you can move the power feed trip (I call it an anvil) anywhere you want to and set it where you want the carriage to stop, would be useful for repeating when threading.....etc, it didn't interfere with the cross slide power feed lever. When testing it, the carriage stopped immediately as it passed over the anvil. I would make the anvil trip a little more convenient to move, it was bolted down tight for basic stop just before tool would hit the chuck but it was adjustable any anywhere on the entire bed way.
I like this solution and could see this being an option for the OP? What do you guys think?

What you see and asked about is a very well made chip screen made out of aluminum sheeting (pressed, shaped and welded and not 3/4") and a clear polycarbonate screen that was hinged (as seen in pic #3). It was was not bad at all, well designed, zero vibration, didn't seem to get in the way of anything and easy to deal with. I myself would probably leave it up, out of the way to watch the cutting closer up as I love picking out swarf sticking to my arms :)

It was a good little lathe with very little use on it, hopefully it found a good new owner.
 
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