I could really use some advice about making a part...

ttabbal said:
If it doesn't work, you might be able to make the part you can on the lathe and I bet someone here with a mill would be willing to mill the flats for you.

If you end up looking for a milling attachment, there are a few of us with them sitting around. I have one of these.. http://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-Milling-Attachment-for-G4000/T10721

Decent part, but I ended up buying a Bridgeport. I'm sure I'm not the only one to do something like that. :)
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I could absolutely use one of those!
 
markba633csi said:
I've heard that part is a weak link on these lathes, possibly due to "zinc pest" ; a deterioration which affects zamak parts due to impurities in the zinc
People who collect rare die cast toys sometimes encounter it- in severe cases the metal can literally crumble to dust
mark
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I read that too so I went ahead and ordered the little one for the compound and some other miscellaneous parts as well. I will be sure to update this post and create a new post over in the EMCO section that will go over all the parts that are a good match so others searching in the future will be able to find that info.
 
Funds are a little tight right now, but I will be looking for something like that in the future. I will be sure to check with everyone about it!
 
Maybe you have a welder or acetylene torch in your shop..................:sherlock: or a friend who has one................:idea:

The casting is good enough to use as a pattern for making the part out of steel. It could be made in three pieces
and put together in "weldment" style. The weldment would be much stronger than the original part so would be
a nice improvement. Another option would be to silver solder the three pieces together which would allow easy
positioning of the pieces and repositioning them if needed. The round part could be made on the lathe and
the remaining parts roughed out with a hack saw and file.
 
OK, here is an update on the leadscrew mount for the cross slide that I ordered from Grizzly that is made for the G4000 lathe. The part is 3mm shorter than the Compact 8 version but works perfectly fine without a spacer block to make up the difference in the shorter part. The only thing I did was add a thin washer that I made out of HDPE between the handwheel and the leadscrew mount. The reason I did this is because the Grizzly leadscrew mount is made out of steel and has a surface that almost feels like it is etched. When you turned the handwheel (which is aluminum) it felt like sandpaper was between the two parts. HDPE wears well and really smoothed out the feel while turning the handwheel. Smooth as glass now and works great! If you take a look at the picture you can see there is a gap between the handwheel/micrometer collar. That is where the HDPE washer is between the two parts. The only other thing I had to do was open up the hole for the leadscrew shaft about .15mm on handwheel side of the new part. The hole is fine throughout most of the length but about 3/4 of an inch from the end where the shaft comes through was just a bit too small in diameter for the shaft to fit through.
It wasn't exactly a plug and play part, but it was easy enough to make it work and the part should be much more durable than the original!
IMG_20181116_102238.jpg
 
Oh, I forgot to mention. The part may not be steel. It may be cast iron or possibly even 3d printed metal???
I know magnets stick to it and it is heavy. When I drilled the hole out slightly larger it didn't make any curls or chips like steel normally does. It drilled very easily and made a fine black powder instead of cut bits of metal. Any ideas? I'm not very experienced with metal work but I have drilled steel plenty and this didn't seem like normal steel when I drilled it.
 
I knew that metal powder is used in metal 3d printing, I didn't know that it was used prior to that but it makes sense! Thanks, I learned something new today :encourage:
The part is nice and seems pretty sturdy, I think it will hold up well.
 
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