Is it feasible to make a new spindle?

ycroosh

ycroosh

Active User
H-M Supporter - Commercial Member
Good afternoon,
Crazy question: is it feasible to make a spindle for a lathe at home? The spindle in my "new" 1979 Jet 10x24 lathe has been bored out, so it doesn't have a morse taper (used to be MT3), so I can't use collets without a collet chuck (that costs mucho dinero...).
The original was made from S45C Steel and as far as I can tell is not hardened. Is it one of those jobs that looks deceivingly doable and is not really possible at home, or is there a chance I can actually make a useable spindle? Another alternative is to take a chance and get a spindle from Grizzly (it appears to have sold a similar lathe (12x36) and the headstock looks pretty similar.

Thank you
Yuriy
 
I have made a small spindle (for an in-progress tool and cutter grinder), and I can tell you, it was one of the most challenging projects I have undertaken. It would definitely be an interesting project though.

If you choose to go with a replacement part, check out Grizzly, most of the pieces should be compatible. I would also suggest that making a collet chuck would be a simpler project than a new spindle ;)
 
I know my lathe doesn't have a taper (just a 1 1/4" hollow shaft) and contemplated doing something to be able to use collets on the lathe. After reading many posts here I remember someone posting to just get a spindle with the taper you want, and bolt it through the existing one. I used an R8 spindle from LMS for my mill, and im pretty sure I could also put one through my existing lathe bore, tighten it with the lock nut and be set. Since Im no machinist by trade it seems a lot easier than trying to make a tapered spindle (just don't feel confident enough and pretty sure I could NEVER get it as accurate as a premade one).
 
Absolutely

I made one for an old lathe that my brother had bought cheap way back in the mid 1970's. The machine he had bought was an old cone head Nuttall lathe. Nuttall was an Australian lathe. My brothers machine was missing the spindle, pulley and the gear on the spindle.
I was only an apprentice at the time. We got a lump of bar (after all this time I have no idea what it was) and set it up between centres in my uncles lathe. Roughed it out all over and then finish machined the bearing journals, and the bits where the pulley and gears went.
We were able to buy a new replacement pulley and the gear attached to the pulley. I made the other gear blank and my TAFE (trade school) teacher used it as a demo for the class and cut the teeth using a Sunderland gear planer that was in the workshop at TAFE.
We then scraped the bearings in (it had plain bearings in the head) and then put it all together. We then finished turned the spindle nose and taper on the machine itself.
My brother still has the old machine and as far as I'm aware its still working ok though he doesn't use it much.

In your case if you don't have access to another machine then you would probably have to strip yours down to measure the spindle , then re-assemble to use the machine to make the new spindle.

Another thought I just had - would there be enough material in the front of your existing spindle to sleeve it and then remachine the taper? If there is enough material I reckon you would get away with a sleeve. loctite it in with 3 or 4 scotch keys to lock it. If possible that would be a lot easier and quicker than making a complete new spindle.

regards
bollie7
 
Why not make an adaptor for the spindle?:dunno: That way you still hav the larger through hole if you need it.
 
I had a similar problem with my Logan lathe. It was supposed to have an MT3 spindle taper, but doesn't. I'm 99.9% sure that the spindle wasn't bored. Scott Logan says they did make some lathes with a straight bore and I obviously got one. Anyway, I made an ER-40 collet chuck. It really wasn't that difficult and now I can pass 1" stock thru my spindle.

If you do a search in the Shop Made Tooling forum you will find a couple of pic's.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
I vote for an insert adapter. You could even make up several ie. MT, 5C, and ER etc. My 13" Collchester uses a tapered insert to provide a #3 MT in the spindle.
Certainly much more straight forward than a new spindle.
Michael
 
It is a pretty safe bet that the design hasn't changed in the years since it was made. Probably much cheaper to buy a replacement than to make one. I picked up an extra spindle for my little Chinese made lathe for another project and it was only $40. I would have been hard pressed to make one with the materials cost and tooling to have matched the price for one complete. You really can't compete with mass produced products even if they were not made in a 3rd world country.

Now, I don't know your lathe but unless it had an integral gear of some kind, the only part I would see as something that would be a problem would be any keyways that it needs. The internal taper would take a bit of time but getting it close and a MT3 reamer would fix that. Just slow and careful turning to diameter and finish up with a tool post grinder. The final turning would be perfectly true as you finish it up on the lathe itself.

That said, I would rather have the through chuck capacity and leave it and just make an adapter for the collets you want to use.
 
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