Lead screw support bearing repair.

LX Kid

LX Kid

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
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May 26, 2015
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Crafty 12x42 lead screw support bearing broke from lock up of the apron mitre gear. They are designed to break when things go wrong to keep from ruining gears. I had a spare bearing and lathe is up and running again after doing shim adjustment on the mitre gear. Now I'm trying to do a repair for a backup. I'm not much for aluminum welding so I elected to try epoxy repair. After taking measurements and propping in place I epoxy it together. Now gotta wait 24 hours for full cure. Don't see why this wouldn't work just as well as a backup. Have a new one on order.

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Chances of epoxy working well are between slim and none, with failure resulting in a spoiled job.
 
benmychree said:
Chances of epoxy working well are between slim and none, with failure resulting in a spoiled job.
Click to expand...
Your probably right but it is a backup to another one that's on order. Maybe a tie wrap around it for extra support might help! LoL
 
LX Kid said:
Your probably right but it is a backup to another one that's on order. Maybe a tie wrap around it for extra support might help! LoL
Click to expand...
Seeing that picture, I'd be more worried about a bent lead screw! 0% chance of the epoxy holding.
 
The ones on the Atlas lathes that this appears to be copied from were made of z-Mac a zinc alloy ; not very strong. They are known to break easily. It was broken on the lathe I bought. Replacement was made of block of aluminum.
 
The design of the right lead screw support bearing was to break in case of a jam or crash at the headstock end. Whenever this happens, the lead screw is supposed to eject itself from the headstock, disabling the carriage drive and cross-feed drive.
 
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I have never had the guts nor the misfortune to test it but at least in theory it should work as planned.
 
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