Little mods making things better. (And other Stuff!)

Still not satisfied with the chuck runout. This morning I rechecked my chuck runout and it was ".008"!!! So I removed the chuck from the back plate and resurfaced the back plate again. I am showing .001" - .0015" after tap knocking alignment of the three mounting bolts. I then realigned the tailstock to the chuck, as I mentioned above, about offsetting it by about 1/32" which was not such a good idea after all. Doing a test cut on a 5" round bar stock, I'm getting .0005" - .001" difference at chuck to tailstock. I had been trying to compensate chuck runout by offsetting the tailstock and didn't work so well.
 
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LX Kid said:
Added a pointer to my cross slide hand dial. Not very accurate but it almost looks important! LoL
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Ha Ha Ha! No one caught it that I added the pointer to the carriage travel instead of the cross slide! You guys have to do a better job of keeping me strait. LoL
 
I always hated the small dial on the cross slide. I found a larger dial in the junk box on a 3/8" cross slide shaft. Don't know what it fits but I made a 5/16" bushing to use it on the 6" lathe. I left the smaller old dial on as a spacer and added a speed handle that was on the same shaft as already mentioned. Worked out great! I can now read the dial easily and set the zero to match the old one so I could use either.

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FWIW, the final version of the Atlas 12" (came out in either 1966 or 67) has has much larger dials than the 9", 10" or early 12". To swap them takes a few parts in addition to the dials themselves. So check the two parts lists. I don;t know what it would take to fit them to the 6", though.
 
After making a shaft adapter bushing, and drilling thru it, I used a tiny ball bearing below the set screw that secures it to the shaft. I also used a woodruff key to secure the speed handle as well the shaft nut. Seems to work quite well, "so far."
 
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I've had my little 6" Craftsman about three or four years now and really like it for the little bit of playing around I do with it. I'm really not liking the "slop" in the carriage handles though. I've replaced the brass nuts but didn't do much for improvement. I do realize this lathe was made in 1943 and it's not a young puppy! Don't think there are new cross slide parts available to accurize the dials. If I can't take out the slop I'm considering selling it and getting a new Grizzly lathe. My lathe really runs "sweet" and would like to keep it! Does anyone know if there are any other carriages, or modified carriages, that would fit my lathe?
 

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Has anyone added DRO's to their 6" Atlas / Craftsman lathe X & Y axis? I'd sure like to know more about it!
 
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