Material for large pulley

Made a couple of step sheaves in my youth made from burnouts from steel plate. Took about a week after school cutting on it to get it to size on dad's 9" SBL. Finish size was about 8-1/4". Would I do it again? I would do it again in a heart beat on a bigger lathe!:D

Edit: I notice you have a 12" Atlas/Craftsman Lathe. Is this what the sheave is going on to?
 
4gsr said:
Made a couple of step sheaves in my youth made from burnouts from steel plate. Took about a week after school cutting on it to get it to size on dad's 9" SBL. Finish size was about 8-1/4". Would I do it again? I would do it again in a heart beat on a bigger lathe!:D

Edit: I notice you have a 12" Atlas/Craftsman Lathe. Is this what the sheave is going on to?
Click to expand...


Yep , thats what I was wondering . What size lathe is going to be swinging this pulley ? If it's that little lathe , he'll never have the torque or the low rpms needed . But once again , I've spent 100 hours to make something that I could have purchased for $40 . That's the illness in us !:)
 
Thanks everyone. Yes, it is for my Craftsman 12-inch lathe. The original pulley wobbles. The original is Zamac, by the way.

I searched but did not find a suitable pulley online. It has two sheaves - diameters are about 9 inch and 7 inch. I did not check with Clausing (Atlas) for an original part, but their stock of parts for old Craftsman/Atlas lathes is thin. If they happen to have it they would want big $$. Used parts do show up on eBay frequently, but they are not inexpensive and I worry that a used one might have been abused.

I had good success turning smaller 2-sheave pulleys, so I'm tempted to attempt to this one. It would be by far the largest part I have tried to turn. It might be a good learning experience or a it might be a disaster.

I have not ventured into casting at all, so for me that would be a new hobby in itself.
 
I have a piece of aluminum that is 12" OD x 6" long. Too big for my saw. If you have a way to cut it, I might try to cram it into a flat rate box and ship it to you. That would be 66 lbs.! The post office would really hate me dragging it to the counter!

On a serious note, if you have a little time on this, let me do some digging around and see what I can find for you.
 
benmychree said:
If you NEED to make one, do the aluminum, it would have less inertia, faster starts faster stops, if that is an issue, also, cast iron, which I dearly love, is less apt to run balanced than aluminum. That being said, buying one MAY be cheaper.
Click to expand...

I don't get your rational on that statement. For a lathe I would inertia should be your friend (up to a point). The inertia should help with surface finish and cut regularity. I guess the lack of inertia would be best for an emergency stop, but that would be the only plus I can think of.
Randy
 
JPMacG said:
Thanks everyone. Yes, it is for my Craftsman 12-inch lathe. The original pulley wobbles. The original is Zamac, by the way.

I searched but did not find a suitable pulley online. It has two sheaves - diameters are about 9 inch and 7 inch. I did not check with Clausing (Atlas) for an original part, but their stock of parts for old Craftsman/Atlas lathes is thin. If they happen to have it they would want big $$. Used parts do show up on eBay frequently, but they are not inexpensive and I worry that a used one might have been abused.

I had good success turning smaller 2-sheave pulleys, so I'm tempted to attempt to this one. It would be by far the largest part I have tried to turn. It might be a good learning experience or a it might be a disaster.

I have not ventured into casting at all, so for me that would be a new hobby in itself.
Click to expand...
Another thing to keep in mind when you make the sheave. Bore it for a taper lock bushing. That way you don't have to worry about the sheave crawling around on the counter shaft causing havoc later.
 
i like the idea of creating your own pulley from scratch.
sure you can buy one, but making one is satisfaction beyond measurement :grin:
every time you use that lathe, you'll know that you fit the pulley that turns the spindle, that turns the new creation

i didn't use the 2nd step on my Atlas TH42 at all
maybe you should consider whether you will be using the lathe at its higher speeds.
if you aren't using the high speeds,
you may wish to omit the high speed pulley and make a single pulley instead of a double pulley to save material and make the job a lot simpler :black eye:
 
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