The newest installment concerning my new shop.
The PM 12x36 showed up a couple of weeks ago. No damage discernable. Got it into the shop and the top off the crate.
Next came a series of days getting new countertops for the kitchen for the DSU (& me, too). Needed to fab some support brackets for the breakfast bar. Seemed like a pretty easy task. I cut the material (3/8x2.0 SS) {yeah, I know--kinda-sorta overkill, but they look nice}. Clamped the pieces to a machined 90 degree block and TIGed them up. Nice looking welds, I think.
I never checked them for square (bad plan) after releasing them from the angle block. TIGed in a 45 support brace (3/8x1.0 SS), and when I went to install them (insert nasty, unpure thoughts & words here). They were so far out of square as to be unusable. So, I ground out the weld from one end of the 45 support and cut the rear of the 90 and stretched the angle till it was truly 90. That required an extension to the 45 of about 5/16. Made that change to all of them and got them all TIGed up, and they look surprisingly OK.
Spent a bit of time with my pal Google, and learned about the nasty tendency of SS to warp when welding. I suppose that I should have known about that, but "Oh Well". Anyway, the PM932 worked great for beveling the ends and drilling the bolt holes.
For the last couple of days, I have been building the base for the 12x36. My design is similar to the one by Gary K. (Next several pics) After getting the rectangles TIGed up, I started to drill for the leveling feet. I experienced a senior moment, and drilled for a foot at each corner of one of the rectangles. WRONG!!
I only planned on two leveling feet per rectangle. I had only ordered 4 of the feet. I had already TIGed on two nuts (in the corner) shown in the pic before I caught my mistake. So, instead of grinding them off, I just left them as a reminder to be more careful. One piece of the tubing had a considerable dent in it just where I planned to weld the nut. Knowing that it would be impossible to get it flat, I decided to scab a piece of 3/16x2 onto the tube and then welded the nut to that piece. Also, it will insure that the weight of the lathe does not collapse the tube. I obtained most of my material from a semi-scrap/metal yard here in Delaware. Everything is rusted pretty badly--considerable wire brushing and sanding to get down to shiny metal--totally useable, just a lot of extra work.
Now, before I get a lot of grief about the number of support/leveling feet, think about the following. The base cabinets are sheet metal. They sit on 2 inch square tubing that is approximately 1/8 inch thick. The tubing (rectangles) has ½” grade 5 nuts & bolts holding it to the base cabinets. There is a 3/16x2 piece of steel welded to the rectangle with a grade 5 nut welded to it. The leveling feet are 1/2x13 bolts and are listed as capable of supporting 5000 pounds each. The rectangles are welded to each other via another section of the 2 inch tubing. My reasoning behind this arrangement is to eliminate the possibility of too much rigidity in the base while still retaining a lot of strength. Since I have not got it assembled to the lathe yet, I cannot comment on the results. {
Update: All seems OK as of this morning when I got it all assembled--further down in this blurb.}
If my design proves unsuitable, I can modify it relatively easily.
BTW, the chain hoist in the ceiling is amazing. I do not recall if I described it in an earlier post, so here it is. I wanted to lay a 4x6 on the rafters of the shop. The lumber yard near me only had them in 12 foot lengths. So I have a 12 foot 4x6 lying on the rafters and lag bolted into them. I drilled a ¾ inch hole down through the 4x6 (it is installed so that the 6 inch dimension is vertical) and installed a ¾” all thread through it. I placed a very large washer and nut on both the top & bottom of the beam to prevent rotation of the all thread. Down in the shop, I have a cast steel ring eye that has a ¾” threaded hole in it.
The 1 ton chain hoist with 10 foot chain is suspended beneath. It would be much nicer if it were moveable similar to a gantry crane; however, not in this lifetime.
With the lathe hanging from the chain hoist, and while getting the lathe, the base cabinets, and the rectangles all assembled so I could measure for the connecting tube (between the rectangles), I encountered a problem. The bolt on the headstock near the lead screw will not go into the hole.
The gear box blocks the hole. Has anyone else experienced this? What (other than leaving this one bolt out) is the solution?
Solution: Obtain longer M12x1.75 bolt & thread up from the cabinet through the support and the lathe foot. Install washer & nut as bolt comes through lathe foot and tighten nut. (Note to self—must figure some way for self to remember how it comes apart if necessary to remove it at future time.)
After getting it all mounted to the cabinets & base, some cleaning (lots of cleaning) was needed. Did a preliminary cleaning to most of the machine and accessories. Lubed everything and fired it up. A bit more noise than I had hoped for; however, not terrible. The 4-jaw chuck jaws are very tight in the slots. Takes both hands on the wrench to turn it. I removed all of them and gave them each a good cleaning and oiling and then replaced them. I tried the tightest jaw in all 4 slots and left it in the one that required the least torque to turn. So, one is really tight, one is so-so snug, and 2 are OK.
Got tired of cleaning, so I decided it was time to move it to its new home. That proved somewhat exciting—I’m a one man show here. Here is how I accomplished it. Lifted the machine (including my homemade base, but without chuck or TS) with the chain hoist. Positioned the hydraulic engine lift under the lathe and lowered it gently so that the HS end sat squarely on one of the legs of the engine hoist, while the TS end was a bit diagonal.
Removed most of the tension from the chain and gave it a really good shaking—almost no wobbling. Removed the chain and quickly attached the engine hoist chain and took up some tension. So far, so good. Rolled the whole thing toward the wall where it will live. Now, how the heck do I get it off of the engine hoist? (Insert another senior moment here—BTW, this is occurring around 7AM.) For some reason, it never dawned on me to turn the whole mess 90 degrees and then rotate the lathe so that I could just lower it to the floor (NO, I’m not an engineer). I blocked both ends and then moved the engine hoist to each end and lowered each end separately (Does sound like an engineer method, doesn’t it?).
Anyway, other than a lot of extra work, it proved successful. So with a bit of assistance from Archimedes (the lever guy), it is now happily resting in its new home.
Before going back to the house for a well deserved coffee, I got out the Starrett level and did a prelim leveling (no, I am not of the school that it must be perfectly level—just close suits me fine.) Got it really close in about 15 minutes. I’ll check for bed twist soon.
The next operation will be to install the back-splash, & possibly the chuck guard, and of course, more cleaning followed by more cleaning.
Well, that is probably more than sufficient for this episode.
Jerry in Delaware.
