My Rockwell 14 X 40 Lathe

[kspainhour]

Keith,

That's the part I'm missing on my lathe, too.
As soon as I can get one drawn up and made, I'll be glad to share it with you. Don't hold your breath! It maybe several months before I get it done. I have a full plate right now of work I have to get done before the first of the year. If I have break during this time, I'll try to do something.

Ken

Thanks Ken,
I may have one! I had a chance to work on the lathe this evening and I found this in the cabinet






Looks like the previous owners made something that looks like a "c" to replace it and threw this in the cabinet with some other parts.
It looks worn on the sides and the diameter of the pin is somewhere around .360. The hole in the shaft in this lathe measures .376.

Take Care,
Keith

 

[4GSR]

That's exactly what I envision it looking like. I haven't measured the width of the groove in the gear, but I'm guessing it to be around 1/2". The sliding gear in mine was replaced. I have the old gear sitting here on my book shelf. The groove is in bad shape and the clutch dogs that engages the mating clutch are rounded off.
I'm working on getting it running right now. Fixing to go out and work on the motor wiring today. Have some wires not connected correctly. Wire numbers are not very clear on the motor. Motor barely runs at very low RPM before it blows the heaters on the starter.
Thanks for posting the picture, helps a lot. Ken

 

[4GSR]

I've started tearing into the Rockwell last month. What a nasty mess! Lots of cleaning and when you think you got it all, find something else that needs cleaning. As you can see from the pictures, I've removed the clutch-brake assembly for cleaning. Got the lower cabinet cleaned about as good as it is going to get. Cleaned up the clutch-brake shaft assembly and found a socket head cap screw that had backed off and was bent. Pulled it all apart, cleaned, re-assembled, added some blue Loctite to the screws and made up.

 

[4GSR]

After I got things assembled, couldn't figure out why there was a gap where the brake pad is supposed to bear against the angle plate. Turns out the angle plate is not square to the brake pad. So a little shimming here and there fixed that problem. You can see a wear pattern on the angle plate where it has been like that ever since the lathe left the factory. Last picture showing the drive train re-assembled. Ken

 

[4GSR]

With the last few pictures showing the back gear clutch and clutch piece that came off of the spindle.
I'm looking at putting four notches on the two pieces instead of two notches. It will require making a new clutch that gos on the spindle and modifying the gear by adding a weld build up to machine into clutch teeth. Last thing will be making a new grooved ring that is shown on the opposite end from the clutch teeth on the gear. This is where the dog rides in that groove and does the engaging in-out of the clutch. Any offers on doing some tig welding?
Last, will be the making of the dog. Ken

 

[kspainhour]

Looking forward to seeing the repair. Thanks for posting pictures.

Take Care,
Keith

 

[Silverbullet]

Even tho it needed work it looks like a well made LATHE. There's been a few of those near me on cl, not sure there 14" but nice looking . There's a Rockwell near me for $900.00 another for double that but doesn't look near as good.
Lots of nice machines around me but all I can do is look . But it keeps me doing something.
Anybody on here who might like me help find a machine I'd be glad too. Being stuck inside in a hospital bed ain't like I got anything else I can do.

 

[4GSR]

I've been working on getting the parts needing fixing for the headstock on my 14" Rockwell lathe. Finally got someone to do the weld build up I needed for one of the parts. The welding came out decent for this rebuild. Next, had to get all the things machined, that has taken time to get done. Slowly but surely, I'm getting there. I have two more things to make for the headstock assembly as well as waiting on another bearing and oil seal. Those are last things going on the headstock which won't be an issue. Ken

Here are some pictures of the repairs and new ones made.

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• Here's a picture of the sliding gear with the clutch face cut on it. Original setup had only two clutch notches to the design. I changed it to four clutch faces. Part of the reason for doing this is to gain more bearing face for driving the clutch without kicking out of gear. The face angle was changed from about 10 degree to 15 degrees to give it a little bit more frictional grip to keep it from jumping out of gear. Of course the laws of friction say the angle needs to be at least 19 degrees, well my next dovetail cutter is 30 degrees and I wasn't about to grind one for 20 degrees.
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  Here's my setup to mill the keyways.-Don't ask me why I took off the two piece jaws off of the master jaws. I won't tell you.
  
  
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• Not sure why I took this picture
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• Milling the keyways on the spindle-B.T.W. the Rockwell Lathe spindle on the 14" Lathe is not that hard. Say in the 28-36 HRC range. The tapered nose of the spindle may be in the mid to high 40's, not 58-62 HRC as seen on most lathe spindles

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  Here is the fit up of the keys to the clutch ring and spindle. My broach man did a nice job broaching the keyways and getting them 90 degrees apart.
  
  
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  Here are the finished parts
  
  
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  A view of the clutch ring mating up to the clutch on the sliding gear
  
  
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  A top view of the parts

 

[4GSR]

Was able to get a start on putting the guts back in the headstock. Re-installed the back gear shaft assembly. Went back easier than it did coming out. First thing you do is install the eccentric sleeve into the headstock without the guts added. There is a dog point set screw on the back side of the headstock that needs to go into the groove on the eccentric sleeve. Leave it loose, adjusting this will come later. Next, drop the bull gear assy into position and start back gear shaft into the bore of the bull gear. To help get the shaft started, stick a short piece of rod about 2" long in the small end of the shaft, so you have a way to pick that end up to align into the bearing bore in the eccentric bushing.
Also pay attention to the witness mark on the end of the shaft. It needs to be on top dead center when installing, so you know where all the woodruff keys will be on top. (It's not on top dead center in my picture) This also lines up the tapered pin hole for installing the taper pin. Once the bull gear is in place and pinned, go to the other end and install the pinion gear on end of the shaft. Then install the washer and bolt.


And why Rockwell didn't drill and tap the end of the shaft for easy removal, I don't know. If anyone ever has to remove the back gear shaft assembly for any reason, I highly recommend drilling and tapping the end of the shaft for something like 3/8-16 unc thread. If the No. 5 taper pin was ever sheared off, this is almost the only way your going to get it apart.

 

[4GSR]

Been a lot happen in life in the past few months, too many events to explain here.

Since the last report, The headstock is complete and flanged up. Here are some pictures of some of the things that took place on the headstock. I missed taking pictures of the shifting dog I made for the back gear clutch engagement. Just finished rebuilding the apron to the lathe. Now working on re-fitting the saddle to the bed. Once that is done, next will be the cross slide. It has some very bad wear from use without proper cleaning. Maybe by January I'll have it running! Ken