PM-1130V Carriage lock

[javaduke]

The carriage lock bolt on my PM-1130V is a hex head bolt on the right side of the carriage and it is covered by the DRO scale, so every time I need to lock the carriage, I have to reach there with a thin flat wrench, find that bolt and turn it. Not very convenient, especially when I have to do a lot of facing operations. Wondering if anyone knows a better solution to this. I couldn't use that locking handle that Amazon sells, because there's not enough room there, it just won't fit under the scale.
Is it possible to somehow move the lock to the left side of the carriage?

 

[MikeWi]

someone here made up a lock to go on the right side of their lathe:

ERL-1340 Cross Slide Lock for DRO Equipped Lathes

Often when doing tight tolerance work one needs to lock the cross slide to get consistent diameters along the length of the cut. My ERL-1340 was fairly tight when new, but over time I did noticed slight shifts in the cross slide position from my original setting. I am using glass scales, and I...

www.hobby-machinist.com

There's another way detailed in the attached document.

 

[javaduke]

Thanks, my question was actually about the carriage lock, not the cross-slide lock, but this is useful too I guess I just haven't had this issue yet

 

[zippyslug31]

I don't have a DRO on mine, but in case it helps with a bit of inspiration, I'm just using a cheapO HF ratcheting wrench slipped over a cut off length allen wrench. It could use a bit of refining to take out the small amount of slop, but I just leave this in place at all times and it works great.

 

[Philzy]

The carriage lock bolt on my PM-1130V is a hex head bolt on the right side of the carriage and it is covered by the DRO scale, so every time I need to lock the carriage, I have to reach there with a thin flat wrench, find that bolt and turn it. Not very convenient, especially when I have to do a lot of facing operations. Wondering if anyone knows a better solution to this. I couldn't use that locking handle that Amazon sells, because there's not enough room there, it just won't fit under the scale.
Is it possible to somehow move the lock to the left side of the carriage?

I never thought of moving it to the left side. I just machined a new bolt with a slightly thicker head. I believe the stock bolt was an M8. I upped it to an M10. I cross drilled the head and tapped it for a handle. Took a few hours and made of nothing but scrap. Crappy pics. Sorry.

 

[javaduke]

I guess I'll end up doing just that. I hesitate a little bit to remove the DRO scale, but maybe it's not that bad.

 

[starr256]

This is also an issue with the PM 1030V with DRO installed. The carriage lock, the crosslide lock, crosslide oilers and the tail stock are all detrimentally effected by the crossslide DRO placement. I have been thinking about moving the DRO to the other side of the crossslide. The first consequence is loss of the attachment holes for the traveling rest. But I have never used that feature. The other is an increase need to be careful with larger diameter stock turning that I don't run into the DRO. I can be an absent minded nitwit at times, so that maybe the reason to not move it. Thoughts?

 

[javaduke]

I just went ahead and machined a custom bolt with handle, like Philzy suggested. It's a bit tricky, the space underneath DRO is tight, so I had to adjust my dimensions several times, but at the end of a day it was a fun little project. SO far so good, works as expected.

 

[ivel03]

I made a lever from a piece of 12 ga sheet metal similar to what Blondihacks shows here:

Drilled a hole in the flat stock, pressed in a chunk of cut off allen wrench and then tack welded it.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I guess I'll end up doing just that. I hesitate a little bit to remove the DRO scale, but maybe it's not that bad.

You will have that dro scale off in about 3 minutes, Not hard at all.