PM-1640TL and Skyhook?

[jeremysf]

Holy moly these 10” chucks are beasts.

I have read some of the threads here about quick change tool post mounted Skyhooks on lathes, and it sounds like while they look intuitively scary, they are pretty safe.

That said, does anyone have experience with mounting one on a PM-1640TL or similar?

I just milled the blank base on my inexpensive CXA quick change tool post, and it’s not a ton of steel that holds it to the cross slide. Curious if anyone has any first hand experience with mounting a Skyhook to it.

 

[pineyfolks]

I've never used one but they look like a lot of stress on the compound, especially on a small machine. Sliding a piece of round bar through the chuck so you have enough sticking through both sides to get a hold of and making a wooden cradle for under it is a lot cheaper and faster in my opinion. There's a lot of YouTube videos showing small chuck cranes and the method I described. Whatever you do make it easy and don't pull your back out.

 

[stupoty]

I only have an 8" 3 jaw but is still quit heavy , I do the piece of wood on the ways to give me some ware to put it down and change hand grip.

I have actually had it roll off the lathe (once , only once) everything in it's path was destroyed

so some sort of wedge on the piece of wood to cover the ways might be handy

Stu

 

[jwmelvin]

I imagine cutting loads for a 16” swing lathe are quite a bit higher than the weight of the crane and chuck. But of course the moment arm is much longer for the crane, say about an order of magnitude. My WAG puts the resulting load in the same ballpark as cutting, so it shouldn’t be an issue. You could test by putting a piece of bar in a boring bar holder and applying a load about as much as the chuck + crane weight, and measure tool post deflection. Compare to deflection when cutting.

 

[7milesup]

Personally, I would mount it somewhere else. Beef up the splash guard with some tubing and mount it to that.

 

[Janderso]

Personally, I would mount it somewhere else. Beef up the splash guard with some tubing and mount it to that.

+1

 

[seasicksteve]

+1

+2. ABOM has a vid that addresses this concern specifically. He feels that in his application the set up is plenty strong and Im sure it is. I just would not be comfortable with it on my machine. I would likely mount a spigot on or near he headstock that would double as a holder for the chuck wrench.

 

[yota]

here is the Mr. Pete take on it.

 

[mksj]

A 10" 4 jaw direct mount is around 65lbs, and an 8" 3J with back plate probably 75 lbs. What might be a simpler alternative at this weight is to make some sleds for the ways and keep the chucks on a cart at a similar height so you can transfer them more easily. If you decide on something like a skyhook you could make a mount with a hole or simple fastening system and mount it to the T-slots on the cross slide. My 8" chuck is 85 lbs, I often will clamp the jaws to a 1/2" through bar to make removal and handling it a bit more easy. My rotary table is about 140 lbs and I have it on a movable cart at the same height as the mill table so just swing it onto the mill, but that is close to limit of what I want to deal with, since I only weigh 150 lbs and not a youngster anymore.

 

[Larry$]

I have an 8" with a cast iron back plate that is plenty heavy for an old guy. I made a wooden sled that fits the ways and is exactly the height to slide under the chuck. That takes care of the hardest part, taking it off the mount. I have a shelf that is the same height to put the chuck on.