Spindle Crank for South Bend 10L Lathe

[wlburton]

I decided to make a hand crank for the spindle of my 1950 South Bend 10L lathe so I could use it when threading internally toward the chuck. This is an issue on most South Bend lathes (and many others) since they have screw on chucks, which makes threading in reverse from the inside out potentially risky. The idea behind a spindle crank is to do the last part of the thread by hand so there's no danger of running into anything under power. It can also be useful when tapping in the lathe.

The crank is held in place in the same way an expanding arbor works--by pulling a tapered plug into a tapered socket which spreads six "fingers" against the inside of the spindle--and it seems to be quite secure. (I also included a key which goes into the keyway which engages the collet closer when it is installed--but I doubt that it is really necessary.)

Like most of my projects at this point, it was mostly about learning to use my equipment (AKA "toys") better--and figuring out how to design a useful accessory for the lathe. There are so many lathes like mine out there that I thought someone else might want to make one and would be interested in what I came up with. I haven't used it for threading yet but it worked very well for tapping and should be a good addition to the arsenal.

Bill

 

[middle.road]

OK, that puts my idea that has been brewing in my mind for the last couple of weeks to complete and utter shame.

D*mn that is one very nice piece of craftsmanship! well done.

 

[dlane]

Nice work should help with threading, just don’t forget it’s in there and start the lathe

 

[Dave Paine]

Very well done. I like it. I may have to put this on a future project list.

 

[JBuckley13f]

Looks great, this is something I've wanted to build for my southbend model 9 for awhile. Great job!

 

[RandyM]

 

[Bob Korves]

I decided to make a hand crank for the spindle of my 1950 South Bend 10L lathe so I could use it when threading internally toward the chuck. This is an issue on most South Bend lathes (and many others) since they have screw on chucks, which makes threading in reverse from the inside out potentially risky. The idea behind a spindle crank is to do the last part of the thread by hand so there's no danger of running into anything under power. It can also be useful when tapping in the lathe.

The crank is held in place in the same way an expanding arbor works--by pulling a tapered plug into a tapered socket which spreads six "fingers" against the inside of the spindle--and it seems to be quite secure. (I also included a key which goes into the keyway which engages the collet closer when it is installed--but I doubt that it is really necessary.)

Like most of my projects at this point, it was mostly about learning to use my equipment (AKA "toys") better--and figuring out how to design a useful accessory for the lathe. There are so many lathes like mine out there that I thought someone else might want to make one and would be interested in what I came up with. I haven't used it for threading yet but it worked very well for tapping and should be a good addition to the arsenal.

Bill

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Nice!

 

[Rooster]

Very nice, i made a similar one awhile back so i could safely make small compression springs on my lathe.

 

[Suzuki4evr]

That looks sharp. Very nice piece of engineering.

 

[wlburton]

Nice work should help with threading, just don’t forget it’s in there and start the lathe

I won't! (But I'm tempted to flip it on for a half second to see what it would look like. I'm sure it would stay put, but that handle would really be moving! Maybe in back gear.)