Useful Lathe Accessories?

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Spokerider

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The Craftsman 101.07301 that I bought didn't come with much...….a 3 jaw chuck, carriage and compound, the tail stock, Jacobs chuck with 1MT for the tail stock, and that's about it. I have added an OXA tool post holder and I found some metric change gears for it. I still need some of the original gears on the side of the lathe.....a 64 tooth and 54 me thinks.....which ever ones the lathe came with from the factory.
Wondering......what other accessories would you guys consider "useful" and "needed" for this little lathe? What else to up-grade?

Looking at the you tube vid on the milling attachment.....it looks to be a poor attempt for any real milling, and IMO, not worth the coin that guys seem to want for this attachment.

I do have another question please, I'll add to this post.
How much free lash *should* there be in the carriage wheel before the little gears engage the rack? I have about 3/8ths of lash at the circumference of the wheel when turning the wheel CW to CCW. Good? Poor? How much / little lash did this carriage wheel have new from the factory?
Can I adjust it? Yes....the has to be "some" lash, I know. Too little lash is not wanted.

Thanks for your input guys.
 
Backlash on the carriage handwheel does not seem to have any particular effect on operations; 3/8" is no cause for concern. I guess that a milling attachment on a lathe that is none too rigid itself would not be very helpful for much of any use, given that most of them do not have a good vise incorporated in the design, but I suppose that it would be better than no milling capability at all, price not being counted as a factor.
 
Hey @Spokerider I think that Steve Jordan on Youtube has the best video out there on using a milling attachment on a small lathe. He's got a mini lathe and what he does with it pretty impressive.

Before I found my milling attachment, I was going to build one similar to what he did.

What are you using for cutters?

Other than that I would get an independent 4-jaw chuck so that you can turn stock that is not round or hexagonal.
@francist would be a good resource here as I know he does some great work on the same lathe.
 
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Thanks Guys.
Yes, I'm still looking for a 4 jaw independent chuck. Haven't decided upon any particular brand yet.

I did get some sort of milling attachment for ? some lathe / tool? Perhaps I can make it work on the lathe, dunno. I'll post some pics of it when I can. Maybe you guys will know something about it.
Not wanting to put much $$ into milling parts for this lathe......would rather just buy a real milling machine at a later date. I'm already finding out how much $$ can slip through the fingers just buying lathe tooling and measuring instruments!

Steady rest? Worth the $300 plus it will cost me to buy one from ebay? Yes...….to Canada....we pay double.
 
Spokerider said:
Thanks Guys.
Yes, I'm still looking for a 4 jaw independent chuck. Haven't decided upon any particular brand yet.

I did get some sort of milling attachment for ? some lathe / tool? Perhaps I can make it work on the lathe, dunno. I'll post some pics of it when I can. Maybe you guys will know something about it.
Not wanting to put much $$ into milling parts for this lathe......would rather just buy a real milling machine at a later date. I'm already finding out how much $$ can slip through the fingers just buying lathe tooling and measuring instruments!

Steady rest? Worth the $300 plus it will cost me to buy one from ebay? Yes...….to Canada....we pay double.
Click to expand...
Based on your handle I'm going to guess that you are making bike parts, moto or human powered.
I think a steadyrest depends on your need to turn longer work that needs intermediate support in addition to tailstock support.
I'd get a live centre before a steadyrest IMHO.

(correction: I think that he means a Follow Rest. A Steady Rest would be used if you needed to machine the right end of a part and so couldn't support the right end with either a Dead or a Live Center. But that aside, I agree that a live center should be acquired before either type of rest. RD)
 
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Oh yeah...….I bought a live center already, just forgot to mention it. I have the slightest wiggle with the Jacobs chuck in the M1 taper hole of the tail stock, and a little less wiggle with the brand new M1 live center. I either need to better-clean the inside of the M1 hole, or gently hand ream the M1 taper with a finishing reamer...….another tool to buy...…..

I have not made anything on this lathe yet, as I'm brand new at this. Bike parts, auto parts, custom made tools, repairing parts, modding parts, etc.... I guess the limit to what can be made is one's imagination.
 
I can recommend the Sanou brand of 4-jaw. I bought one for my SB Heavy 10L. My only complaint was that the jaws were too tight in the body. When I say "too tight", I mean it took both hands on the chuck wrench to move them. I lapped them in so they now work very smoothly. Other than that, it's a decent chuck.
 
I can second the Sanou reference.
I had a 3” on my mini lathe and it was very well made.


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As far as needed? If you have a decent 3 jaw chuck and a drill chuck for the tail stock, you are pretty good to go. While I've got a lot of neat toys for my little lathe, I've probably done about 80-90% of my work so far with just what you've got now. Add a 4 jaw chuck and the rest probably falls into the nice to have category.


I think the concept of a milling attachment is useful but not at the price many are asking for the Atlas ones. I think it only sells that much because of collectors who want all the accessories for their lathe. If you were able to find one for $150-200 it might be worth considering, but what many are asking for the Atlas attachments you are well into the price of a mini-mill which even the smallest will probably be more capable. For one off jobs it isn't that hard to cobble together a set up to do some light milling on the lathe.

Steady rest is worth looking for, but unless you make stuff that will make a lot of use of it, you can take your time to find one at a decent price. I personally haven't used mine much. For stuff smaller diameter than the spindle bore you just run it through the head, and you usually have the option of using the tail stock to support the end if you don't have a steady rest. A follow rest might actually be more useful, although again I've had little need for mine.

If you want an ER32 collet chuck, Beall makes a nice one and they offer it with 1"-8 threading which I think is what the little Atlas / Craftsman lathes use. I like the design of theirs for a small lathe as it gives you a few inches to hold stick larger than your spindle bore.
I've found Beall's collets to be good, but they charge a lot for them so it might be worth getting just the collet chuck and shop for the collets separately. Beall collet chuck
 
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