hobbymat lathe

[AES]

YOU may find SketchUp easy J-G, I do NOT! (Yup, "practice makes perfect" and all that - I get frustrated with such stuff too quickly/easily). Nice clear drawing anyway.

I didn't down load the Manual, but as J-G says, sunnybob, getting a simple bar which is a nice snug fit into one of the holes of the outer ring and then banging it with a hammer may well work.

But if you're off to UK anyway soon, buying the correct tools is an even better idea.

Welcome to the land of metalworking lathes BTW - a land of loads of frustration and puzzlement plus LOTS of satisfaction (a bit like being married really) - GREAT!

AES

Edit for a PS: How is the chuck held onto the nose of the main shaft sunnybob? Threaded? Bolted to an adaptor?

 

[sunnybob]

You cant just use a bar. There is no way to lock the spindle. It requires two spanners used against each other.
Even then there is nothing to rest one spanner against as you bash the other one, apart from the motor casing.
a REALLY stupid piece of engineering on an otherwise very well made lathe.

 

[J-G]

You cant just use a bar. There is no way to lock the spindle. It requires two spanners used against each other.
Even then there is nothing to rest one spanner against as you bash the other one, apart from the motor casing.
a REALLY stupid piece of engineering on an otherwise very well made lathe.

It does look to be well engineered in many respects - particularly having twin taper roller bearings - so not having a spindle lock seems out of place. Ever seeking to circumvent deficiencies, I try to think 'outside the box' - - - - you could clamp a bar in the chuck which also extends into the gap in the bed. This would effectively 'lock' the spindle.

The plastic gears should not be taking any of the stress applied since they should be dis-engaged - surely they are only engaged when auto-feeding or screw-cutting?

6mm deep ought to be enough to provide sufficient purchase in a 4.5mm hole but I suspect that a 'tickle' with a hammer wouldn't do much - it would need a 'short sharp shock', maybe after a dose of penetrating oil ?

 

[J-G]

YOU may find SketchUp easy J-G, I do NOT! (Yup, "practice makes perfect" and all that - I get frustrated with such stuff too quickly/easily). Nice clear drawing anyway.

I will admit that it's not the first drawing I've done - I have a fully detailed SketchUp model of my Myford S7 and a brick by brick drawing of my property

 

[sunnybob]

I had reached the "lock the chuck" stage, but to be honest, this has gone from a half hour job to a major inconvenience as I would have to remove all the pulleys and plastic gears just in case the hammer bounced, so it is now too far down my urgent list for a few weeks, so my lathe practice is on hold.

 

[AES]

@J-G: I envy you both the Myford (I have a little Chinese "mini lathe") and the SketchUp competence.

"One day" - (maybe) :wink:

Sunnybob, in my world anyway, there's no such thing as "a half hour job". Either I reckon on a half hour and end up 3 days later, OR I reckon it'll be a really long job and it ends up "finished before I've even started"! "Welcome to my world. Won't you come on in .... " etc., etc. And all that ..... Enjoy your UK trip mate.

AES

 

[MickCheese]

Just a thought.

Have you tried looking for a suspension C spanner?

My motorbikes all have suspension adjusted with C spanners.

Mick

 

[sunnybob]

Mick, REAL bikers use big screwdrivers and club hammers! (lol)

But no, wont work on this as the collar is too small. Its only 32 mm diameter, and the hole is only 4.5mm round and 5 mm deep. I could grind the peg down, but no way to balance two spanners that are far too big.

Must admit i think I will sell this lathe on. I'm too far into woodwork now to start collecting yet another set of tools, and this is far too small to be useful as a wood lathe.