Buying a lathe?

Nicholas123 said:
I'm at a loss to know why you are worried about .3 mm backlash & what a dividing head has got to do with a lathe.I worked on many machine tools with sometimes in excess of 1/8" backlash producing aircraft components to within +- .002" & I have only ever seen a dividing head used on a mill or possibly a tool cutter grinder though I can't see why one could'nt be used on a shaper.:confused:
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Dividing head kit provides a useful exercise in getting used to the lathe but is to be used for cutting small gear wheels as I don't posses a milling machine and lathe is an all round more useful tool for me at least.

New cross slide feed screw nut just fitted backlash now a very acceptable 0.05mm. Gib cleaned up and adjusted nice easy fluid movement of the slide, lathe in alignment just turned two bosses on a 8 inch shaft at each end easily within a thou of each other. :D
 
Norman_E said:
Anyone know what that Boxford Model A sold for? It comes up on my e-bay watchlist as "ended" with only the starting bid of 99p shown. Last time I saw it, it was at about £420.
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It was on my watch list I think it ended early, probably with someone offering him a good "Buy it now" price.;) I am not overly impressed with e bay:rolleyes:
 
petehb said:
It was on my watch list I think it ended early, probably with someone offering him a good "Buy it now" price.;) I am not overly impressed with e bay:rolleyes:
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That's hardly Ebay's fault; would you be similarly upset if you phoned up about a lathe advertised in Exchange&Mart(there's a blast from the past!) or AdTrader, made an offer sight unseen, only to be gazumped by another caller getting there sooner with more cash? Would you blame the paper the advert was printed in, or the advertiser who took the highest bid?
 
petehb said:
Dividing head kit provides a useful exercise in getting used to the lathe but is to be used for cutting small gear wheels as I don't posses a milling machine and lathe is an all round more useful tool for me at least.

New cross slide feed screw nut just fitted backlash now a very acceptable 0.05mm. Gib cleaned up and adjusted nice easy fluid movement of the slide, lathe in alignment just turned two bosses on a 8 inch shaft at each end easily within a thou of each other. :D
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"Dividing head kit provides a useful experience in getting used to the lathe.":confused: I think I need to go & lie down in a darkened room because ridiculous claims are being made for dividing heads.....among other things.
 
Myford did make a special dividing head for use with their 7 series lathe. Certiainly up to 20 or 30 years ago most model engineers made do with just a lathe and a drilling machine. The availability of cheap Taiwanese, and later Chinese, vertical mill/drills changed that, and I think most serious model engineers now have milling machines. Although I have an early Warco vertical mill, I use my home made horizontal "Lincoln Miller" with a cheap Chinese BS0 dividing head to cut gears.

This is the machine,
IMG_1141.jpg
 
Nicholas123 said:
"Dividing head kit provides a useful experience in getting used to the lathe.":confused: I think I need to go & lie down in a darkened room because ridiculous claims are being made for dividing heads.....among other things.
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Dividing heads have many components which are concentric, therefore it's straightforward to make them on a lathe; what's hard to understand?
 
Norman_E said:
Myford did make a special dividing head for use with their 7 series lathe. Certiainly up to 20 or 30 years ago most model engineers made do with just a lathe and a drilling machine. The availability of cheap Taiwanese, and later Chinese, vertical mill/drills changed that, and I think most serious model engineers now have milling machines. Although I have an early Warco vertical mill, I use my home made horizontal "Lincoln Miller" with a cheap Chinese BS0 dividing head to cut gears.

This is the machine,
IMG_1141.jpg
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I can see that's a fairly rudimentary horizontal mill Norman.Did'nt they make neat little combined lathes & vertical mill type machining centers a few years ago? (not sure how sturdy they were).

By the way,you could do with a drip tray.Must be murder clearing up afterwards particularly if you use slurry :eek:
 
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Nicholas123 said:
I can see that's a fairly rudimentary horizontal mill Norman. Did'nt they make neat little combined lathes & vertical mill type machining centers a few years ago? (not sure how sturdy they were).
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They were mostly pretty crude machines, often without backgear or screwcutting, and the milling machine part often had very poor utility due to lack of vertical adjustment range. Jack of all trades, master of none, comes to mind.

By the way, my home made mill might look rudimentary but it is rigid enough to cut 16DP gears in steel at a single pass per tooth space. That is something my Taiwanese vertical mill cannot even approach, despite weighing twice as much.
 
Norman_E said:
They were mostly pretty crude machines, often without backgear or screwcutting, and the milling machine part often had very poor utility due to lack of vertical adjustment range. Jack of all trades, master of none, comes to mind.

By the way, my home made mill might look rudimentary but it is rigid enough to cut 16DP gears in steel at a single pass per tooth space. That is something my Taiwanese vertical mill cannot even approach, despite weighing twice as much.
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I have added a PS.I think you must be a very mucky boy ;)
 
Seriously, you could make a dividing head on a Myford lathe. Kits are available:

http://www.hemingwaykits.com/cgi-bi...tile_Dividing_Head.html#aHK_201500#aHK_201500

Dividing (or to be precise indexing) can also be done accurately in the lathe using a disc of plywood, an adaptor to allow it to be attached to the mandrel, an old bandsaw blade and some kind of home-made detent.

Film strip can also be used instead of the bandsaw blade.
 
parsifal said:
Seriously, you could make a dividing head on a Myford lathe. Kits are available:

http://www.hemingwaykits.com/cgi-bi...tile_Dividing_Head.html#aHK_201500#aHK_201500

Dividing (or to be precise indexing) can also be done accurately in the lathe using a disc of plywood, an adaptor to allow it to be attached to the mandrel, an old bandsaw blade and some kind of home-made detent.

Film strip can also be used instead of the bandsaw blade.
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That kit involves pre machined or pre cast bits so it is cheating not entirely being made on a lathe.I'd like to see film of such a contraption being used for the claims that have been made.Such as machining crank shafts & PCD work?
It might be possible (along with cutting teeth but who in their right mind would do it) :D
 
parsifal said:
can also be done accurately in the lathe using a disc of plywood, an adaptor to allow it to be attached to the mandrel, an old bandsaw blade and some kind of home-made detent.

Film strip can also be used instead of the bandsaw blade.
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Hav'nt got the foggiest what this is all about,have you got any pics to explain it & what the devil does detent mean?
 
Nicholas123 said:
It might be possible (along with cutting teeth but who in their right mind would do it) :D
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Model engineering is a hobby and, like most hobbies, those who don't indulge in it think those who do are bonkers! I think golfing and card playing is bonkers. Given the state of the weather I'm beginning to think sailing might be! :D
 
Nicholas123 said:
Hav'nt got the foggiest what this is all about,have you got any pics to explain it & what the devil does detent mean?
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A detent is a device to hold something temporarily in a fixed position.

The only picture I can find offhand that shows the principle is here:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pwguild/o-rosego.htm

Scroll down to the section entitled: AN INDEXING METHOD FOR EQUAL DIVISION OF AN ELLIPSE.

In my post I said 'plywood', MDF would be better but it hadn't been invented when I did this!
 
parsifal said:
A detent is a device to hold something temporarily in a fixed position.

The only picture I can find offhand that shows the principle is here:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pwguild/o-rosego.htm

Scroll down to the section entitled: AN INDEXING METHOD FOR EQUAL DIVISION OF AN ELLIPSE.

In my post I said 'plywood', MDF would be better but it hadn't been invented when I did this!
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Not my kind of work but your rose engine looks a very clever design and probably one of the best ever uses for a cheap cross vice.
 
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