Wrapping things up, I put the lathe back together after oiling the ways with southbend way oil for lathes. Then I had to tear apart the 3-jaw, and clean it all up. that bevel gear with the spiral drive on the other side of it turned out to be a big PITA to get out, but I persevered.
All clean and dismantled, I did my best to keep everything in the same order it came out, but then remembered belatedly that I still had to put them back on in a specific order, and I never looked for numbers on the jaws. Fortunately, they were there.
Just to be sure, i ran it down after assembly to make sure the jaws came together at the same point and time.
Mounted back on the lathe, It all looks nice and shiny! Except I had to wipe down the ways and re-oil them again. I've been cleaning with kerosene, and while cleaning the 3-jaw, some kerosene splattered onto the ways, and made a really interesting pattern, but most assuredly did not do much in the way of helping the way oil do its job.
Finally I attacked the gear mess, seen in an earlier photo, and got those guys reasonably clean as well.
Sorry about the image rotation, I forgot to fix it before I uploaded.
I recalled reading something somewhere about a washer on one of the gears. I had not fully understood what was being said, but now I do. If you look at the second gear up, you'll see that both gears are inset from their respective mating gears. A washer of appropriate thickness behind the large gear (in this pic, to the right of it) will set it back into the proper alignment. Sure, the gears will work as-is, they have about 2/3 of their tooth face meshing, but I'd rather it be correct. I'll be making that change as soon as I can.
To round off my day, I put my new vise to use with the hacksaw and chopped up the stock into the lengths I'll need for the EZ engine. At least, I hope it's the lengths I will need. I intentionally went long, not knowing how straight I can cut with a hacksaw, and leaving enough to get decent facing cuts in the lathe.
I intend to try and drill the holes in the valve and piston body with the lathe, by mounting the part in the 4-jaw and the drill arbor in the tailstock. This is when it occurred to me that I'll need to remove the 3-jaw again and clean up the 4-jaw, as it won't be possible to grip square stock in the 3-jaw for facing.
As for my cats. they spent the day being lazy. They're cats. what do you expect? Furthermore, they're ragdolls - they know nothing BUT how to be lazy.
In a few hours I'll head back out and dismantle the 4-jaw for cleaning, and hopefully get the grinder unpacked and ready to make some bits.
Yes, I do intend to work on some modifications later, but right now I've had the lathe for 3 weeks, and barely even turned it on! I'm ready to make some chips, and get to know the processes before I decide what really needs fixing. The QCTP is on the list, but I've put a fair chunk of change in already with nothing to show, so it will have to wait, as other "nice-to-haves" will wait, while the"must-haves" are taken care of.
- Ryan
