Problems with face cutting on lathe, wavy pattern

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Your carriage lock clamp may well be the same poor design most of us Asian lathe owners have. Mine never clamped very well. It was fiddly to get engaged because the round shoe allows it to rotate slightly and it has very minimal contact area. So I made a rectangular shoe which aligns much better to the bed, can never rotate out of position & has much more surface contact area. Now it is very positive. Hopefully the pictures are self explanatory, but if not ask any questions.
 

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Bryan, do you see the goofy little wing screw on the left side of your compound? The crosslide has one of those on the right side. I imagine that it was removed too mount the dro scale
 
Oh and I forgot, that not is the lock only need to snugly tighten
 
That is a nice mod. I'll have to do that. Maybe I can even mount a new one that's not under the DRO!
Are there any adjustments that you can make to snug up the saddle?
Thanks,
Bryan
 
I used the existing top hole through the apron top casting for my new carriage clamp. It didn't interfere with anything so no need to make a new hole in my case. I machined a longer flanged bushing so the threaded stud was contained axially with a sliding fit. I thought I would use one of those adjustable handles for lock down but in the end I just went for a nut. It clamps so well often times I just twist it by hand for non critical but the wrench is handy to fully secure it. I did this work while the carriage was off the machine and I had a good looksee. Of course the power feed rod, clutch, threading leadscrew, power/reverse rod, tailstock bearing block... all has to come off before apron can be removed. Its not horrible, but there is a specific disassembly sequence.

My cross slide DRO is on the chuck side. The plus side is I have access to my cross slide lock (which engages the gib strip also on that side). The downside is scale & encoder head is in the chips environment (although well protected with a tight fitting guard plate). I also used the threaded holes for travelling steady which simplified DRO installation but was a tradeoff because detaching the DRO to use the travel steady would be a pita. I'm in the process of designing a lighter duty steady that mounts to my cross slide T slots for smaller scale finicky turning, so ask me a while from now how that panned out.
 

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If your lathe is like mine then there are 'some' adjustments to tweak the saddle, but not really. My lathe is actually quite accurate & tight which is why I was shocked at the underside Vee & horizontal slide surfaces. Those nice shiny induction hardened ground surfaces you see on the top side of the machine are slid upon by some pretty underwhelming *cough* scraped surfaces that are in no way comparable. That was a bit disheartening actually. Or maybe the surfaces were pretty good & what I'm seeing is hackish oil frosting job. I didn't have an issue in that regard & didn't want to create a new one so I blued the surfaces, just kissed the high spots with a stone & called it good. It slides very nice & maintains position well. There are some rudimentary CI block sliders that engage the underside of the casting rails with gib-like set screws so you can snug things up there. I cleaned those up while I was in there.

I figure if I ever wanted to undertake an upgrade I would coat those sliding surfaces with engineered systems like Turcite or more likely Moglice. But I really don't have appreciable wear to justify it and there is some specialized technique involves (says the midnight YouTube watcher LOL).
 

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Bryanbdp - I composed the message below off of the forum. then I clicked on the forum to post it without knowing what all the other posts were above. So, rather than throw away the reply to you I'm just going to post it anyway below - perhaps it will be helpful to someone in any event. (Then....if I need to ask for anyone's forgiveness I'll be back.)

here it is:

Hi Bryan……………

Due to health reasons primarily, I haven’t had my lathe cranked up for quite a few years now but [feeling much better now] I am getting it ready (with some additional tooling) to get back at it.

To answer your question: Frankly, I don’t recall what is energizing that thing – either 110 or 220 – just don’t remember. But it wouldn’t be hard for me to know…….I would just look at the configuration of the plug end. I was in the shop tonight but wasn’t around the lathe. So Bryan, from where I am in the house as I write this I can’t answer you at this time of checking emails.

However, I can tell you this: Any respectable motor manufacturer with affix a schematic diagram usually pasted inside the motor junction box that is typically mounted directly onto the motor somewhere. Now again, from where I am as I write this I can’t say whether that sticker/label is affixed to my lathe motor or not but it should be.

So, let’s assume that somewhere around your motor, or in the motor’s junction box, there IS a label/schematic - then it will tell you how to convert or changeover the ‘’line’’ connections to operate on 220. Likely, given that it is a ‘’fractional’’ motor (i.e., anything under 1hp) it probably is a 110v only. I would be very, very surprised if is designed for 220 configuration. And, if there is no such schematic affixed somewhere then it would be safe to assume that it is not 220 capable.

I don’t know if you’re in Canada where I am but we have not only UL certification on electrical devices but a ‘’CA’’; designation as well (certifying of course that it meets our National Electrical Code. I would think also that part of their certification requirements is that motor manufactures are REQUIRED to have a proper schematic diagram [label/sticker] attached some where. I do not believe that certification authorities would permit manufacturers to OMIT affixing a label to the motor and only have the schematic printed some where’s inside the operator’s manual. A schematic would/should ALWAYS be part of the motor.

Lastly, in view that the entire machine is an ‘’off shore’’ model – an otherwise polite term for the dubious term ‘’ Chinese’’ – I simply do not trust much that we receive from them anyway. That is, even though there are UL and CA requirements, you and I both know that what ‘’off shore’’ stuff that we purchase is often hit and miss in terms of quality or even properly worded manuals or documentation……….at least that has been my experience – but that’s a whole other topic aside of your direct question.

Also Bryan – one last point……… I don’t know what your electrical knowledge and experience is but I will take the safe route and advise you with this: If by chance you CAN rewire your motor to a 220v configuration then of course you will be bringing in to the motor 2 hot wires from your electrical panel, or a secondary junction box, or electrical outlet. First, the plug-in end MUST be for 220v operation that in itself the 220 prongs pattern are configured for a specific operating current (i.e., amps). And, since there are 2 hot wires, the code says that – if you end up using a white and a black wire from the source – that at your electrical connections - at BOTH ENDS of the white wire - that you give it a couple wraps of black electrical tape to designate that the white wire is actually a ‘’hot’’ wire [*see off-topic comment further below]. I hope you can envision this because it’s a bit hard to explain only in words. And, it is by code that in your electrical panel where your 220v current uses two 110v breaker spaces – be sure that those 2 breakers are tied together by the little clip that attaches the two breaker toggle levers together. Now mind you…..if you use a dedicated 220 breaker then the previous sentence is a moot point because the toggle levers of a legit and dedicated 220 breaker are tied together anyway. Have I got you all confused by now? If you know all of this anyway due to experience and general shop knowledge then of course you won’t have any problem.

Let me know how you end up with this situation. Its now nearly 1:30AM here now but tomorrow I’ll be back in the shop and will take a look at my lathe. (It’s a King that I purchased in 2004 at a time when the manufactures did not offer any additional tooling accessories to fit – such as a quick change tool post.) I’ll look to see if my motor is 220v capable – but as I say, likely not.

Hope that it works out well for you.
Bryce.

[* This is way beyond your original question but it may be helpful to someone: In another life many years ago I was a sparky for awhile......... I soon learned that taking on any renno jobs or re-wiring can be very dicey and dangerous due to working around electrical circuitry that has been tampered with, modified or expanded by D.I.Y homeowners who were unknowledgeable about electrical code requirements nor even some of the most basic electrical wiring practices. Therefore, if you are the second owner of your home or home shop, as you probe around in your home shop electrical wiring an abundance of caution would be in order. Likewise, I would encourage anyone to ensure that whatever electrical work they undertake is correctly done so that electrical work does not inadvertently create electrical hazards ready to befall the next homeowner.]
 
Petertha, Thank You

An admirable dissertation on 'what should happen'-

This is why lathes like Myfords have laminated shims as backings for gib strips.

My very old Myford Super7B has Turcite glued under the saddle. It was done when my lathe went in for a 'slideways grind professionally.

As for my cheap as chips Sieg C4, I added extra gib screws and some time back Bazmak and I had a discussion here.

My thoughts- it depends pn how much my eyes will improve today with surgery, is to simply add car body metal filled resin behind the gibs to 'stop them rocking about' and just as importantly, minimise the time wasted resetting gibs during cleaning and oiling maintenance.

A peeled shim on a Myford is 0.002" and it is not uncommon to scrape or grind them thinner to create 'a snug fit'
 
Wow, some great information. I switched my machine to 220 when I got it. You have to wire the leads as shown on the motor, BUT, you also have to rewire the transformer in the control box. Simple to do, you just change the two power leads to the transformer to the 220v marked input screws.
That's all it takes, except putting on the correct plug.

Petertha, thank you for the photos and information. It will be very helpful. I suspect just tightening the saddle would have helped a great deal when machining the bronze!
 
Since we're on the subject, here's the manual I have for the lathe. A little blurry, but helpful.
Thanks,
Bryan
 

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