Simple power cross feed Lathe

[ROB 123]

Hi GUYS/GALS

This may be of interest ,I had 500 round plastic billets to face and drill
I normally only do 30 at a time as it gets boring winding the crossfedd and tail stock in and out .

So I bought a plunger type attachment for the tail stock and fitted my battery drill to the cross feed

I do have a stop so I get them all the same thickness What a difference doing it the new way so much quicker and better too .
Just thought I would show it .
I put a spacer under the battery so its resting rather than hanging .

Rob.

 

[Wizard69]

Sounds like you need to add a stepper motor. Even a simple power feed is light years ahead of manual operation for repetitive jobs.

 

[Nick Hulme]

Nice one!
Could you have made an arrangement for a lever actuated cross slide for use with the screw disconnected as with taper attachments?

- Nick

 

[ROB 123]

Nice one!
Could you have made an arrangement for a lever actuated cross slide for use with the screw disconnected as with taper attachments?

- Nick

possibly BUT the drill running at one speed makes nice even rings as it cuts and as one side can be seen it makes it neater than you would get by Hand pushing it across.

Rob.

 

[rodw]

Welcome to my world! I drill and face plastic by the hundred but not often in one sitting. I too have a stop and also have power feed. I crank the crossfeed speed up to something obscene, run at 1600 RPM (the fastest I can do) and get a near mirror like finish on the faces with a sharp CCMT insert. I like the look of your tailstock arrangement but think it might be a bit tough to push the drill through. My holes are 1/2" diameter and 50mm through each part. I have thought of setting a stepper up on the tailstock feed controlled by an Arduino.

If I am machining something else, I need to change the gearbox to alter feeds back to something useable so sometimes face them by hand. I can never replicate the finish I can get by the power feed..

 

[ROB 123]

The drill bit you can see here is a stepped drill I made it out of a wood workers drill bit it is 10mm then goes to 17mm (a bit hard to make ) but I just used a grinding wheel until I got it right .

It cuts very easy so it might well be worth you looking into it .

Rob.

 

[goldstar31]

I liked the set up and most especially the lever action gadget on the tailstock. Obviously a 'home design' as your lathe is a 918/920.

I've just got one for my little Myford ML10 which came in the boxes of goodies but it is not as robust.

Oddly, my box of goodies had a 'Martin Cleeve ' swing boring tool holder and yet another Potts spindle.

Perhaps others will be interested in your 'other' goodie

Regards

Norman