- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
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- 14
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I want to share some photos of the recent improvements I made to my Unimat SL1000 lathe which has a 3" swing. I bought this lathe new in 1970, used it for a few years and then put into storage. I recently started to use the lathe and decided it needed a make-over after being inspired by the book series "The Shop Wisdom" by Rudy Kouhoupt.
As part of the lathe improvements, I built a storage platform with a single drawer, added a permanently installed milling/drilling head and more intermediate pulleys for slower spindle RPM, raised the whole lathe up in riser blocks and add threaded holes for future attachments (yet to be designed), added dial indicators for the x, y and z directions (I usually work in inches), and added adjustable carriage stops to the x-direction. It took several iterations to align the x, y, and z axis to each other but everything seems to be in tram with each other. Along the way I replaced the motors with continuous duty U-100 motors. Yesterday I replaced the stationary lathe handles with ones that rotate (not sure why I waited all these years before doing this). There are many more future features I want to add such a longitudinal power feed for the x-axis and a dividing plate for the lathe spindle. Some of the most fun I have is designing the parts before anything is machined and then making a hard copy or recording my changes as the parts are built (and then making these changes on the original drawings).
Eventually I want to start building stationary steam engines but I am having too much fun with the Unimat.
I hope to be able to post my photos as things progress.
Paul Jones
As part of the lathe improvements, I built a storage platform with a single drawer, added a permanently installed milling/drilling head and more intermediate pulleys for slower spindle RPM, raised the whole lathe up in riser blocks and add threaded holes for future attachments (yet to be designed), added dial indicators for the x, y and z directions (I usually work in inches), and added adjustable carriage stops to the x-direction. It took several iterations to align the x, y, and z axis to each other but everything seems to be in tram with each other. Along the way I replaced the motors with continuous duty U-100 motors. Yesterday I replaced the stationary lathe handles with ones that rotate (not sure why I waited all these years before doing this). There are many more future features I want to add such a longitudinal power feed for the x-axis and a dividing plate for the lathe spindle. Some of the most fun I have is designing the parts before anything is machined and then making a hard copy or recording my changes as the parts are built (and then making these changes on the original drawings).
Eventually I want to start building stationary steam engines but I am having too much fun with the Unimat.
I hope to be able to post my photos as things progress.
Paul Jones
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