Thursday, Aug 4 2016
I’ve been busy with other houshold projects and the most I’ve done with the lathe is swap out parts from the electrolysis bath. Today I did some additional cleaning of a few of the parts and masked them for painting.
Crack
Oh look. With grease, grime, and rust removed you can see a crack in the bed. The crack is in the threaded hole for the bed foot at the headstock end of the lathe. I’m going to ignore it for now. The ways of the bed, other than being pitted and showing 65 years of wear, seem to be flat as tested with some parallels.
Rusty metal primer
The bed, part of the feet, and part of the headstock shell have been primed with Rusty Metal Primer. Unless the lathe turnes out much better than expected this is as much finishing as I’ll do.
Still lots of parts to clean and paint. I’m working toward making room on my work bench so I don’t have to use the washer and dryer as a work surface. The lathe will live on the pictured table. The grinder/wire wheel will have to move. I’ve already moved the vice. It will probably be relocated to my bench.
Sunday, Aug 7 2016
Still Painting
Still cleaning and applying primer. Parts are also going back together mainly to make room for the work yet to do.
The motor that came with the lathe was no good. It’s gone, replaced by a Grizzly motor with the same specs. It’s my single biggest expense to date. It’s also a case of buying before thinking. I made sure I got the power right (don’t need more than 1/3 HP) and the RPM should be in the 1725 ~ 1750 range. I didn’t even think about the diameter of the shaft. The Grizzly has a 5/8" shaft. The drive pulleys have a 1/2" hole. Some modifications will have to be made.
Wednesday, Aug 10 2016
tailstock and carriage
The tailstock and carriage are back together and mounted on the bed. I’m missing a woodruff key or the lead screw and gears would also be mounted. I’m also short a 1/2" 8-32 dog point set screw and matching lock nut. I hope to pick that stuff up next visit to a hardware store.
I need to get a rough idea as to how I’m going to position the counter shaft assembly. The question is will I be able to use the drive belts I have or will I have to order new.