Mini Metal Lathe

Today I thought I'd take a few minutes to get the lathe off of the crating and on it's bench. It had other ideas. :rolleyes:

The first 3 bolts that were attaching the base to the crate came right out, the last one was a bit stiff and after about 5 turns snapped off. :eek:
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So after several minutes of stripping it with a pair of vice grips and trying to grind flats to use another wrench to get it to come free, I resorted to welding a nut on.
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After two more snap offs, it did come free, the last one I caught before it split off and was able to weld the split and finish getting the bolt out. :)
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So after I got the final bolt out, I checked the threading and all was good, just had some bent up shipping bolts. So I went ahead and mounted the feet to the lathe.
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I'll probably end up bolting it to the bench later, but was a bit cold today and just wanted to make some curls with it. I installed the quick change tool post and spent a little time cleaning things up.
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Ready to go now, but I couldn't get the machine to run. :huh: Well after taking the cover off and doing a bunch of electrical tests I got no where. :bang: Then I noticed there were 3 sets of cables leaving the enclosure. I knew one was power, another was the motor, but wasn't sure about the last set. After a bit more investigation, it turns out the plastic shield over the chuck that flips up. has a cut-off switch. :doh:

Back in business, so I chucked up a small piece of aluminum and ran a face on it, which is all I had time left for.
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First project is going to be some spinning knobs for my cross feed, the ones that came with it are horrible and come unscrewed as I work it. Will give me a chance to used the knurling tool on it.
 
Won't have a lot of time in the shop until late tomorrow, but did have a few minutes to swap out the socket head bolt on the quick tool change post to a ratchet style bolt/handle.
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I also bought a few of these magnetic flexible work lights and added one to the lathe. I have 5 more of them that will be attached to other tools in the shop soon.
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Lastly for an oil/lube cup. I saw a recommendations for these kids spill proof paint cups, so picked up a pack of 4. I've got some water based thread cutting lube as well as a couple of oil types.
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While modifying the connector for my spindle, I noticed there was no dial on the apron wheel. Granted, I probably should have just used the tool post slide/wheel since it does have one. Either way, I'm going to have parts that I need accurate distances on that are longer than the tool post slide. I did some googling and found several folks have added the iGaging DRO's on the mini lathe. I bought a 12" one for my apron for the length of the bed. I may buy the 6" one later, but can get by with the dials for now.
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Even though the bed is 14", the tail stock and chuck eat up about 6 or so inches, so 12 is longer than I'll be able to use. It did come with the bracket for the display. The display also has magnets on the back, so can also stick to steel. The display is about 3/4" tall, so it's easy to read. I'll be curious to see how quickly it updates though.
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BTW, the back of the sensor on the slide has several screw mounts, and it comes with several brackets to measure by. Kinda thinking one of these would work well on the planer.
 
I decided to take a break from grinding welds and installed the iGaging on the apron. I printed up some of the brackets from this thing (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:625872) They don't quite match the images in their pics, but was able to make due. I also ordered the 6" iGaging slide for the cross-slide and am printing up the brackets from that thing for it too.
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I'm not sure if I'll use their lcd brackets. I went ahead and welded up a piece of steel vertically on a heavy plate as the lcd displays have magnets on the back to use for now.
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I also printed up a couple of other accessories, a chip tray to help keep chips out of the apron gears and off the bed, and a chuck wrench holder that slips on to the back shield.
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I also printed off some parts from this thing (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4232927) for the ELS (Electronic Lead Screw) system designed by youtuber Clough42
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I've got all the components now, but instead of swapping lead screw gears it uses an encoder on the spindle drive to move a stepper connected to the lead screw. You simply choose the thread/pitch from the display and the software on the micro controller makes it so. ;)
 
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