Poop. That's kind of what I belatedly figured.The leaver on the right looks to be the power feed and arm on the bottom left will select long and cross feeds. The little leaver on the left is the half nuts for screw cutting.
Unfortunately without the gearbox and leadscrew none of that is going to work. It's just getting jammed inside the apron with bits missing.
Chances of fashioning the lower half / total replacement half nut assembly?
If you are going down the electronic route you could have it use a fixed nut and use the leadscrew to feed the saddle. If you still want half nuts they have to macth the leadscrew. That limits you to the original thread. Also I'm not sure if the half nuts are not counter bored I. E. Made as two halves of the same nut as opposed to two separate pieces. If so you will never match the one in thee apronSo, if I'm not tied to the original leadscrew what are the chances of me updating the halfnut to match an alternative leadscrew?
Except you won't be able to use the carriage manually without using the lead screw to move it rather than the carriage handle, which will be a right PITA. You would need a lead screw and nut with a very fast helix to allow you to use the manual feed normally.Thanks Rik. That's a good point re using a fixed nut - now that I think about it, it's not going to be a problem for the leadscrew to rotate whenever the saddle is moved manually.
In fact it might be a benefit as then the electronics should always know where the saddle is.
Cheers!
D'oh! Yes, of course - no, that won't work so I'm back to having to replace the half nuts then. Darn.Except you won't be able to use the carriage manually without using the lead screw to move it rather than the carriage handle, which will be a right PITA. You would need a lead screw and nut with a very fast helix to allow you to use the manual feed normally.
Your need rotary encoders on the spindle and lead screw so the brain knows where they both are rotationally and also a liner endoder to know there the saddle is on the bed. You could also use the gearing in the saddle to drive the cross slide, then you would be on the money with a CNC 2 axis lathe.
Its getting it Synced in the first place though. what happens if it gets out of sync?