Has anyine got any experience of using one of these lathes?
I bought it needing work, the moving part of the top slide was missing, power feed gears were stripped and the pinion gear had a bent tooth so it's a safe assumption it was crashed under power and I can see why, it took me about 10 minutes to do similar but with only one of the 2 belts fitted and not fully tensioned so no damage going from a .5mm depth of cut to about 5 mm in aluminium.
The power feed is really difficult to disengage, it actually locks into place with a spring loaded plunger, I thought that was the problem so I have polished the machining marks off the pin and bore in the lever, added an angle to the locating pin and made a lighter spring, that is now perfectly smooth and easy to use but it wasn't the probem.
The power feed is engaged by moving the gears in the apron in and out of mesh radially and the more load on the power feed the more difficult it is to pull out of mesh to the point I am not physically strong enough,
It's a bit of a long shot but was hoping someone has used one and can say whether this is normal then I can go about repairing or maybe modifying it.
I bought it needing work, the moving part of the top slide was missing, power feed gears were stripped and the pinion gear had a bent tooth so it's a safe assumption it was crashed under power and I can see why, it took me about 10 minutes to do similar but with only one of the 2 belts fitted and not fully tensioned so no damage going from a .5mm depth of cut to about 5 mm in aluminium.
The power feed is really difficult to disengage, it actually locks into place with a spring loaded plunger, I thought that was the problem so I have polished the machining marks off the pin and bore in the lever, added an angle to the locating pin and made a lighter spring, that is now perfectly smooth and easy to use but it wasn't the probem.
The power feed is engaged by moving the gears in the apron in and out of mesh radially and the more load on the power feed the more difficult it is to pull out of mesh to the point I am not physically strong enough,
It's a bit of a long shot but was hoping someone has used one and can say whether this is normal then I can go about repairing or maybe modifying it.
