XYZ1400 lathe repairs and upgrade

[daleyd]

Things of beauty , but in the world outside toolrooms can the mega expense truly be justified?

If it’s a case of scrap it because the bearings are going to cost 4K or put something in that is “good enough” for tinkering at home, then surely it’s a no brainer...

 

[Carl Wilson]

The difference in quality is clearly tangible, even from a photograph. The thing is, what do you do if you can't afford that?

As Paul says, I don't think the Indian made lathe used anything that special. More likely relied on standard bearings very carefully adjusted.

My brother from the same Mother's lathe is the largest sized Emco. It has standard FAG bearings in it and has had since 1973 when it was built. It runs quietly and has runout comparable with much more prestigious machines. A very creditable showing.

I appreciate that Gamet bearings for the bigger machines might command thousands of pounds. If my Harrison were to go tits up, bearing wise, I think I'd splash the £500 and put the right ones in. In Paul's position I'd have done the same as him.

 

[God mode restorations]

The difference in quality is clearly tangible, even from a photograph. The thing is, what do you do if you can't afford that?

As Paul says, I don't think the Indian made lathe used anything that special. More likely relied on standard bearings very carefully adjusted.

My brother from the same Mother's lathe is the largest sized Emco. It has standard FAG bearings in it and has had since 1973 when it was built. It runs quietly and has runout comparable with much more prestigious machines. A very creditable showing.

I appreciate that Gamet bearings for the bigger machines might command thousands of pounds. If my Harrison were to go tits up, bearing wise, I think I'd splash the £500 and put the right ones in. In Paul's position I'd have done the same as him.

Yes I totally understand that and it is crazy amounts of money for bearings. Unfortunately these things can make or break the machines. If Paul has found an alternative that works to a degree then happy days.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Understood about bearings making or breaking the machine. At the end of the day, any lathe is little more than a set of bearings really.

I remember a Drummond that my brother had. He couldn't get a decent finish with it and it turned out to be a bearing issue. A common mod fixed it in the end.

Paul's machine seems to be holding reasonable tolerances now and turning out a decent standard of work with a good finish, and that is with the current bearings, which don't appear to be anything special.

 

[Robbie260]

He really cant do any worse than with this pile of rubbish (insert expletive to your liking) standard ships issue lathe. Made in china or india or korea, truely terrible. Have nothing but the cheapest of the cheap bearings inside i would say that wheel bearings would be an improvement. But really what you need to worry about with these things is the tool posts and cross slides wearing out this is far more likely to be your issues than runout caused by bad bearings. Can usually put 300mm prodtruding from the chuck unsupported and then put a dti right on the end turn it and it wont move (obviously if you are goimg to take a cut you support it). Anyway the bearings in most of these cheap lathes i have come across havent had any issue with run out and you can produce some pretty accurate work as long as the tool post and cross slide aint knackered. This one is made in china. You just cant take really deep gouging cuts if you want them to be accurate thats all.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Yes I know what you mean about ship's lathes. I've worked on some ropey ones in my time, one of which was a Warco.

I did work on an extremely good lathe on one ship, it was an Excel XL1660. I believe it was a copy of a TOS machine. As you say they are usually Chinese or Taiwanese makes you've never heard of. Also they've often been enthusiastically abused by people with no idea.

That said it doesn't usually preclude decent work being produced on them. If you know a machine's shortcomings you can often work around them.

 

[Robbie260]

Yes I know what you mean about ship's lathes. I've worked on some ropey ones in my time, one of which was a Warco.

I did work on an extremely good lathe on one ship, it was an Excel XL1660. I believe it was a copy of a TOS machine. As you say they are usually Chinese or Taiwanese makes you've never heard of. Also they've often been enthusiastically abused by people with no idea.

That said it doesn't usually preclude decent work being produced on them. If you know a machine's shortcomings you can often work around them.

Enthusiasticly abused is a lot of an understaement in most cases. But as you say take the time to get use to it and you can still produce some at very least reasonable quality work

 

[paulhar]

Yep cross slide does have some issues, but we have the technology, well a half working lathe and an old warco mill to bash some modified parts out. New swivel bolt thingies as old ones were soft as cheese , and extra long toolpost clamp. Made from silver steel shim cut offs and old pipeline bolts.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Toolpost locking handle should just about be long enough.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Toolpost locking handle should just about be long enough.

A thrust bearing under it will make it clamp even tighter

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Toolpost handle by Archimedes?

 

[paulhar]

A thrust bearing under it will make it clamp even tighter

Dave H. (the other one)

Never actually thought about that, would a slippy shim work , as not too keen on fafing about with a proper bearing. And theres enough talk about bearings already

 

[Carl Wilson]

To be honest Paul you don't need it bar tight. It just needs a nip. The contact area between the toolpost and the cross slide ensures sufficient clamping.

 

[paulhar]

All done on the DRO , ended up screwing the alloy angle directly into the scale ends. The end caps on the scale are just alloy blocks so nothing to break dong it like this , not an ideal safety cover but the room was tight and it is nice n easy to do . If you get one of these chinese DRO kits get some M5 + m6 fasteners of your preferred head type , i've ended up with a right mix of hex/slot/bolt as its just what i had ( thats a countersunk with a washer on the back cover ...oooo ugly , but it does work and i've seen a few dro's fitted with no covers so meh.

No time for enthusiastic abuse yet Carl as need to paint the splash back and chip tray , not something im looking forward to.

Archimedes handle fitted and ready to sink some Bismarcks.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Looking good.

 

[paulhar]

Couple of toys arrived from banggood, knurler and some carbide. Made a wee box spanner from a broken 1/2" universal joint and dressed up the chuck. Knurler is ace but the carbide took a beating on the chuck.
Also started painting shrouds but my freebie 2pack paint doesnt like the cold so will be a few days getting hard.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Just like you eh Paul.

Nice box spanner.

 

[paulhar]

Need to bypass n get rid of this 3 phase junk , wow theres alot of stuff here.

 

[God mode restorations]

Need to bypass n get rid of this 3 phase junk , wow theres alot of stuff here.
View attachment 160401

Yes screw that lot

 

[Carl Wilson]

Looks like a pretty big control transformer up in the top left hand corner.

VFD'S have made all the electromechanical and electrothermal interlocks and overloads obsolete.

You can just get rid of that big box of stuff. There should be plenty of digital inputs and outputs on your VFD to operate all the interlocks and features.

If you have a coolant pump motor to run you can do that with single phase using a capacitor across one of the 3 phases.

There's been a lot of job justification put into the building of that cabinet!