XYZ1400 lathe repairs and upgrade

[paulhar]

Started on the DRO install while the wife has the sprog away at her mothers.
Old one off , might try flogging it on fleabay but with only one scale its pretty useless and it didn't work on my new DRO , so prob obsolete protocol.


new one on bolted to the old bracket



and shims made up for the x-axis , 5.55mm wide so I can bolt the slider directly to the saddle and the scale directly onto the cross slide. Just found out my only m5 tap is a cheap n nasty one and don't fancy using it on my bed so ordered up a new one.

 

[Screwdriver]

Gamet bearings are fitted to Colchester lathes. And the student is definitely not a high end tool room lathe.

They are super precision bearings and would cost £1000's to replace.

 

[God mode restorations]

They are super precision bearings and would cost £1000's to replace.

Yes. I had an interesting conversation with gamet bearings . you will not get much change out of £4000. Good job I have a set for mine.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

you will not get much change out of £4000

 

[paulhar]

Hmmm, cross slide is going to be a tight fit and the protective cover that came with it is going to be too much work to make it right or useful or pretty.
So have spaced it with 3mm drill bits and ordering some 30x40x3 alloy angle to use as a guard. But how to fix the guard hmmm.

 

[Rig Pig]

I appreciate that the best solution is super precision bearings but the net is full of tales of Bridgeports and mini lathes that have been rebuilt with standard bearings and apparently operate without any issues, let us know how it goes, I suspect that if anything it will improve the finish if the original bearings are noisy at hand rotation speed.

 

[paulhar]

Not sure what the suplied brackets were about, pretty much useless (got 2 of those ones on the left with it) . Cut one up and made a block to fit the long scale .

 

[paulhar]

Got it fitted , going to have a clean up back here before running a clock on it to get it all straight.

 

[paulhar]

So few niggles getting it straight

The end caps aren't straight to its length so i just clocked on the main box of the scale.

The scale was slightly bent , only about .2 mm in the middle , gave it a wee tweak and it was good as new , but i doubt it would have made a difference if i had left it.

The shims that came with the DRO kit weren't thick enough to make up for the bed casting being 0.9mm thinner at the business end. Unfortunately the guy who "borrowed" my pipe bender 4 years ago also "borrowed" my shim stock at the same time, grrr . So slight bodge here but hey its a hobby and there is a cover going on. Success = feeler gauge set -1 feeler.

Also the aluminium end caps are fairly soft alloy so had to resort to using an m6 bolt + washer as the allen head was squashing the recess and making it difficult to align.

Oh and cleaning the bed got cancelled as its freakin freezing here today

 

[Carl Wilson]

Paul it is great to see you here with your XYZ.

I think the bearings will be perfectly alright. Four grand for a set of Gamets? If the ones in my Harrison went then the lathe would effectively be scrap, so I'd definitely use a less expensive alternative.

Paul is my brother from another Mother. No idea how he suddenly got to be so articulate though...

 

[Hopefuldave]

Sometimes im glad my Holbrook has plain bearings for its spindle... but the pulley runs on the biggest roller bearings I've ever seen and the QCGB is stuffed with Unobtainium taper rollers at £500 each if I buy 1000... of each type

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[God mode restorations]

Paul it is great to see you here with your XYZ.

I think the bearings will be perfectly alright. Four grand for a set of Gamets? If the ones in my Harrison went then the lathe would effectively be scrap, so I'd definitely use a less expensive alternative.

Paul is my brother from another Mother. No idea how he suddenly got to be so articulate though...

Yes gamet bearings are serious money. It's that reason Colchesters get scrapped when the bearings are shot.

 

[paulhar]

Paul it is great to see you here with your XYZ.

I think the bearings will be perfectly alright. Four grand for a set of Gamets? If the ones in my Harrison went then the lathe would effectively be scrap, so I'd definitely use a less expensive alternative.

Paul is my brother from another Mother. No idea how he suddenly got to be so articulate though...

I got the good looks tho, and the articulation came shortly after sobering up my eloquent friend.

 

[Carl Wilson]

No argument with you regarding the looks...That's a great picture of Amily by the way. What is she holding? Really like the DRO stuff. I will have to try to get through to see your lathe (and you, obviously) this time I'm home.

 

[Carl Wilson]

Just a thought on the attachment of the cover for your cross slide scale. You could drill and tap the heads of the scale attachment bolts and fix the cover on using small screws into these.

The spindle nose and tail bearings for my M250 are not as bad as I thought, but still rather steep. Nose is 111050/111090C. Simply bearings, as an illustration, do them at £240 apiece ex VAT.

Tail bearing is a 112045/112085C at £237 each ex VAT.

 

[paulhar]

No argument with you regarding the looks...That's a great picture of Amily by the way. What is she holding? Really like the DRO stuff. I will have to try to get through to see your lathe (and you, obviously) this time I'm home.

Its a coil for a Chinese induction heater , https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1000W-ZV...=item3b196bb7d8:g:MtcAAOSwPJxbf7a~:rk:42:pf:0 . its a fair toy , just run it off a couple of car batteries.

Cant unfortunately attach cross slide cover to bolt heads as there already recessed and too small (m5) . Think i'll just make a wee block up and swiss-cheese hole the lathe again, not something I particularly want to do but its got its fair share of mystery holes already. I could actually Drill and tap the ends of the scale...but that's taking bodging to a whole new level...or is it?

 

[Carl Wilson]

Looking at the shims that space the scale away from the cross slide, couldn't you drill and tap into the top of those, M3?

Interesting thing that heater. Sorry to hear your lathe is like a Swiss cheese. But then we know all about that.

 

[MattH]

As Carl has attested to there are alternatives to £4K worth of Gamet bearings.
There's a lot of scope for getting something decent in the range between £50 wheel bearings and £4000 super precision bearings.

It doesn't have to be either or folks.

P.S. nice lathe and good job on the DRO install.

 

[God mode restorations]

As Carl has attested to there are alternatives to £4K worth of Gamet bearings.
There's a lot of scope for getting something decent in the range between £50 wheel bearings and £4000 super precision bearings.

It doesn't have to be either or folks.

P.S. nice lathe and good job on the DRO install.

Picture below. Timeken taper roller bearing on the left.from empire lathe headstock. Right hand is one of gamet bearings super precision bearings. Totally unmatched in quality.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Picture below. Timeken taper roller bearing on the left.from empire lathe headstock. Right hand is one of gamet bearings super precision bearings. Totally unmatched in quality.

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