Wes wrote:
"Robert Swinney" wrote:

Grant sez:

"A lot of guys in the magazines advocate adding a hand crank to the back side
of the headstock spindle, and slowly cranking it towards the end of each
pass. They use an expanding rod arrangement to lock a shaft inside the
headstock tube, the shaft of course having a crank handle fitted."

Yep ! Count me amongst them. I made a nice hand crank from a HF tailpipe extender to fit back side
of the headstock tube. Also made a 2nd one for the 5-C collet draw tube. They are great for
careful threading in either direction as it is almost impossible to make any speed-related mistakes.

Bob (slower is better sometimes) Swinney

Well the lathe that I have access to won't hand crank worth a chit unless I
leave it in neutral from the start. I'm curious about the lathe I'm fixing.
Since the motor and varidrive is out, I wonder if threading the whole shaft
at home using a crank is an option. I only need to turn .75" at 14 tpi.

I'll look into the feasability in the morning. It isn't like tying up the
lathe until I get done is a problem.

Any tips on making an expanding arbor for spindle? Mine is 1 3/8" id.


Some years ago, I improvised an expanding arbor from a Dynabolt
(is that the US term? Expanding bolt for concrete).
A strip of flat for the crank, & an old wooden handle completed it.
Worked fine.