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Leon Fisk Leon Fisk is offline
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Default Quick unlocking of compound base on lathe

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:18:33 -0400, "Wild_Bill"
wrote:

snip
I'd seen the Bedair and several other 4-bolt solutions for the compound
mounting plate several years ago, and concluded that I'd try to come up with
a plate that would offer some support to the cylindrical portion of the
compound (the round column at the bottom of the compound base casting).

http://www.kwagmire.com/shop/lathe/9...cessories.html

This base plate can be machined on the 9x20 lathe using the supplied 4-jaw
chuck (although I used a rotary table and mill of a 3in1 machine to make the
crescent-shaped undercuts in the corners).

snip

Those are a couple of the ones I've looked over and
considered making too.

My compound is off right now and I took a quick look at it
again last night. My only fear with my suggested design is
whether there would be enough clamping pressure to keep the
compound from creeping in use. It would take a bit more work
but you could leave the degree plate in place and counter
sink the bottom for it. That would keep it captive and if
you kept the tolerances tight would help keep it from
working loose. I kind of like the idea being able to drop it
into the holder though. You could make other accessories to
drop in then too.

My other thought is to turn an adaptor to replace the degree
plate that is made of steel and the same diameter as the top
of the column. This would provide more clamping service to
get a hold of.

I've been toying with this for awhile now and will probably
try making it unless someone points out the folly in it. It
seems like an obvious solution/method and I wonder why
nobody has tried it. Usually that means it is a bad idea for
some reason or another

I'll let you know how it works out if I ever get around to
it. First I need to get the lathe running. It only took me 3
weeks to get it out of the crate and mounted on a bench.
That was last April... There is still something wrong with
the motor/belt area. I have to walk the belt on/off even
with the tension released. There are two different belt
lengths sold for it and I have the shorter version. I tried
searching some, but couldn't find any info on why two
different length belts are used. Only thing I can figure is
that it depends on which motor is sold with it (shrug).

I am cheap and loath the idea of buying the longer belt just
yet.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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