I have a Craftex (sold by Busy Bee in Canada) 7 x 8 mini lathe - moreor less
the same as all the other mini lathes that are common.

How do I get the chuck off?

What will I find when it is off?

I'm looking to make some v-belt pulleys and figure that bolting an aluminium
plate to a face-plate would let me do one side and the groove, flipping it I
could do the other side parallel.

You don't need to take off the chuck if you mount your blank on a mandrel.
If you need more specific instructions, email me.

--

Ron Thompson
On the Beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast
USA

http://www.plansandprojects.com

Where did everyone go? Oh, yeah. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/castinghobby/
"jt" wrote in message
...
I have a Craftex (sold by Busy Bee in Canada) 7 x 8 mini lathe - moreor
less
the same as all the other mini lathes that are common.

How do I get the chuck off?

What will I find when it is off?

I'm looking to make some v-belt pulleys and figure that bolting an
aluminium
plate to a face-plate would let me do one side and the groove, flipping it
I
could do the other side parallel.

"Ron Thompson" wrote in message
...
You don't need to take off the chuck if you mount your blank on a mandrel.
If you need more specific instructions, email me.

--
While it's true that you can machine a pulley from a mandrel, on a lathe
that small it will likely be a nightmare of fighting chatter. I'd suggest
sticking with the face plate for maximum rigidity.

Be sure to check the face plate to see that it runs true, for if it doesn't,
your pulley will have double the error, depending on how you mount it the
second time. If the face plate doesn't run true, take a cut on it so it
does.

Harold

"jt" wrote in message ...
I have a Craftex (sold by Busy Bee in Canada) 7 x 8 mini lathe - moreor less
the same as all the other mini lathes that are common.

How do I get the chuck off?

What will I find when it is off?

I'm looking to make some v-belt pulleys and figure that bolting an aluminium
plate to a face-plate would let me do one side and the groove, flipping it I
could do the other side parallel.

If it's like the HF/Homier 7" minilathes, you'll find 3 or 4 nuts
behind the flange that the chuck is bolted to. The chuck has studs
extending through the flange. You'll find a number of holes through
the rim of the flange when you pull the chuck off, number depends on
lathe model, plus a raised register spigot in the center of the flange
for chuck to center on. Mark flange and chuck before pulling the
chuck so you can get it back in the same position. If it's like other
7xs, you can buy a faceplate for not a whole lot of money. Don't know
about shipping to Canada, but HF has the faceplates as does Micromark.
I've made one, it's not hard, the 6mm automotive studs came from the
hardware store. Use hot-rolled steel or cast iron plate for material.
Some guys have used barbell weight disks for material.

Stan

Stan Schaefer wrote:
"jt" jtaylor... wrote ...
I have a Craftex (sold by Busy Bee in Canada) 7 x 8 mini lathe -
more or less the same as all the other mini lathes that are common.

How do I get the chuck off?
....
If it's like the HF/Homier 7" minilathes, you'll find 3 or 4 nuts
behind the flange that the chuck is bolted to. The chuck has studs
extending through the flange. You'll find a number of holes through
the rim of the flange when you pull the chuck off, number depends on
lathe model, plus a raised register spigot in the center of the flange
for chuck to center on. Mark flange and chuck before pulling the
chuck so you can get it back in the same position.
....

If you change chucks often, you might find the tool at
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/nu...utstarter.html
useful. Some pictures of this same nut-starter appear in
dropbox 2002 retired files* but the reference above includes
a better description and picture of usage such that it takes
less than 5 minutes to take off one chuck and get another
in place ready to use.
-jiw

*
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...nutstarter.txt