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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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Woodstock Intl. Lathe update
This is a continuing update on my adventures with our Shop Fox 13x40
lathe. Woodstock has been wonderful with their customer service. They have done everything they promised, including giving us a healthy refund on the initial purchase price. They could not resolve one problem -- the correct steady and follow rests for my machine do not exist. We had to modify the existing ones to properly intersect the axis of the work. It was only about an hour's work to fix both, and Woodstock compensated me for our time. Plus they stated that if we destroyed both parts trying, it would not affect the warrantee, and they would gladly replace them with what they had (same mis-fit parts) for us to try again. As it turns out, the modifications were quick and simple. The parts fit fine now, and the cosmetics were only slightly affected (surface finish on the paint job isn't sweet, because we couldn't wait another 36 hours for a second coat of the linseed oil/white lead paint to dry G). Only one small problem exists that didn't show up immediately, and they've already shipped parts to fix. My worklight is a 24V-55W halogen affair which draws just a bit too much current from the 24VAC control circuit. It trips the thermal breaker after a while of on-time with the covers on the machine. So they've shipped a 230V version of same -- again, with no hassles and no charge. It takes less than five minutes to change out. I've done some actual production work with the lathe in the last two weeks, and it does nice work. It seems rigid enough for anything we'll ever do. I splurged and put a wedge BXA (style) toolpost on it (no, not authentic Aloris -- wouldn't want to kill the Chinese karma of the machine, now would I? G). I was a bit surprised at the quality of the Chinese toolpost -- it's nuts-on perfect. All imperial threads, and cleanly made. It fits authentic Aloris toolholders perfectly, and the ripoff holders that come with it are carbon-copies of the Aloris holders. Hell! The sockets in the setscrews were even centered in the screws and actually fit Imperial allen wrenches! Iggy, you'll enjoy this. I finally tracked down a user who had a professional Mach-3 conversion of this same make lathe done. He's ecstatic about its performance, and he said the mechanicals took all of about six hours to do. They removed the drive rod and replaced the threading screw with a ball screw; replaced the half-nuts with a ball nut (custom mounting block for centering), and hung the X motor off the back of the carriage. He's going to give me the details and parts sources. When I get them, I'll explore if it's possible to retain more of the manual functions while still doing the conversion. It actually might be possible. Except for the manual threading, it looks like there might be enough room behind the apron to leave the feed gears in place while properly mounting the ball nut. It wouldn't be possible to leave the power crossfeed operational, though, since the crossfeed drive gear must be removed to install the X-axis ball screw. So that brings up a question for you already-equipped CNC lathe users. How "natural" is it to use a well thought-out CNC lathe for manual operations? There are a lot of teensy jobs that just cannot justify CAD time. LLoyd |
#2
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Woodstock Intl. Lathe update
On 2011-06-30, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
This is a continuing update on my adventures with our Shop Fox 13x40 lathe. Woodstock has been wonderful with their customer service. They have done everything they promised, including giving us a healthy refund on the initial purchase price. They could not resolve one problem -- the correct steady and follow rests for my machine do not exist. We had to modify the existing ones to properly intersect the axis of the work. It was only about an hour's work to fix both, and Woodstock compensated me for our time. Plus they stated that if we destroyed both parts trying, it would not affect the warrantee, and they would gladly replace them with what they had (same mis-fit parts) for us to try again. As it turns out, the modifications were quick and simple. The parts fit fine now, and the cosmetics were only slightly affected (surface finish on the paint job isn't sweet, because we couldn't wait another 36 hours for a second coat of the linseed oil/white lead paint to dry G). Only one small problem exists that didn't show up immediately, and they've already shipped parts to fix. My worklight is a 24V-55W halogen affair which draws just a bit too much current from the 24VAC control circuit. It trips the thermal breaker after a while of on-time with the covers on the machine. So they've shipped a 230V version of same -- again, with no hassles and no charge. It takes less than five minutes to change out. I've done some actual production work with the lathe in the last two weeks, and it does nice work. It seems rigid enough for anything we'll ever do. I splurged and put a wedge BXA (style) toolpost on it (no, not authentic Aloris -- wouldn't want to kill the Chinese karma of the machine, now would I? G). I was a bit surprised at the quality of the Chinese toolpost -- it's nuts-on perfect. All imperial threads, and cleanly made. It fits authentic Aloris toolholders perfectly, and the ripoff holders that come with it are carbon-copies of the Aloris holders. Hell! The sockets in the setscrews were even centered in the screws and actually fit Imperial allen wrenches! I am pleasantly surprised. Iggy, you'll enjoy this. I finally tracked down a user who had a professional Mach-3 conversion of this same make lathe done. He's ecstatic about its performance, and he said the mechanicals took all of about six hours to do. They removed the drive rod and replaced the threading screw with a ball screw; replaced the half-nuts with a ball nut (custom mounting block for centering), and hung the X motor off the back of the carriage. He's going to give me the details and parts sources. When I get them, I'll explore if it's possible to retain more of the manual functions while still doing the conversion. It actually might be possible. Except for the manual threading, it looks like there might be enough room behind the apron to leave the feed gears in place while properly mounting the ball nut. It wouldn't be possible to leave the power crossfeed operational, though, since the crossfeed drive gear must be removed to install the X-axis ball screw. So that brings up a question for you already-equipped CNC lathe users. How "natural" is it to use a well thought-out CNC lathe for manual operations? There are a lot of teensy jobs that just cannot justify CAD time. I use my mill for manual operations, I am OK. Much of the time I type in MDI commands. i |
#3
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Woodstock Intl. Lathe update
On 06/30/2011 07:42 AM, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
So that brings up a question for you already-equipped CNC lathe users. How "natural" is it to use a well thought-out CNC lathe for manual operations? There are a lot of teensy jobs that just cannot justify CAD time. You CERTAINLY don't need CAD to drill holes in something, cut down tubes or rods to length, turn to diameter, that kind of simple stuff. You'd end up using the CNC more like a DRO, although it would be doing the motion control from the jog keys. One limitation of Mach is in can't do rigid tapping. It requires a real quadrature encoder to accurately keep the spindle in sync while it reverses to back the tap out. I have EMC2 on 2 machines that can rigid tap (they are mills, not lathes, but the principle is the same). I've been contemplating a CNC retrofit on my Sheldon lathe, but also don't want to compromise usability for these manual jobs. Jon |
#4
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Woodstock Intl. Lathe update
Jon Elson fired this volley in
: You'd end up using the CNC more like a DRO, although it would be doing the motion control from the jog keys. Yeah... that's basically how I use my R2E4 when I want to manually cut a part. Only (luckily) the R2E4 came with a jog wheel, so you can do pretty nice work. It's still inconvenient (but not as much as just buttons), and you cannot "feel the work". LLoyd |
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