Turning on a HF lathe

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railrider1920

railrider1920

Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
237
Location
NW Fla Panhandle, USA.
Hi everyone,
I still haven't gotten myself a decent lathe yet. I'm really hoping to get one when the tax return get here. Anyway, I have done a few things to the crappy HF lathe that I have to be able to turn a few pens. Just nothing that I want to show off, at least right now. The tailstock is a mess. Very sloppy side to side. I cut a piece of plastic to fit between the rails and bolted it to the tailstock. That, for the most part, took care of that. You can see it in the bottom right of the last picture.

I had a threaded rod coupler that fit the spindle. I cut a piece of bolt to fit in the coupler. Turned the lath on and used an angle grinder to flatten the face of it. I found the center of it and drilled a hole into the bolt. Then I tapped it to 1/4 20 threads.

spindle.jpg

spindle2.jpg


For the tailstock, I glued up a couple of pieces of MDF and drilled some holes in it so that it would sit over the live center. I drilled a hole through the block so that a 1/4" bolt would go through it. I gave it a few coats of CA to strengthen it up some. I screwed it into the spindle, brought up the tailstock and turned it down to get rid of the corners. Then gave the outside a coat of CA as well.

mandrelcup2.jpg

mandrelcup.jpg


For a mandrel, I got a piece of 1/4" threaded rod. Screwed one end into the cap that fits over the live center. Put a couple of nuts on it to stop it from coming out and one on the other side to lock it in place. The other end is screwed into the spindle and has a nut and lock washer to hold in in place.. The bad part about this is having to screw on nuts to hold the blanks in place and unscrewing it from the spindle

mandrel-3.jpg

mandrelcup2-1.jpg

mandrel.jpg


I did a couple of click pens on it. They came out ok. One side of the blank matched up with the bushing and the other side of that same end of the blank was proud by maybe 1/64" I'm guessing that it was like this because the tail stock was not inline with the spindle. I'm chalking this up to the play in the tailstock screw and the fact that it is a HF lathe. After that, I put the first one together wrong. Oh well.

I don't think I'll make any award winning pens with this rig, but I'm having fun. Right now, for me, that's all that counts.

Isn't there a saying: "Necessity is the mother of invention" ?

Thanks for checking this out.
 
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I dont know much but I think if I saw that nasty thing on the side of the road, I would punch the gas and get away from it.[xx(]
 
Originally posted by hunter-27

I dont know much but I think if I saw that nasty thing on the side of the road, I would punch the gas and get away from it.[xx(]
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LOL!! If you only new me. I would have picked it up. Knowing what I know now, I would have put it in my recycling pile, but I would have still picked it up.

You're right on Buzz. I'm thinking about either a Jet or Turncrafter Pro from PSI. Amazon.com usually has the turncrafter for less than $180. When I get close to that point, I'm going to be asking about the PSI to see what people here say about it.
 
Originally posted by railrider1920

Originally posted by hunter-27

I dont know much but I think if I saw that nasty thing on the side of the road, I would punch the gas and get away from it.[xx(]
Click to expand...
LOL!! If you only new me. I would have picked it up. Knowing what I know now, I would have put it in my recycling pile, but I would have still picked it up.

You're right on Buzz. I'm thinking about either a Jet or Turncrafter Pro from PSI. Amazon.com usually has the turncrafter for less than $180. When I get close to that point, I'm going to be asking about the PSI to see what people here say about it.
Click to expand...

Get the Jet, I think I would have been too afraid that the poor quality of that thing might somehow be contagious. I'd have let it alone. :D
 
I ordered the Penn State screw on mandrel for my neighbors HF lathe and the setup works fairly well.Do the best with what you have and can afford.Not everyone can afford a big expensive lathe.I have a 12 inch Ridgid that I just happened to catch on clearance at Home Depot for 140.00 brand new.Been using it quite a while,and while it is'nt the most accurate or the best lathe in the world by any stretch,it suits my purpose.It has spent many an hour running and all I have had to do is clean the chips off.So don't stress over whats the best.Buy the best you can afford and USE it to the best of your abilities and you will be happy.Here is a pic of it.Ronald.

20083605429_lathe.jpg
 
Originally posted by railrider1920

.....Then I tapped it to 1/4 20 threads......
Click to expand...

Rob: Very ingenious work!!

If you had threaded your headstock for a 1/4" x 28tpi thread, you could have purchased a standard "A" mandrel from Berea for about $6 and saved yourself a bunch of trouble. You would have to do the live center a little differently to match the 60° dimple in the end of the mandrel; but given your obvious ability to improvise, that should not be a problem at all.



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Dallas, TX................................In Their Memory
 
I had that lathe for awhile and made a couple hundred pens with it, did ok untill I started making bowls. I think the all thread rod is your down fall, to much play between it and the tube. Keep at it, you will be ok.
Bob
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone, positive and negative. Also thanks for the words on the Jet or Turncrafter lath.

Thanks for the complement Randy. I might still give that mandrel a try.
 
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