Member postings for larry phelan 1

I forgot to add there is a tapped hole in the said pully, fitted with a pointed grub screw, as if intended to locate in a dimple on the spindle. I tried tightening this ,but it had no effect.

Good day, Everyone,

I have a question regarding my Chester Craftsman belt driven lathe as described below :

There is a 3 step pully mounted on the main spindle ,driven by a belt from a rear mounted shaft. This pully can be engaged by means of a spring loaded pin in order to provide direct drive speeds .The gearwheel seems to be keyed to the spindle, nothing wrong there.

What I do not understand is that when backgear is to be engaged, the spring pin is disengaged and another smaller gearwheel, to the lefthand end of the spindle is engaged to provide low gears. This also, I can understand, but since the 3 step pully does not appear to be keyed to the spindle, but can rotate freely, how is the drive transmitted ?

I suspect that the pully should be keyed or has become broken or missing.

At the moment it seems to be more of a friction drive, which cannot be right.

I am not looking forward to stripping down the whole spindle to find out !

Does anyone know, should it be keyed to the spindle ?

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but it has me puzzled.

Any advice much appreciated.

PS Machine seems to be working OK, but it just don't seem right.

This is a most interesting post. I like that hint about skimming the backplate to improve run out. Never had to do it, but who knows, some day, perhaps?

I did buy a 4 jaw self centering chuck many moons ago thinking it would be better than my 3 jaw, but it is still in the box, never got around to making a backplate for it. Tend to use the 4 jaw independent more and more these days, quick enough to set true. I can get it near enough by eye then use my dial gauge to get it dead on.

I do not make "Engineering mistakes", I make Cock up*s ! Sad to say, they can seldom be "Repaired"

Anyone else like that out there? can we form a club ?

May not be much help to the above, but when I moved house to the "sticks" 3 phase became out of the question, the cost was -----------------------------? , so I bought a Transwave rotary converter. Problem solved !

Runs the whole shop, planer spindle moulder, bandsaw, lathe miller, the whole works, no messing about.

Don't know about that particular machine, but most scroll saws I have seen seem to hold their blades by gripping the ends in two clamps.. Since blades are made by many different makers for many different saws, I doubt if yours would need special ones. The blades seem to be much like hacksaw blades, made by everyone ,everywhere. .

I don't think there is really too much to know about them, your machine may have a few different speeds, or may not, so I suppose the same rules apply slow for hard stuff, fast for soft stuff, blades, course for soft material, fine for hard material.

I don't think there*s much difficulty about lining up the blades, I think they only fit one way, to cut on the downward stroke.

Sorry I cannot be of more help, but I*m sure there is someone else out there who can.

Ron, I seem to remember Sparey making that very point when talking about parting off..

As far as I recall, he said "Keep the tool working with a steady feed ".

That does seem to be the way to go, but it can be SCARY !! at times.

Regarding removing the tips, I just prise them out with a small screwdriver, never knew there was a tool for the job !

Dear God, I have SO MUCH to learn !!

For what it*s worth [not much, I suppose ] I bought one of those holders and tips from China and found them to be OK. I have a Craftsman lathe, 6" centre height and found that it had no problem handling 2 or 3 mm tips for parting off but 4mm tips were another matter. OK for grooving but not for parting, the machine just did not like them.

The holders are quite cheap ,about 14 Dollars, less in Euro,s and the tips are for buttons.

I found that they work better under power feed, something I would seldom try with HSS blades.

I always use a rear tool post for parting, since I found it more rigid.

Just my experience

PS No big problem if you break the tips ,they are cheap enough !

Alas, only one ! A Chester Lux ,which will no doubt see me out.

I am afraid I score very badly on this one, since I have had and still have only one lathe, a Chester Craftsman long bed. Since I am still learning and time is not on my side, I doubt if I will ever get another lathe, as this one does all I need and is very understanding re my lack of skills.

Yes indeed, very few of them wanted to hear the truth.

Let sleeping dogs lie !!

All tools are dangerous in the wrong hands, angle grinders no more so than any other.

It all comes back to the user.

I do not take offence since I am no Gentleman, just a common or garden plodder.

Garry,

When I need something like that, over here, I head to my local scrap dealer [the guy who buys scrap brass/copper ect ] Sometimes, he has offcuts of brass and copper sheet and even round bar, so it might be worth a trip for you. Might not have what you need but might know who has since he buys from small workshops as well.

Hi Ron

Seems like you picked up a nice piece of kit. Looks to be in very good condition and you got LOADS of stuff with it ! Don't think I would worry too much about the age of it if it has been looked after well. and no bits are missing or have fallen off. Remember what they say "The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune "

You appear to have enough stuff there to get going right away, so get stuck in !

And yes, it was worth the trip ,forget about the roadworks ! Good luck and happy turning.

I take it you never got a cut from a sheet of drawing paper ?

I kid you not, you could shave with it !.

I,m with Peter Shaw on this one, and like Magpie, for turning things and cutting threads ,boring ect ,ect in fact for loads of things.

I bought a 4 jaw scc chuck many moons ago, but to date it is still sitting in its box waiting for a backplate, which I doubt I will ever make. Never really found a job to justify setting it up. I do use my 4 jaw independent chuck quite a lot and can set it true fairly quickly with the clock.

So perhaps you might be better off to spend your money on something else

PS Just be careful who you buy from, see above Post re "Suppliers".

Suppliers should not take on orders unless they are in a position to fulfil them.

If there is likely to be a problem or a long delay, they should advise their customers accordingly .

This would not be too difficult and would avoid situations like this ,while ensuring that they retained their good name.

Sad to say, many don't even bother to answer calls or Emails [it,s quite common ]

I,m not sure how the Small Claims System works, but it sounds like the best in this case.