Lathe halh nuts

Hello. I have been able to acquire a pair of Half Nuts for my Hobby lathe. Thanks to everyone who offered advice and help. The ones I bought are aluminium and I look forward to trying to fit them over this coming weekend and if not, over the Christmas holidays.

If anyone has ever repaired / fixed half nuts on a similar lathe, I would apperciate any advice on how to re-assemble.

Many thanks

Joe M

Hi Joe,

As they say in the car manuals, re-assembly is the reverse of disassembly .

I don't know your lathe at all, but on mine the procedure is to put things back together and then move the leadscrew up, down or sideways until the half nuts will close easily on it at the headstock and tailstock ends.

Up and down is dealt with by loosening the leadscrew bearing block fixing bolts at one end, clamping the half nuts up at that end, then tightening the bolts up. If the leadscrew doesn't rotate freely, the holes in the bearing blocks may need enlarging to allow a bit of wriggle room. Then repeat at the other end of the leadscrew.

Sideways adjustment can be accomplished, if there is sufficient wriggle room on the bolts which hold the apron to the saddle, by loosening them, closing the half nuts, and then tightening the bolts up again. If that doesn't work, shims behind the bearing blocks, or skimming a bit off their backs, may be necessary.

You can often diagnose what treatment is needed by closing the half nuts half way along the leadscrew, while observing closely to see if it flexes at all. If so, the leadscrew will be put under severe strain when the carriage gets near one or other (or both) of the bearing blocks.

Andy

I have been able to acquire a pair of Half Nuts for my Hobby lathe

Out of interest & for the benefit of others who will eventually be in the same position, where did you manage to source the replacement parts, Joe ?

Nigel B.

(I would have italicised the quote, but the "editor" won't let me ?)

Hello.

Thanks to everybody who offered advice to help repair my hobby lathe I'm hoping to make a start this weekend Sun 18th and if not, over the coming weekends. I was eventually able to acquire the half nuts from Excel Machine Tools, Coventry. After a lot of searching around they eventually found some in a factory unit they own across the road. I'm just glad to have them...

Once again .

Thanks to everyone.

Joe.

PS I could be looking for a very cheap small used single phase surface grinder in the near future.

"Hello. I have been able to acquire a pair of Half Nuts for my Hobby lathe."

I managed the quotation marks and italicisation despite the so called shortcomings of the software

Best regards

Terry

I managed the quotation marks and italicisation despite the so called shortcomings of the software

I don't normally have a problem & it worked fine on the post I made before the one in question - it also worked on this reply. It steadfastly refused to work on the post in question, though, hence the comment.

Regards,

Nigel B.

Hello. Does anyone have a cheap small surface grinder for sale. Around 12" X 5" Single phase. It may need a little help. cheap please...

Joe M

Good Morning.

Thanks to everyone who had an imput in trying to help me repair my Hobby lathe this year.

I've made a bit of a start on putting the new half nuts back, but things have slowed a bit due to family circumstances and I hope to continue this Christmas holiday. So thanks to everyone who offered help.

To everyone on the Model Engineering website.

Wishing all thats good for Christmas, New Year, 2013 and beyond.

Regards.

Joe M