making new lathe spindle

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I am far from a metallurgist but EN24 ( also known as 'shafting steel' ) is possible to machine with HSS

Nick

Edited By Nick_G on 23/02/2015 13:07:52

Graeme,

Not wishing to pour water on your enthusiasm ...

Headstock - this is the bigger challenge - I can't see that reaming is going to work - how are you going to ensure that the two bores are parallel to each other and the headstock. If I were doing this I'd line bore it - clearly you can't do this on your machine - perhaps someone local to you will step in and offer to do it for you. there has been a relatively recent article on line boring in Model Engineers Workshop re putting roller bearings in a Myford.

Spindle - I'd look to get it re-metalled as a first option - try a crankshaft recondtioning service ideally followed by grinding to you desired overall diameter (OD) but as its a relatively small dia. you need to check with them that its not going to distort the shaft. If you wait until the headstock is finished you can then specify your desired OD. Sleeving is a possibility - Loctite (not superglue) etc is incredibly strong if the parts are sized according their recommendations. Sleeving may be tricky if the bearing surfaces are the same dia or smaller once skimmed than the shaft in between.

Making a new spindle on an up-together lathe should be relatively straight forward but will involve screwcutting the spindle thread.

Might be worth seeing if you can pick up a complete replacement headstock - or was that you looking for one the other day ?

As a beginner I would avoid anything too technical at the start

A replacement headstock is your easiest route and Tony has laid out your best options

Must be frustrating when you're desperate to cut some metal

A tricky job for a beginner. My first lathe was pretty rough and had that much slop but I managed OK for 20 years making telescope bits, an IC engine, gyroscope and all sorts of other bits. Get to know and love your lathe's imperfections before tearing into a fancy restore job. So live with the imperfections and get some experience is my advice and make a few things. If you want to take out a bit of slop try the cautious use of some thin brass shim - a bodge but simple and cheap. You haven't lived until you have used a cranky old lathe, a bit of slop is only a barrier to effortless parting off - and that's what hacksaws are for......

Babbit may be another option, there is apparently a very old ME article from the 20s or 30s where old headstock bearings were repaired / poured In-situ by an ME reader, but my archive doesn't go back that far

You can search for old articles here

Edited By Ady1 on 23/02/2015 15:15:51

My first lathe was in a worse state, it had solid brass split bearings and the spindle was almost screw cut. I did not know any better so filed the split in the bearings then scraped in to the spindle, this worked after a fashion but I would not recommend it. I would get the spindle plated and just try it.

> The play is nearly all up and down as the bore doesn't compress evenly.

Is the bearing split horizontally?

if so, most of the wear will be at the top of the bearing (as cutting forces push the spindle up and back. This means you could get away with scraping the bottom of the top bearing half to tighten it up

Neil

By making a new spindle, it might be an opportunity to equip your lathe with a Myford standard nose fitting. You could then use compatible chucks and faceplates etc.

It appears to be solid, but is the spindle actually bored and fitted with a Morse taper?

Martin.

Edited By Graeme Whitfield on 23/02/2015 18:28:27