New lathe arrived today : The ongoing saga

My new Optimum TU-1503V lathe arrived today. I have set it up on the workbench but it not yet bolted down. I am not sure if I will do that. I could also raise the height of the workbench and use the lathe standing up but I think I would prefer to work sitting down (we will see).

1. Why bolt the lathe to the bench ?

2. Should the reversible jaws be numbered 1,2 and 3 ? And should they be placed in sequence in the chuck as I remove the other jaws ie. take out #1 and replace with reversible #1 ?

3. What is the idea of that Perspex shield in front of the tool post ? I have now removed it.

4. I had intended to remove the chuck guard as well but they have some sort of clever safety device and the lathe will not work when you remove it. The round shaft has to be turned and metal must make also contact between the round shaft and the rest plate of the guard. I think this will be a problem as I have some flywheels to be machined which are 4 inches in diameter. It also makes  fitting a decent size face plate quite difficult which is perhaps why they do not make one for this machine. Any suggestions ?

5. Forward and reverse ( switch to the right of the emergency stop) are marked as R and L (right and left)....why ?

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 12:12:44

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 12:16:50

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 12:18:33

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 12:26:41

Congrats on the new machine, to take your questions in order,

1. Stops it leaping about when you have any imbalance in the work piece.

2. 3 Jaw chucks have 'inside' and 'outside' jaws, the second set will be the latter. Allows larger work pieces to be held.

3. It is intended to protect you from flying chips (or as I have found, to get in the way)

4. No idea on this one, sounds odd that there has to be contact between the guard and other parts, would have thought that the shaft would actuate a micro switch inside the headstock, that is how it has worked on all the machines I''ve had.

5. Odd way of marking the switch, you'll have to love it or change the labels.

6. Can you not just remove the spring from the existing chuck key, I agree they are a pain in the butt, supposed to protect you from leaving the key in but make using them almost impossible one handed.

Hope that helps and enjoy the new machine.

5. Which direction is ''normal'' ?

6. No, the spring cannot be removed from this chuck key. It seems to be sealed inside so I may have to buy another one. I understand the safety principle but it makes them very difficult to use !

I have another problem with the tailstock arbor (MT1). I have purchased two MT1/J2 arbors to use with my drill chuck. I was not sure if I needed a drawbar thread or a tang. It turns out they are both too long as you can see in the photos ; it uses a very short MT1 morse taper. I will cut off the one with the tang to match the dead centre which came with the lathe and that should give the correct length.

7. Is the part of the arbor at the chuck end going in far enough ? Do they have to go in all the way as there is still 4mm sticking out of the drill chuck ?

8. What would you use to cut through the arbor ? The conical shape makes it awkward to hold in the vice and cut with a hacksaw.

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 13:14:11

on 2. yes, the jaws have a specific sequence, without which they will not hold the workpiece centered

on 4. there is typically a push pin switch actuated by the guard ... it's there for a reason, but you could manually close the circuit if you wish

Hi Brian,

Congratulations on your new purchase

As for the guards I'd be inclined to leave them in place till you've had a least a day or 2 to try out the machine. It maybe that they don't inconvenience you in which they might save injury, you can always remove them later if they are a nuisance.

I've only had my machine about 3 months and it came with the same guards as yours, after a few days I realised the one infront of the tool post was a complete pain and so I removed it. However I do like the chuck guard, as a beginner it's prevented me from starting the machine with the chuck key still in and got me into the habit of turning the chuck 1 complete turn by hand before lowering the guard and starting it up.

Peter.

Take a piece of round bar, chuck it in the lathe chuck, then attach the drill chuck to the end protruding.

Use your favourite cut off tool ( Dremel ) to cut thru the tang....clean up as required....

An angle grinder with a thin cut off wheel is probably the quickest way of cutting the taper down to 1/2 #1 MT.

the plastic guard on the tool post will stop you getting showered with chips when turning brass, or cast iron. It could get in the way if you are turning non- free cutting metal. The chuck guard, I think I would remove it, and bi pass the micro switch. My lathe was bought before the days of micro switches on lathes, and chuck guards.

The taper in the chuck looks ok, is it a 13 mm/ 1/2" chuck, I use a number of that size as Jacobs 34 size.

You should be able to get the sleeve that covers the spring on the chuck key off, and get rid of the spring, If you can't, it's easy enough to make one from a high tensile bolt (8.8), about 12 mm would probably be right, make it the same length as the old one, and weld a T bar on top (maybe a 10 mm 8.8 bolt).

Ian S C

I have already tried to remove the chuck guard. It is only held on by two grub screws. However, once the guard is off then the lathe will not operate. I thought rotating the guard shaft towards me to simulate the closed position would suffice but this did not work. I spent 30 minutes mucking around with it and then put the chuck guard back on. There are no other switches that I can see ; it is a bit baffling.

I think the plastic guard on the tool post is going to get in the way when changing the cutting tools which is why I removed it. I will see how things go without it. I always wear a full plastic face shield when I use electric power tools that spin at high speeds.

The drill chuck is 1-10mm JT2 purchased from Arceuro in the UK. The drill chuck and the HSS cutting tools arrived in Cairns in 5 days... that is a record for my UK purchases.

Edited By Brian John on 25/08/2015 17:43:48

Regarding the spring loaded chuck key - heat it to bright red, that will destroy the elasticity in the spring and shouldnt harm the key.

If all else fails, use an angle grinder to cut the spring off. I believe there are some available at a keen price right now...

what ever the chuck guard is resting on is holding the guard spindle in the correct position to activate the micro switch, you will need to gain access to the switch to modify the wiring

Yes, but doing that would void any warranty. It is best to use the lathe for a while to see if there are any other issues. I can look at removing the chuck guard later.

Here is the chuck key. This too is not really designed to be opened or modified !

Edited By Brian John on 26/08/2015 02:02:05

Edited By Brian John on 26/08/2015 02:02:34

I have been trying out the new lathe today and I would like to make a few observations and raise a few more questions. The spring on the chuck key is an instrument of the devil and the Pope should do something about it ! I managed to get around the problem by fitting a drill stop collar to the spring. It seems to work well.

I managed to cut through the arbor to shorten it. It was hard work : I went through two dremel diamond cutting shafts before opting for the carborundum wheel. I also cleaned it up with this wheel and it looks like a new one

1. I think I am using the wrong tool as I am getting quite a rough finish on this aluminium flywheel ?

2. Do I have to tighten up all three keys on the self centering chuck or just the one key ? I am doing all three.

3. The chuck guard is not such a nuisance after all but there is no way I will be refitting the guard over the tool post. It would only make things awkward.

4. I did get a bit carried away and I tried to machine the spokes as well. I will not do this in future.

5. Should the 6mm spotting drill be used to drill right through the hub ? I did this and it seems to have worked out okay.

NOTE : sorry about the photos being all over the place. I cannot seem to get the type where I want it.

Edited By Brian John on 26/08/2015 08:25:55

For a start you have too much overhang on your tool What speed where you using ? If you have limited experience of lathe work you should start off on scrap metal rather than an expensive casting ( Just my opinion ) Others will no doubt point out other issues

Roy

Hi John,

Congrats on your purchase.

From your first questions, don't be too quick in discarding your Perspex front swarf gaurd.. Look at the possibility of mounting on an adjustable magnetic base or similar or making it quick detachable. As mention they are very handy on brass.

From second question so: Tool profile looks OK but the cutting Geometry is not correct for the material. For alloy you need plenty of top rake on the tool and you will need to play around with tip radius for a smoother finish. I would do some research on lathe tool angles/geometry and then just have a go at grinding the tools and experimentation with different materials.

Yes, and has Roy just mentioned, reduce your tool overhang to bear minimum to clear slides, holder etc. you may actually need to shorten tools to enable this. Tool looks too long as it stands.

Edited By Malc Broadbent on 26/08/2015 08:43:46

I did try everything from low to high speed 160 to 1500 but nothing helped much. So I have to do something about the shape of the tool. I also have some carbide cutting tools coming soon and I will experiment with them. I never thought it would be so hard to get a smooth finish ! The drilling was much easier than I thought it would be

Fitting the external jaws was also a drama. I had problems getting all three jaws to start on the thread at the same time ; there was always one behind the other and they did not meet in the centre. Wrestling with the spring on the chuck key did not help either but the collar finally made it easier.

How much overhang on the tool should I have ? I thought I had it about right.

NOTE : these cheap aluminium flywheels and pulleys cost only a few dollars each ; not much more expensive than bar stock. At this stage I do not have a lot of ''scrap'' to dig through. I will check out the scrap yard soon.

Edited By Brian John on 26/08/2015 08:51:27

Edited By Brian John on 26/08/2015 08:54:43

The external jaws do not start in the scroll at the same time. The scroll is liken to a screw thread and you put the jaws in one at a time. I have no pictures so it's difficult to explain. You bring the start of the scroll round to position 1 and just as you see the start of it wind in back a little, enter jaw 1 and wind it in and round to position 2 for jaw 2 and repeat sequence. Repeat sequence for jaw 3. This should then pull all the jaws in central.

As mentioned, keep overhang to bear minimum to clear protrusions, tool holder and slides, it makes for greater rigidity. Don't think that it's the cause of your poor finish. Nearly always down to tool geometry feed rates.

Tool overhang is excessive! and you should have more top rake on the tool for Alu. cutting. Part of the problem is also the wrong tool which should be a slight round nose tool I think.

Clive

Too much tool overhang and no top rake at all. This will just plough a furrow in an alloy casting.

This looks like the 60 decree threading tool from of a 'standard' set of HSS tools, if so your should have left and right hand knife tools in the set.

Thy these with MUCH less overhang.

Neil