Capstan tailstock plans/diagram?

So I want to design a turret attachment for this lathe but haven't ever touched or got a good look at a capstan lathe. Anyone know where I can find plans for one or have an image essay of a disassembled turret?

I considered this one for a while before I ended up buying one.

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/sites/7/documents/small-lathe-capstan-attach.pdf

I have a G.A. drawing of the one on my Pultra which might help you, let me know by PM and I will email a copy to you.

Phil

Edited By Phil P on 31/12/2016 23:14:09

As you have given no dimensions; I'm guessing [from the style] that this is a fairly small machine ... In which case; look at the units for the Pultra 17/50 and 17/70 lathes.

MichaelG.

.

https://goo.gl/images/bD7oRh

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 31/12/2016 23:21:33

Rainbows,

You might try searching for a bed turret on line. I adapted a Hardinge bed turret to my South Bend 10K. If you were not so far away I would offer you a bed turret for a Stark lathe. I have one I would love to sell.

@Phil

Fantastic link thanks. Once I read all the way through it I will probably message you for those drawings.

@Micheal

The style is stolen from the pultra so its a good guess but this one has a 100mm centre height and about 350mm between centres. Had seen pics and videos of original pultra capstans but wasn't able to find anything on how the turret automatically rotated, etc.

@John

Usually that would be sensible but I am going for a self built epic here. Couldn't actually find many photos of Stark capstan lathes though aside from the old catalogue drawings.

also happy new year :P

Hi Raibows,

If you haven't already, check out Down River Tools out of Detroit, Michigan. He's a hobbyist who has designed turrets and tooling for a number of lathes, both old and new. No connection beyond being a satisfied customer. The'yre good drawings and the fellow is very helpful.

www.downrivertools.com

Andrew Hutchinson

Surrey, BC ,Canada

.

So ... a little bigger than the Pultra 1590

For reference, there's some nice comparative photos here: **LINK**

http://www.lathes.co.uk/pultra/page9.html

... and there was one on ebay not long ago.

Should be an interesting [and potentially very expensive] project !!

Let us know how it goes.

MichaelG.

Ned follwed up the description fo the capstan attatchment with an 18 part series on capstan tools and tooling running from 25 th September 1941 to 17 th September 1942.

C F Toms described an interesting capstan attachment in Model Engineer at the end of 1988 and beginning of 1989. A thee part series 16 December 1988, 20 th January 1989 issues cover the capstan attachment and 17 th February 1989 issues covers a vertical slide. The capstan attachment is interesting in that it has provision for a cut off slide operated by an additional lever and has the turret mounted at an angle rather than parallel to the bed in the usual fashion. Mounting at an angle gives more clearance behind the turret and probably makes the unit more rigid under cutting loads. Space limitations on small lathes often constrain fixings and pivots to be smaller than ideal if they are to be fitted in which usually compromises stiffness. Mounting the turret at an angle provides a more direct path to the for some of the cutting loads.

Clive.

That is a very interesting link.

There was someone on here recently (Sorry, can't remember your name) looking for a cutoff slide. Perhaps he could look at
http://downrivertools.com/downriver-tools/cross-slide-tooling-plan-sets
for inspiration..

Dave
The Emerald Isle

I have a tailstock turret in the pipeline for MEW. The drawings are excellent and I'm looking at the possibility of using them in a pull-out plan format.

Neil

Thanks for the heads up on Downriver Andrew.

I do like capstan slides!

David.

£85 for a turret casting kit! Wish hemingway had that sort of pricing. Might buy the plans for one of the turrets for reference.

steamdave

Was about to send that link to niel but saw you found him. :P

Clive

The angled turret sounds like what the Pultra 1590 turret is.

The angled turret sounds like it is gonna be harder to make but I hadn't thought of the benefits of taking thrust better which does make sense. Having the cut off slide on the turret sounds weird but kind of interesting. One day I might stop mooching off the forums and actually buy a subscription and check it out.

Micheal

Not actually sure if its going to be that expensive. Already had to set aside £85 for all the bearings in the machine which I bet could double if I could find a non B2B supplier for precision bearings on the headstock. Another £100 for motor and vfd. Leaves me £250 before I am equal to the cheapest warco lathe so depends how much material I can get from scrap I guess.

How many melted cast iron brake drums does it take to cast a lathe? We shall find out soon. Once I have the CAD done I will probably make a build thread.

It wasn't even meant to get so big, being built around a high speed er16 spindle which would probably better suit a 1750 or 1770 better. I am just not very good at designing compact cross slides to fit small lathes.

Mr Toms design is for the Cowells 90 lathe and clearly intended for small parts work. The way its made looks to be interesting and appears to be economical of material. The parting off device is probably best suited to grooving and cutting off bushes or similar relatively thin wall tubular components ather than solid stock.

Source of inspiration rather than something to make off plan methinks.

Clive.

Got some fantastic drawings off Phil that include cut away sections of a Pultra turret. Might convert the pdf into images and post it all on a new thread later for Pultra owners in the future to find as a reference.

Quick question though: Do the spindle bearings need to be P4 (0.003 mm mm run out) or would P5 (0.004 mm run out) be ok? (or do I need to find better?) For comparison Cutwell high precision ER collets are rated for 0.005mm

.

... Please do.

MichaelG.

.

P.S. ... I presume you are comfortable doing the conversion; but if you have any problems, let me know.

Edited By Phil P on 02/01/2017 23:48:13

For anyone not in the know, 'Ned' was one of the many pen-names of Edgar T. Westbury.

Neil