# Copying lathe parts for my new friend in Alabama



## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

When I bought my Emco V13 from Govdeals in Ohio in early March, there were 3 of them for sale. Two were in good shape, one was taken apart, parts missing etc. I got a good one. Through a post on Facebook i met a guy in Alabama who was bidding on the parts machine after the first buyer refused to take it and it was relisted. I saw the machine when i was in Ohio the previous week and it didn't look bad but I didn't look closely. I wish they'd have told me that the sale fell through because i would have bought it too. I offered my opinion on it to the fellow from Alabama and he bought it. Most parts were available and he ordered them, but several parts couldn't be sourced new or used. Nobody parts them out it seems. So i agreed to help my new friend out. He's missing the change gear quadrant, RH bearing block, tailstock leadscrew, dial holder and a few other bits, and probably more to come.

Here's some pics. Everyone likes pics, right?








He's missing this block







this quadrant







Tailstock screw

I started with the quadrant. Simple job for the bandsaw and mill







I had some welding to do







The welding didn't warp it too bad. Took 25 thou off each side






Wish i would have made the bandsaw cuts a bit straighter, but i left a bit of extra meat to clean up


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

Starting to look like something







I'm on the hunt for a 10-12" rotary table after this cut







Functionally the same as the factory arm











And it works


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## DPittman (Apr 16, 2021)

Nicely done!


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

there's a bearing block inside that big chunk of steel. Somewhere







I used a sandwich of my block, some parallels, and the new block, along with the dro to get all the measurements transferred over. Not a lot of room for error here






An adjustable parallel as a backup measurment












Bores are done,











Whittled out some bushings







And pressed em in.


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

With the bushings in and bored to sized, i was able to pin the two blocks together to transfer the rest of the holes. The DRO is a lifesaver here, saving constant tool changes from drilling and boring.















And it fits. I had to trim a bit off the top to adjust the slope of the leadscrew to 0.0

And if anyone notices, the counterbores are larger than original because the new thrust bearings are larger in Dia then the originals.


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## YotaBota (Apr 16, 2021)

+1
Is the screw or the block next? You answered my question as I was typing. lol


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

This is the third attempt at the tailstock leadscrew. The second attempt would have worked fine, but i wasnt ok with it. I had a hard time with it. Gummy steel and my setup wasnt optimal. By the third attempt i had the setup dialed in and it came out bang on.







nut for the quadrant

























this part was easy, it holds the graduated dial for the tailstock


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

A box full of parts headed for Mobile Alabama


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## John Conroy (Apr 16, 2021)

Very nice work, those look like fun projects.


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

Thank you. It was a lot of fun and feels good to be able to help a guy out.


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## YYCHM (Apr 16, 2021)

WOW, that doesn't look like the vise that should be on that shaper?  More shaper usage pics please.


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

That is the original SB vise as far as i am aware. I had it opened right up because my boring bar was so long and it was a quick job. Took light cuts...real light

I rarely use my shaper anymore, but i really enjoy it when I do. Its a fine machine.


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## kevin.decelles (Apr 16, 2021)

Could you please post A pic of a close up of your clamp assembly on your vise please!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

Its just a v-block and a v-block clamp, but I can definatly take a pic tomorrow for you


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## David_R8 (Apr 16, 2021)

How long did it take you to make those parts? Which look fantastic by the way. 
Very generous of you to do that work!


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

Thank you. It was maybe 3 or 4 days in the shop total. The 5/8 LH acme threads were honestly the hardest part. I used the surface grinder to accurately grind the tool, and i just couldnt get a decent cut. I tried different material and that was it. It cut very nice after. I'm not a machinist but have cut plenty of threads, and my SM 1660 has to be the nicest setup for threading with the leadscrew reverser, but these threads kicked my ass the first few times.

Thanks for the compliments.  The guy was stuck, he would have had to part out an otherwise nice machine. I cant wait to see my parts on it and have it make some chips.


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## Everett (Apr 16, 2021)

Those are awesome, and very cool you could do fitup checks on your machine to verify before shipping.  Cool of you to help the fellow out, I agree it's a shame to tear apart and part out or scrap something that could be fixed and put back into service.


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## Tom O (Apr 16, 2021)

dfloen said:


> Thank you. It was maybe 3 or 4 days in the shop total. The 5/8 LH acme threads were honestly the hardest part. I used the surface grinder to accurately grind the tool, and i just couldnt get a decent cut. I tried different material and that was it. It cut very nice after. I'm not a machinist but have cut plenty of threads, and my SM 1660 has to be the nicest setup for threading with the leadscrew reverser, but these threads kicked my ass the first few times.
> 
> Thanks for the compliments.  The guy was stuck, he would have had to part out an otherwise nice machine. I cant wait to see my parts on it and have it make some chips.


nice work! Did you plunge straight into it or did you have it at 14.5 degrees?


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## Darren (Apr 16, 2021)

I was at 14.5, but the first time I had the compound swung the wrong way, the way for rh threads. Brain fart. I realized pretty quickly what was up, swung it the proper way, picked up the thread and made a few more cuts. It was better, but but the material was so tough and gummy that it got ugly. Scrapped that one and tried again, and it was better, and would have worked but it just wasnt up to snuff. I completed it and installed it in my lathe, and it worked, but i decided to try again, and if i could make it better, great, if not i had one done already that he could use. The third try turned out great. One phenomenon with ACME threads, is that the diameter will grow on you. It will displace some material rather than cut it.  I started at .625 and it grew to .640ish.


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## Tom O (Apr 17, 2021)

Yeah I saw that on one of the recent Doubleboost videos making a crosslide shaft.


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## John Conroy (Apr 17, 2021)

What material did you use on your final version of the leadscrew?


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## 6.5 Fan (Apr 17, 2021)

Nice work.


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## DPittman (Apr 17, 2021)

"I'm not a machinist..."
Ya after turning out those well made parts I think it is safe to say that you ARE a machinist.  Maybe not by trade but definitely by skill you are.


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## Darren (Apr 17, 2021)

John Conroy said:


> What material did you use on your final version of the leadscrew?



It was just a different piece of rusty scrap stock. Definitely not chromo or anything but a bit harder than 1018 i'd say.  I'd usually order some 4140 for a job like this but with the lockdown, that could take forever. I can always make another one down the road. The spindle is rock hard at the threads, the screw will wear first no matter what. The owner is a home shop guy too, and i doubt that wear will ever be a concern.


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## YotaBota (Apr 17, 2021)

I agree with the others, you do nice work.

I was having the same"growing" pains making the cross slide screw for my SM9. The practice material I had, generic CR rod, was also giving me the same "gummy and growing" grief. I bought the recommended C1144 rod and the growing was a lot less. I switched to plunge cutting and the growing became pretty much nonexistent and the thread came out almost perfect. A quick pass with the file and it was good to go.


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## Darren (Apr 17, 2021)

kevin.decelles said:


> Could you please post A pic of a close up of your clamp assembly on your vise please!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk















is this what you were looking at?


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## Darren (Apr 17, 2021)

YotaBota said:


> I agree with the others, you do nice work.
> 
> I was having the same"growing" pains making the cross slide screw for my SM9. The practice material I had, generic CR rod, was also giving me the same "gummy and growing" grief. I bought the recommended C1144 rod and the growing was a lot less. I switched to plunge cutting and the growing became pretty much nonexistent and the thread came out almost perfect. A quick pass with the file and it was good to go.



If you look at my pic of the leadscrew in the lathe, you'll see that i left about an inch of extra material beyond the threads, on the rh side. I didnt do this at first because i wasn't thinking. My live center was in the way and i had to cut very slowly (lh threads, cutting left to right). With this run out space i could speed up the rpm to about 250 and get the leadscrew disengaged before crashing into the live center,  which really helped.  I still kept my DOC to 0.010" but it started cutting  and less tearing of the material. I'm in not hurry to cut acme threads again anytime soon.


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## PeterT (Apr 17, 2021)

Nice work. The bronze inserts a great idea. My 14x40 is the typical steel shaft running in cast iron block. It does have oil nipples leading to the running surfaces FWIW. On yours you could probably get away with just an occasional squirt from either side if its too late to drill them.


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## Darren (Apr 17, 2021)

PeterT said:


> Nice work. The bronze inserts a great idea. My 14x40 is the typical steel shaft running in cast iron block. It does have oil nipples leading to the running surfaces FWIW. On yours you could probably get away with just an occasional squirt from either side if its too late to drill them.



They didn't come factory with oilers, but they did have the bushings. I did think about adding them. The leadscrew has thrust bearings to deal with its axial load, the other two shafts are just along for the ride so i'm sure a few squirts here and there will be fine.


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## Mcgyver (Apr 20, 2021)

great job, well done.  They are a very nice lathe

that banjo reminds of my machine tool affliction....and two baby Emcos.  many years ago I pick up a load of stuff that turns out included a Maximat 7 compound.  years latter, I'm buying some stuff from a guys business and he's got a Maximat 7 that is really nice (came out of an optics company) but is missing several pieces, one being the compound.  No kidding!  I bought the lathe for a couple of hundred bucks, cheap because it was missing pieces.

It was missing quite a few other pieces and it sat I while contemplated next steps.  Years later still, I'm chatting with some random guy on kijiji and maximats come up and he says his neighbour has one.  I take a flyer, ask if there's any chance he could put me in touch with the neighbour so I could measure some parts.   Sure he says.  A few days later I'm making the hour long drive to measure lathe parts in some guys garage who's never met me.

He was the quintessential crusty old machinist, you know, the type of guy we all aspire to be .  I'm there sketching and measuring and he's going on and on about what a POS this lathe is.  The lathe not running with an electrical switch issue but in great shape, had the mill and about every accessory and bit of tooling.... but he was comparing it to whatever behemoth he had at work and just did not like this lathe.  So me, I'm getting a bit tired of sketching and listening Dr Negative, says "so you don't like this little lathe, what would you need to get out it?

$300!  Man that puppy got crammed into my car in no time flat.  Now I have two Maximat 7's I don't need, a list of parts to make and an electrical repair (complicated button switch system didn't work, replaced it all).,  Am I nuts?  (don't answer that)  It all worked out in the end, got it all done, put two good little lathes back to running condition and sold them both for a nice sum that fed the shop budget for quite a while.

sorry to ramble so much, it amused me recalling all these toolaholic shenanigans.   I probably would have more money flipping burgers, but it wouldn't have been as much fun


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## Darren (Apr 20, 2021)

I love it when deals like that work out! Nice job on the quadrant too

And to update this story, my friend in Alabama got a call yesterday from ohio. They found a box containing almost all of his missing parts. They are shipping them to him. So while fun, this was a bit of a waste of time. I'm happy and sad at the same time.


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## Everett (Apr 20, 2021)

Well, the new parts are well-made, you have spares now - or eBay them and make up some of your costs, lol?


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## Janger (Apr 20, 2021)

Machining is never a waste of time even when it is.  Nice job.


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## Darren (Apr 20, 2021)

Thanks guys. It was fun. Its better that my friend is getting original parts anyway. Not sure what will happen with the parts that I made just yet. 

One other funny thing, we found out why they took it all apart...a broken fwd/stop/rev switch. A switch that can be accessed in 5 minutes without taking any of that stuff off. They must have thought it was in the apron. Its behind the plate on the front of the quick change gear box.


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