• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Ontario GTA West area meetup is planned for Saturday April 26th at Greasemonkeys shop in Aylmer Ontario. If you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, click here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

Recent content by Birkhoff

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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    Hey, I think I know which set screw. When my drive belts were too tight I investigated the clanking noise as a loose pulley; which it wasn't but I checked the set screw and keyway carefully. If it had been loose, I'm sure it would have made a hell of a racket as there is only one screw (should...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    The AllSpeed manual that Mjautek linked makes a big deal about using ONLY the Shell BL product. What they seem to be saying is there are other aspects than simply viscosity that are at play in the internals. I have no idea either way. I do use vector drives on other machines I own, either...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    This (below) is what I understand is the current equivalent of the recommended variator oil. Conveniently, it is also correct for the headstock on the chipmaster. When I purchased this a few years ago, it was not difficult to source through a local commercial oils outfit. Mjautek provided...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    That's a shame. I find myself taking advantage of the higher speeds available on the chipmaster for carbide; pretty much all negative aspect tooling in my arsenal. After running via seat of the pants for a while, I took the time to work out feeds, speeds and DOC by the book and even my offshore...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    TK, Ouch, that sounds quite bad. It might be an idea to pull the two vee-belts and isolate it. On reassembly, I noticed that quite a loud and unusual ticking noise comes from the (new) belts and it can be modulated by varying the belt tension. This is apparently a known issue. I can remove...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    TK, you are right, I really do need to get off my butt and sort out that phase converter. I thought it might be bearings in the idler, but replacing those made zero difference. Next step is to look for an electrical imbalance. I'm cautiously monitoring my variator for oil leaks. Typically, I...
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    Machine Video of a healthy (?) Kopp variator

    From time to time I hear owners of vintage lathes equipped with the iconic Kopp variator mechanical drive despair at the noise, complexity and cost of the units. I have never seen, however, a video of a working or a defective drive unit to help people with diagnosis. My late series Colchester...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    Ok, this all make sense now. The main gearbox casting 1441 is common to various models, including the Chipmaster, but the latter is belt driven. That backwards plug you found, and showing upper left in your EPD in the last post plugs the port that is used for the fill elbow on my lathe. See my...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    Here is the fill and drain setup on a late model chipmaster. The fill is at the top rear of the gear case; a street elbow and vented plug. The drain is at the bottom front. It would drain into the chip pan if I was feeling lazy. The drain appears to be 3/8 NPT but the fill looks somewhere in...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    A few miscellaneous comments to add to recent posts. There has to be an external fill plug -- I was going to take a picture of mine but see you found it. Not sure what that internally threaded plug is for, actually. Is the hole possibly threaded for 1/2 pipe from both directions? If not, there...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    No, it is imperial. Both cross and compound lead screws are 10 tpi but the cross is 2-start, so one rotation is 1/5 of an inch, or 200 thou. That explains the marks on the dials -- graduations in thou on both, and radius, not diameter (for Sasquatch, I totally agree). I THINK all the Bantams...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    Yep, I've seen, but never conversed with them. A random check on prices for parts I know shows fair pricing. Travelling steady for chippie, for example, at 100 pounds -- I bought mine for 50 but lots of searching eBay. I consider that fair for a one-stop-shopping experience and sellers who...
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    I can't see the nut threads, but the eyeball metric on the screw suggests it is worth checking (I mean measuring, exactly) the backlash mid screw vs front and back. The best you can do is take it mostly out front and back, so if the difference is a few thou, that is going to stay, new nut or...
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    Deckel jig grinder, whatever that is. Vancouver (Delta) BC, offers.

    Ya, it's weird. I just popped up on my FB MP feed last week. I noticed it had been listed for a long time. Algorithms!
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    Mystery lathe, for real

    There is a fellow on UK eBay that runs a small production of top- and cross- lead screw nuts for our lathes. He always has something listed, but maybe not showing Chipmaster at the moment. Find him and use the contact seller utility. Last I checked he provides a cross slide imperial chipmaster...
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