Darren's active projects

[Mcgyver]

Agree on leaving the spindle in place.

The gearbox is something special. I redid mine, its a complicated assembly. Tons of rolling element bearings, replaced every one. Getting it back together was performing Wagners complete Ring Cycle....too long and complicated to be fun and took a lot of rehearsals to get right.

One thing to make sure of is that you are getting oil through all the lines on the saddle. They are notorius for getting plugged and will need replacing if they are sp, plus you should change out the metering units at the same time

 

[Susquatch]

ah yes, tooling. the *real* cost of any new machine...

I was going to say "My new mill wasn't".........

Then I remembered the DRO, the rotary table, a set of ER32 collets, a set of R8 collets (the ones it came with were crap and incomplete), some carbide end mills, some HSS end mills, a new digital edge finder (very cool device worth a separate thread), a bunch of carbide drill bits, a new motor, a new VFD, a drill driver for the knee, some R8 arbours for existing MT3 tooling,....... And prolly a few other things I'm forgetting......

So ya, think I'll keep my mouth shut on that debate, put a big heart on @Dabbler s post, and change mine to:

"What he said"! LOL!

 

[Hacker]

I was going to say "My new mill wasn't".........

Then I remembered the DRO, the rotary table, a set of ER32 collets, a set of R8 collets (the ones it came with were crap and incomplete), some carbide end mills, some HSS end mills, a new digital edge finder (very cool device worth a separate thread), a bunch of carbide drill bits, a new motor, a new VFD, a drill driver for the knee, some R8 arbours for existing MT3 tooling,....... And prolly a few other things I'm forgetting......

So ya, think I'll keep my mouth shut on that debate, put a big heart on @Dabbler s post, and change mine to:

"What he said"! LOL!

I am sure that you are not finished yet. What type/brand of digital edge finder are you using?

 

[Darren]

Agree on leaving the spindle in place.

Im not going to touch it. Bearings feel great, and its properly preloaded.

The gearbox is something special. I redid mine, its a complicated assembly. Tons of rolling element bearings, replaced every one. Getting it back together was performing Wagners complete Ring Cycle....too long and complicated to be fun and took a lot of rehearsals to get right.

I pulled the feed selector cover off, as you can see in the pics, and everything looks like brand new, so nothing in the Norton box will be touched. Everything is working nice and smooth as it should. At this point, I'm only removing what i have to to be able to clean/paint, and mask properly.

One thing to make sure of is that you are getting oil through all the lines on the saddle. They are notorius for getting plugged and will need replacing if they are sp, plus you should change out the metering units at the same time

I will be pulling the saddle and apron and cleaning out all the lines. The pump does work, as its leaving fresh oil on the ways every time i move the handwheel, no matter how many times i wipe it down. Its annoying because i'm cleaning, but makes me happy at the same time.

 

[Susquatch]

I am sure that you are not finished yet. What type/brand of digital edge finder are you using?

I knew that. It was all just my goofy sense of humour right from the git go.

The new edge finder is an accusize. I actually created a separate thread for it. See the following:

Thread 'New Digital Edge Finder' https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/new-digital-edge-finder.5036/

 

[Brent H]

@Darren : both my Utilathes are D1-3 spindle type. I had to buy new for the first one as the jaws pointed the work at the sky. The second one had a good 3 jaw with it so that was great. If you have a decent 3 or 4 jaw that can bolt onto a D1-3 back plate I have had good luck with:

I purchased a couple 5” and a couple 6” over the time I have had the lathe

 

[Susquatch]

@Darren : both my Utilathes are D1-3 spindle type. I had to buy new for the first one as the jaws pointed the work at the sky. The second one had a good 3 jaw with it so that was great. If you have a decent 3 or 4 jaw that can bolt onto a D1-3 back plate I have had good luck with:
View attachment 22628

I purchased a couple 5” and a couple 6” over the time I have had the lathe

I've bought quite a few of the D1-5 versions of this to attach various fixtures I have made over time. In one case, the backplate became the fixture.

The accusize backplates come in two levels of quality. The better ones are awesome! I didn't even know about them till they sent me the wrong one once. The replacement was the better one and they let me keep the old one!

 

[Darren]

@Darren : both my Utilathes are D1-3 spindle type. I had to buy new for the first one as the jaws pointed the work at the sky. The second one had a good 3 jaw with it so that was great. If you have a decent 3 or 4 jaw that can bolt onto a D1-3 back plate I have had good luck with:
View attachment 22628

I purchased a couple 5” and a couple 6” over the time I have had the lathe

I have a few of those too, and no issues either. The issue is that i've already spent that on d1-4 and d1-6 stuff, and several of them to get my chucks mounted on the other two lathes. I really wish the 10ee was d1-4. I'd be all set. The Bison 5" set tru on the v13 would also be great on the 10ee, but that would be the 4th time i've bought a backplate for that chuck...

I do have a Hardinge Sjogren d1-3 collet chuck and collets for it already though.

 

[Susquatch]

I really wish the 10ee was d1-4. I'd be all set.

Hmmmmmm...... I thought this was Darren that we are talking about here!

Make a D1-3 to D1-4 adapter. Should be downright easy for the Darren guy I know!

 

[Brent H]

I hear you @Darren - hence was my interest in keeping the second Utilathe as now I am good to go and all my tooling, holders and chucks are swappable between both machines. I have a few things to make for Miss Metric but after the chip guard is complete there will be a great stock storage space between the lathes.

I will keep an eye out for chucks for you.

 

[Darren]

Thanks @Brent H

You have a good setup there for sure. Its great having two lathes in the shop. Having two that can share tooling is even better. I've often thought about selling the V13 and 10ee and just keeping the 1660. Its super accurate, heavy, powerful, cuts every imaginable thread without changing out any change gears....but...its heavy to operate as well and small parts are much more tiring. The Emco has the DRO on it now, which makes it way more better.....Its like trying to pick between 3 hot girls here...

 

[Darren]

Hmmmmmm...... I thought this was Darren that we are talking about here!

Make a D1-3 to D1-4 adapter. Should be downright easy for the Darren guy I know!

You might actually be on to something here, or at least on something! I know i'm not keeping 3 lathes though. I may buy one new 3 jaw for it and leave it up to the new owner..

 

[Darren]

I soaked the tar with diesel fuel overnight and now it's coming off in sheets. It's almost like it was undercoated inside. Maybe for noise reduction? I don't know. Its completely coated like it was spayed. At first I thought that the fan must have blown the gunk around for the last 73 years, but there isn't any tar on the motor/generator or the drive motor. Weird...

 

[Brent H]

Looks like a big coating of oil build up, years and and years - stuff dries out and is fugly!!

 

[Darren]

Sure is ugly! She's all coming out now

 

[Darren]

Hopefully I'm not boring anyone here but this thing is falling apart!

The single phase steelman method conversion is well under way. Im committed now I guess.

Here's some pics

edit: i need to clean my phone...sorry for the crappy pics

 

[Susquatch]

Hopefully I'm not boring anyone here but this thing is falling apart!

The single phase steelman method conversion is well under way. Im committed now I guess.

Here's some pics

edit: i need to clean my phone...sorry for the crappy pics

Holy crap Darren! I must have missed something. What the heck are you doing now?

 

[Darren]

Holy crap Darren! I must have missed something. What the heck are you doing now?

Ripping apart the 10ee to clean it up and convert it from 440v 3 phase to 240v single phase, using a method called the steelman method. Bins full of soaking parts, parts washer overflowing, 6 gallons of diesel through the pump sprayer, shop being heated exclusively with 10ee scum in the woodstove. Wait for the assembly pics. You'd never believe how much stuff they packed into a small 12.5x20" lathe. There's 400x the parts of a typical lathe. LOL its crazy.

 

[YotaBota]

Hopefully I'm not boring anyone here

Nope, enjoying the show. It's mechanical and in pieces, what's not to like.

 

[Brent H]

Go @Darren go!!! It is amazing the crap that comes off theses machines!!