I'm in the same position with regard to D1-6 pins. I have a backing plate without pins, but I might have a go at making some from 4140.
All i could picture was the tongue snapping off and the lathe getting launched into the ditch.
HP and Torque seem to get confused. Constant torque does you little good - you want torque to go up as speed goes down to maintain constant HP.
I had glass scales on my other Emco V10P lathe. They were fine, but a bit bulky on a smaller machine. Also, magnetic scales can be easily trimmed, which i did on two of these. Lastly, these are said to be unaffected by chips/coolant. I ordered from Amazon. I did find it slightly cheaper elswhere, but i trust Amazon a bit more. With a bit more patience I could have ordered direct from Ditron with the scales cut to my needs. I did it myself, it was easy to trim them.
@dfloen Thanks that would save me some hassle I found some from Mac at 13.99 US$ each, plus shipping (if they will)
@Brent H Thanks anyway I have some I can measure.
For those looking for cam pins, try here:
Cam Stud | Mac-It Corporation
www.macit.com
Does your Maximat cross slide have any kind of table lock? My 14x40 has the rudimentary screw acting against the gib strip on the RHS. It's not the best system in the world & I made some subsequent improvements to the locking mechanism. But I was unwilling to do without it, so I ended up putting the DRO on the LHS which wasn't my favorite option. Its reasonably well protected with the guard. So far so good..
My compound also had a DRO axis but after many years I think it was cable movement that caused an issue. One day I noticed some glitching digits, next day was out for good. It might also be the encoder hardware itself but my hunch is repeated flex right where the armored cable enters the unit. I decided for the $ replacement I didn't use it as much as I thought so the compound is bare dials again.
I am pretty much decided to go with magnetic scales too. I don't have any DROs on anything yet. My mill will be my first one. I'll be watching how this goes for you and may have questions in time.
I loved your rear pickup for rpm. What a great idea! I am planning to switch my lathe motor from single phase to three phase so I can install a VFD and get slower speeds. Having an rpm readout on the dro will be handy when that time comes.
I just want to add that I love how you are involving all of us on your journey through this project. I learn so much from such stories and I REALLY APPRECIATE you telling yours!
HP is the rate at which work is done. Torque is a measure of rotational force required to do work. As long as you don't try to take a deeper cut as you slow down, you do not need more horsepower.
Slower speeds mean less chip removal per unit time therefore less hp is required.