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Intro from the East Coast

N

NEKNER

Member
Hi from Nova Scotia. I recently joined this forum in the hopes of connecting with other Canadian enthusiasts. I have a wide array of interests and have gravitated towards machining, welding and fabrication in the past few years. I recently acquired a Crafted B2227L 10 x 18 Lathe and was hoping I could find others who own similar machines to compare notes and share information.
Thanks......
Nekner
 
Dusty

Dusty

(Bill)
Premium Member
@NEKNER - welcome aboard I'm sure you'll find this forum most interesting and extremely helpful as I do their a great bunch here.

We always enjoy hearing about your interests in more detail, photos help.

Yes I'm a proud owner of a Craftex B2227L 10 x18 lathe purchased August 2018 plus a Craftex CT129N Mill/Drill purchased March 2010.
I am very pleased with both as they fit nicely with my somewhat limited hobby skills and smallish shop at aged 82 here in Moose Jaw, SK.
I'm not a welder or fabricator of metals.

Jump in with both feet the waters fine. LOL

Bill
 
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DPittman

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Nice to have you you here. I too run a 10" craftex lathe, mine is the 10x22 but of very similar capabilities.
 
N

NEKNER

Member
Dusty said:
@NEKNER - welcome aboard I'm sure you'll find this forum most interesting and extremely helpful as I do their a great bunch here.

We always enjoy hearing about your interests in more detail, photos help.

Yes I'm a proud owner of a Craftex B2227L 10 x18 lathe purchased August 2018 plus a Craftex CT129N Mill/Drill purchased March 2010.
I am very pleased with both as they fit nicely with my somewhat limited hobby skills and smallish shop at aged 82 here in Moose Jaw, SK.
I'm not a welder or fabricator of metals.

Jump in with both feet the waters fine. LOL

Bill
Click to expand...
Thanks @Dusty for the warm welcome and the info about yourself. 82 eh? Impressive! I hope I'm still tinkering when I reach your advanced level of wisdom!
I also have a bench top mini mill... Which I am learning on as well.
My B2227L is probably third hand and in the few weeks I've had it, I've had the chance to go over it with a fine tooth comb and I've noticed a few strange things. One thing is that it doesn't have a carriage lock. And I've noticed other B2227Ls in YouTube videos seem also to be missing the carriage lock. Did yours come with one? Or is there some reason why people take them off?


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N

NEKNER

Member
DPittman said:
Nice to have you you here. I too run a 10" craftex lathe, mine is the 10x22 but of very similar capabilities.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the welcome DPittman. Am I correct in assuming that the Craftex line is only sold in Canada by Busy Bee? Not a lot on line or on YouTube regarding these machines.

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Dusty

Dusty

(Bill)
Premium Member
@NEKNER, the Craftex B2227L lathe manual in PDF format (open with Adobe Acrobat Reader). Click on Busy Bee's web page
https://www.busybeetools.com/ then scroll down to the bottom (black area third column from left). Click on "Product Manuals" then scroll down to find the B2227L lathe. Then view page 16 which clearly shows , items,13 (Nut), 34 ("T" screw block), and 35 (Break block) which is your basic carriage lock. There's also a spring which pushes the break downward from the ways when released. Viewed from the right side of your carriage (sliding table) it should have a hole centered between the ways, if so that's where the lock fits. I modified my carriage slightly. I changed out the nut (shown sitting on rear way) to a lever which when locked tucks well under the compound slide and when released allows the tail stock to butt up against the carriage if need be. A simple fix that works well. 2020-03-03 01.10.47.jpg 2020-03-03 01.11.17.jpg 2020-03-03 01.11.40.jpg 2020-03-03 01.32.54.jpg
 
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N

NEKNER

Member
@Dusty....thanks for the increadibly detailed reply. Great pictures btw! I had found the manual on the Busy Bee website and found a reference to the carriage lock....when I went to find mine all I found are pictured below. Your modification is very well thought out and elegant. I'm going to keep that in mind when I make the pieces I am missing.
I'm not very experienced with Forums but we've been communicating on a Member Intro thread and I'm interested in starting a thread just for Craftex 10x18 and 10x22 Lathes. I have a few other issues with my lathe that I'd like to share and I thought having a bunch of collaborative information in one spot would be good.
Do you think that would be the way to go?
905ed61cfb9fffdeb1184c5f52d1d216.jpg
338878aef4f4892a68d65d61a8d46106.jpg


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N

NEKNER

Member
hi Kevin. I wish I was a better embassador for the forum as I haven't been very active as I joined just as the covid thing happened and got very busy. But having said that, Welcome to the community! I joined hoping to find like minded Canadians to share experiences with as I am still quite the newbie myself. Where abouts are you?

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