Power Lead Screw BB B2227L

[whydontu]

Thoughts / suggestions gladly accepted.

I have a Busy Bee B2227L lathe. The gearhead part is great, the lead screw change gear is a true pain in the bum.

I rarely cut threads, mostly I use the power feed for turning down shafts.

No matter what gear set I have installed, it never seems to be the right feed rate. So I’m constantly removing and replacing greasy gears.

I lust after a lathe that has both gearhead for spindle speed, and quick change gears for lead screw, but the only ones I can find are 12x36 and too big to fit in my shop. And I want true speed changes, not variable speed drive.

The B2227L has a handwheel on the lead screw, with a spring-loaded dog clutch. I’m contemplating replacing the handwheel with a gear motor / dog clutch combination.

I have a left-over mini mill power feed, one of these:

Review: SIEG Mini-Mill Power Feed – Mini-lathe.com

It runs at maximum 200 RPM, and puts out more than enough torque to spin the leadscrew. I’d make up a bracket and hang it off the right hand end off the lathe.

I tried to come up with a way to interface the gear motor with the change gear set at the headstock, but it’s just too complicated to make work. I’ve seen it done on a 7x12, but the 7x12s have a different arrangement for change gears.

Has anybody else come up with a better solution to get multiple feed rates without buying a new lathe?

 

[Darren]

can't see why it wouldn't work, but you're almost at an ELS, and that lathe would be a great candidate for one. @jcdammeyer make an els kit, no?

 

[Susquatch]

Thoughts / suggestions gladly accepted.

I have a Busy Bee B2227L lathe. The gearhead part is great, the lead screw change gear is a true pain in the bum.

I rarely cut threads, mostly I use the power feed for turning down shafts.

No matter what gear set I have installed, it never seems to be the right feed rate. So I’m constantly removing and replacing greasy gears.

I lust after a lathe that has both gearhead for spindle speed, and quick change gears for lead screw, but the only ones I can find are 12x36 and too big to fit in my shop. And I want true speed changes, not variable speed drive.

The B2227L has a handwheel on the lead screw, with a spring-loaded dog clutch. I’m contemplating replacing the handwheel with a gear motor / dog clutch combination.

I have a left-over mini mill power feed, one of these:

Review: SIEG Mini-Mill Power Feed – Mini-lathe.com

It runs at maximum 200 RPM, and puts out more than enough torque to spin the leadscrew. I’d make up a bracket and hang it off the right hand end off the lathe.

I tried to come up with a way to interface the gear motor with the change gear set at the headstock, but it’s just too complicated to make work. I’ve seen it done on a 7x12, but the 7x12s have a different arrangement for change gears.

Has anybody else come up with a better solution to get multiple feed rates without buying a new lathe?

I don't think I'd trust an Arduino for this job. But I would think about it for a bit.

But the absolute best advice that I can give is to learn to love changing greasy gears. I keep my change gear cover off. It sits in the back corner behind my lathe. Although I prefer not to do it, I don't sweat changing gears when I have to. I just do it and get on with it. Cutting threads is a labour of love for me.

I don't remember if you have one or not, but I think the game changer for me was getting a thread Micrometer. I hated those wires with a passion. The mic changed my world. After that, learning to love changing gears was a lot easier.

 

[ShawnR]

Having had a B2227, I know what you mean @whydontu. I made it easier on my self by making a tool to combine the 5 different ones needed to make the gear changes. But it was still a pita.
I am not sure what your thoughts are but here is the path I would pursue. Set up your power feed to do the majority of your turning work, ie, not threading. You say you do not thread much. You can remove one gear in the gear box to "disconnect" the lead screw from the spindle drive. Then have your power feed connected to the other end and build a circuit similar to what I did for my mill, linked below. I used a stepper motor though. The problem might be that that motor you have may not turn easily if it is a gear box. Using a stepper motor, I am able to "disable" the motor controller and easily turn the hand wheel. The motor remains mechanically connected.

However, that can be resolved with a clutch of some sort. Phil Vandelay does a neat little manual clutch that might give you some ideas. Perhaps mount the motor beside the lead screw and connect it with a belt or gears instead of inline if you are tight on space? Then when you need to thread, you will have to put the gears in and disconnect the motor for the lead screw.

Sieg X3 power feed

@Susquatch : no you don’t. 150 for X , 135 ish for y and the 450 would be for the Z as you are lifting the knee and what ever part you have up there.

canadianhobbymetalworkers.com

 

[whydontu]

This getting old thing sucks. My theory is we don’t die from old age, our bodies stop working because our brains get full. Remembering a grand-niece birthday replaces remembering to breathe.

I completely forgot we’d discussed a lot of this in the Sieg thread. Slightly different, as the lathe lead screw already has power feed from the change gears. So has to have a clutch on both ends.

Susquatch, as ShawnR says, five different tools to change gears, and removing the leadscrew gear requires three hands and an extra joint in your wrists.

I‘d be ecstatic if I could get just three speeds, like the generic 10x22 / vid lathes. Fast, slow, slowest and only need to change gears when I want to thread.

Time to rethink this and see if I can work out some sort of hardware gear change, maybe like the tumbler reverse on an Atlas.

 

[John Conroy]

Since you have good knowledge of electronic controls maybe a project like this would be right up your alley.

 

[DPittman]

our bodies stop working because our brains get full

Oh my gosh I better be calling the funeral home then and be making some arrangements .

I'm hoping that the aging thing slows down pretty darn soon cuz the way I've been going the last 10 years is a bit alarming.

 

[PeterT]

A buddy in Edmonton installed Clough42 ELS on his Emco lathe. Only seen a zoom demo thus far but it sure looks good. He knows his way around electronic stuff although he claims it goes together pretty much like the video series. The end result sure would be a powerful addition to a home shop.

 

[Former Member]

Is see another better option, sell the old one and get a new one, you've out grown the current one.

Remember to use the patented phrase by @Susquatch "It followed me home" and you should be ok.

 

[jcdammeyer]

I really should update some of my Youtube videos. Here are a few links. Broaching with the ELS, ELS Grinding example, Using the ELS as a rotary indexer, Threading with the ELS, Taper Turning with the ELS, Tracking spindle speed variations.,
I've sold these all over the world. ELEadscrew Project
At one point they were a good deal but like most North American and European companies I can't really compete with Chinese stuff and the stepper motor driver chips (3A 55V) are now as a pair more expensive than an entire micro-stepper from China.
Unlike the Arduino Electronic Gearing systems, mine does not use a chinese $5 high resolution encoder (that cost over $100 back when my ELS was designed) and therefore like MACH2/3 uses a 1 pulse per revolution sensor. That means you need a stable spindle speed.
But with a full keypad and none of that scroll through menu's to enter numbers and data I think it is more user friendly.