A few mods and additions I’ve made to my lathe. Hopefully, they may help someone out with ideas.
Tool shelf above lathe for metric and imperial drill bits.
Carriage clamp, a lot better than the single Allen key clamp.
An extension bolt with lever for the change gears, saves searching for a spanner or Allen key.
A sprung idler on a lever for changing speeds/belts.
A couple of bits of allthread screwed to the knobs to make turning them easier.
Extension handles on the apron and tailstock wheels. I put these on to help my arthritic hands, but they are excellent to assist with a smoother operation when turning.
A dial test indicator fixed to the cross slide visas nut and bolt.
Indexing graduations on the chuck with a pointer. These are in 5 degree graduations.
A tray on top of the head stock to store chuck jaws and various other bits and pieces.
Another tray on top of the tailstock for shims, centre drills and other tools.
Switch mods: Reversing toggle switch, momentary on switch for inching and another toggle for off/on. The original plastic on/off switch fell apart, so I replaced it with a simple toggle, while I was at it I also replaced the rotary direction switch with a toggle, installed a momentary on inching switch for threading and so on. Then rewired the machine to suit.
Bed protector bolted to headstock and apron connected to carriage. It works on a gravity system, keeping the canvas taught.
A couple of flexible coolant hoses. These leak after a while, so I threaded some retic hose through them and installed a small retic tap at the end. The fixed one is used for drilling, the other is on a swivel base which is used to dump coolant on the cutting tool.
Tool shelf above lathe for metric and imperial drill bits.
Carriage clamp, a lot better than the single Allen key clamp.
An extension bolt with lever for the change gears, saves searching for a spanner or Allen key.
A sprung idler on a lever for changing speeds/belts.
A couple of bits of allthread screwed to the knobs to make turning them easier.
Extension handles on the apron and tailstock wheels. I put these on to help my arthritic hands, but they are excellent to assist with a smoother operation when turning.
A dial test indicator fixed to the cross slide visas nut and bolt.
Indexing graduations on the chuck with a pointer. These are in 5 degree graduations.
A tray on top of the head stock to store chuck jaws and various other bits and pieces.
Another tray on top of the tailstock for shims, centre drills and other tools.
Switch mods: Reversing toggle switch, momentary on switch for inching and another toggle for off/on. The original plastic on/off switch fell apart, so I replaced it with a simple toggle, while I was at it I also replaced the rotary direction switch with a toggle, installed a momentary on inching switch for threading and so on. Then rewired the machine to suit.
Bed protector bolted to headstock and apron connected to carriage. It works on a gravity system, keeping the canvas taught.
A couple of flexible coolant hoses. These leak after a while, so I threaded some retic hose through them and installed a small retic tap at the end. The fixed one is used for drilling, the other is on a swivel base which is used to dump coolant on the cutting tool.
