Chinese mini lathe bearings

[Matt TParticipant @mattt]

Hi Andy, very interesting video! My lathe is bolted down to my worktop which is in turn secured to the wall and floor. I must confess I’ve put little effort into levelling the lathe which I must do at some point.

Nevertheless, my belt has finally given this morning, drilling a 31/64ths hole in aluminium was the final straw however the damage was done mostly by previous parting attempts in steel. Thankfully arceurotrade stock the belt I need (I think). Planning to give the workshop a good clean down while I wait so I’ll probably shim the lathe properly when I’m putting everything back together.

I think given all the advice I’ll probably leave the bearings for now. I think others are right, even if they aren’t perfect, working on the carriage and cross slide rigidity is likely time and money better spent. I had thought to try the bearings first as they seemed the most beginner friendly upgrade but I’ll take a look at the carriage first. I’ve finally added a carriage lock which has been very useful upgrade.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Lathe castings are no the only thing being “cured”by the “new method “.I had the same experience many years ago with a brand new spindle moulder from a well known maker in Leeds.

Th horseshoe casting, to which the two fences were fixed, was so far out of true as to be useless. I had to bring it to a local machine shop to have it corrected. It was no surprise to the shop man, he said that such rapid curing does not work, the only way is to allow the stresses to work themselves out over time, but since time is money, who cares about that ?

Perhaps like many other things, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It is not. Plus the fact that the castings may be too light to begin with.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I’m very glad to hear that you only have about 0.001″ movement in your headstock bearings, they are fine at that ammount. In a way it reminds me of the other day when I thought about “levelling” the Atlas 12 x 24 lathe. I had my 12″ Moore & Wright spirit level on the bed next to the headstock and the bubble moved quite a lot as the belts were tensioned and the stand is made from 2″ square box section welded with that end sitting on two lengths front and back. I have postponed the “levelling” for now to consider the implications. The test cuts are perfect at least 4″ from the chuck.

[old mart]

On old mart Said:

I’m very glad to hear that you only have about 0.001″ movement in your headstock bearings, they are fine at that ammount. In a way it reminds me of the other day when I thought about “levelling” the Atlas 12 x 24 lathe. I had my 12″ Moore & Wright spirit level on the bed next to the headstock and the bubble moved quite a lot as the belts were tensioned and the stand is made from 2″ square box section welded with that end sitting on two lengths front and back. I have postponed the “levelling” for now to consider the implications. The test cuts are perfect at least 4″ from the chuck.

In industry, these days they setup and test a machine by measuring results

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I only thought about trying “levelling” because I have that nice M & W 12″ level, I have never bothered before. I may try a test cut on a foot long bar if a suitable bit of metal comes my way. The supports at the right hand end of the Atlas 12 x24 are adjustable and have simply been screwed up till they touch the feet of the bed, trying not to impart any twist at all and hopefully not bending it up or down. The lathe would be better off sitting on a 2″ thick steel plate.I will look into reinforcing the stand it is on, but not having any welding kit at the museum adds to the difficulties.

[Author]

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