New member – hobby engineer

[zymurgy2289Participant @zymurgy2289]

Hi all, just a quick intro.

I’m mostly an ex-mechanic with hobby interests in cars and motorbikes. I use a CL300 lathe and have a small size industrial mill & tooling. I use them mainly for making & modifying small tools / mandrels / jigs etc to help with repair jobs.

Happy to share any insights I can help with. I’m just in the process of upgrading/repairing the CL300 as it’s starting to show age related wear and it needs all the usual repairs/upgrades. I don’t use it enough or have sufficient spare cash for a larger replacement. But a slightly larger capacity chuck would be useful.

I have a passing interest in making small model live steam engines, but those are only in the research and planning stage. I’ll probably only do something practical on this when I retire and have free time to fill !

Cheers, Paul.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome!

Your CL300 must have seen a lot of work to need refurbishment.

FWIW, be a little wary of a large chuck on a small machine. The chuck  will hold larger work, but will weigh more, so could overload the spindle bearings, and speed up wear / failure. A 125 mm chuck will be a lot heavier than an 80, or even a 100.

Tell what you want to do, and seek advice.  Ketan or Ian at Arc Euro Trade will give suitable advice, and advise against doing anything liable to cause wear or damage. They have a lot of experience.

Howard

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Ha, spare time when you retire! That’s a good one…..I’ve been retired since 2016 and I’ve yet to see the mythical spare time for my hobbies.

Seriously though, the lathe is the heart of any workshop and if you can find a larger one to refurb ready for when you do get a bit more time it will pay you dividends. Do it now while the small lathe is in good enough shape to help with any repairs a second hand machine might need.

Mick

[Howard Lewis]

On Howard Lewis Said:

Welcome!

Your CL300 must have seen a lot of work to need refurbishment.

Just the usual speed controller failure. Probably blown MOSFETs as it is running at full speed constantly. I’ll replace the board or repair the PCB. I’m quite handy with a soldering iron.

FWIW, be a little wary of a large chuck on a small machine. The chuck  will hold larger work, but will weigh more, so could overload the spindle bearings, and speed up wear / failure. A 125 mm chuck will be a lot heavier than an 80, or even a 100.

Thanks for the advice & warning. I’m trying to sweat what I already have rather than trying to upgrade to a new machine, but I appreciate this might not be the most efficient way of getting what I want. Sometimes throwing money at the problem is a better way forward ! 😉

Regards,

Paul.

[zymurgy2289Participant @zymurgy2289]

I got the 100mm faceplate from arc euro and with a bit of gentle modification of the chuck mounting holes my lathe now has a 100mm chuck on it. It sits ~20mm further out now over the standard chuck so I am expecting some additional wear on the bearings, but I can now hold the job I made the upgrade for.

When the bearings need changing I will upgrade them.

Pretty happy with the change, now to get the motor speed controller fixed/changed or junk the motor entirely and go belt drive 😉

Cheers,

Paul.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Welcome to the party Paul, good luck with the upgrade or repairs. Noel.

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