Many thoughtful tips by users of the Taig metal lathe that might solve problems or help your work. Some tips might be suitable for adaptation to the operation of similar sized other brands. If you got to this file directly from my HOME PAGE, return there by using your browser's back button. BUT if you came to this file as the result of a web search engine, see more than 70 additional files on my home page Machining and Metalworking at Home http://www.janellestudio.com/metal/ SAFETY WARNING BEWARE: DO NOT ASSUME that any subject matter or procedure or process is safe or correct or appropriate just because it was mentioned in a news/user group or was included in these files or on this site or on any other web site or was published in a magazine or book or video. Working with metals and machinery and chemicals and electrical equipment is inherently dangerous. Wear safety devices and clothing as appropriate. Remove watches, rings, and jewellery -- and secure or remove loose clothing -- before operating any machine. Read, understand and follow the latest operating procedures and safety instructions provided by the manufacturer of your machine or tool or product. If you do not have those most recent official instructions, acquire a copy through the manufacturer before operating or using their product. Where the company no longer exists, use the appropriate news or user group to locate an official copy. Be careful -- original instructions may not meet current safety standards. Updated safety information and operating instructions may also be available through a local club, a local professional in the trade, a local business, or an appropriate government agency. In every case, use your common sense before beginning or taking the next step; and do not proceed if you have any questions or doubts about any procedure, or the safety of any procedure. Follow all laws and codes, and employ certified or licenced professionals as required by those laws or codes. Hazardous tasks beyond your competence or expertise should also be contracted to professionals. Let's be really careful out there. (c) Copyright 2003 - 2008 Machining and Metalworking at Home The form of the collected work in this text file (including editing, additions, and notes) is copyrighted and this file is not to be reproduced by any means, including electronic, without written permission except for strictly personal use. ========================================================================== NOTE TO FILE: There are a great many Taig experts contributing to this subject. Tom Benedict has a very helpful message of advice to the new owner to buy stuff as needed, rather than every possible accessory. See his message dated 22 Mar 2005. This file is in nearly chronological (date) order. ------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 11:09:06 -0500 (CDT) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Settings On Mon, 18 Jun 2001 acharlestox~xxhotmail.com wrote: > The gibs on the carriage and cross slide each have two allen screws > for adjustment. > How does one set them evenly? Here's how I've been doing it (so now I get to find out if I did it right or not!) If I'm starting from a slide that feels pretty good, I'll skip this first step. But if it's completely out of whack, I'll... Loosen them up until the slide moves really freely and has play. Snug each one down in turn until it just starts to cause drag, then back it off. Once they've all had their initial snug-down, I'll repeat the process until any sort of side-play is gone, preferably without much drag. > Is it important that both screws on a gib are providing equal load? I like to think so, but I don't know how much it'll skew your machining if they're both snug, but one's more snug than another. I haven't done it in a while, but I'm betting you can get a feel for it just from how much torque you're applying to the allen wrench. > Is adjustment just a matter of experience? Errr... No clue. Looking for feedback on that one. > Any advice on setting the top slide to a precise angle - and keeping > it there?! Definitely looking for the advice of others on this. I can set it really imprecisely, but... Tom --------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 15:49:16 -0000 From: J.C.Beechx~xxshu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Settings I'll go with Tom on the setting up side. For setting angles, I would rather cheat than use my brain too much. If you are cutting tapers, set one you made earlier !!! between centres and then dial the cross slide in so it runs paralell. If you haven't a jig to use, or don't know how many .001" per inch your taper is you are going to have to calculate it and measure with a dial guage, it's not too hard, as long as you write it all down as you go along ....doh, it took some time to remember that stage. The other trick is to fix a straight bit of stock to the cross slide (100mm long for argument's sake) and a piece of accurate bar stock between centre's then if the taper is 1 in 100 use a 1mm wire as a spacer at one end and touch your bar at the other. Lock everything tight and re-check, you should now be ready to cut that taper. Hope this is OK. A clear as MUD guide..... Joules -------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 13:11:18 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Settings Generally, I loosen the two top screws (on the carriage, the two underneath screws) and then adjust the gibs with the side screws until it all feels snug, with no side to side play, but not a lot of torque needed to move the slide, then I tighten the top screws to lock. Repeat this process several times until it all feels good, usually locking the top screws makes things a little tighter so you have to develop a feel for how loose the side screws should be set. For the top slide I usually use a vernier protractor to set against the side of the cross and compound slide - the crosslide should be 90 deg to the ways and you get pretty good results this way - otherwise you need to use a dial indicator and taper per inch to figure out the angle. I made a set of adjustment brackets for my Jet920 lathe compound, one could make them for the Taig as well: http://www.cartertools.com/compadj1.jpg http://www.cartertools.com/compadj2.jpg This allows you to shove the compound over pretty precisely without resorting to a hammer. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- From: "Leon Heller" Date: Sun Jul 8, 2001 7:38 am Subject: Taig notes I've added some notes about using my Taig lathe for fly cutting and holding a DTI with the toolpost to my web site (see sig.). I'll be adding more tips and techniques as I come up with them. Please let me know if there is anything wrong with my approach. It's many years since I've done any machining, and I didn't do very much of it then, anyway. Leon Heller, G1HSM Tel: +44 1327 359058 My web page: http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller ------ From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Sun Jul 8, 2001 12:41 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] Taig notes Great start for the page! I use the toolpost on the mill headstock for holding my Starret DTI, although mone has a rectangular shank with a pivot to the body for a little more adjustment. For the small space available, that's a great solution. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- From: James Eckman Date: Sun Jul 8, 2001 9:05 pm Subject: Re: Taig notes From: "Leon Heller" > I've added some notes about using my Taig lathe for fly cutting > and holding a DTI with the toolpost to my web site (see sig.). > Please let me know if there is anything wrong with my approach. Your approach looks fine. Even after you get the mill, you'll find yourself milling or flycutting the ends of bars and such in the lathe since the Z axis on the Taig mill is short. I found your living cheaply in France material very interesting, thanks for the link! Jim Eckman ------- From: Stan Stocker Date: Mon Jul 9, 2001 12:42 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] Taig notes Leon; Nice pictures, and an interesting site for a former electronics guy! If you are getting chatter while flycutting, you might want to reduce the cutter overhang a bit, the photo of the flycutter appears to have quite a bit of toolbit out in the breeze. Looking Good! Stan ------- From: darrylbielerx~xxi... Date: Fri Jul 20, 2001 11:50 am Subject: Taig Micro Lathe 2...Help please?? Hello there! I just got a Taig Micro Lathe 2 and I have a question. I am new to lathe use and I don't seem to understand something. What does it mean (in plain english) when the directions tell you that you need to "machine" the 3 jaw chuck? What do I need to do? I would REALLY appreciate the help! Thanks! Darryl ------- From: "Leon Heller" Date: Fri Jul 20, 2001 1:29 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] Taig Micro Lathe 2...Help please?? The chuck has aluminium jaws. You simply use a boring tool to machine a little off them, on the inside, so they will grip the work properly. You should have been supplied with a sort of thick washer, push this to the back of the chuck and tighten the jaws on it, before boring them. This ensures that the cut will be true when tightened on an actual workpiece. It's a good idea to set the stop (the rod secured by a thumbscrew to the side of the headstock) before you start the boring operation so that you don't run the boring tool too far into the chuck, and into the 'washer'. You'll need to remove the little step at the back of the jaws when you've finished boring them. The Peatol (UK supplied) instructions suggests filing it. I'm lazy so I just used the boring tool from the back, after removing the 'washer'. Once you've done this, you can actually do your first bit of turning. Sherline has a nice account of how you do this on their web site, for their lathe. I'll produce a similar account for the Taig, and put it on my web site. I'll post a msg. when I've done it, probably tomorrow. Leon ------- From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Fri Jul 20, 2001 2:09 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] Taig Micro Lathe 2...Help please?? Here are pictures that should make some sense of the operation: http://www.cartertools.com/picture.html#3JT I love the digital camera, it's so fast to get things like this up... http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- From: "Leon Heller" Date: Sun Aug 5, 2001 3:51 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] unassembled vs assembled taig lathe.. any difference? >I have been told that there is a difference between the assembled and >the unassembled taig lathes. Something about the bed being ground or >lapped or something. can someone please verify this? With the unassembled unit you should lap the carriage to the bed, using a mixture of engine oil and Ajax. It only takes about 10 minutes. It's a bit messy, though. You'll learn more about how the thing is constructed by putting it together yourself, and will therefore find it easier to replace things if they get damaged. Leon -------- From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Sun Aug 5, 2001 1:06 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] unassembled vs assembled taig lathe.. any difference? The difference is just that, assembly and lapping. There is slight danger that you will tweak the crosslide screw when assembling - take care with that. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- From: Tony Jeffree Date: Mon Aug 6, 2001 4:53 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] Re: unassembled vs assembled taig lathe.. any difference? At 07:44 06/08/2001 +0000, you wrote: > >OK great thanks for the info yall.. however I am still fairly new to > >this.. what all exactly is involved in lapping the cross slide to the > >bed? I saw someone had mentioned using motor oil and ajax. Apply to > >the bed and work the slide across it..(?) like lapping valve seats in > >a head? would regular valve lapping compound work for this as well? > >thanks for the input! >That's basically how it's done. I suppose you could use valve grinding >paste, but it might be too coarse. Ajax seems to be just about right. Valve grinding paste is *way* too coarse, and also will be more difficult to remove from the aluminium components after use. Hard abrasives will tend to embed in the surface of soft metals - this is not a good idea and will reduce the working life of the machine. Ajax or similar powdered, mildly abrasive cleaner is definitely the right stuff to use. The instructions that Taig send out suggest about 30-40 strokes to lap the slide, so it is a quick process. Regards, Tony ------- From: J.C.Beechx~xxs... Date: Mon Aug 6, 2001 7:14 am Subject: Re: unassembled vs assembled taig lathe.. any difference? May I also add, that rubbing compound (for auto paint) is not a good choice (I speak from experience 8-( ). Brasso or autosol polish is good, but use it with a few drops of oil. Get a nice finish, then flood the lot with carb/brake cleaner to remove every last bit of abrasive, and don't forget behind the gib strips, or other crevices. Joules ------- From: Ken Jenkins Date: Mon Aug 6, 2001 8:42 am Subject: Re: Bed lapping I used "rottenstone" which is a very fine abrasive typically employed in wood finishing. It worked very well for me as the particular type of Ajax recommended (without bleach if I recall) I could not find anywhere. The key is to take it slow and do multiple many passes with cleanup in between, you're after a nice slurry type consistency. ------- NOTE TO FILE: LATHE LAPPING PROCEDURE AS UPDATED IN 2005. Nick Carter posted a detailed lapping procedure on his website, see: http://www.cartertools.com/setup.html Assembling and Lapping the Taig Lathe Kit K1019 (February 28th, 2005). Basically make a thin slurry of 1 teaspoon of Bon Ami commercial household product and 1/4 cup motor or lubricating oil (20 or 30 or similar weight oils are all fine). Easy to wipe off afterwards; Nick suggests you then re-oil with pure oil and thoroughly wipe off again. (Bon Ami's very mild abrasive particles will break down to harmlessness even if you missed a few in the wipedown/cleanup. More a polish, and not a persistent destructive abrasive like some mentioned above.) Tony Jeffree in taigtools on 13 September 2005 said: "I would suggest careful wiping off, followed by rinsing with paraffin (kerosene) or similar on an old toothbrush, then wipe/dry it off thoroughly before assembly/lubrication for use. You don't want any residual abrasive in the ways when you are using the lathe." ------- From: Ken Jenkins Date: Mon Aug 6, 2001 8:52 am Subject: Re: Assembled vs. unassembled Taig Well the "assembly" is quite straightforward in that the most critical "assembly" is already done ... the headstock. The rest is very easy. I suppose the "lapping" part causes some to scratch their heads a bit (it did me) but just follow the directions and it's a quick job. I had the whole thing done and up and running in a Saturday afternoon. The drive particulars are where I spend most of my initial time with the Taig in the beginning finally deciding upon a treadmill motor and XL timing belt and pulley (see my file section on the Taig site for pictures ands details). ------- From: karenwhite60x~xxh... Date: Sat Aug 18, 2001 6:53 pm Subject: spindle run out Hi all, I have a question about the Taig's INNER spindle taper. I set a dial indacator against the inside of it, SLOWLY turned the headstock pulley, and in one complete turn, there was .001 movement of the needle. Is this typical?? Also, What is the spindle made of? in other words, would I have ANY luck reboring the inside taper with a boring bar held in the Taig's compound? Would Taig's boring bar work, or would I need to regrind one?? Thanks, Jeff ------- From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Mon Aug 20, 2001 11:21 am Subject: Re: [taigtools] spindle run out The spindle is soft, so you could rebore it. Is the runout only in one place, or does the needle gradually move .001 as you turn the spindle? It may just be a burr that has been raised in the taper that could be removed. You would need a slightly smaller bar to do this work. How long have you had this headstock? http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Mon Aug 20, 2001 11:10 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] Re: spindle run out What is the runout of a rod chucked up in a collet? It may be that the runout of the taper may not have a significant effect on the performance of the collet. I would measure that before doing anything else. You could always return the headstock to Taig... ------- From: Ken Jenkins Date: Tue Aug 21, 2001 8:42 am Subject: Re: Spindle boring >> of the needle. Is this typical?? Also, What is the spindle made of? >> in other words, would I have ANY luck reboring the inside taper >> with a boring bar held in the Taig's compound? Would Taig's boring >> bar work, or would I need to regrind one?? Thanks, Jeff I have bored out my spindle to a little over 3/8 (can't remember exact but I can pass 3/8 thru). No problems. I used a drill and then a ream with a lot of turbine oil. It still screeched like a banshee and stalled a couple times during the process but in the end worked out fine. Be especially careful (of course) to go easy around the taper if you do this operation. Ken J. ------- From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Date: Mon Aug 20, 2001 11:14 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] centering tail stock/ qeustion for Nick From: > Hi again. I have been trying off and on to center the tail stock > for a while now. I have it within about .001 or so, but allways move > it to far when making final adjustment. What is the best way to go > about this?? Also, just out of curiosoty, Nick, do you weld?? If > yes, what type?? I use a plate that mounts to the tailstock t-slot on the back side. It has a screw that pushes the tailstock body over on the base. It is very easy to control the movement (in one direction). I should put a picture up of this on my site. The only welding I do is FCAW, with my Lincoln Weldpak 100, I don't enjoy welding too much compared to machining, but it's nice to make tables and mounts, etc. I do a bit of silver brazing (hard soldering) as well with my air/acetylene torch. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 10:49:40 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Truing soft jaws > I have just received my first lathe, Taig Micro Lathe II. > What I must do first is preparation of 3 jaw chuck. > Should I turn the pulley by hand while truing soft jaws? > Or is it safe to use motor for this process? Regards. Yuji Kuwabara You want the lathe rotating under motor power, faily fast (usually the 3rd belt step when I do it) and a fine, slow feed of the carriage. Set the depth stop so you don't run the boring bar into the chuck back. See: http://www.cartertools.com/picture.html#3JT http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 21:37:32 -0400 From: Myron Gochnauer Subject: Re: crosslide binding > I have just setup Micro Lathe II. I noticed that the crosslide had > binding a little, where it requires little more force to continue > to turn the Dial Crosslide. I had the same problem when I got my lathe in June. I fretted and fussed and cleaned and lapped and lubricated... all to no avail. And then when I actually started using the lathe I never really noticed it again. When there's a bit of resistance against the tool bit the last thing you notice is so slight a difference in crosslide motion. I just went into the workshop, brushed the brass chips off and tried the crosslide --- no obvious unevenness now. So sometime in the past six months, when I wasn't looking, it smoothed right out. Maybe yours will too. Myron (in Canada) ------- Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 17:27:22 -0800 (PST) From: Mike Berriman Subject: Re: Re: crosslide binding One other thing to check, which I initially had a problem with on my lathe, was the threaded rod that actually moves the crosslide was slightly bent, and so at the bend it "caught" a little, making it harder to move. Mine was only minor so I managed to straighten it, but if it's too bad you might want to think about getting it replaced. The easiest way to check this is to simply wind the crosslide off the end, and then carefully check whether the screw rotates smoothly. There is a little slop in it, so you have to be careful, but you should be able to tell if the threaded rod is bent. ------- Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 08:30:47 -0600 From: "Bad Brad" Subject: Re: T Bar Cut off Tool >I have an interest in Taig #1173 "T Bar Cut off Tool". >It seems to me that this tool will reduce waste of stock >because of its narrower cutting edge. >Is it usable to cut brass or nickel silver rod? >What is purpose this tool intended for? Regards. Yuji Kuwabara Yuji, the T-bar cut-off tool will work for the reasons you mention. Ifo und it works well. It mounts on the back of the cross-slide and can be left on (when using small stock) while using othe tools on the front side. The only thing I changed was on the side plate that holds the blade I machined the outboard surface and shortened the bolts for better clearance to keep the tool holder from striking the chuck when parting short parts. In my opinion, it is a good investment. It is made from steel and comes with a 0.0625, 1/16" blade, which should last for many years. With any cut off tool, reduce the spindle speed and use a lot of lubricant. With brass, to keep the tool from grabbing reduce the amount of back rake. Good luck. Forrest ------- Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 11:19:28 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Binding crosslide > I need some help. The dial on my crosslide binds when the > handle is at about the 10:00 to 12:00 position. It has done this > ever since I have had it and I've tried everything to fix it. It is > really starting to annoy me because I know it should be smooth > throughout the whole revolution. I've loostened up the dial from > the crosslide screw to the point of excessive backlash and it > seems to be the only way to solve that problem but then there is > the backlash to deal with (10 thou +). Any ideas would be great. > Thanks in advance for any help. Eric Sometimes I lap in the screw and bearing with the same oil/bon ami mix I use for the crosslide. I smear the goo on the offending surfaces and use a power drill to drive the acorn nut back and forth. Don't use clover compounds, they will embed permanently into the lathe and ruin it over time - only use mild abrasives like Bon Ami, or other "no scratch" cleanser. ------- Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 19:19:30 -0000 From: "fuzzylogic1012000" Subject: Re: Binding crosslide Ha, ha .... I love the simple solutions that you give for the minor problems Nick. With a .010 piece of derlin that I made the binding is not so bad but the lapping idea is great. I'll try it today. Thanks ------- Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 17:14:02 -0500 From: wmbrady Subject: Re: Tiny Hand wheels [BINDING CROSSLIDE] Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein Wrote: >There are no wrong solutions [TO LOOSEN CROSSLIDE], fill us in! OK, but I don't recommend that anyone do it unless they are very familiar with lapping. Here is what I did: I have three slides. The two cross slides and the milling adapter. I noticed that all three slides would start to bind when the slide closing. This binding took place at specific points in the rotation of the lead screw/handle. Gib settings made only a slight difference, making things worse when the gibs were loose actually. I took apart the Top Slide because it was the worst and I figured out that I could buy another if I ruined it. I could visibly see that the lead screw was slightly bent. I could also see that the angle of the screw as it goes through the nut was consistent with the binding, it always happened at the same "tilt" of the screw. The nut for the Cross Slide was not installed when I got my lathe, I had to install it. So I knew that this nut has a round peg that fits into a bore in the slide. The peg was extremely tight in the hole. I had a difficult time getting it in straight enough so that I could turn the knob at all. I realized that all three slides had slightly bent lead screws and that they were binding in this lead nut. So I pulled the nut from the Top Slide and lapped it to the hole. I used my "green crayon" abrasive. (chromium oxide?). Using a diluted (oil) bit of crayon, I painted the inside of the hole and the outside of the peg. I then pressed the peg back into the hole and turned the nut as far as I could. (watch the dovetails and I recommend pulling the gib to get it out of the way). This procedure has to be repeated at least three times. I turned about 10 times, cleaned off all of the residue and tried the fit. I removed all the oxide because I wanted to test with nothing in the hole or on the peg, I didn't want to take off too much. Finally I reached the point where this nut could turn axially in this hole but was still a snug fit. I reached the point where I could turn the nut by hand. While I had the side apart I pulled the gib and used it to polish the dovetails using the same "green crayon" and the gib. I also deburred the gib screw holes on the inside. I then oil washed all parts, followed by a hot water wash with a light brushing with a bristle brush and another oil wash. Under the 30x microscope the surfaces are all clean. I checked the gibs in the big scope at 150x. Very smooth. Eventually I did all three slides. Upon lubrication and reassembly I found the slide smooth with no binding and and very easy to turn with the same low resistance for the full travel. I adjusted the gibs and after one hour of use readjusted. No further adjustment has been required under heavy use milling. There is no play. (Cross Slide & Mill Slide). Previously, in two hours of milling I adjusted the gibs several times. A side benefit is that I can move the end mill at a constant speed and I get better "feel" or tactile feedback of the cut. One point should be made. The nuts would have eventually loosened with use. But at my age, I figure any time saved is time earned. Wm. "Bill" Brady, Harwood MD 38°51'30"N 76°41'00"W - Its in the darkest hour that the most stars come out ------- Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:44:35 -0000 From: "jmetm" Subject: Re: Tiny Handwheels [BINDING CROSSLIDE] I just figured mine out too. After lapping the screw and nut and cross slide itself I noticed a couple of little wear marks on the smooth part of the screw right by the main threads. It is where it enteres the hole in the carriage. That screw was out of center and would rub on the carriage every time it turned. What I did was lower the nut on the slide by wigling it out about a 32nd of an inch and that brought the screw down enough to clear it! No more rubbing! So basically what was happening was the nut was sitting too high and pulling the screw up causing the out of center part of the screw to rub on the carriage where it enters it. Fixed! Eric ------- Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:02:54 -0500 From: wmbrady Subject: First swarf My Taig arrived today. I bought the kit. Here is my "first report". I spent about twice as much time/effort lapping the bed as indicated. One end was pretty tight. The item that took the most time was the split nut under the cross carriage. It was not covered at all in the instructions and is not on the drawing. The problem was getting it aligned parallel with the slide so that the feed screw didn't bind. It is very tight in it's hole. It is slightly longer on one end and I don't know which way is correct. (I just checked and it's on the drawing on the web page, but not well enough illustrated to see which way the long end goes.) Another problem was with the feed wheel. They gave me a C ring and show it going on the shaft in between the eccentric and the spurs. There is no room (the eccentric sleeve is too long) and no slot for it to ride in on the shaft. This one is not on the web page drawing.) The wheel/shaft will just pull out but it has no tendency to do so; I left it alone. I turned down a more or less square piece of aluminum, a cutoff, or an inch and a half long section of it anyway. I used a 4 jaw independent chuck and a dial indicator for centering. The final round is .932". The surface is not as smooth as I expected but since I'm a rank beginner (or re-tread after 45 years) I am probably doing something wrong. It's nice to turn a junk cutoff into a perfect cylinder. (I ran the digital caliper down it and its pretty consistent along the length, within .001" or better.) Later I'll get out the micrometer. Many times the lathe loaded down. I am not sure but I think the motor itself just slowed down. I tried the 3 lowest speeds. It was satisfying near the end to see those long curls wafting away. I had did have some problems feeding at a consistent rate. The wired switch cable is too short in the section between the switch and the motor. The switch can only be placed behind the lathe, forcing the user to reach across the machine to switch it on or off. I did not try the stock tool holder, I went right to the Kenbo. Very nice device. I used a Taig RH cutter. I also ended up using the dead center. (chicken). I bought the milling attachment which I will check out next. I think also that I will put some more effort into tuning the machine. So far I'm as happy as a hog in a corn field. I shoulda done this 30 years ago. It sure gives you a feeling of power, being able to shape metal instead of scrounging around for a part. Oh yeah, I still have all the skin on my knuckles. Surprise, surprise, I guess I did learn something in metal shop class after all! I bought one of those flashy colored bonnets for the chuck but forgot to put it on. Wm. "Bill" Brady, Harwood MD ------- Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 22:34:00 -0600 (CST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: First swarf Man, when I saw the subject of this post, it took me back to when mine first arrived. I think one of my biggest adjustments was taking lighter cuts. I learned on a Monarch 10EE, an absolute beast of a machine. It'd take as deep a cut as you could convince yourself to take. Not so on the Taig. I did find that much of my motor slippage was because of the way the motor was mounted. I got the stock mount, and it had a tendency to let the motor get out of line with the lathe bed. I made a hinged motor mount, and got the motor pointed completely parallel to the lathe bed, and got the pulleys running completely in line with one another. The lathe got truckloads quieter, and I was able to take heavier cuts. Still not what I could do on the Monarch, but my Taig doesn't weigh in at close to a ton, either. ;) > The wired switch cable is too short in the section between the switch > and the motor. The switch can only be placed behind the lathe, forcing > the user to reach across the machine to switch it on or off. Ooof... Not good. > I did not try the stock tool holder, I went right to the Kenbo. Very > nice device. I'm curious what your opinion is of the Kenbo. I had an Aloris on the Monarch, and still long for something closer to a wedge-style Aloris toolpost for my Taig. I've looked at the Kenbo, and one other (can't remember the name) that looks REALLY close to an Aloris. But I'm using the stock toolholders. I'd like to do some CNC work on my lathe at some point. When I do, having a toolpost that'll accurately switch out tools and reposition them identically each time will become a lot more important to me. For now, I've got a toolpost for each tool, and that works out great. Congrats! Tom ------- Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 10:13:19 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: First swarf I left mine off, you don't really need it and it makes it easier to clean. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html Another problem was with the feed wheel. They gave me a C ring and show it going on the shaft in between the eccentric and the spurs. There is no room (the eccentric sleeve is too long) and no slot for it to ride in on the shaft. This one is not on the web page drawing.) The wheel/shaft will just pull out but it has no tendency to do so; I left it alone. ------- Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 16:05:00 -0500 From: wmbrady Subject: Re: First swarf Tom Benedict Wrote: >On Fri, 15 Feb 2002, Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein wrote: >> Kent redesigned it recently so that it locks into a taper, making it >> much more repeatable than the older version. He now sells the whole set for one price, the post?, holders, a boring bar holder and a parting tool holder. $100. Sorry if I'm not making sense, Ill today. ------- Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 06:57:50 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: LEAD RACK > In putting my Taig lathe together I noticed that the lead rack only > had 1 screw to tightened it down to the lathe. This makes the other end > bow upward slightly, which in turn makes the carriage harder to turn > towards the headstock! Does anyone have a cure for this. Why did'nt > they add another screw hole to the other end. Should I try to shim > the end with the screw hole up alittle or will it make a difference. > I though about adding a little epoxy to the other end and clamping it > down until it dried. But im sure ill have to replace the rack at some > time. Any ideas?? Make sure that the groove that the rack fits into is clean, it could have some oil or chips from manufacturing that is making the rack seat poorly. Also the screw hole is sometimes not deburred well. The rack should, if anything, be slightly concave on the bottom. If it is bent up at the end, then it is defective. Also make sure that there is some backlash of the pinion meshing with the rack, it should be set with a piece of fine paper (rolling or typing paper) between the pinion and the rack. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 02:15:16 -0000 From: "woodknack" Subject: Re: LEAD RACK You were right. I think the rack was defective. I put it on a straight edge and it was bowed the wrong way. I really did'nt want to wait for another one so I tweaked it alittle. got it to bow the way it should. Put it back together and she works fine! My next project i am going to make longer handles that spin freely for the carriage and the rack. Do you know how the handles from the factory are put in? Are they pressed or threaded? Also there are degree marks on the carriage crank but there is no mark on the carriage!? What do you line your mark up with? Boy if you take your time and set this lathe up right, It is a real joy to use. ------- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 21:32:21 -0500 From: Larry Richter Subject: Re: Re: LEAD RACK Thread and Loctite on the old ones. Tight. ------- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 09:18:48 +0000 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: Re: LEAD RACK The handles on mine were a press fit. The hole size happens to be perfect to take a 4BA tap without further drilling, so my "quick & dirty" solution to the spinning handles problem is to remove the handles, drill them axially 4BA clearance, and re-fit them with a 4BA round head screw & nut. Fit the screw through the handle, adjust the nut till the handle spins freely, fix the nut with a drop of Locktite, and screw the whole assembly into the hole in the wheel (which you have previously tapped 4BA). Regards, Tony ------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 14:15:39 +0000 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: lathe bed scoring >Has anyone developed a foolproof method of preventing metal turnings >from getting between the lathe bed and the carriage? >A strip of felt, or leather, attached to the front edge of the >carriage might push turnings ahead of it - and could keep a film of >oil on the bed - but metal particles might become embedded in the >strip and continue to score the bed! >Since the gib adjustment tends to lift the carriage off the bed am I >concerned unecessarily about scoring of the bed? I haven't managed to develop any scoring on my lathe bed so far (circa 10 years on) - at least, not from the scenario that you are worried about! Scoring between the bearing surfaces is largely irrelevant even if it happens, and the close contact between the bearing surfaces will mean that swarf is naturally swept ahead of the carriage. Some lathes (including my Myford ML7) do use the felt strip approach that you suggest, but it is not at all clear to me that it is really necessary. If you use the lathe at all for grinding, my concern would be that abrasive particles might embed in the felt, causing more problems than it would solve, whereas without it, you can simply strip the lathe down & clean off any abrasive material, and be reasonably sure that there won't be any particles lurking anywhere. Regards, Tony ------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 10:50:48 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: lathe bed scoring Just sweep turnings off the bed regularly, and use oil for the ways and it should be fine. If you are turning something abrasive then installing wipers may help. Gib adjustments pull the carriage down onto the ways, not lift it off the bed. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 11:00:05 -0000 From: "joulesbee" Subject: Re: lathe bed scoring For the very scary jobs turning HARD nasty metal, and very fine turnings use cling film or thin plastic to protect the ways. I suspect many people who do grinding on the Taig, already protect the machine bed, and ways from grit. But, as others have echoed, the fit on saddle to bed is such that swarf should be swept over the bed and not trapped, if it is you have other problems to solve first. Joules ------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 00:47:16 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Cross-slide comments >On the bottom you should see a circular race. The factory lock is a pair >of nuts on a horizontal cap screw which grasp the lip of the turret. The >slide is free to rotate as long as the nuts are loose, allowing the slide >to be placed at any angle. When the cap screw is turned (tightened) the >nuts grasp the turret, locking the slide angle and locking the whole >assembly in the slot. I suppose it could break but I assume a replacement >could be had from Taig. I don't find I use my cross-slide very often. When I have, it has a tendency to move a bit (I think someone suggested putting a piece of paper under it helps ... never tried it). Also, someone here was working on a different design for a cross-slide or modification for the existing one. Who was that and hows it coming :-)? I've looked at in terms of design and to be fair to TAIG the problem is one of available space (headroom from the carriage to the turning center). Once you start stacking stuff up ... carriage, cross-slide, tool post and tool .... you run out of room pretty quick. This lack of space constrains the design to something that can work without requiring much "vertical" (like the existing method described below). Still, when you need a sharp taper and you can take it easy it works fine. For gentler tapers offset the tailstock and turn between centers if you can. Ken Jenkins ------- Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 15:17:58 -0000 From: "manhattantony" Subject: Holding compound slide. Jon, one of the hints in Nick Carter's web site may help. He is in the bookmarks section of this group. Look at the pic: http://www.cartertools.com/dmock04.jpg I had a lot of trouble turning short tapers because the compound slide would move. To solve the problem I built 3 clamps which hold the compound slide to the cross slide. Using 3 clamps, you do not need to use the central mounting device and this allows you to put the compound slide any place on top of the cross slide where you can get purchase for the clamps. The clamps can be milled out of steel or just hacksawed from some type of thin angle iron. I hope that my attempt at "ascii art" will convey the idea. (r h screw) V |__ (clamp) -----|----- __| (compound slide) | | |________ | --- (nut in tee slot) take care ...... tgrimes in Manhattan, NV. ------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:57:19 -0000 From: "manhattantony" Subject: Holding compound slide.. file uploaded. My attempt at "ascii art" was mangled by the Yahoo message list viewer. It does present properly when viewed as individual e-mail, though. The hint may be viewed in the file I uploaded to the files area. "holdcompound.jpg" done with Xpaint. Sorry. Tony. ------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 20:08:07 -0000 From: "jmetm" Subject: Cut-Off Tool Quick Tip Here's a quick way to adjust the tool height on the Taig Cut-Off Tool. As the lathe center height is 1.250" + or - I take a 1-2-3 block and lay it on the cross slide. Get a .250" tool bit and lay it on top of that. You now have 1.250" in height. With the cut-off tool holder mounted and secure, the cut-off tool bit can then be slid in or out until it just touches the .250" tool bit. This will give you perfect height and make it easy to reset after sharpening. I don't think this has been discussed before so let me know what you think. If anyone else has any other methods for setting tool height please post them. Take Care, Eric ------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 15:13:20 -0500 From: wmbrady Subject: Re: Cut-Off Tool Quick Tip Eric, I assume that you are talking about the back side cutoff tool post. I did not realize that sliding the cutter in or out would change the height. I will certainly check it out as parting off has been a real pain in the butt for me. I have tried several methods and toolholders to no avail. Wm. "Bill" Brady, Harwood MD ------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 20:25:51 -0000 From: "jmetm" Subject: Re: Cut-Off Tool Quick Tip Yes, the back side cut-off tool. If you look at the blade it is held in at an angle so sliting it in or out changes the height. This has made it almost too easy to use as the set up is such a snap. Take a look and let me know how it works. Eric ------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 19:08:17 -0500 From: wmbrady Subject: Re: Re: Cut-Off Tool Quick Tip >Take a look and let me know how it works. Yes, it certainly works and makes it quite easy to set the cutter. It does limit the cutter depth though; I hadn't realized that. There are, of course, ways around that, shimming, grinding the tip of the cutter down so that more extension is required to get the height. I had planned on making a "setting bar" of 1.25", but your method will fill in until I get a round tuit. I haven't parted anything yet. But I am sure your method will go a long way to solving my problems. One problem I have been having is the tool post turning or twisting when pressure is applied. I have been working on developing ideas to solve this. One possible solution is to drill and ream one or two holes to accept 1/8" dowel pins that'll register in the slot of the crosslide. I also re-worked one cutter. I put a rather agressive hook on the end, tapered it back from the end by grinding the sides, and put a bevel on the cutting edge. I will reserve this one for parting soft metals, I have, in fact, been parting mostly aluminum anyway. I did learn from Jose to increase the feed rate if chatter occurs. But I had almost given up on parting. Wm. "Bill" Brady, Harwood MD ------- Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 08:37:49 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Best cut off tool I've used >> Yes, the back side cut-off tool The best cut off tool I've used is a hacksaw. reverse and face. no worries. Ken J. ------- Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 17:53:59 +0100 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: Re: Best cut off tool I've used I confess to using a hacksaw too; however, the technique needs care to avoid what I did the first couple of times, namely not easing off enough on the last couple of strokes, and putting a small "ding" in the bed as a result. Oops.... Regards, Tony ------- Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 12:35:09 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Best cut off tool > Do you mean with the part still in the lathe and running? Eric No, I mean there haven't been many applications where I couldn't take the part out, clamp it in a vise, cut off the part being held in the chuck, then reverse it back in the chuck and face off the cut end smooth ... or whatever ... ------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 10:08:41 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Carriage rack bent? > I've had a slight problem with my Taig since I had it, but it wasnt > too bad so I just left it. Now it has started to get really annoying > and I need to get rid of it. The carriage gets harder to move as it > gets closer to the headstock. After checking things I came to the > conclusion that my rack deforms whenever the bolt holding it down > gets tightened. Does anybody have a quick fix for this? Just call me > lazy, but I dont feel like drilling and tapping a second hole for a > screw to hold it down at the headstock end. Thanks! -Chris Make sure the slot that it fits in is clean, and if there is a burr on the screw hole, clean it off with a thin file or scraper. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 12:16:01 -0500 From: "Bad Brad" Subject: Re: Carriage rack bent? Here are some things to try: Remove the rack and look to see if there is anything in the groove where the rack sits. Inspect the rack for tags and use 600 grit paper to hone the sides of rack. Place the rack in the groove and try to slide it; if the rack gets stuck at the end where the resistance is felt, that you had mentioned, open up the groove a little, side only. Remove the hand wheel and slide the saddle by its self; if it gets stuck then the problem might be a gib adjustment,located on the backside of saddle. The lash between the rack and hand wheel gear is adjustable, located on the right side of saddle. The hand wheel bushing is drilled off center so it can be rotated to adjust lash. Slide the saddle to the position it is hardest to move and adjust the lash there(same as with the gib adjustment). Finally you can remove the rack and hand wheel and install a lead-screw system. (See Nick Carter's web pages for adding a lead-screw). ------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 21:04:55 EDT From: tadici283x~xxcs.com Subject: Re: Carriage rack bent? or made that way You are much better off to just drill and tap two holes- don't take too long and solves all problems, I added a third hole and my rack is smooth as silk, be careful not to drill all the way through, I like having the rack even though I have a lead screw makes simple movements faster than that of the leadscrew alone, you can fab up a disengage if you wish to convert that and add half nuts, a bit overkill I guess but that seems to be the way that I do everything. any way it seems that the rack has some kind of bias built into it (for what ever reason Taig thought that this was good, I guess that they thought the same thing when they did not include a "G" clip on the pinion shaft). While you have it apart you can add a groove with a Dremel cutoff, simply hold the pinnion in the ecentric shaft and turn while holding the cutoff disk agenst it - better than using the lathe (that is now apart) and get a clip at your local hardware store. Chris of Bradenton FLA. Tap is 4-40 by the way and use drill #43 ------- Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 10:23:17 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Normal for rack to be bowed? Rack should be flat. How are you measuring it's flatness? When you place it on the bed surface (always a good flat surface for reference)? You can contact the factory of a replacement. It is important when assembling the lathe to always clean the rack thoroughly and debur the screw hole. Also make sure the eccentric setscrew is pressing on the thick wall of the eccentric bushing, not the thin wall. Always set gear backlash with a thin piece of rolling or typing paper. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 15:48:49 -0000 From: "joulesbee" Subject: Re: Normal for rack to be bowed? Hi Scott, my rack was bowed, and so was the replacement I got from Peatol (UK supplier) So I just straightened mine carefully, just chock up one end and press gently in the centre, place on a straight edge and keep at it till straight. By the way my bend has come back looking at the oil oozing out from the alloy extrusion supporting the rack. Joules. ------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 17:01:27 +0100 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: Re: Normal for rack to be bowed? >my rack was bowed, and so was the replacement I got from Peatol Not a lot of people know this, but the Taig racks are actually screwcut. They have a jig that holds several racks at a time in longitudinal grooves around a large round-section bar (3" diam or so if I recall correctly) - the lathe then cuts a "thread" of the right pitch in the bits of the racks that are exposed. So strictly speaking, the teeth in the racks are all slightly off square as a result of the helical cut, and are also slightly convex, but because of the large diameter of the "thread" relative to the width of the rack, this is hardly noticeable. I guess the bowing of the racks is a result of the stock not being stress-relieved before they cut the teeth. Regards, Tony ------- Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2002 11:07:08 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Where to buy a Taig + advice on accessories > I'm thinking of buying a Taig Lathe. Any suggestions. Where to buy. You can buy Taig equipment from several different vendors ...however ... in my opinion (and I'm sure you'll find this sentiment echoed here by others) the only place I'll buy from is Nick Carter http://www.cartertools.com/. Why? Very simple. You won't find a better deal on the equipment anywhere else and "service and support", and you won't find a better person to deal with. I've been in this egroup for several years and Nick has been absolutely solid in terms of providing advice, support, information and encouragement. > accessories to buy? What accssories can I make? > Jonathan Bernstein,jb134259x~xxhotmail.com In terms of what accessories to buy and what you can make you'll get different responses on this one depending on what people use their equipment for. Also it will be very much dependent on your skill level as a machinist and your access to other equipment. Here's my 2 cents on some general things. 1. Don't buy accessories unless you need them. It doesn't take that long to order say "a live center" if you find out you need it (while we're on that topic, I don't care for Taig's live center and the only reason I have one is I haven't had the time to develop a different solution like a turned down Morse 1 or 2 live center to fit the Taig tailstock ... anybody found a Morse 1 anywhere?). 2. Get a 4-jawed chuck in addition to the 3 jaw which come with the lathe. You will need a dial indicator in order to use the 4-jaw also. The 4-jaw is required if you plan on doing any real precision work. http://www.taigtools.com/c1030.html 3. Get one or two extra softjaw sets you can machine to fit the particular range of turning you are doing. http://www.taigtools.com/c1051.html 4. Get the highspeed steel turning tool set. There are lots of other options you can get into later in terms of grinding and sharpening your own tools but to start get this. http://www.taigtools.com/c1095.html Also get (5) of the 1170 tool posts. They're cheap and you can set up each of your turning tools in individual posts and not have to worry about setting up centerline on each tool every time you want to use it. The above will get you started. In addition I would recommend: 1. The highest precision 3/8" drill chuck you can afford. Shop around for this and get some recommendations from this group ... I can't help because I can remember where I got mine from. 2. You're also going to want a boring bar set and boring bar holder (which you need to make). Here are some places to look on-line for reasonable priced tooling and supplies: http://www.harborfreight.com/ http://www.use-enco.com/ http://grizzlyindustrial.com/ http://www.jlindustrial.com/ http://www.mscdirect.com/ 3. I would recommend a 6-8 inch digital caliper (again get the best one you can afford). 4. Get a complete "American made" drill set FRACTIONAL/LETTER/NUMBERED. This will be expensive $100+ but well worth the investment. In terms of what accessories you can make, I have made loads of accessories for my lathe (the most ambitious being a woodturning dupicator for doing chess pieces ... see my FILES area on the Taig site). I remember I was working on my lathe once and my wife said, "What are you making?" to which I replied, "Some accessories for my mill." Then she asked, "What do you make with your mill?" ... to which I replied, "Accessories for my lathe OF COURSE!!!" At which point she shook her head sympathetically and walked away. Buying a Taig for a lot of us here is like buying a real solid well made automobile with the intent to "soup it up". So you start adding things and features and making little bits and bobs to help do certain things and it kind evolves into what you want it to be. Among the "accessories" I have made are: 1. Boring bar holders. 2. Dial indicator holders. 3. A split-nut and carriage drive. 4. Flexible shaft tool holder. 5. Part duplicator. 6. Tailstock handle. 7. Adjustable plexiglass shield and mount. 8. Changed the whole drive system to variable speed. 9. Various custom tooling mounts. 10. Sharpen jig for rotary fabric cutter blades. That's my 2 cents .... have fun! Ken J. ------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 12:31:26 +0900 From: "Mark Thomas" Subject: RE: Question about Taig collets >>I am wondering if the collets that come with the Taig mill are of a common or proprietary design? I have noticed that there is a very slight wobble in the 1/8" collet and I would like to get a more accurately made set. thanks, Tom Murray << Tom, The design is proprietary, i.e. not a standard morse taper, 15 degrees if I'm not mistaken. I'm surprised that you're getting a wobble however as the collets do center very well. Check that the collet closer is threading itself on properly, and make sure that the collet is inserted the proper way, taper end first., I'm not being facetious here as I've reversed a collet by mistake on occasion, and inevitably the bit will not center properly as a result. Cheers, Mark ------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 02:17:08 -0600 From: "Don Feinberg" Subject: Re: Question about Taig collets I did get one "bad" collet from Taig; they replaced it immediately on my request, and all was well afterwards. It was supposed to be 1/8", but somehow it was a couple of thou too small... Ring up Taig -- my experience is that they'll take care of it straight away. Don Feinberg ------- Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 12:59:24 -0000 From: "Tom Murray " Subject: Re: Question about Taig collets Thanks to everyone for the information. Yes, the collet is inserted the correct way; I take no offence in being asked because the first time I put one in, I did indeed insert it backwards =] I noticed that the collet holds the cutter slightly off center. I estimate that it is about 1-2 thousandths off, but I have no way to measure. I will be using v-cutters that have very fine tips (0.001" - 0.01") to do very fine detail, so a movement of the tool by a thousandths or two is not trivial. I will contact Taig soon. Thanks again, Tom Murray ------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 09:46:58 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Re: Question about Taig collets Several other things to check: 1) get a dial test indicator, chuck up a 1/8" dowel and see if the collet is really running true. You need a dial indicator, for tramming the column anyway. 2) is it possible that the cutter is bent? or have you checked several cutters in succession? 3) is there any swarf, or other obstructions in the collet slots? 4) do your other collets work well? (once again good place for an indicator) could be the spindle taper instead, perhaps a burr. 5) as others have said, Taig will take care of it if it is bad. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 23:13:55 -0000 From: "Kevin Gregg " Subject: How to tighten chuck Well, being the newbie that I am, I managed to get the chuck on my lathe to spin off at several thousand RPM the other night. I also instinctively tried to prevent it from rolling off the bench with my bare hands... that was stupid. OK, you are laughing... I'll wait. ahem. It did a nice job on the bed, but I think I have those cleaned up. Now that we have that little embarassment out of the way, could you guys help me with a question? When using the spindle wrench to tighten the chuck, how do you go about locking the chuck so you can tighten it? Sheepishly, Kevin ------- Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 13:57:30 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: How to tighten chuck Nooo, no laughter here. I managed to do that with the 4-jaw shortly after buying my lathe. I did have the presence of mind to get out of its way, but I'm still paranoid about that. I grab the chuck by the jaws, and the spindle by the wrench, and twist. The jaws don't rotate with respect to the back of the chuck, so it's a good "handle". More specifically, I slowly screw the chuck on until it seats, to make sure the threads are clean and the mating surfaces don't have any burrs or swarf on them. (Yes, I wipe both before doing this.) Once I know I have a good clean seat, I back the chuck off a half turn or so, and spin it on. It should seat with a nice sharp stop. That's all the cranking I do. I haven't had one come off since doing this, and I haven't overtightened, either. So far so good. Keep the fingers intact, and keep makin' chips. Tom ------- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 03:26:06 -0000 From: "jumbo75007 " Subject: Re: How to tighten chuck Kevin, many of us have been there, done that. As been said, no heroics with the wrench. Just hand tighten "snuggly." Even though you hand tighten the chuck, keep the wrench handy when removing the chuck. As far as tightening up the jaws on the 3 jaw chuck, I hold on to the back half of the chuck while grabbing on the the jaws themself. If I have any slippage of round stock, then I put a tommy bar into the holes on the back half of the chuck and retighten holding on to the jaws. Enjoy! Dan Fuller Carrollton, Texas ------- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 14:18:52 +0000 From: "Leon Heller" Subject: Re: How to tighten chuck Peatol, the UK distributor, sells a special thin laser cut spanner that can be used to hold the nut on the back of the spindle behind the chuck. It's quite cheap. I always make sure I'm out of line with the chuck when I start up the motor, just in case. 8-) Leon ------- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 09:34:11 -0500 From: Ken Jenkins Subject: Re: Spinning the Chuck off Kevin, don't feel bad. I did this twice when I first got my lathe. Very scary!!! and...yes...I also tried to stop it with my thumb the first time (not the second time :-). What I did was to make a simple wooden block out of hardwood about 2 inches square and appropriate height (can't measure it right now because it's not in front of me). It has two "ledges" on it. This block stands on the base the lathe is mounted to and the ledges catch the edge of a jaw when tightening and loosening (for loosening the block goes on the opposite side and you use a different ledge) and keep it from turning so a good tight lock can be achieved. Both times this happened to me I was lucky and had no permanent physical damage done to the lathe or me but it certainly does get the old heart racing. The best thing to do when it happens is move backwards and to your right as fast as possible and let Newtonian physics have it's way without your involvement. Ken J. ------- Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 15:04:43 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: I've done it again! [EXAMINE PARTS -- ROUGH CROSSLIDE MOTION] Lets start over again for the sake of clarity: looking at the exploded diagram of the lathe on Taigs website (at the bottom of this page): http://www.taigtools.com/mlathe.html Since it seems that you ultimnately want to remove the existing screw and replace it with a longer one, here is what you should do, starting from scratch: 1) remove the carriage (100-11) from the lathe 2) hold the carriage in a vise with soft jaws 3) remove the slide (100-26) by screwing it all the way out 4) either make a small face pin spanner to engage the two small holes in the crosslide bearing (100-20), or use a chain vise grip with soft packing between the jaws and the bearing, and unscrew the bearing from the carriage. 5) hold the crosslide screw (100-17) by the threads in a vise with soft jaws. Unscrew the acorn nut (100-23) 6) gently heat the dial (100-22) with a heat gun or torch to relax the loctite. Just a little heat, don't make it glow red! 7) unscrew the dial (it may be hot!) holding it with your favorite round thingy remover, in my case a chain vise grip with soft packing, whatever you use, use soft packing to prevent marring the dial. Do not use a lot of force, or else I guarantee you will break the leadscrew. Try not to tweak it up and down or side to side as you do this. 8) slide the crosslide bearing off the screw. That should leave you with all the components separated and you can then see what is bent, if anything, and replace it with your new screw. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 01:52:57 -0000 From: "mrgamber " Subject: Spindle freedom I have a concern about my spindle bearings. With the motor belt removed, should the spindle spin freely and continue to spin if I give it a "snap"? It turns with no resistance and only a slight bit of drag but I can't just "spin it like a top" and expect it to keep going. Mike ------- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 21:50:42 -0700 From: "Doug Powell" <4machiningx~xxattbi.com> Subject: Re: Spindle freedom Mike, don't expect your lathe or mill spindle to "spin like a top". Although the bearings seem to have little resistance, the drag from the seals and the viscous drag from the grease inside the bearings will prevent them from free wheeling for more than a few seconds. Doug ------- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 19:41:21 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Spindle freedom My guess is no. My lathe and my mill both turn freely, but almost immediately spin to a stop. My guess is it's the bearing seals. I'm pretty sure they're actually sealed and not just shielded bearings. Shields are set up so they're not physically contacting the inner and outer races. Seals do make physical contact. It makes for more drag, but it also makes for no contamination. Tom ------- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:14:32 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Spindle freedom The grease is the primary culprit, it is normal for there to be drag. As the bearings warm up this drag diminishes as well. If it did spin freely I would suggest the lube had all run out. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 06:45:19 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Boring Tool On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Kevin Gregg wrote: > I want to bore a pretty small hole inside a piece of Al that is about 1" > deep and about .46 in diameter. I was attempting to use the boring bar > from Taig but it seemed a bit large for this work. Could I remove > material from the back side and underneath of this cutter to make it > smaller or would that weaken it too much? I wound up making a new boring bar for a project with a really small hole. I needed a tapered bore, so using a reamer wasn't an option. Since it was a tapered hole, I made a tapered boring bar. But the cutting end was something like 1mm across. So yes, you can go quite small. But yes, it weakens it a LOT. So long as you're careful it's possible to do without breaking the bar. The thing that'll get you, though, is tool flexure. Turn down something so it should be a nice sliding fit into the hole, and use that as a gauge. If you get unacceptable flexure in your boring bar, the hole will be undersized or tapered. The gauge will spot it for you. But yes, it's doable. Tom ------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 12:58:16 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Re: Taig to stop shipping international orders > Just for clarification, does that include Canada? It does, part of the problem is all the forms they have to fill out, and part is that it is a pain for them to send via the post office. They are so busy that it's just not worth it for them anymore. I suspect that I, and other dealers will just forward items on, especially to existing customers like you. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 14:24:19 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Re: Taig to stop shipping international orders Yes, those dealers, and Lee Valley in Canada, and the guys in Oz all buy their machines by the pallet loads, so that they are handling all shipping themselves, as freight. What Taig is tired of doing is handling small onesey-twosey orders that require too much time to handle. It's pretty complex. Part of the problem is the labor pool in Phoenix is pretty poor, at least by Taig's standards. They don't seem inclined to really up production (the way Sherline does) as they are still just a mom&pop operation. They have their idea of how they want their business to be, and run it thusly. Another part is that shipping by the post office is a big hassle for them, and UPS is a pain with international orders. Granted it does show what a company can achieve when they keep their prices down, and have a good product. Still a lot of opportunity for another person to step in an manufacture benchtop machines. I bet that any dealer who does want to take on the hassle of shipping internationally would clean up. I routinly get emails from all over the world begging for me to send them. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 14:44:46 -0000 From: "Johnnie " Subject: Drilling&Boring long holes?? New to the group. New to Taig lathe also. I got a Taig lathe recently and going to use it to make long tubes measuring 1 3/4 by about 12 to 14 inches long with a bores from 1/2 inch to 1 inch in dia. I am getting another bed to extend the lathe as I need more room to put drills or drill rod with brazed drill on end to do the boring. What I am concerned about tho is how to, or what to do as far as a setup for the tailstock end to do the drilling. Should I use a a V slot type setup on a made up tail stock to clamp a drill or boring bar? I have no problem with having to shove by hand the drill into the workpiece tho it would be nice to find a better way. Should I try and rig up some kind of drillpress thing sitting on its side to use horizontal and run the drill into the workpiece that way? In all this tho I would be chucking the piece on one end and having it on a Steady rest on the other. I am a bit miffed as to what to do here hoping some of you experts and pro's can add some input to my dilema. I know, I know. I probably should have got a gun drill type thing but I cant afford what they want for them lol. Any tips or input of any kind will be considered for sure. Thanks a bunch Johnnie Hamilton, Ontario ------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:17:32 -0500 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? Hi JJ; Got to warn you, this post probably isn't the answer you want to hear, but is as honest as I can be! It's going to depend on the material you are cutting and how many you have to make, but any time you get into deep hole drilling you're getting into deep and tricky water. Pretty much as soon as the depth of bore is 10 times the diameter or deeper the world gets hard. Here are a few questions: What material? What is the target accuracy of the final hole size? What is the concentricity limit (runout) of the hole with respect to OD? How many do you have to make? Must the part be one piece, or can you make it in sections, and connect them via threads or silver soldered/ brazed/ welded joints? Could you use tubing, with bushes pressed/threaded/brazed/welded at each end? If you're talking 1 3/4 inch steel, the Taig is way under sized and powered, unless you intend to take a LONG time to make each part. So are most 9 inch lathes, even a SB heavy 10 would probably be tough to pull this one off on. The Taig tailstock ram doesn't have 7 inches of travel, and the drilling forces involved are awfully high for a 1/2 inch ram that is kept from twisting by a soft steel strap. One hard catch with a large bit and either the motor stalls, the belt slips or breaks, or the tailstock takes some damage. If I had to do this, I would look for thick wall mechanical tubing first, to see if I could use that. Pressing in bushing on each end might work, don't know your application requirements. Next option would be to hit the Thomas Register at the local library and look for an outfit that makes spacers/standoffs for the electrical industry. Higher cost option would be to look for hollow ground shaft used in linear bearing assemblies, and cut to length. If after all that I HAD to make these myself, then I'd rig up a gun drilling sort of setup on my 13 inch lathe. The seven foot bed would probably accomodate the drill guide, power advance for the drill, and steady rest for the work. The hairy part would be handling chip ejection, in gun drilling cutting oil is pumped through the bit and chips/oil exit a trough build into the bit. Oil pressure varies from 800 to 3000 PSI based on material, size of hole, feed rate, how far into the bore the cutting tip is, etc. If I had to make these on a smaller lathe, doing the part in sections to be joined for final sizing would be preferred. If this is out, then I'd step drill using aircraft bits from each end, very carefully locating center at each end. The final cut ( a few thou undersized) with a bit 1/16 larger than the previous bit would be from one end to smooth out the bore. Then ream to final size. You'll probably have to make your own reamer or buy one that will cost serious money. I would probably make a D reamer, necked about an inch back from the cutting end. I might even look at rigging a vertical drilling setup, so that once the first pilot hole was through there would be some gravity helping clear the chips. I would encourage you to do a google search on "Deep Hole Drilling" and "Gun Drilling" to get some ideas about what is involved before spending money to extend the Taig for this application. Love Taig lathes, but not for this application. Cheers, Stan ------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 00:25:09 -0000 From: "jjkanuck " Subject: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? Material will be either Delrin, Polypenco plastics or wood. The Delrin and Polypenco cuts like butter with a dull knife. > What is the target accuracy of the final hole size? Not that accurate a good flat ground drill size is fine. Would be 11/16 11/32 9/16 and 1 1/8 drill sizes are fine. Concentricity doesn't really matter. Would be 8 pieces. No! The lengths must be one piece Just checked my drawings and longest piece would be 11 5/8ths > Could you use tubing, with bushes pressed/threaded/brazed/welded > at each end? If push comes to shove I could do that but dont really want to Actually there is no steel involved at all. What Im making is a musical instruments. Either wood or plastics. I will check out the gun drilling thing. It might give me an idea on using my drill press on its side for hole boring. Why I was thinking of the extra bed addition was to be able to use the tailstock and make up fixture to hold what ever size drill. Then just basically just shove the drive thru the plastic. Finish inside bore can be cleaned up with emery and slotted dowel far as that goes. As a side note my trade was a tool and die maker till I retired 12 years ago. So I have machining experience just not with an ELF of a piece of machinery ;-] Will be fun for sure. Anyway thanks for all that info. Much appreciated for sure. Thanks John ------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 02:18:35 -0500 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? Hi John: Plastic and wood might just be a doable proposition :-) Maybe I'm making this out as more of a project than it is, simply poking a hole with a long twist drill might do just fine. In wood it probably will work just fine, as long as the drill is guided in some way so it stays close to center. For the wooden tubes, a long auger bit held in a brace might be just the item. I used to drill the holes for lamp cord through wooden lamp bodies using long augers, occasionally with an extension required. Using an auger in a brace gave better control and was just about as fast as using a hand drill. Far less scary as things didn't tend to go bad in any rush. These might just be easier to do "old school", simply holding the work in a vise or clamping jig which could also have a guide hole for the auger bit. Might work fine in the plastics you are using as well. If not... Rather than drilling in the conventional sense, could you make a trepanning sort of tool from steel tubing in the target size? I'm thinking of basically a very long hole saw. You could rig a steady rest for the stock, a fairly long bushing to guide the tube, and maybe get away with a T handle held by hand or by holding the tool on a sliding block (similar to a boring bar holder) that rides the second bed. Not sure I'd hold such a beast in the stock tailstock still, a catch would generate quite a bit of torque. If the OD of the parts is consistent, the drill guide bushing could be stepped and serve as a steady for the free end of the workpiece. Just a scaled up version of a pinion drilling flag on a watchmakers lathe. You might need a second steady rest halfway down the workpiece to control whipping. Chip control would probably be the big thing. I have very little experience working with plastics, but enough to suggest polishing the OD of the tool and using some sort of lube would probably be required. Once plastics start getting hot they tend to grab onto tools. I know delrin is pretty slick stuff, but have never even heard of polypenco, much less machined it. You might take a look at some info on making wooden water pipes back in colonial days (and earlier.) I recall seeing one sketch of a spring pole or great wheel lathe sort of setup being run by an apprentice, while the master fed in a large T handled auger. Not an exact solution, but maybe enough to get the creative juices flowing. I just repaired a music box for one of my daughters. The plastic balerina figure was injection molded and pressed down on the spring loaded stop bar of the box, which jams the mechanism when the lid closes, folding over the spring extension of the stop rod. Naturally the figurine broke. Twist drilling with a pin vise just didn't give the strength needed as there was not enough material left to resist the force of the spring loaded rod. I filed teeth on the end of a 2 inch length of 1/8 inch brass tubing, spun the tube in a drill press, and bored right down through the feet and legs and into the body. Left the tool in place as a bushing so the figurine is simply decorative rather than the strength element of the mechanism. Worked like a charm once I fixed the music box movement, which has gotten knocked out of whack when the figurine snapped off. The brass tube was held in a drill press chuck and the figurine was pressed up onto the tool. The final hole depth was about 15 times the bore diameter. Only additional operation required was a quick few turns of a twist drill in a pin vise to remove a bit of the plastic plug in the center of the tube. Took less time to file the teeth and do the job than to write this post. As you're a tool and die guy I guess you've probably forgotten more about deep hole drilling and fixturing for weird setups than I know :-) What type of instrument are you making? There was a guy over on RCM doing something similar, he had some odd expectations for bore accuracy at first (half a thou total size, location, and TIR error over 20 inches in wood), but once calmed down a bit I think he planned to drill, ream, and finish the bore, then mount to blank on a mandrel for exterior machining. While we couldn't get him to within a half thou over 20 inches with drilling alone, going this route did let him get a uniform wall thickness in the finished product, which was apparently a critical item for tone. Don't know any more than this, I'm just a guitar player. Please post what you come up with, sounds like a neat sort of project. Cheers, Stan ------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 07:23:48 +0000 From: Steve Blackmore Subject: Re: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? >Material will be either Delrin,Polypenco< plastics or wood. The >Delrin and Polypenco cuts like butter with a dull knife. John - you may have some problems with the plastics - I've drilled 13mm dia holes 6inches deep in Delrin and the stuff heats up and grabs the drill - enough so that it seizes on the drill and either turns the drill or the stock the chuck! (Wasn't on a Taig) The answer was to grind down the flutes and shaft after the first 1/2" or so and use coolant. Steve Blackmore ------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 09:57:37 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Backlash on the crosslide screw Got an email from a customer who felt that his lathe had too much backlash, at .006". I measured my lathe's backlash and found I had .006" as well. Other machines in my shop had significantly more backlash. So I thought I would ask, how much backlash do your lathes have? http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:13:58 -0800 From: "Dave Hylands" Subject: RE: Backlash on the crosslide screw Hi Nick: I have a Sherline that's still relatively new, and it has about 0.003 - 0.004. I think 0.006 would be quite acceptable given the cost of the lathe. I've used some bigger/older equipment that had 0.030 to 0.050 backlash. I think that ballscrews are the answer for people who don't like backlash. Dave Hylands Vancouver, BC, Canada http://www.DaveHylands.com/ ------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 00:11:32 +0000 From: Steve Blackmore Subject: Re: Backlash on the crosslide screw Hi Nick, I put a new cross slide leadscrew and nut on a Myford Super 7 and couldn't get it below 4 thou without it being overly tight. (It was 15-25 before ;) Most stuff I've seen has 10 or worse. (Apart from ball screws of course:) The backlash is not a problem as long as by winding out past, then back in, you end up at the same spot each time. Steve Blackmore ------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 20:38:11 -0800 From: "JAMES BEGGEROW" Subject: Re: Backlash on the crosslide screw Nick: I have .003 and it works smooth the only other problem to check would be the lead error. My machine has .008 over 7 inches. Jim ------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 05:19:29 -0000 From: "gjb1gb1 " Subject: Re: Backlash on the crosslide screw Hi Nick .0045 My Lathe is 20 years old, about the best machine I ever bought. Got a long bed cnc mill about a year ago (got it from Andrew as I hadn't found this group at that time) other than that weird end to end gib adjustment on the X it has performed flawlessly. When I get the chance i`m going to put the adjusters in front where they belong. Gary Bailey ------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 01:04:16 -0500 (EST) From: indiabudx~xxwebtv.net Subject: Backlash on crosslide screw I measured mine and found it to be .0065. I have no complaints as a compound unit for an old lathe is closer to .030. John ------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 10:15:40 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Backlash on crosslide screw I know, old lathes certainly have backlash, I think my Atlas has about 50 thou. See our web pages http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 16:18:58 -0000 From: "Ed Chesnut " Subject: Re: Backlash on the crosslide screw Mine measured in x~xx .006" also. My lathe is a little less than a year old. Used mostly for turning Aluminum, Delrin/Acetal and pen turning (various woods). Not a lot of hours of use. I don't think cross slide backlash has changed much (if any) since new. Ed ------- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 13:14:29 -0800 From: "Elliot Burke" Subject: RE: Digest Number 994 was Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? JJ Writes: >>I got a Taig lathe recently and going to use it to make long tubes measuring 1 3/4 by about 12 to 14 inches long with a bores from 1/2 inch to 1 inch in dia.I am getting another bed to extend the lathe as I need more room to put drills or drill rod with brazed drill on end to do the boring.What I am concerned about tho is how to, or what to do as far as a setup for the tailstock end to do the drilling. Any tips or input of anykind will be considered for sure. << I suggest you browse through the books available at Lindsay Publications http://www.lindsaybks.com/ They have several titles on just that subject, long hole boring/drilling. One book in their collection is Amateur Wind Instrument Making, which covers making recorders and flutes. Some good tips on tapered holes too. It certainly can be done, consider that rifles were made with very little equipment but much patience before machinery was available. You haven't helped yourself by trying to use a non-rigid lathe. The stiffness of a beam (lathe bed) decreases rapidly as it is made longer. Perhaps you can bolt it to something rigid without twisting it? regards- Elliot B. ------- Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 08:01:27 -0000 From: "Rodger " Subject: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? > Would be 8 pieces. > No! The lengths must be one piece Just checked my drawings and > longest piece would be 11 5/8ths The number of pieces, and the 11" length on some of them sound vaguely familiar.. Does this instrument happen to be "louder than satan" ??? I am getting my tooling together for Pipemaking, and what is really looking sweet is the Cuesmith. Chris Hightower uses as many standard Taig parts as possible. I believe that he wants $250 or so for a 48" bed, that all the existing Taig parts I already have can be mounted onto.. The 1 3/8" through spindle twin chuck headstock also sounds like a treat for long hole boring. What I really want to do is run the bore with a carriage mounted tool, and One axis FROG cnc. set it up for 1200 steps if need be, and supervise the bore rather than run it the old fashioned way. The Great big lathes seem more like a 401K in scrap iron to me. I really don't think that I need a monsterous floor mounted lathe for what I am going to be doing. The biggest diameter I might ever turn is 2", and one of the last things I even want to turn is metal except as needed. I actually plan to mount my modified Taig lathe on a desk someday. ------- Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 17:41:55 -0000 From: "jjkanuck " Subject: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? Hi. Sorry for the late reply. Yes I noticed the grabbing also. I been messing [experimenting] around with some delrin and drilling. What I have found works really well is making a formed D drill out of drill rod or HS round Deckel cutter blanks [Deckel is type of pantograph] It's 5/8 round cutting stock ground to D shape and brazed on a 7/16 drill rod. I have ground the form of a D on the stock cutting it in half lengthways then reducing the diameter about 1/4 inch back of the full cutting edge [similar to your back grinding your drill]. I was using wd40 or silicone spray. but that gets pricey and the fumes arent that great [no buzz either lol ] so I now just use plain old water spray with a very light amount of water soluble cutting oil. Minute enough to use in a misting bottle. Works great. I have a 5/8 D drill made up brazed onto some drill rod and drill thru with no pilot hole 7 plus inches and taking the drill out at the most 4 or 5 times. Not all the way either just enough to spray some cooling into the bore. Thanks for all the tips to you and the other guys on here. JJ I will keep you informed and will try and get some pics up on here but it will be a while. Got to get a digital camera first ;-] ------- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 10:27:14 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Re: Turning and Boring Long Lenghts info?? Ummmm! Dang! Thanks for the info on Chris Hightower's lathes. Do you know if he sells just lathe beds? I've already got a lot of Taig hardware, and I'm not really in the market for a new headstock just yet. But if I could get a longer bed, I'd definitely be interested. I don't know if I'll be getting into the pool cue business (very likely not) but this would make a whole bunch of projects go from the "someday" pile to the "can-do" pile. Tom ------- Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 09:46:13 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Setting the compound > Stupid question, how do you set the angle of the compound slide? > Regards, Fernando You can use a protractor against the crosslide, as it is parallel to the work face. You can also figure out the taper per inch, and use a dial test indicator to see if your setting is correct. I just use a protractor. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:14:32 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: riser block question On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Des Bromilow wrote: >I bought my taig many moons ago as a secondhand piece of equipment, and >it came with the riser blocks set. I've never seen anyone using the riser >blocks on this list, so I wonder.. is there something wrong with them? Nope. Nothing wrong with them, and I've used them both on the lathe and the mill. >Why? I'm thinking about adding threading to my lathe. I have a rough >design for some backgears,(although I'm interested in seeign gene's >design now he's mentioned it) and I'm tossing up about using gears, or a >gearbox for the ranges. - One thing has become obvious in the >designing... I will have to set up everything to hang on a fixed >distance between the spindle and the leadscrew... in otherwords, adding >the riser block at a later date will incur redesign of the gearing. So.. >what are the issues (rigidity I expect) with adding the riser blocks >permanently?... How much difference will the additions make in terms of >day to day usage? You've hit on the biggest one: rigidity. The headstock's up higher, so it's not as rigid. Toolposts are higher, so they're not as rigid. I use it when necessary, and remove it when not. Same is true of the mill. It's a great way to get an extra inch between your spindle and your vertical column, but it comes at a price. (Most of the time I'm willing to pay the price and take lighter cuts.) Tom ------- Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:04:39 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Turning odd shape on Taig On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Dave wrote: > I am considering getting a Taig lathe. I am casting some silicon bronze > oarlocks for a boat. I will want to turn the cast oarlock shank down > from about .6" to .5" diameter and about 2" long. I plan to leave the > shank long enough to chuck up, then the oarlock horn will be at the > right end. The casting will be about 6" long and I will not need to use > the tailstock. > My question is, will the Taig lathe handle this ? Or will the fact that > the spinning mass on the right side of the piece create a problem ? Having the spinning mass on the right shouldn't cause a problem, but there may be another issue. I'll go into this in a sec. > Will there be enough room with toolpost and chuck to make a finish pass > from left to right 2" and then face cut .125" ? Because the spinning > mass on the right side I won't be able to go from right to left. There should be enough room. It may be cramped, but there should be room. The Taig will turn .6" diameter bronze, but it's going to be a rough ride. You'll need to take fairly light cuts, and lots of them. I just cut some stainless about that size, and truth be told it wasn't very fun. I'm glad I don't turn stainless every day. Just make sure your tools are sharp and their geometry is right for the material you're cutting. A bigger concern is the rest of the oar lock. How big is it? The Taig has pretty limited space between the spindle and the bed, and even more limited space between the spindle and the cross slide. The carriage on the Taig is pretty wide (which adds a lot in terms of stability), but it means if you have 3.5" of oarlock spinning on the tailstock end of your work and you can't fit the carriage under it, things will be cramped indeed. You can stretch this a little by using the headstock riser block. It'll add a full two inches to what you can handle in terms of diameter, but at the cost of rigidity. When cutting bronze, rigidity is what you're after, unfortunately, so you'll have to take even lighter cuts and more of them. If you can finagle some way to use the tailstock, it'll help in terms of rigidity, but you'll need a tailstock riser block as well. If this is the only part you'll ever want machined, you'd probably be better served by taking the work to a local machine shop. If this is the smallest part you'll ever want to machine, you'd probably be better served with a larger lathe. If this is on the large and awkward end of what you're thinking of doing with a lathe, the Taig may be your best bet. There is one thing going for the Taig in this regard: It's the Erector Set of lathes. If you need more height on your spindle, you can do it. If you need a leadscrew, you can add it. I've turned 5" diameter parts on my Taig. In a pinch, you can usually make it do what you need. But I don't do this every day. If you find you're constantly pushing the limits of your lathe, it means you need a larger lathe. I only rarely cut stuff as big as 5", and that's only when I can't figure out any other way to get the job done. Tom -------- Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 15:39:12 -0400 From: "Gissing, Robert" Subject: RE: Turning odd shape on Taig Ok i have to ask, how did you turn a 5 inch diameter piece on the taig. I am very interested. robert gissing ------- Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:57:36 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: RE: Turning odd shape on Taig With great difficulty. Wasn't fun. It involved stacking riser blocks under the headstock. Most of it was a facing cut, so I didn't need to clear the cross-slide. The material was only 1" thick, so even the OD cut didn't strictly require it to clear the cross-slide. I just had a ton of overhang. Getting the tool all the way out to the edge was another trick. It involved the toolpost riser block and some extra fixturing I made for the task at hand. It worked, after a fashion. Having to face 1.5" at a time was obnoxious. Luckily the shape lent itself to breaking up the cuts this way. I didn't have to match cut depth from one cut to the next. The material in question was UHMW plastic. Had it been anything else, I doubt I would've tried it. If I had it to do over again, I still probably wouldn't try it. Having that much spinning mass on the Taig is nerve- wracking. Next time this comes up, it'll be my excuse for getting a larger lathe to compliment my Taig. Tom ------- NOTE TO FILE: John Bentley, in a message dated 30 Oct 2003, was talking about threading on the Taig but the method is applicable to many other lathes that do not have change gears. Please see the Threading text file on this site. (Sorry, but I don't have the space to repeat stuff in multiple files.) ------- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:14:14 -0800 From: Don Rogers Subject: Re:Leaking bearing >I don't know if this is normal (e.g. first time you run the lathe, the >bearing warms up and squeezes extra lubricant out) or not As long as the seal is undamaged, this is not a problem. The bearing is packed with grease when manufactured. When it is brought into use, The balls must form a track in the grease as they roll on the races. The pushing of the grease to the size to form this track will result in forcing some under the seal. It ensures a lub on the seal as a side effect. Wipe off the excess grease and inspect the seal to make sure it isn't damaged. It you see no dings or twisting of the seal, then it is nothing to worry about. If the seal is damaged, it will mean a shorter life for the bearing, but you should still get good service. By the way, is the rear bearing leaking also? Don ------- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 10:51:44 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: taig lathe headstock bearing I haven't come across this, but I suspect it's nothing to worry about, just a bearing that had a lot of grease in the initial packing. Keep an eye on it and if it starts to burn up quickly I'll get you replacements. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:15:55 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Received my new Taig lathe today On Wed, 26 Nov 2003, edgerrin322000 wrote: > I received my lathe package including a top compound slide today if > anyone has any beginner's setup tips or things to watch for, I am all > ears. Thanks. First off, congrats! Next, do you have any machining experience? Most of what I ran into that tripped me up was bad habits I had from running bigger machines. If this is your first foray into machining, you're in for a treat. Start without the compound. It's tricky in its own right, so I only use it when I honestly need it. The best way to learn is to chuck something up and take a cut. Cuts on the Taig tend to be light compared to bigger machines. Cuts in 1" aluminum over about 0.025" are considered heavy cuts on a lathe the size of the Taig. I take finish cuts down around 0.005", though that's probably a little extreme. After you take your first cut and look at the surface finish, hopefully without TOO much dismay, check for any or all of the following: 1 - Are your tools sharp? If not, sharpen them. You can usually touch up a lathe tool on a small bench stone rather than breaking out the grinder every single time. I tend to grind, then stone my cutters anyway. The sharper your cutter, the finer the cut. If you can split an atom with it, it's just about right. 2 - Is your tool tip radius a good size? I got used to tools with 1/8" radii on them or bigger. On a lathe the size of the Taig this doesn't work as well. There's just too much cutting tip trying to bite into the metal. So (of course) I see-sawed the other way and used NO radius at the tool tip. This resulted in surfaces that looked like a rat had chewed on them. Gotta have some, but too much is not always better than not enough. After grinding a cutter, I'll run the very tip over a stone to kinda take the edge off (while preserving the geometry I just ground into the tool). This seems to do well. 3 - Is your tool the right height? This has killed a cut more often than anything else I've done. The easiest way to set tool height is to chuck up something thin, say a 1/8" diameter drill bit, and bring your cutter up until it's almost touching the shank of the drill bit. Slip something thin in between the two. I use my 6" scale, but anything about 1/16" thick or thinner would work. (Sorry to the metric crowd... I realize I'm using "heathen units" as my boss calls them. He's Canadian.) If the scale tips away from you, your tool's too high. If it tips toward you, the tool is too low. Adjust the tool using shims until the scale, when pinched between tool and the drill bit shank, stands vertically. 4 - Are you using some sort of lube or cutting fluid? Most metals (excepting brass and cast iron) like to have some sort of lubricant when you cut. In a pinch WD-40 will work, but it's smelly. I got attached to some soluble oil that I had to leave when I moved. Much of the Taig is aluminum and brass, so I've never had rust problems from using soluble oils. Pick something up from Enco and use it. An honest to goodness cutting oil can't be beat. 5 - Are you using nice metal? Hardware store aluminum is always gummy to me. I like 6061-T6 or T651. It's a very common alloy and treatment you can pick up from almost any metal dealer. I also have a hard time with some steels. 12L14 is a nice steel to work with, but it does have lead in it so be careful. Oddly enough I've had good luck turning tool steel. When I got it I thought it'd be rough stuff to use. My favorite has got to be brass. It cuts like a dream, but the chips are like cactus needles. Keep 'em out of your hands! PVC is also nice to cut and can be cut without coolant. Same with Delrin, though it's more expensive than PVC. 6 - Are you using a decent spindle speed for the cut you're taking? Check in the Files area in a folder called, I think, "Feeds & Speeds" or words to that effect. There should be a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet for spindle speeds for the lathe as a function of material and diameter. It's a good starting point. At this point you should be making nice cuts. Play! Have fun! At some point you'll come up with an idea for something you want to make. From that point on expect to have ten times as many things you want to make than you have time to make them. Nirvanna. Tom ------- Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 04:06:05 -0000 From: "John Bentley" Subject: Re: Received my new Taig lathe today Congratulations Will! I hope it all goes together well. Keep your speed down for a while, protect that cone-shaped hole in the spindle with your life and the same goes for the surface of the bed. Keep brushing away the swarf and frequently coat the bed with light oil. You will have lots of fun - and we'll be waiting to hear your stories! Good luck! John ------- Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 06:16:05 -0000 From: "John Bentley" Subject: Re: Hey Guys... Motor mounting options. >The manual doesn't really explain how to use or mount the motor >mounting bracket either. Any help would be great. -- Will I could never figure out the one that came with mine either. I just got a cheap door hinge, screwed it to the bench top and bolted it to the bottom of the motor. Then the weight of the motor puts tension on the belt. I mounted the foot of my lathe on a 1 1/2" thick block of wood - it makes it a lot easier to use the carriage handwheel and to clean underneath. They tell me my site's down, but if you go to the photos section of this group, under engineman, the first photo shows that block. Your motor and bracket may be different, so I'm not sure I'm of much help. After everybody wakes up in the morning, you are sure to get some helpful suggestions. John ------- Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 19:23:00 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Hey Guys... Motor mounting options. I wound up ditching the stock motor mount and just bolted it to a wooden board that was hinged to the lathe mounting board. I made sure the hinges were directly in line with the spindle axis (ok, to within a few degrees anyway... not exactly dialed in). Once the headstock and motor pulleys were lined up, they STAYED lined up. No matter how many times I tried I was never able to get the stock motor mount to stay in alignment. But defintely start with the stock motor mount. Who knows? I may have just been using it wrong the whole time. The hinges can wait until you've cut metal. One thing I don't think I caught on to for the first week or so: The pulleys really do want to be parallel to each other and very very closely aligned. The lathe should run without any squeaking or squealing from the belt. That's one thing I really really appreciate about metalworking tools. When my neighbor saw me toting in the crates I used to ship my tools here, she just about banged her jaw on the ground from shock. (I live in a duplex.) It was a while before she realized when I'm working metal, the shop is almost dead silent. When I'm working wood (which I only do around noon) it's loud enough to wake the dead. The Taig lathe, when well set up, is a really quiet and pleasant tool to use. Tom ------- Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 19:54:41 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: door hinge for motor mount On Thu, 27 Nov 2003, edgerrin322000 wrote: > Hey thanks John for the idea about the door hinge. I had a box of two > new hinges here and the holes lined right up with the motors'holes. > Seems to work great adding tension, although it shakes a bit, no problem > though. I officially became a turner tonight and I'm hooked. It didn't > take me long to figure out why all you guys modify the handles, LOL! Heh! I haven't modified mine to be spinners yet. (More on this in a sec.) > How often should I run the motor without letting it cool some? I think the Dayton motors that come with the lathe are continuous duty fan motors (like you'd find in a ceiling fan or a big vent fan). I just run it 'till I'm done. I used to live in Texas where my shop could get up over 100F in the summers. The motor just kept going. Niiiice motor. > Smooth cuts seem to be a bit of a challenge but I'm sure that just comes > naturally with experience. Well... Mmm... It comes with experience. But I don't think there's much that's natural about it. Lots of head banging, hair pulling, question asking (here, of course), and trying what I was told. And every time you change materials, the rules will change. Subtly, but they'll change. One way to get a smooth cut is not to use the handle, modified or not. (See? I told you I'd get back to it!) I grab the whole wheel with both hands. Ok, with both thumb'n'forefingers. If you kinda shuffle between which hand's turning the wheel and which one is reaching for the next grip, you can get a really really steady feed rate that way. One trick I haven't tried since I killed my cordless screwdriver years ago is to pull the bit out of a cordless screw driver and stick it on the little acorn nut on the cross slide. Voila, power cross-feed. And the cut should be really steady and smooth. I did use a manual version of this. I've got one of those multi-bit screwdrivers you can get at [insert local hardware store name]. I took the bit out and stuck it on the acorn nut on the cross slide. Fitting two hands on THAT is a snap. Makes me want to cut a hex head into the carriage wheel! > My first project was a dowel rod with a tenon cut into it, wow that was > great. Thanks for all the help everyone. Cool! Man, I know the feeling. There's nothing like thinking something up an then making it. Because you can. Tom ------- Note to file: a couple of messages in this advice to a new owner thread changed to the importance of sharp cutters. For the benefit of all brands, that conversation was moved to the general Cutters Collets Arbors file. ------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:55:09 -0000 From: "diteman2001" Subject: Re: A good compound slide wrote: > I have never even seen a Taig compound slide for real but I gather by > reading messages on this superb site that they are perhaps not as > good as they might be. I understand that they can slip while in use. > Is there an alternative? I have built a replacement compound slide for the Taig. It is calibrated, easily adjustable for angle and clamps firmly. It works reasonably well but as I am fairly new to this game it can probably be improved. It was built on the hoof so there are no drawings. I have posted some photos of the compound slide in the Photos section under Ian Pollard. Some comments, the slide is based somewhat on the Sherline. It could probably be improved with an increased length for the lower dovetail. The screw is from the Taig compound but running in a ballrace, the handwheel has a zero adjustable ring. The holes in the sliding component have no relevance, just left over from the Taig mill motor support from which it was made. Regards Ian Pollard ------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 12:51:00 -0000 From: "John Bentley" Subject: Re: A good compound slide There is also a picture and short description of a good-looking little compound slide made by Goeff Kingma on Nick Carter's site. Here is the URL: http://www.cartertools.com/picture.html#GKT The description and a link to the picture are at the bottom of the page. John ------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 13:28:44 +0000 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: Re: A good compound slide Ian - Very nice! My initial attempt was based on a two-part cylindrical base/lower dovetail, with a single central clamp screw that locked in the angular adjustment, but I found that I couldn't get sufficient clamping force to make the thing stay in position. I suspect it could be made to work with different materials though - aluminium to aluminium doesn't seem to have a high enough coefficient of friction. Regards, Tony ------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:57:37 -0000 From: "Tony Grimes" Subject: Re: A good compound slide The factory compound slide works fine. Make three of the little clamps described in the Files section under "holdcompound.jpg." Take the factory clamp out. Position the compound slide where it is most convenient on top of the cross slide. Use the three small clamps you have made and almost no amount of "hogging" will twist the compound out of alignment. ------- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 07:08:45 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: Re: A good compound slide Ok, I've got a sheepish grin all over my face. That clamp design is really close to what I use to hold down my vise on my mill. So WHY did it never occur to me to use them on the compound?! Thanks for posting that. I still think Ian's compound is sexy, but I'm also going to build a set of clamps for the one I've got. Tom ------- Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 01:35:13 -0000 From: "Mitch Singler" Subject: Introduction. I'm new to the group. I bought a Taig lathe about 2 years ago, and have a 2018 mill on order from Nick Carter. Since I've owned my lathe, I've made a few modifications to it, as well as making a few fixtures for the mill. Most of these ideas I've gotten from the files posted to this group or Nick Carter's Taig pages. I like to thank all of you for the great ideas and information. I've posted some pictures to my folder in the "photos" section. Please check out "Mitch's taig". Thanks again. Mitch Singler ------- Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:30:55 +0000 From: Tony Jeffree Subject: Re: Introduction. Very impressive! I particularly liked the tailstock offset adjustment design ;-) Regards, Tony ------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 21:28:31 -0000 From: "vks_generic" Subject: milling large volumes I am still very new to milling, and I need to mill a fairly large area (about 4"x3") pretty deep (1/2"), some with a 1/2" ball end mill. All of that on a taig lathe. Obviously, I can't just take a plunge and mill that in one pass. My question is - if I have a choice (most of the time I will have that choice for that project), what's better for removing the bulk of the material - 1. Taking light cuts with the milling bit at full depth (that is, shaving a .020" or so of the edge and going further toward the middle of the work piece with each pass, holding the milling bit 1/2" deep) or 2. Taking "full-width" cuts (e.g. 3/8" and 1/2" wide cuts because those are the birs I will be using) each going a little deeper each time till I reach 1/2". So, what would be a better way, and why? I've had surprisingly good results with milling fairly large objects on my lathe using an ad-hoc rotary table, but now I need to remove a lot of material, and I want to do it the best way possible. Thanks! ------- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 11:37:53 -1000 (HST) From: Tom Benedict Subject: Re: milling large volumes 'Fraid I can't give you a good answer on that. I've been going for the second approach, taking full-width (or 50% width) cuts at shallow depths, and stepping to depth. But that's from habit, not because it's inherently better. I'm curious to see people's answers to this question! Tom ------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 22:43:28 -0000 From: "Charles Hixon" Subject: Re: milling large volumes I second Tom's approach - too much chatter the other way - not rigid enough setup. If I had a spindle bearing on either end of the cutter, like in a typical horizontal mill, then the second approach is superior, because that's the way to use a typical horizontal mill. End milling is for the vertical mills. However, I try to go with full depth/light cuts, climb milling with a new, sharp mill for a nice surface on the finish pass if I can. Charles Hixon ------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 23:48:41 -0000 From: "Robin S." Subject: Re: milling large volumes As others have said, you don't have the horsepower or the rigidity to take the massive cuts one might take on larger verticals, horizontals and CNC machining centers. You'll probably have to take many passes of light cuts. However, depending on the material you're cutting, and the wall thickness of the remaining material, you may be able to chain drill to a depth just short of your final depth and either mill or chisel out the remaining bits. You would then finish the part by milling. Drilling is just about the most efficient method of metal removal. Once you become good a marking out and center punching, you can drill out a pocket pretty quickly. HTH. Regards, Robin ------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 22:48:05 -0500 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Re: milling large volumes Hi Vlad, I've never had much luck using end mills in the drill press, even just for counterboring. You could remove a lot of the waste with conventional drill bits. If you do this using say a 3/4 inch drill bit, drill the first set of holes on 1 1/4 inch centers give or take a bit, then drill out the webs between the holes. Doing it this way will balance the forces on the drill bit, so you get less chatter or wander. Same method as you use for chain drilling. Cheers, Stan ------- From: Wayne Berry Date: Tue Dec 9, 2003 6:33 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] 8mm or WW tooling? I have a watchmaker's lathe with a webster-whitcomb headstock and a tool rest. However, if you are not familiar with watchmaker lathe's inside and out, its easy to purchase accessories that don't fit or are just out right junk. I finally gave up and bought a Taig with a ww headstock, after I read Tony's book. I like the fact that I can buy NEW accessories and know what I am buying. I was lucky and purchased a good set of 29 ww collets, all under 5 mm, on E-bay, sizes I need in my clock repair business. E-bay now offers a buyer protection plan so If you are not satisfied with what you get, you can return and get a refund. Too bad that Taig doesn't manufacturer ww collets! Another source I have purchased from is http://www.dashto.com , one of the largest suppliers of used watchmaker lathe equipment, good source if you know what you are doing. Wayne Berry ------- From: Don Rogers Date: Tue Dec 9, 2003 10:23 pm Subject: RE: [taigtools] 8mm or WW tooling? You guys got me to thinking. I've got close to 40 of the 8mm collets and why not put them to use? A closer look tonight convinced me that they were not for me. First, the maximum OD of the stock you can get through one is around 0.200", a lot less than the 5/16' collet from Taig, or the 3/8" with a good three Jaw. Second, they are a single closure collet, IE they are only are slit from the front. Last and not least, the holding surface is only about 5mm long. These would add up to a lot of wobble on anything over 3/8" to 1/2" long, without a tailstock center supporting it.. These just don't hold up for the work I do. Now, if you were building clocks and watches, they would be exactly what you want. A 10mm WW might work on 1/4" stock, but the other issues are still there. Don ------- From: Stan Stocker Date: Wed Dec 10, 2003 1:46 pm Subject: Re: [taigtools] 8mm or WW tooling? > Having used the same lathe for years now, I can't remember if all WW > collets are the same, interchangeable or not, I think there were dif- > ferences in the collet closer length, anyone with knowledge of this? CMD The length issue isn't too hard to deal with if you have a WW tap or a drawbar that is long enough to tighten the shortest collet you have. Just make a drawbar spacer or make several drawbars. There was at one time a great variety in collets, Goodrich's Watchmakers Lathe shows around 40 variations. Some makers used a curved taper rather than a flat taper surface, Peerless was one I believe. The OD of a standard WW collet body is 0.312 inches, the length of the body is 1.125 inch from threaded end to base of taper. OAL less face curvature is around 1.35, but there is some minor variation over the size range and manufacturer. 0.275 - 40 threads are the standard, V form rather than the butress threads used on 10mm collets. You will see some minor variation in the major diameter of the thread, my Marshall collets are as small as 0.270 inches in a few cases. I believe the "official" spec is 0.265-40. The one collet (8mm) from Sherline is 0.275 inches major diameter. Cheers, Stan ------- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 15:32:42 -0000 From: "Chet R Biggerstaff" Subject: Need help badly.... I have had my lathe for almost 2 months now and am having some problems. 1. The lathe seems to chatter a lot when using the tailstock to drill. 2. The belt seems to have a whole lot of deflection (almost an inch and a half!) and it runs very porly. When I cut it slows way down and even will stop if I am not careful (this happens when I take 1-3 thous off. Especially when boring). When just turning it does fine but I can only take off a couple thous...what can you take off on a regular basis? 3. The motor bounces a lot due to the loose belt problem. If I hold the motor under pressure (which I usally have to do) it works well but this does not seem right. Any help would be great. Thanks ------- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 11:50:42 -0800 From: "Larry Richter" Subject: Re: Need help badly.... > Most everyone ends up making their own motor mount. The Taig motor mount > works, but as you have discovered, not that well. If you can just add a > holddown on the back of the motor to lock it in position it will go a > long way to helping. [Nick Carter] It's funny. I've had my Taig Lathe for 21 years now. I bought it to do firearms prototype work, and also had some thoughts in the back of my mind about doing working miniatures of designs I had worked on in the real world. My Taig mill is from the original production test batch. Must be something less than twenty years for it. I did do gun parts, not the beautiful American craftsmanship at strong prices that you see now from one and two man shops, but pieces that just got the thing back working. But I never produced a glittering little miniature of the different bread and butter objects that used to fill mind and drawing board. Mostly it was replacement parts, and improvement parts, or finishing the job for the manufacturer on something that was bought broken or badly designed. Bushings for exercise machines and yard tools and this and that. And a world of pocket knife and sporting goods bits. Probably a world of things, too, that are forgotten, having been done in a dead rush to get something working. It must be fundamentally different from what you folks do. Nothing I got from Forrest has ever broken yet. I've never really had any of these troubles, although I've been puzzled about things plenty. All the damage on my machines has been operator error, heaven help me, and of course Heaven has, because all the negative moments have been controllable so far. I've had a good stock of fear to help me with these tools. Iha ven't even used up a belt yet. I got replacement belts, and I put one on once because I was tired of seeing it just hanging around, but really... There was a small lathe on the farm that supported my family, my forebears, back when Americans had farms and when keeping stuff running was money and food. When I visited my Grands I used to pass it, in its little house with its permanently open door, about half buried on its bench in chips and grease. It's probably a pile of rust now. It fixed everything it could for them and stretched to do things it couldn't. And, it kept Richters eating steady enough to live on into an era when Americans can't really live off farms or, it seems like, even live off manufacturing. I think my little lathe has done a smaller similar job in a later American household. It just doesn't seem to have worn out or had problems in this service. I guess the poor mill once dreamed of bigger things, but it has mainly done slots, surfaces, and perfect holes, with the goal almost always being something other than the machining itself. Nothing has ever broken on it either, or worn out, although you can see things and dings the guy who owns it has done to it. Well... ------- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:01:19 -0500 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Need help badly.... > 1. The lathe seems to chatter a lot when using the tailstock to drill Hi Chet, a couple of things can cause this: Tailstock alignment: Is the tailstock centered? You can grab a piece of 1/8 rod in a collet in the headstock, loosen the tailstock cross slide, tighten the drill chuck on the rod, snug up the ram, and tighten the tailstock cross slide. Not super precise, but quick and accurate enough for all but the smaller number drills. Lost motion (free play): Is the clamp screw on the upper housing that locks the ram snugged up enough to give a little drag on the ram? If not, the ram can bounce around in the tailstock. Method: Are you drilling at too high a speed for the material? Drill bits dull? Correct lube for the material? Work faced off and center drilled so the bit starts in the correct place? Material: Does this happen with all materials, or only brass? Brass tends to grab drill bits, I have a set of bits used only for brass that have the cutting edges stoned flat for a few thou to avoid this. > but I can only take off a couple thous....what can you take off on a > regular basis? I can usually cut 35 to 50 thou in a pass in all but harder steels. If the belt is slipping see below. If the motor is stalling you may have the 1/10 HP motor, one that I found very anaemic. A larger motor or dropping the speed are about the only options if this is the case. Don't overlook having your tools ground correctly for the material and honed very sharp, on small lathes this makes a huge difference in possible depth of cut and finish quality. Double check that your tools are shimmed on center, behing a thou or two below center is usally OK, but being above center with small diameter work really causes poor results. > 3. The motor bounces a lot due to the loose belt problem. The default motor plate leaves a lot to be desired. I have my 1/2 HP motor simply bolted down at a compromise location that has the belt slightly looser or tighter than optimal for some speeds, but usuable at all settings.Others have made sliding mounts, spring loaded mounts, all sorts of approaches to this one. You could perhaps add a hold down bolt or screw to the rear of the motor to allow tensioning of the belt. Larger motors have enough weight to allow gravity to provide belt tension, smaller ones usually don't. Cheers, Stan ------- Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 12:06:50 -0800 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Belt tension >>>I'm new to the Taig and I am afraid of putting too much tension on the belt. It always seems to slip to easily, in my opinion. So my question to you is: How can I make sure of the proper tension of the belt? It looks quite fragile and I do not what to do any damage. Luc Vallières<<< I put enough tension so I can only deflect it about 1/8"-1/4" pressing hard against it. It's reinforced with nylon and is stronger than it looks. http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 23:19:31 -0500 From: Stan Stocker Subject: Re: Newbe retainer clip on carriage pinion gear Denis Thibault wrote: > I'm in the process of setting up my new Taig lathe and I'm having > some difficulties working out the right way to secure the pinion > gear & hand wheel to the carriage. > The lathe was supplied with a retainer clip but I don't see a > recess in the pinion gear's shaft for it to seat into ? > If I just put it on the gear, the ring rubs against the rack's > protecting cover and the pinion gear is very easily pulled out of > the carriage. > I must be doing something wrong... can anyone offer me clues ? Hi Denis, you're not doing anything wrong at all, for some reason Taig doesn't cut a retaining groove in the pinion. Quite a few of the folks here simply leave the clip off. I guess you could mark the spot and grind a clip groove with a Dremel and thin cut off wheel, it just never seemed important enough to bother. It used to bother me early on, but I'd completely forgotten about the entire issue until your post showed up. Maybe it's just that I press in slightly when moving the carriage, don't pull outwards when moving the carriage, don't really know. Maybe after sliding the clip back on several times it found a sweet spot where it was willing to stay. Now that it's back in my mind I'll probably look at grinding a groove for the clip, but honestly can say that it's been years since the clip without a groove thing bothered me or caused any problems. Cheers, Stan ------- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 15:59:28 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: Tailstock binding > Whenever I loosen the tailstock to move it out of the way , i can't > get it to move on the base. It seems like the aluminum base and the > aluminum clamp portion of the base get locked together. Does anyone > have a similar problem or a solution? I tried to lubricate with a > light oil WD40 but it didn't seem to help. Ideas? Thanks Roy Brooks Usually a burr/dirt/oil varnish in the slot that the body/clamp interface has will cause binding. Deburr the two pieces and oil. It will loosen up a bit with continued use.WD40 will dry to a varnish and lock them up again, use oil. Loosen the screw and twist the body a bit and it should lever out the clamp. See our web pages http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 17:49:32 -0000 From: "johnechternach" Subject: cross-slide knob "play" I hve been using my Taig for only 2 weeks and so far it is a "get re- acquainted with turning" period. My problem: I have "play" in the cross-slide knob. It goes back and forth before it moves the cross- slide. Is this typical or do I have an adjustment to do or is there something wrong? Also why isn't there a stationary mark opposite the knob to give me a point of reference? Can anyone offer suggestions to create a mark or some such equivalent? Thank you for your help. Sincerely, John ------- Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 11:01:14 -0700 From: "Nicholas Carter and Felice Luftschein" Subject: Re: cross-slide knob "play" Hi John, some play is always the case with a leadscrew, you just have to make sure you move it back past the slack each time you change directions. There is a mark, sort of, that spring clip that goes around the bearing block can be rotated so one of the ends provides a mark - that way you can rotate it to read on one of the .010 graduations to make it a bit easier to keep track of where you are. See our web pages http://www.cartertools.com/nfhome.html ------- Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 16:33:22 -0500 From: "Bob Burandt" Subject: Re: cross-slide knob "play" John, what I have found useful is to always make the last movement of the knob in the direction that brings the cutting tool closer to the work, or increases the cut. Depending on whether you are using the backside toolpost or the regular toolpost, or a boring bar also, will determine if it is CW or CCW. Also that the movement should be more then the play. My reason is that the pressure against the tool, by the work, should not cause the tool to move back because the play is not taken up. Also remember that whatever amount you increase the cut, the diameter will decre