Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Framebuilders
Reload this Page >

Lathe Rebuild

Notices
Framebuilders Thinking about a custom frame? Lugged vs Fillet Brazed. Different Frame materials? Newvex or Pacenti Lugs? why get a custom Road, Mountain, or Track Frame? Got a question about framebuilding? Lets discuss framebuilding at it's finest.

Lathe Rebuild

Old 01-02-20, 12:29 AM
  #1  
Andrew R Stewart 
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Andrew R Stewart's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 18,003

Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4172 Post(s)
Liked 3,792 Times in 2,271 Posts
Lathe Rebuild

I have this little Loosy Goosy Atlas 6" lathe, the MK2 version, that I recently got frustrated enough with when the carriage cross slide popped off it's ways as I was trying out a new and more solid tool post. Atlas fans will sadly shake their head because they know that the gibs on the cross slide and the carriage rest slide are plastic, soft and will flex about under pressure . Both of the OEM gibs have cracked off spots where the adjustment bolts seat into half moon pockets. I went on line to my go to machining forum (and elsewhere) and read up. Decided to try making my own, the plastic OEM ones being only .003" thinner then common 1/8" flat stock. So I spent all afternoon between a freezing cold garage where the mill is and the basement where the lathe is (the Atlas 6" weighs only about 90lbs mounted on it's travel board, hence it can go down stairs...). Only had to make one gib a second time Got to use my recently installed DROs, found out that even with the 110AC power adaptor they don't like the cold, just like a cycle computer. Tomorrow I'll start the reassembly and I'll report back when done and tested. First photo shows the new and the old gib.

Why is this on a framebuilding forum? Because this is the lathe that I first tried power mitering with. I have a mill vice (w/ vertical travel) for this lathe and would clamp the tube in it with a hole saw in the chuck. Between the coarse teeth and the lathe's slop I bent a couple of tube ends and hole saws and after a few frames moved on in my mitering. I still made little bits and such but the use of the lathe fell off. The other photo is a scan from a shot taken in 1983. IIRC I was turning out one of the water bottle braze on alignment shafts, shown is a last shot years later in use. I have neglected this lathe for the most part for 20+ years, moving it now 5 times over the 40 years I've had it (bought it new). I have a few building tool ideas calling out for a lathe. It's time to revisit and see if I can make it better and become useful again. Andy




__________________
AndrewRStewart
Andrew R Stewart is offline  
Likes For Andrew R Stewart:
Old 01-02-20, 09:41 AM
  #2  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
My lathe had backlash in the cross slide from a botched repair. I tried mitering on it that way and it did work, but it broke teeth off of the saws. I keep thinking about trying again now that I fixed the cross slide, but I haven't done it. The lathe is very useful otherwise
unterhausen is offline  
Old 01-02-20, 09:33 PM
  #3  
Nessism
Senior Member
 
Nessism's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Torrance, CA
Posts: 3,059

Bikes: Homebuilt steel

Mentioned: 18 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2180 Post(s)
Liked 419 Times in 332 Posts
What machining forum do you frequent Andy?

I had a worn out South Bend 9" that I loved regardless. Needed a cross slide nut but couldn't stomach the cost. Wound up selling it before moving across the country. More recently I was watching craigslist for a good long while waiting for a small lathe to show up, and there were some Atlas's, but I was leary of anything too old because my skills for rebuilding are not up to snuff. Wound up with a chinese mini lathe. Not the super mini that's so popular, one step up. Got it for a price I couldn't refuse.


Last edited by Nessism; 01-02-20 at 09:41 PM.
Nessism is online now  
Old 01-02-20, 11:22 PM
  #4  
Andrew R Stewart 
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Andrew R Stewart's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 18,003

Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4172 Post(s)
Liked 3,792 Times in 2,271 Posts
Nessism- https://www.hobby-machinist.com/forums/ I sometimes visit others but this is the main one. My limited machining skills and needs are far below most who post there. Andy
__________________
AndrewRStewart
Andrew R Stewart is offline  
Old 01-03-20, 11:55 AM
  #5  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
My lathe had a nut that was built in to the cross slide. It was stripped. There was a backlash compensation nut that someone had modified to replace the cast in threads. Took it to work and bored it out for a brass nut and also replaced the screw. Amazing transformation. Now I'm thinking the spindle bearings need to be replaced. I'm sure that is going to hurt.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-19-20, 09:38 PM
  #6  
Andrew R Stewart 
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Andrew R Stewart's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 18,003

Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4172 Post(s)
Liked 3,792 Times in 2,271 Posts
Here's a follow up. I ended up selling the Atlas for a good amount and getting a South Bend 9C, 4 years older than I am. Wow what a difference a real machine is. Like going from a Huffy and to a Raleigh International (both of which I've had a long time ago too). I've done some work on the SB cleaning it up, making a base/pivot for the counter shaft frame and collecting the change gears needed to do what I want to. You all can see the lug blanks I turned down on it in my Lug making Part Dux thread (and these lugs are soon to become a main triangle, more on that later and elsewhere). When doing the .058 tube wall turning down for the blanks I wished that the steady rest that came with the lathe was working. It's pivot eye was broken and had been previously repaired poorly to break a second time.

So like so many of my projects there's a tool need I have to deal with first. I thought I'd share the rest's repair and it's first use on another frame project. I cleaned up/blasted the broken eye and body best I could. A reinforcing rib of common rolled steel was fabricated. The cast body/eye was a concern and when I brazed them back together the wetting/flow was weird. I took a fair amount of time to preheat the body to avoid any surprises (castings can have cavities and stress releases that are "sudden" incidents). I was able to complete the brazing with what I felt was pretty good penetration and filler amount. The clean up went as any after ugly brazing work does... I further trued up the rest's base and it's V groove on my mill. The V groove looked to be done with a file. It is obvious that the rest wasn't a SB 9" one and the base had been welded on to suit, sort of. The finished parts were put aside and waiting for paint until another project said "use me now".

I am making a long time want, my first Mtb frame. Only about 45 years in the wishing phase. It means my first unicrown fork (as well as other firsts, again more later). A steerer base sleeve was in order and with a lathe I wanted to turn the crown race shoulder to near size first. So here's a shot of the fixed steady rest and the sleeve.

This stuff is fun when you don't have a customer. Andy




__________________
AndrewRStewart
Andrew R Stewart is offline  
Old 04-20-20, 11:22 AM
  #7  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
We used to have a couple of those in our lab. Pretty useful, did a lot of work on them. On ours, using a cutoff tool would stall it, which was very frustrating. Now I have a lathe where it just breaks the cutoff tool if it gets stuck. Still frustrating, but now it's my fault.
unterhausen is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.