Cantek 1440, Birmingham, Wilton CT 1440, and others Rebuild

[turbo711]

Hello guys. Been busy with the rebuild and got some more work done. I traded some work to a fellow for slotting my quill, so I could make a pin.


Over to the shaper to put some flats on it:

Finished and ready:


On to a faceplate:


Here is Rev A. The faceplate has to be widened to match the rest of the plate widths. LOTS of time went into designing this on the computer. I also had some bed flatness issues that really show up when using a .125 90 degree v-bit. Anyway, the bed was cut flat and on with the show.

On the subject of the gearbox, I filled it with oil and went to install the "dimensionally stable" cast iron lid. There was a gap of about .040" in some places. I had to remove the grey Threebond gasket maker I just put on and use blue Locktite silicone gasket maker to fill the space. The only thing I can think of why this happened was the continuous dropping of tools on the top, peened the surface causing it to arch. I could be crazy though!


So then I discovered a depressing fact that I never found out until I was working on assembling the threading gearbox. The feed shaft rotation is going through the norton gearbox. Anytime a carriage or cross slide feed operation is being done (all the time) the power goes through this gear set. I thought it was just for threading, but it is also for feed speed. I don't know a lot about lathe gearing so it went over my head until now. Because this gearbox is not in an oil bath, there is a fair amount of wear on some parts, particularly on the left hand "power input" section. So here we go. One of the norton lever's has a sloppy hole where it contacts a galled shaft.

This shaft is close to $100cdn, so I will probably make one, but in the meantime, I will cut another circlip groove and flip it around. This shaft is metric and is a few thou larger than 5/8ths.



A bushing was cut from the old cross slide lead-nut, long enough for both holes in the lever using the old lead-screw as an arbor of sorts to cut the OD.

The ID was then rough bored to a size close to the final dimension.

That was the easy part. Since a mill isn't in my budget at this time, I came up with a way to hold the lever to the toolpost, using this insert clamped in one of the tool holders. Because the height is adjustable, this job was doable.

The lever was then bolted in and squared.

The lever was then center to the chuck using the shaft and the unworn lever. This is possible because of the gear shaft hole is unworn on both levers.

This was all done to keep the shaft centers at the correct distance apart while "boring" the hole to accept the bushing.
Using adjustable reamers the hole was enlarged to accept the bushing with an interference fit. This step took a long time and had to be done slowly as to not damage the reamers or throw the lever out of alignment. This probably isn't the easiest or even a recommended procedure, but I worked with what I had. Cast iron is nice to cut though..

After the hole was done, the bushing was pressed into one side of the lever, cut off with a hacksaw, faced on the lathe and pressed into the other side of the lever. Both sides had red locktite applied. Don't know if it will help, but it made me feel better anyway.


Since the faced bushing was pressed to the plate, it was flush, but I milled the outside surface.

Then the holes were reamed gradually until the shaft slipped in nicely.

Now that that was done, The gears on the levers needed bushings too, and one needed a shaft, so...








The old bushings were some kind of plastic, maybe teflon. The finished bushings and shaft:


So after that, the position pins on the norton levers were worn and one very badly. It was welded and they were both turned down. I think the angle is 10 degrees.


Now that they look fit for use, the receiving plate had to be dealt with, and since I can't weld or repair cast worth a s@#t, and because I don't trust the existing hole positioning, I just cut it out and made a steel insert. The back was milled flat with the cnc router. I doesn't like it one bit.

Parts were cut and checked for fitment.



A drill bit guide was made to drill the new holes.

The drill bit was then ground to a 10 degree angle with a diamond disc. Then hand ground the rest of the way with a dremel and diamond disc/stone. Don't know if it will work, but we will find out.


That's all for now. Before I drill the new lever position holes, the inside of the gearbox has to be complete. I found a few more bushings I can make and another shaft, to tighten things up pretty good. Let the chips fly!