Got tired of the original gear cover stud supports that rattle the cover all the time and were coming loose. So, made new studs from 7075 Al., drilled, tapped and installed.
Kaoma, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Apr 2012.
I plan on doing the same Danny. When I have the cat eye installed there is not much room between it and the cover and with all the slop in the cover mounting holes I have to hold the cover in place while I tweak the cover to center the opening around the cat eye and then tighten the cover bolts. It is a pain in the butt.
So did you cut male threads on the end that attaches to the headstock or did you cheat and use a stud screwed into a tapped hole in the end of the aluminum (aluminium).
Cheated! :).
Never cut threads on this lathe, too lazy to mess with the gears.
Have used a 1" dia. 7075 round Al stock and measured the distance from the lathe to the cover. Also included the collar into the cover hole. Drilled and tapped both ends and used studs.
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Also should know that the holes in the lathe head are 7/16-14 and the threads at the other end on the stud are 3/8-16. The hardest part is measuring, cutting, repeat till you get the distance wanted. Since the round holed in the cover are .500" and the studs ends are 3/8" you have 1/8" gap for the cover to rattle.
Yes, you can make the whole stud 7/16" and find new knobs for the cover to hold it in place but too complicated and $$$. Also did not want the cover to rest on the threads and chatter on the studs, best way is Al with a flange for the cover holes that fits perfect and is holding much better.
Now about my CLC (clean lathe compulsion)....
The lathe bottom and back panel are covered with plastic sheets with towels over to catch swarf. Cleaning is 5 min of just removing the plastic and a light air blow. At the end looks like now!
Love the 6 jaw Bison head, very precise and easy on the material. If I need 3 jaws (some times) I remove the other 3 jaws and all good.
Kaoma, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Apr 2012.
Also have finished an old project...to make and replace original 3/8-16 mounting screws for the video camera rig. New screws are made from stock SS screws and was a pain to make both identical when there is barely a place to hold them...love the 6 jaws for that.
Lathe cleaned now and waiting for the next messy project.
Kaoma, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Apr 2012.
Oh, no, no, no.....Me cutting threads...that's blasphemy :)
The mod screws came off good genes, high quality parents stock screws like the ones in the pic.
Kaoma, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Apr 2012.