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

[Vinny]

C'mon Ken. Different strokes, ... and all that.

[turbo711]

Sorry for the lack of response guys. This flooring reno is turning into a long toothache that wont go away. It is for the inside of the house btw. During an unseasonably warm day, I had a chance to assemble the gearbox with the new gears:



New and old gear shots:




And the assembled unit:



I also did a bit of work to the apron:



I made up a .250 steel plate to seal the bottom, so I can put some oil in there. The studs are epoxied in. I might thread a hole into it for a drain, or maybe not considering the change interval.



I thought of putting in a sight glass, but I think I'll just thread a level screw hole, and fill it till the oil drips out and install the screw. The oil will drip out around the lowest shaft anyway. I still will be adding oil regularly so the top gears get something. That's all for now. I might not post anything till after Christmas. I still got trim and paint to deal with.

[turbo711]

Also, I know I haven't sent the quill to you John, partly because I am busy and partly because of the priority of it. The tailstock will probably be one of the last things I assemble. I would like to ask for a couple of measurements though. And maybe a pic. All at your convenience of course. The motor pulley that I cut off is a single, and the gearbox face-plate indicates 2 belt positions. The manual you sent me also shows what appears to be a double pulley on the motor. I would like to know the large and small diameters of the pulley so I can attempt to make a new one. In the end, it would be desirable for the speeds indicated to be what they actually are, instead of whatever they are now....
Thanks in advance.

Mark

[johnnyc14]

Looks good Mark. I've been thinking of doing that to my apron too. I'll get back to you on that motor pulley.

[Mayhem]

Looking good Mark. I did have a little laugh at the "Old" and "New" labels on the second pic - as we really should be able to pick those out

I look forward to future updates. It is going to be a nice lathe when you are finished.

[turbo711]

Okay maybe I went too far with the labels Mayhem, but the new gear was buried under those other two. That's my excuse anyway!

Thanks Johnnyc14. The apron internals should last longer with the bottom on it; at the very least it will keep out dirt. The more troubling area is the threading gear clusters. To oil them you remove a plastic oil nut on the side of the switch plate and pump some oil in the hole. The oil then falls down to the top of the casting where numerous holes are drilled to hit the various lube points. Like that will happen with any type of reliability. I don't know what to do about that. I have some galling on the shafts probably due to lack of lube. Realistically, for the amount of threading I'll be doing, it won't be a problem, but the design of it still irritates me, knowing some parts could be dry.

Mark

[turbo711]

Hello folks. I posted new stuff on here a short while ago, but there were some site issues, so I'll re-post them. Thanks to the mods for the the time they put in. This also gave me time to think that maybe this was becoming a run on thread with too many things going on at once, so I will try to keep to the ct-1440 lathe. I decided that the motor shaft was unacceptable in it's current state. I tig welded it to fill the hole and build up the surface.


 
After about 3.5 hours of trying to get the armature spinning true between centers, with many weld/center drill cycles, I gave up and decided to make a steady rest to help me with the job. See here: Center Rest.



This worked much better.



It's a little out of focus, but you get the idea. Also metal shavings like to get in the bearing wheels even when you are trying to keep them out. The shaper was used again to cut the slot for a 3/16" key-way very slowly. Still chattering!



The finished shaft. It's not perfect, but is a considerable upgrade to what was existing before.



Just got to make a pulley...
That's it for now.

[f350ca]

Cuttings getting into a roller steady rest are a problem. The one on my Summit is hinged with a plastic knobbed bolt holding it closed. Had it blow that knob to pieces when a big cutting went under the roller..
Nice work on the keyway. Are you using carbide or HSS?

[turbo711]

Hello f350ca. It was HSS for the shaper. I used carbide for the lathe at first, but switched to HSS to try to improve the surface near the end. It seemed to help a bit, but still not beautiful.

[johnnyc14]

Hey Mark,sorry I completely forgot to make those pulley measurements. I'll try to get them done tonight.

John