Mini-Lathe Bearing Puller

[rleete]

No E-stop button on your lathe? Mine has saved my gears more than once, usually when parting off.

[EdK]

(06-15-2023, 08:45 AM)Highpower Wrote: I have to wonder how long they tried using the all metal gears to let them "wear in" before going back to the plastic countershaft gears? I haven't installed mine yet so maybe the noise is much worse than I imagined.

I also thought about letting it run to wear them in. Maybe I'll try that when I get the spacer done and installed. It's noisy enough to where if it's running at mid speed or higher on the low gear I'll have to wear hearing protection. Much worse on the high gear, of course. I didn't need to do that with the plastic gears.

Ed

[EdK]

(06-15-2023, 09:35 AM)rleete Wrote: No E-stop button on your lathe?  Mine has saved my gears more than once, usually when parting off.

No E-stop on my lathe. Besides, my reflexes are too slow to make good use of it. The damage will be done by the time I could smack it.

Ed

[rleete]

Is there any way to adjust how they mesh? My lathe (which is essentially the same thing) I hear the motor more than the gearing. Of course, mine still has the plastic gears.

[EdK]

(06-15-2023, 11:45 AM)rleete Wrote: Is there any way to adjust how they mesh?  My lathe (which is essentially the same thing) I hear the motor more than the gearing.  Of course, mine still has the plastic gears.

No way to adjust the mesh. Mine was also very quite with the plastic gears. I really hate the thought of pulling the spindle again to put the plastic ones back in. It would be fairly easy to pull the intermediate gear to replace that one back to plastic though. That's a second to last resort though.

Ed

[Vinny]

There's a simple fix for the noisy gears without having to put plastic back in. Turn the radio up louder!

[Highpower]

(06-15-2023, 11:48 AM)EdK Wrote: It would be fairly easy to pull the intermediate gear to replace that one back to plastic though.
Ed

That's all it would take really. Unfortunately that is the downside of straight cut gears. Easier to manufacture but noisier in use. But yeah, if they are that loud it would be hard to put up with. I knew they would be louder but didn't think it would be that extreme. Bummer.

[EdK]

(06-15-2023, 07:50 PM)Highpower Wrote:

(06-15-2023, 11:48 AM)EdK Wrote: It would be fairly easy to pull the intermediate gear to replace that one back to plastic though.
Ed

That's all it would take really. Unfortunately that is the downside of straight cut gears. Easier to manufacture but noisier in use. But yeah, if they are that loud it would be hard to put up with. I knew they would be louder but didn't think it would be that extreme. Bummer.

I'll try the burn-in method and see if that helps. If not, then I will swap out that one gear with the plastic one. I don't like wearing hearing protection when machining. Can't hear what's going on with the cutter.

Ed

[EdK]

When I took the control box off of the lathe I noticed some swarf in the bottom of it. Not a lot but enough to be concerned. Once I had the lathe reassembled I looked to see where the cracks were that could allow the swarf to get into the box. The cut-out in the box for the lead screw has a gasket that closes up the opening pretty well but the fit around the lead screw is loose enough to allow swarf to get by. I plan on finding a fat O-ring that'll butt up against the gasket to close off the gap in the gasket.
I 3-D printed a shield to cover the gaps around the head stock screw that could allow swarf in.

Ed

         

[rleete]

Mine came with that. Doesn't seal all that well, but it keeps the vast majority out.