I had a guy back out on me on a job this weekend so I had some free time Friday night and Saturday morning. Since my wife had breakfast plans with her sisters on Saturday I decided to knock another item off of my "Want To Do" list as my "Need To Do" list is actually shrinking.
I have never really liked the cheap feeling plastic knobs on my lathe but seeing as how they weren't affecting the performance of it I kept putting off doing anything. Well Friday night after getting home and seeing that I had some free time I decided to address the knobs on my lathe.
Chucked up some 1" 60601-T6 I had in the metal rack. I turned it to .820" to match the original ones on the headstock and two on the apron. I then added a taper for aesthetics and few grooves with a form tool that I ground again for aesthetics before running some aluminum polish over them and parting off.
Two down and only five more to go. Once I got a drawing with some measurements of how I wanted them to look they actually went quite fast.
Here are the two on the gearbox at the headstock end installed.
Once I got the four smaller ones completed, I grabbed a piece of 1.250" 6061 I started on the larger ones for the tailstock and one on the carriage. These ones I turned down to 1.10" but incorporated the same grooves and taper for a matching look.
Knobs on apron completed and installed.
Tailstock knobs installed.
While I had swarf on the lathe I decided to knock out one more item on my "Want To Do" list for the lathe. I hate having to grab a 3mm allen wrench each time to lock down the compound slide, so I decided to make a lever to perform the function. I started with a piece of .375" stainless steel and used my 5C collet chuck.
Turned and threaded to the 6MM-1.0 thread pitch required.
Lathe work completed for the two components.
After installing for a test fit I marked where I needed to drill and tap for the handle.
Completed and installed. Unlocked position. I also drilled and installed a small roll pin to act as a stop/rest.
Locked position.
After cleaning the lathe, mill and the rest of the shop I still had the whole afternoon to relax and hang out with my son and wife and enjoy the great weather we had over the weekend.
Mike.