HELP Designing lathe spindle, bearings questions, WTB: Lathe headstocks

You really dont have a clue what you are getting into..do you?

Sigh...find a clapped out Hardinge Chucker..(HC) for $500 and start from there. You will have a decent headstock, solid ways easy to build on and a drive system already.

Dont reinvent the wheel if wheels are common as dirt.

Gunner

"The defensive firearm is a special-purpose piece of safety rescue equipment, designed to extricate a person... from the immediate threat of savagely violent crime. It is like the fire extinguisher.... Neither piece of equipment will do you any good if you don't know how to use it or are not psychologically prepared to face danger with that gear in your trained hands in a terror situation." -- Massad Ayoob, Handgun Primer

He seems to be a neighbor, but something along those lines was in line with my thoughts. Why would someone sounding so clueless want to build from scratch rather than adapt some decent existing machines?

From the little I've looked though, decent equipment at a reasonable price seems to be way more available from Bakersfield south, rather than north.

What's a few hundred miles cost?

Indeed..even if he had to replace the spindle bearing on a Hardinge..I can get HC bearings for about $300 the pair. Add that to the $500 the lathe may cost..another couple hundred for a Uhaul and gas to LA..figure a grand..and he will have the basic foundations for a decent machine.

Hell..Ive got some 11" Logan headstocks Ill GIVE him, if he wants to take a run down to Bakersfield..but thats all he will have..a decent headstock with a pulley and spindle. Its gonna take a hell of a lot more to make anything rigid enough to be worth the effort doing anything CNC

Gunner

"The defensive firearm is a special-purpose piece of safety rescue equipment, designed to extricate a person... from the immediate threat of savagely violent crime. It is like the fire extinguisher.... Neither piece of equipment will do you any good if you don't know how to use it or are not psychologically prepared to face danger with that gear in your trained hands in a terror situation." -- Massad Ayoob, Handgun Primer

A long time ago there was an article in HSM, about how a guy made a new headstock for a little Atlas 6 inch lathe. He used part of a spin index for the spindle. That gave him a spindle that will acept 5C collets. Also the outside of the spindle is ground to a metric size that is just right for standard ball bearings. He used a cog belt drive. It is the approach I would take for a small lathe.

Dan

Ive got a couple Logan 11" headstocks..5c spindle nose. Ive bot 10,000 lbs of pulleys and cogged pulleys and about 2000 belts..many of wich are timing styles and many match the cogged pulleys.

Come and get em. Bring a truck and trailer.

Gunner, Taft California

"The defensive firearm is a special-purpose piece of safety rescue equipment, designed to extricate a person... from the immediate threat of savagely violent crime. It is like the fire extinguisher.... Neither piece of equipment will do you any good if you don't know how to use it or are not psychologically prepared to face danger with that gear in your trained hands in a terror situation." -- Massad Ayoob, Handgun Primer

Ummmm... while I may be clueless, I did say at the beginning of the article that I'd prefer to start with an existing CNC lathe, existing hardware, or at least a good headstock/spindle. Anyhow, I have built several CNC mills from scratch that are quite rigid and hold a couple tenths, but a lathe is a different beast from a mill, and I have no real desire to build the spindle/headstock if I can avoid it. For the mills, I used some new Kwik-Switch spindles that I found. Lathes don't seem to be quite as common as dirt here as they may be in your neighborhood.

That said, I do have relatives in Bakersfield, and I would be interested in coming by your shop when I'm down there if possible. As far as free/cheap headstocks/lathes/..., I certainly would not turn them down if they are servicable.

Thanks!

-Ralph

OH MY, .........Have you got time on your hands for the next 10 years?, Heck last auction i went to, featured a coupla excellent non-working cnc lathes, a Hitachi-Seiki, and an ond Hardinge, under a coupla thou each, and that was just for the scrap value . Why would you bother??????

If I could find one like that, I'd jump at it for sure. I did say in my first sentence that I'd like to find a used/dead/working CNC lathe locally. Where was your auction? There are tons of auctions locally for shop stuff, but almost no non-working machines. I know that in a lot of the local auctions (Ashman, ...) there are schills (sp?) in the audience, and there's lots of dealers who buy up everything in site, which appear on ebay a couple of weeks later.

BTW- Time is definitely something I do NOT have on my hands: 5 month old twins + 2.5 year old older brother + no family in the area makes for long nights and interesting weekends. That's why I said I'd prefer to find a used/dead/working CNC lathe for cheap locally.

Thanks.

-Ralph

Well hitch up the wagon, pilgrim and hie ye over to my place and get started picking through the Stuff.

Ive wasted 4 days now dithering around out in the stacks, trying to throw Stuff away. And Im having a hard time doing it. I start to load a box..then take a piece in put it in the save pile..and a piece in the toss pile...and pretty soon I get depressed and go in the house.

Ive got thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good Stuff back there..if I could find the right buyer. But I cant..so it has to go..but I cant simply toss it in the dumpster. Hell..I dont mind giving the Stuff away..just as long as it gets a good home.

Gunner

"The defensive firearm is a special-purpose piece of safety rescue equipment, designed to extricate a person... from the immediate threat of savagely violent crime. It is like the fire extinguisher.... Neither piece of equipment will do you any good if you don't know how to use it or are not psychologically prepared to face danger with that gear in your trained hands in a terror situation." -- Massad Ayoob, Handgun Primer

Ralph...there is a Hardinge DV 59 down in Santa Ana that has an automated turret and an unknown type of PC based control. No floppy disk comes with it..the guy bought it from Reliable Tools auction as is. He has $1300 in it, and Ill bet he can be talked into getting his money out of it. Its quite clean, everything appears to be there. It would be something to consider as a decent enough starting base.

If you are interested..call me at 805-732-5308 and Ill talk to the guy for you.

Gunner

"The defensive firearm is a special-purpose piece of safety rescue equipment, designed to extricate a person... from the immediate threat of savagely violent crime. It is like the fire extinguisher.... Neither piece of equipment will do you any good if you don't know how to use it or are not psychologically prepared to face danger with that gear in your trained hands in a terror situation." -- Massad Ayoob, Handgun Primer

Gunner, I have a perfectly good Logan bed--not sure if its 9 10 or 11 in though, probly a 10 Im thinking..

This was factory setup as a second op turret lathe, (greatly lacking in thu-spindle capacity)...besides, the collet closer hardware is messed bigtime...

Anyways, might be interested in a better head unit for this as this one does have the rather handy tailstock turret and lever cross slide...

Distance across bed vees appears to be 5in exactly, with the base of headstock casting being appx 5in wide....hold down bolts appear to be @

Flat belt or v? IRRC the ones I have are double V belt pulleys on the spindle.

Ill meaure them this coming weekend when Im back home.

You WILL have to block up the turret and cross slide..they are an inch or so higher than the 10"

Gunner

"If thy pride is sorely vexed when others disparage your offering, be as lamb's wool is to cold rain and the Gore-tex of Odin's raiment is to gullshit in the gale, for thy angst shall vex them not at all. Yea, they shall scorn thee all the more. Rejoice in sharing what you have to share without expectation of adoration, knowing that sharing your treasure does not diminish your treasure but enriches it."

- Onni 1:33

V belt.

Appreciated.

Then there are the Ebay dealers we call the Fantasy Group..selling Hardinge Chuckers for $15,000 and so forth. When you can pick up a decent chucker nearly any day of the week for $1500 10X the price is a fantasy. You will see their ads on Ebay..probably trying to pedal something on consignment...month afte rmonth..marked up 5x-10x the street price..no bids..BUY IT NOW prices at new prices 10 yrs ago.

I emailed one such guy last year..had a Hardinge HC chucker for $8k...what made his chucker "worth" so much..he replied "because its clean". I emailed him back.."Yes..and?".. no reply of course.

Two days later I brokered a Hardinge HLV-H, tooled and minty for $7500.

Shrug..and even the HLV-Hs are falling in price..Im seeing decent ones at $5k now

Gunner, 1981 Hardinge HLV-H, tooled and so cheap it would make you scream...and no..its not for sale.

"If thy pride is sorely vexed when others disparage your offering, be as lamb's wool is to cold rain and the Gore-tex of Odin's raiment is to gullshit in the gale, for thy angst shall vex them not at all. Yea, they shall scorn thee all the more. Rejoice in sharing what you have to share without expectation of adoration, knowing that sharing your treasure does not diminish your treasure but enriches it."

- Onni 1:33