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Questions about making my own faceplate

I would like to make a faceplate for my home shop lathe. The lathe has a camlock D1-4 spindle. I went to the local scrapyard and picked up a 9.5 inch diameter steel round. My hope is that I can actually machine for myself the D1-4 mount profile on one side, and then face the other side and cut some slots.

I found a reference that clearly shows the dimesions of the D1-4 lathe spindle, but I'm a little uncertain how to translate this into how I should make the mating faceplate. My biggest question is perhaps how to make the tapered portion. From what I can tell from the 3-jaw chuck that I already have, the tapered center of the camlock spindle is the part that actually centers the faceplate/chuck on the spindle.

How should I make the mating piece? Should I try to make the I.D. taper of the faceplate *exactly* the same size and taper as on the lathe spindle? When the faceplate/chuck is mounted on the spindle, does it rest solely on the tapered portion....or does it also rest along the flat area where the camlock studs are located? Does anyone have a reference to a drawing w/dimesions of a D1-4 spindle adapter, chuck, or faceplate?

suggestions? (besides the obvious "you are crazy, just buy one pre made...")

Reply to
Todd Rearick
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This is very difficult. As I understand it, which may be wrong, the chuck or plate is centered by the taper, but seats flat on the face of the spindle. That seems to be how mine works (D1-6) and I have used spotting dye to find rough spots on the face of the chuck backplate and fix them. Getting the cone to seat down on the taper at the same depth as the flat hits the face of the spindle sounds like a REALLY tough problem.

If you have a chuck, put some spotting dye on the spindle or backplate and assemble the chuck to the spindle. Then, take it off, and see if you get dye transferred to the mating part. If so, then the flats are touching. You can also use dye on the taper to see if the taper is also seating fully. I haven't done this, and will have to try it, as I don't see how you can do this in production without driving yourself crazy and making a lot of scrap.

I bought a suitable chuck backplate to make into a faceplate through eBay, and I think it will work fine.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

The tapered portion just centers the face plate . The face plate must touch on the flat area where the camlock studs are. I would cut the taper a little big and then take small face cuts on the back of the face plate untill you have no or very little radial play and the back touches.But be carefull don't tighten the faceplate if the taper is to small you could damage the spindle .I think( not sure) the taper on a D-4 is

7deg.7min.30sec. I would just buy an adaptor for $80 and bolt it to your steel.
Reply to
TLKALLAM8

In article , snipped-for-privacy@sycamorenet.com says... Does anyone

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You could just buy one pre-made...

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These folks have been listing one of these backplates every week for a couple months now. I bought a D1-3 from them to adapt to an ajust-tru chuck a while back. No pins though.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

hmm...very clever approach...

hmm...very good point...

Looks like that might really be the best idea, although I do think your suggestion for how to create the proper fit could work...I'm really uncertain that *I* could make it work. I just don't like it when I can't make something I need. :'(

Thanks for the help, Todd Rearick

Reply to
Todd Rearick

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