Another new toy

[mik]

I was initially thinking that you were using one lathe to make parts for the other - and vice versa.

[Jobbo]

I was initially thinking that you were using one lathe to make parts for the other - and vice versa.

Oh god, if so don't ever add CNC control. They might become sentient.

[Mito Man]

Makes me wonder how the first modern lathe with metal bearings etc was made. Kind of a chicken or egg scenario.

[V8Granite]

Bearing scraping and bushes.

We still bearing scrape stuff now. Last week I fitted a dummy PTO shaft to an engine and got it within 0.01mm over 1200 mm from the bearing support.

We have to get within 0.03mm when the shaft is 2000mm long and you adjust it by scraping the bearing surface. It’s not hard to do, you just have to be methodical and know where to remove the material, how to tighten it correctly etc.



Dave!

[Nefarious]

Are you going to be cutting a lot of imperial threads, or does the thread cutting stuff allow you to cut metric too?

Although the kit I got with the first one was fantastic - 30+ cutting blades, reamers, taps, milling bits etc etc, it was missing its spare changewheels, so I'm currently limited to a handful of imperial thread patterns. It's not a super-biggie - a single extra 127 tooth wheel and one more intermediate off ebay are about £35 each and would let me do nearly all metrics (as well as some of the weirder and more wonderful ones from the world of gunsmithing).
That said, I'm this far down the rabbithole now, so would kinda like a complete set of original changewheels. However, that's quite a tall order. The Denham isn't the most common lathe in the world, lots of the spare wheel sets have been lost, and what sets I have seen for sale have been more expensive that what I've paid for the two complete lathes put together.

ETA - to explain - it doesn't specifically cut any thread pattern - the wheels just define the thread spacing; the depth, pitch and crest shape are set by the tool shape and angle. So, for example, cutting ACME threads is the same wheel setup as NC but with a different cutting tool.

[IanF]

Nef spotted prepping vegetables for Sunday roast..