Thread: Home Made Lathe - Can anyone turn a headstock spindle for me?

Originally Posted by wands

I need a spindle machined, the specs are taken from the diagram attached, Steve

Hi Steve

I have a good freind who could give you advice on this subject and may be able to assist. This would be in his feild of expertise.

I will PM you with his email address, then you can follow him up yourself. I will mention this to him when i next am talking to him.

Fossil: Cheers, correct me if I am wrong, I take it that 1045 would be better than 1040, simply because of the higher content of carbon? Or is it the other way round?

Mini: Yes and no. I want the biggest turning capacity and can't afford a vicmarc or stubby in one hit, thus spending over a longer period just seems to be cheaper to the better half. And besides, who doesn't like a challenge?

Calm: Thanks, I will get an email off to your friend, once I finalise the dimensions etc. I am finding it difficult to source stepped pulley cones. I want to allow for five step pulley on the headstock, but not sure how much space is required etc. Besides, the motor I have only has a short drive shaft and have been advised that the pulley should not have 25% of it's body overhanging the drive shaft. Thus I need to find out if I can extend the drive shaft or will I need a motor with a longer drive shaft??

With regards to stepped pulleys, does anyone know if these are available off the shelf, or is it something else I will need to have machined?

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by wands

With regards to stepped pulleys, does anyone know if these are available off the shelf, or is it something else I will need to have machined?

Saw 5-step pulleys on the shelf in an engineering supplies place in Rockhampton once about 5 or 6 years ago - always regretted not grabbing them - could'a come in handy one day! My old man cast his own 8-step jobs for his twist-lathe years ago - lotta work!

I havn't read the whole thread. What about buying a 2 MT spindle from someone like Carba-tec or whoever you choose. They have replacements for their machines.

Steve, Here's a couple of links where you can get stepped pulleys

Both companies are nation wide
http://www.bsc.com.au/ not sure if they have 5 step tho'


Blackwoods have 5 step puilleys in either Ali or cast iron, they will bore and key to your requirements.

5 Step pulleys dimensions
dias 6.0", 5.25", 4.5", 3.75", 3.0" and will bore out in a range of .5" to 1.25" or metric equivilent

http://www2.blackwoods.com.au/Default.aspx

This one will give all your speed calcs on line as well as belt length required.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/pulleybeltcalc.html

TTIT: If only we grabbed, kept etc everything we saw and thought "Now that might come in handy one day". I reckon there wouldn't be a shed big enough to store it all. I am sure if you went back they'd say "Gee you know what, I only sold them last week, I had 'em sitting in here for years..."

gatiep: Thanks, yeah it has been mentioned and thus have changed to wanting it to have a 2MT. Want one a little bigger than the mass produced ones, besides, they are designed to fit on a lathe with a max of 200mm above bed, but I want 300-350mm, thus want to cater for the extra weight I intend to put on it.

Hughie: As always your help and advise is well measured and much appreciated. I spent some time looking for the stepped pulleys, but came up short, I suspect due to the fact I don't understand the jargon. It's a shame the Blackwood's catalogue is scanned in, as such I can't do a search on it. But I am sure I'll find them eventually.

Thanks again, Steve

As always your help and advise is well measured and much appreciated. I spent some time looking for the stepped pulleys, but came up short, I suspect due to the fact I don't understand the jargon. It's a shame the Blackwood's catalogue is scanned in, as such I can't do a search on it. But I am sure I'll find them eventually.

Steve, The Blackwoods stepped pulleys arnt in the catalogue you will need to ring them. In the past few years they have rationalised their parts listing and such thing are now a 'buy in'
The Blackwoods catalogue is a pain, the search engine is IMHO well nigh useless, you will get more sense over the phone.

No reason why you can't turn your stepped pulleys in timber. Use hardwood, and make the thin parts (flanges) about three times as thick as they would be in steel. At the hubs, excavate (Dremel handy for this) a chamber to hold a T-nut or wing nut, and epoxy in place for grub screws; drill a clearance hole radially for the screw. This dodge works best with a jack shaft holding a similar stepped pulley, driven by the motor with a single pulley, as the motor shaft is likely too short for direct mounting.

Joe