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Tiger
3rd August 2009, 11:25 PM
A number of us have MC900 type lathes. I have made some modifications that have helped me including a handwheel to stop the lathe quicker, an access panel to the pulley and a spanner made of thicker steel to grip the spindle nut. What have others done? With a few mods, these aren't bad tools, true you get what you pay for, but with a little effort, these machines can be made more useful.

Woodwould
4th August 2009, 12:17 AM
Any pictures of your handwheel? That's one facility I really miss on a lathe.

pommyphil
4th August 2009, 08:09 AM
I've been thinking of combining an indexing disc with a handwheel, but nothing even on paper yet :-

Tiger
4th August 2009, 10:31 AM
Will try and post some pictures of my handwheel etc. tonight or whenever I can find my son's camera.

Tiger
4th August 2009, 11:20 PM
Attached are photos of some of the mods I've made.

Photo 1 shows the handwheel attached. It's attached with some 12mm all-thread which I drilled a hole through so that I could still feed a knockout bar through it to dislodge spur centres. The hardest part was tapping the hole to take the all-thread.

Photo 2 shows the actual handwheel which is just a bit of plywood with a nut epoxied in, it locks against the other nut on the thread.

Photo 3 shows the access plate, a bit of steel riveted with a hinge.

Photo 4 shows a toolrest made for turning pens and a spanner made of 5 mm plate to replace the ridiculously lightweight spanners that come with the lathe.

Tornatus
5th August 2009, 12:00 AM
A number of us have MC900 type lathes. I have made some modifications that have helped me including a handwheel to stop the lathe quicker, an access panel to the pulley and a spanner made of thicker steel to grip the spindle nut. What have others done? With a few mods, these aren't bad tools, true you get what you pay for, but with a little effort, these machines can be made more useful.

G'day Tige

A search of this forum will bring up tons of info on "tweaking" this fine entry-level lathe, but from my experience with mine, the important ones are:



It is critical to regularly and generously lubricate the Reeves pulley shafts (INOX is best!) - the variable speed lever should move freely with the pressure of a little finger alone. It also helps to disassemble the pulleys (with great care, as they are not high-quality castings) and polish the inner faces, to minimize belt wear.
Replace the banjo and tailstock locking mechanism nuts with Nylok nuts, and you'll never have to fiddle with adjusting them again.

I'm impressed with your handwheel mod - I tried to work out how to fit one, but it was beyond my engineering skills. In the end, the lack of a handwheel (amongst other things) drove me to sell my MC900 to a beginner and step up to a Vicmarc VL175, but it was an excellent and economical introduction to the craft and served me very well. :hooray:

Woodwould
5th August 2009, 12:05 AM
Thanks Tiger. I presume you used a a permanent thread locker on the allthread!

Skew ChiDAMN!!
5th August 2009, 12:10 AM
Nicely done!

I've been toying with the idea of combining a hand-wheel with a chuck anti-lock washer. Basically making a metal disk to fit over the arbour before the chuck goes on, then edging it with a wooden rim; a bit like a steering wheel.

Another one of those round tuit jobs. :rolleyes:

FWIW, I'll second Tornatus that keeping the Reeves' lubed is the most important thing.

Tiger
5th August 2009, 11:19 AM
Tornatus, I would have to agree with you, lube is important. The lathe comes with the guard panel screwed into the headstock area. I brazed some wingnuts onto the screws so that I could take the panel off quickly and lube the pulley shaft but I found that became inconvenient so I made the access panel and that works a lot better.
The handwheel has become essential, I not only use it to slow the lathe down but also to rotate work and ensure that it clears the toolrest, that way it's a safety feature as well. When I tapped the hole for the thread even though I was careful to keep the tap perpendicular to the spindle, it did produce an off square hole so the handwheel does wobble. I think if I was doing this again I might use an expanding mandrel technique, that would be much easier than tapping a hole in that shaft. There's a little bit of info in this forum on mods to these lathes but I couldn't find much on other sites which is a bit puzzling since these lathes are sold worldwide. Also like the idea of the Nyloc nut.

Woodwould, you're right, I did use Loctite on the allthread.

Thanks, Skew. I like your steering wheel idea and look forward to seeing that someday.

Woodwould
5th August 2009, 02:54 PM
I'd agree on the Nyloc nuts too. I'm looking at getting a handwheel made which goes over the spindle snout and is secured by a jam nut (in spindle-turning mode) or a chuck. I'll report back when I know more.

thefixer
9th August 2009, 02:18 PM
Here's one I did today. I was sick of constantly having to reach under the banjo and tailstock to tighten up the nuts on the locking mechanisms. Particularly the banjo, My fat little fingers just couldn't quite reach under to tighten it up sufficiently. So I took the nuts off and drilled and tapped a M4 thread in the side and inserted a 4 mm cap screw. I then tightened the nuts so that there was minimal slack but still able to slide along the bed and nipped up the cap screws to lock the nuts in position. I don't why it took me so long to get around to this. It was a quick and easy fix and it has been driving me mad for ages.

Cheers
Shorty

unicorn
9th August 2009, 02:30 PM
A lot of good ideas posted; I will pinch some of them!!
I am in the process of fitting a 3 phase motor to mine, I scored a fairly cheap variable speed control(new), and only today picked up a 3 phase motor from Byron tip:2tsup:!
I'll try and keep a record of the butchering!
The motor and pulleys will go as spares for the Richmond valley Woodies Club, we have a similar lathe there.
All in all, it is a good machine for the price, so any improvement is worth the time.
Cheers, Raul

Calm
9th August 2009, 02:40 PM
A lot of good ideas posted; I will pinch some of them!!
I am in the process of fitting a 3 phase motor to mine, I scored a fairly cheap variable speed control(new), and only today picked up a 3 phase motor from Byron tip:2tsup:!
I'll try and keep a record of the butchering!
The motor and pulleys will go as spares for the Richmond valley Woodies Club, we have a similar lathe there.
All in all, it is a good machine for the price, so any improvement is worth the time.
Cheers, Raul

Here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=66283&page=3) is one i did. starts at post 32, it might help abit. dont think i ever posted the rpm scales but can probably find the spreadsheet if you want it - found it post 45 i think it was

Cheers

unicorn
9th August 2009, 07:32 PM
Great source of ideas, Calm!I will first try a single pulley, and run up the frequency in the controller;I think I can work out how to go about it...just listen for a flying headstock going by!!!:)

orificiam
9th August 2009, 08:42 PM
Here's one I did today. I was sick of constantly having to reach under the banjo and tailstock to tighten up the nuts on the locking mechanisms. Particularly the banjo, My fat little fingers just couldn't quite reach under to tighten it up sufficiently. So I took the nuts off and drilled and tapped a M4 thread in the side and inserted a 4 mm cap screw. I then tightened the nuts so that there was minimal slack but still able to slide along the bed and nipped up the cap screws to lock the nuts in position. I don't why it took me so long to get around to this. It was a quick and easy fix and it has been driving me mad for ages.

Cheers
Shorty
Thanks Shorty. I will Pinch this one.
Cheers Tony.:U

Tiger
10th August 2009, 02:47 PM
Good on ya' Shorty. I like your fix. By the way, the loose nut occurs on more expensive lathes as well. I thought that I might use a lock washer but your idea is simple and a bit more permanent.

colhu
24th November 2009, 06:50 PM
Some great ideas, guys.

I ended up taking the belt cover completely off my Hafco WL18 - as far as I could see, the cooling fan in the motor was blowing sawdust straight into the headstock. And yes I have to be careful that the belt and pulleys are exposed. In hindsight, the totally enclosed motor on the Carb-a-tec MC900 might have been better, although it was 550 watts instead of 750.

One gadget I made to use with my Vicmark chuck is a wooden jig which clamps to the bed of the lathe and has a bolt with a tapered point that I can screw up to engage the indexing holes in the rim of the chuck. It's a bit fiddly, but works OK. You have to have a chuck with indexing holes, like the Vicmark.

cheers, Colin