Lathe spanners

[Happy Chappy]

Are there any alternatives to the rubbishy tools that came with my MC1100 as standard equipment?

I require two off 32mm and one off 38mm open enders to accomplish tool changeovers. The original tools (thin mild steel plate) lasted just past the first fitting and have spread open. Shifters of that size are too wide - are there any reasonably priced alternatives that are likely to last or are open ended spanners at almost $40 per unit necessary?

[soundman]

them's big spanners.
You will be paying well for those if you try buying as mechanics tools.

see if one of the other lathe manufacturers use the same sizes and order them as spare parts.
try JET they sell a suspiciously similar lathe.

or you might have to make a set your self.

I remember making a set of spanners to fit my KONI struts when I was young & silly.

Its amazing what you can do with an angle grinder and a bit of flat bar:D


try the spares route.

[hughie]

[quote=Happy Chappy]Are there any alternatives to the rubbishy tools that came with my MC1100 as standard equipment?

:D aint they a pain in the Butt! I could not find any either, although down the markets or garage sales seems the obvious choice.
I still use mine, but after a few months they are getting pretty well shot. :mad:
So I will have to come up with another solution.Nothing comes to mind, other than making my own out of some 6mm or maybe 8mm ms flat bar

hughie

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Surprisingly, I'm getting by with a spanner made from an old handsaw blade and it's a li'l ripper!

No problems with squeezing it in behind the chuck and it doesn't show the least sign of spreading. Hmmm... I'll see if I can find the camera and nip out to take a pic... as you can see, I simply attach it to the lathe bed with a hard-drive magnet.

[Salty]

I made a home made one too from some old 3mm Stainless plate I bludged from a local ducting manufacturer. I initially got it to make some stainless fittings for my Boat and made the spanner ( very agricultural in appearance) using an angle grinder with a cut off blade then finessed it with a linisher. While it don't look pretty it works and cost me an hours labour!:p

[soundman]

just a matter of interest what do the spanners spanner on?
there may be other options

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Normally, they fit the drive shaft of the headstock and the back of the chuck/insert/faceplate. There's not much room to play with.

When my first spanner went skew-whiff (actually, it got thrown to the floor in a temper tantrum after spreading and one jaw broke off. :o Quality or what? :rolleyes: ) I found a std. open-ender to fit the shaft but that wouldn't allow a second spanner to fit. So I simply grabbed a 1' length of tool steel, clamped it in the jaws and used it as a lever.

This worked so well (much more leverage) that I still use the same bar even now that I've replaced the open-ender with the thin hand-saw blade job. I've modified it so that it has 3 short bolts in one end, spaced to fit into the mounting holes of the faceplate, rather similar to the old pushbike bearing spanners. 3 bolts, so I can use whichever set of holes isn't already taken up with screws. ;)

[Tiger]

Although thicker mild steel bar say 6mm mignt hold up better than the thin stuff that most lathes come with, are they the ideal material to use for spanners? Won't they also deform over time and necessitate having to do the whole exercise again?

Skew, I like the setup you've mentioned regarding the leverage and the mounting in faceplate, any chance of a picture to help clarify in our minds?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Skew, I like the setup you've mentioned regarding the leverage and the mounting in faceplate, any chance of a picture to help clarify in our minds?

Sure. It's nothing fancy, just something I butchered up as the need arose and it works well enough that I haven't bothered replacing it. :)

Pic 1 is the top view. The cut-out in the side is to fit around the faceplates' shank when I use it on the innermost holes.

Pic 2 shows the bolts. They're simply held in place with nuts, the one on the end has two nuts and the head removed so I can use it either way. The other two bolts can be done away with, levering against the shank of the faceplate instead, but I find they give a more "positive" fit. They're only lightweight cabinetry bolts, but if they bend or whatever, it only takes a few seconds to grind off the head on the bench-grinder and throw in another one.

Pic 3 should give you an idea how I use it on the faceplate.

Finally, Pic 4 is how I use it to remove a chuck. As you can see, with the offest handle on the other spanner, it's a one-handed operation. :)

[Tiger]

Thanks, Skew for the pictures. I get it now, I'm sure this will help the rest of us who have those thin useless spanners.

[Greg Q]

Another approach might be the thin spanners that bike shops use for repairing the gear sets. I know they come in 30 mm, it might be worth a call to see about sizes and prices.

Greg

[Tiger]

Greg, had a look at some of the bike spanners on the internet, think you'll get a shock when you see the prices:eek: . There were some quoted at $40+ dollars.

[Greg Q]

$40.00 ? I should have checked before I posted. Now that I think of it I can't remember ever getting anything for a bike that was good value, so sorry for the false lead. Forty bucks. Sheesh.

[rsser]

Have to confess once or twice having to resort to a pipe wrench to get a chuck off (Vicmarc, with a round insert).

[soundman]

we are all using anti jam washers behind our chucks aren't we?
:D

[Happy amateur]

I have a poolwood lathe. The spindle is held by a bearing type spanner.
I have Axminster precision and Super Nova chucks. To get the chuck off
all I do is put the chuck key in place and hit it with the heel of my hand
The chuck should undo quite easily.

I can usualy undo the faceplate by hand using whatever it is attached to.

Am I just lucky.

Fred

[hughie]

I have Axminster precision and Super Nova chucks. To get the chuck off
all I do is put the chuck key in place and hit it with the heel of my hand
The chuck should undo quite easily.



Fred I am with you I use SN2 chucks and never do them up tighter that hand tight. With that I find the crappy tools supplied are not too bad.
So far to date I have never had a problem with getting them off, even after a jam up, of which some have been monumental :eek: heart stopping stuff :D
I still need to improve on the spanner situation down the track sometime.

hughie

[soundman]

We are all spinning our chucks on to the shaft slowly by hand aren't we?

While my lathe is small I use an antijam washer (its always on the shaft) and spin on by hand. I usualy have to use very little force to get the chuck off.

Then again I very rarely leave the chuck on the lathe for long.
Its probaly a good idea to spin the chuck off after each days work, maybe not take it off but at least spin it back & snug it back up.
That way there there wont be the accumulated tightening.

cheers

[rsser]

With a big lump and little ramp-up time you do of course get more tightening than you want. This sometimes exceeds the thwacking strength of the short rod that goes into the Vicmarc insert. So a washer there is a good idea. The Teknatools of course have a hex nut but you have to shell out separately for one of their spanners or make your own.

[soundman]

I've made some enquiries.
If all else fails I can lay my hands on a set of six large spanners that does include a 32mm and a 38mm the set goes all the way up to 50mm.
The cost :eek: Just over $100.
Then theres the freight thats not going to be cheap either because the whole lot weighs over 10KG.
Will they be thinn enough? I dont know.
P.M. me if you need.

[scooter]

My Bunnings (Cranbourne, ph 59912444) had some sets of large ring/open ender spanners on the clearance tables last week - maybe worth a phone call to see if still there & cost.

Would find out for you meself but hols this week :p


Cheers...............Sean

[killerbeast]

I've made some enquiries.
If all else fails I can lay my hands on a set of six large spanners that does include a 32mm and a 38mm the set goes all the way up to 50mm.
The cost :eek: Just over $100.
Then theres the freight thats not going to be cheap either because the whole lot weighs over 10KG.
Will they be thinn enough? I dont know.
P.M. me if you need.

At that price i would start experimenting with making my own. Dont you know anybody with the metalworking skills to help make thees ?? I still have mine so i havent gotten around to it yet.. im still lookinig in to gettet head and tailstock to line up

[scooter]

Old thread, Rasmus. :)

[hughie]

]Another approach might be the thin spanners that bike shops use for repairing the gear sets. I know they come in 30 mm, it might be worth a call to see about sizes and prices.



What I tend to do now is get a second hand spanner from the markets or a garage sale and grind it to the right thickness. Bike spanners are not that strong either. But the ground down type work just fine.

[Zsteve]

I just got one of those antique type adjustable spanners as the jaws are already narrow. Get one like the cyclone or HV McKay ones pictured here http://www.htpaa.org.au/adj-wrenches.php

If you get one thats not a collectable brand it won't cost much at all.

Steve

[arose62]

I visited SuperCheap Auto, and got two of their biggest adjustable spanners.

I found they just, just fitted. They weren't too expensive - about $20 each, and usable for other stuff too.

Then, I discovered that making a 'washer' from a pen kit bag also stopped the chuck from jamming on:oo:

Cheers,
Andrew

[HappyHammer]

I bought a cheap $20 32mm spanner from Bunnies for my MC1100 after getting the chuck stuck. I then ground it down to approx. 7mm and it works a treat.

Old spanner originally mentioned (black) and new ground spanner (chrome) in pic attached.

HH.