Thread: Constructing a Router Lathe from #115 of Shopnotes

I think an acme thread has very clean, sharp edges and flats. If you look at a length of thread from the side, if it looks like a row of old castle turret tops its an acme thread, eg a series of squareish groves separated by a flat. If its got sharply pointed threads, like a series of ^^^^^^ then it is not acme.

You might have to go to a engineers supplies to find it. Can't remember seeing it in the green shed.

Here ya go Camo

I think you're right about the 5 tpi

There was a thread going in the metalwork section last year discussing a manufacturer in the Melb Northern suburbs who was preparing to retire who had a factory full of ACME Thread in various sizes and materials, plus the nuts to go with it. They were slowly clearing stock, and might be gone by now, but worth a search.

It is commonly use for leadscrews on machine tools, and has been for a long time. If you cannot get something new, you might be able to get a lathe lead screw and half nuts from a machinery reconditioner or scrapyard. An out of tolerance unit for a lathe would be quite accurate enough for your needs.

Failing these avenues, you could possibly try ebay for a suitable size ballscrew and nut, but would probably have to make some variation to the gear train to achieve the required feed pitches.

Originally Posted by camoz

Hi all,

I was recently given some old Shopnotes magazines, and found an article in #115 on a router lathe Router Milling Machine - YouTube.

I have been interested in this concept for a while and having read the article, it looks to be well designed and something I could make with the tools I have available to me.

Check out this thread Router Turning - Router Forums especially this post Router Turning - Page 2 - Bruce Nelson and other posts by Bruce.

Thanks guys for all the input. I am starting to think that if I can't find the threaded rod I am after, or at a reasonable price, I might try combining the gears with cog and chain arrangement just for moving the router (like the one from router magic as shown in PDF format in this post Router Forums - View Single Post - Router Turning). I already have the chain and a couple of sprockets, so it won't cost me anything to try, and it gives me an opportunity to try it without investing much more than time.

Originally Posted by Breezy

Check out this thread Router Turning - Router Forums especially this post Router Turning - Page 2 - Bruce Nelson and other posts by Bruce.

That post really does go through a lot, glad you pointed me to it, I did a lot of googling, but for some reason didn't find that post.

Cheers,

Camo

Oh wow, I've never seen one of these before. Didn't even occur to me they might exist. Who needs a lathe with one of these things! Gonna have to get one somehow now.

Have a look at Tea Transmissions here