Build Thread- Bolton ZX45 Conversion

[Flenser]

Cool, my plan to wait until I have time - and for others to do it first - is working out perfectly!

[gd.marsh]

Update ..

Got some work done so here's some pictures of what I've been talking about.

1st picture is the breakdown showing which part I'm dealing with .. in my Bolton manual it's part #ZX45DP0069 Spindle Sleeve gear .. The gear seemed to be brazed on and since I don't have a torch .. I just turned the whole thing off the sleeve on my lathe ..

2nd picture is the finished part after removing the gear, threading the end and making the nut.

3rd picture shows the bearing spacers and a terrible picture of the multi-ribbed pulleys I made ..

[gd.marsh]

OK ..

1st picture is an assembly reference showing the order of parts ..

2nd picture is the assembled unit along with pulley's & belt ..

3rd & 4th picture shows the unit installed in the head cover ..

Basically, after you modify the sleeve .. you install it in the head upside down from it's orig. orientation. The nut squeezes the pulley, both bearings, the inner race spacer, & the lower snap ring all together nice and snug. the large snap ring and outer race spacer holds the whole unit in the casting just like the orig. design.

[gd.marsh]

So ..

A couple more pictures showing the pulley & belt set-up on the head and a trash can full of chips from making the pulleys!

Hope this helps someone else wading their way through a conversion.

Gary

[AiR_GuNNeR]

gd,
Flipping that part around and reusing it was quite ingenious. Bravo!
Can't wait for pics of the rest of the conversion.
Eric

[Teyber12]

wow that is a really neat timing belt! i have never seen anything like that before...

Good luck on the build mate i will be following!

[Flenser]

That's a really nice setup. It sure beats what I had in mind. I didn't realize you had two pulley ratios available until I saw the last set of pics. Are they 2:1 and 1:2?

[gd.marsh]

Yep,

1:2 gives approx. 145RPM on the low end running the VFD @ 10Hz.
2:1 gives approx. 6900RPM on the high end running the VFD @ 120Hz.

Not sure the bearings in the machine are up to that .. but I'll move to better bearings if & when I have to .. Pete reports that his spindle runs w/o any heating problems @ around 6K. I figure I can limit the top end if needed by just turning the VFD down.

Gary

[arizonavideo]

Great job on the two step pulleys.

I didn't see what RPM motor your planing on going with. I would guess by looking at the pulleys it would be 1750?

To make the pulleys did you grind a cutter to make the round shape?

To turn down the gear did you just run you cutter into the teeth! Grind things down first or come in from the side?

[gd.marsh]

azvideo,

Motor is 1725 rpm ..

I ground the end of a parting tool to form the grooves so I could reach into the 2" diam. while right up against the 4" diam.

As for removing the gear .. I ran a brazed carbide tool right into the teeth .. I was expecting some issues with that but was totally surprised by how SOFT the gear was .. there was a little hardening as I got closer to the sleeve .. from the brazing operation I guess .. but my 11" Logan plowed right through!

I understand the IH mills have hardened gears in them .. guess you'd have to grind the gear off, or just order a part from a cheaper mill ..

[mattmark]

Gary - looks great! I've sent Bolton an email to see if I can get the sleeve shipped to Canada.

Keep posting pix, it's giving all of us some inspiration to keep moving forward

Matt

[Flenser]

Matt, I believe that sleeve is part 238 on Grizzly's G0484. The name is just "gear", but it looks like it includes the sleeve. It cost almost double what I paid for the other sleeve and bearings combined, though.