Converting my Engine Lathe to an 8-Station Turret Lathe!

[widgitmaster]

Last week while surfing through eBay, I stumbled across a used 8-station turret like the ones on a Hardinge Chucker! Immidiately I placed a bid and slapped a massive MAX bid on top of that to ensure I would win this little gem! And I did!

It arrived today, and when I opend the box it looked perfect! Upon a more serious examination, I saw that the previous owner had taken a 2" diameter pnumatic sanding disk and pollished all the external surfaces to make it nice and shiny!

Well, that proceduer had distroyed all the precision surfaces, so I disassembed the turret, and proceeded to remachine all the parts to restore it's precision! The octagonal turret fit nicely in my 3-jaw chuck, and with a dial indicator through the center hole I was able to dial in the precision surface on the inside! Then I took a .005" face cut ant now it looks perfect! The micrometer shows a .0003" out of parallel condition.

The overall quality is fantastic, as every part is chrome plated and ground and heat treated! The underside of the cast iron turret and it's mating part is also Chrome plated and ground! This turret has a pneumatic valve to relax the turret for manual indexing in either direction!

All I need to get is a few new rubber o-rings!

The base plate is also cast iron, chrome plated on the top side and heavily sanded by the previous owner, resulting in a tapered surface of .006" So I put it in my mill, and took a skim cut across the butchered surface!

Total cost with shipping was: $145.67

[widgitmaster]

Next I removed the compound from my lathe's cross slide, to see how this turret would fit! The cross slide has a round t-slot groove, with a steel boss protruding in the center. The is proving to make this a little complicated! Fortunately, the turret is best located in the center of the cross slide, and that is far enough away from the boss to eliminate any conflict with the internal air ports!

I looked at it closly for several minutes, thinking how an adapter plate can be made to fit between the cross slide and the base of the turret!

The other option is to replace the exsisting base plate with one that is customized to fit on top of my lathe's cross slide! A nice cast iron plate would do the job just fine!

Tonight I'll play around with my CAD program to see what size plate to order!

Does anyone know what the distance from the spindle center to the top of the turret is on a hardinge chucker? I would like to make mine standard, so I can use all the pre-existing tooling instead of having to make my own!

to be continued . . . . .

[LUCKY13]

Nice score on the turret, it funny what people will do to things. Sanding a surface like that just so it looks good for there pics. Oh well, atleast it was fixable, and the price was right to.

Should make things a little quicker for you when you go making those batches of little goodies I have seen you post about.


Is that turret made to switch with air, or does the air just lock it in place & you turn it manually after unlocking?

I cant help you with the measurments you need, but your right, a little pre planing on the setup will make things a bit easier & cheaper if it works out to whats already out there.


Just wandering, what kinda lathe is your? Its not CNC is it?


Jess

[widgitmaster]

No, the AIR just locks it down, a really slick design too!
As for the measurement, I remembered way back when I ran a Hardinge Chucker, we used to place 3/8" tool bits right on the top of the turret, and they were centered perfectly! And by flipping the tool bits upside down, you can measure the distance from the tip as it gets ground back, and add little shims to correct the center line! (that's an old memory too! 1975 !!)

I have entered most of my data into the CAD, and it looks like a 2 1/2 x 6 x 12 piece of cast iron is what I need! I can't wait to use it, as I have so many little parts to make out of 303-SS and bronze!

The only problem is when I made my carrage stop, it has 5 positions, NOT 8 like the turret! It looks like a replacement part for the stop is inorder too!

My lathe is a 13x40 geared head Gap Bed lathe, made by Birmingham!

Widgit

[keithorr]

I tracked that on ebay. Really good price. I've only seen a couple of them before.
I also wondered how to mount one. I figured I'd just mill off the compound boss. If the unit is mounted mid cross slide, how will you set tools for turning? Looks like you'd only be set up for face and drill operations.

[widgitmaster]

Actually it's a pain to mount, as the exsisting compound has a post to mount on! I will be making a plate which straddles the top of the carrage, and fits over the boss. Then I'll add a few SHCS to fasten it to the carrage.

Most turret lathes use long solid tool holders to turn long diameters, but after 5 or 6 inches they are not very accurate and the part requires a support center!

The turret will be an accessory, and with a few screws is ready to go!

I have been wanting a turret lathe, as I've been running off lots of 50 pcs of little parts, and the Quick change tools I use have not been very efficient!

It seemed to be more economical to make a turret lathe than to buy one!
I hope I don't eat my words!!

Widgit

[widgitmaster]

This morning I called Speedy Metals 1-888-744-4140 and ordered one piece of cast iron for the adapter base plate!

A 12 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 2 1/4 piece of cast iron cost me $85.98 including UPS shipping!

That's still cheaper than buying a used Turrel Lathe!

Widgit

[jackson]

This morning I called Speedy Metals 1-888-744-4140 and ordered one piece of cast iron for the adapter base plate!

A 12 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 2 1/4 piece of cast iron cost me $85.98 including UPS shipping!

That's still cheaper than buying a used Turrel Lathe!

Widgit

your are going to have to show us when you get it all going

[Mcgyver]

nice find Eric, way to go.

[widgitmaster]

Today I did a little reverse engineering!

After finding all the pins that fit the holes in the base plate, I set the part on an angle plate on my surface plate. Then I used my little height gage to calculate all the distances and center locations of all the holes!

But first I made a full scale sketch on some graph paper and added the dimensions as they were calculated!

All I need now is that big slab of cast iron!

Widgit

[jackson]

Today I did a little reverse engineering!

After finding all the pins that fit the holes in the base plate, I set the part on an angle plate on my surface plate. Then I used my little height gage to calculate all the distances and center locations of all the holes!

But first I made a full scale sketch on some graph paper and added the dimensions as they were calculated!

All I need now is that big slab of cast iron!

Widgit

Cant wait to see it in action

[bill south]

Eric;
That's probably one of the cleanest lathes I've ever seen!!! I think this thread is going to be fun to follow. Keep up the good work.
Bill from Spartanburg.