Recent posts
- first hard frost and the ways feel gummy again
If it frees after an hour, it is viscosity, not a gib that moved overnight. Do not adjust the gib to chase a cold morning. You will chase i…
- clausing saddle sits proud of the way on one side
Feel for a shim or a felt that bunched. If the keep is loose on that side, the saddle can sit cocked and still crank. Tighten nothing until…
- boring bar springs, hole is bigger at the front
Also check the bar is on center. A bar below center springs down and out of the cut at the mouth and back in as the load builds. You get a…
- how much backlash is just 'it's a lathe'
An eighth on a worn hobby cross slide is common. Half a turn is a nut that is done. Measure at the tool with an indicator, not by the feel…
- 16 tpi external, the dial doesn't land where I left it
If the half nuts stayed closed, the pitch is the leadscrew. The dial lying is backlash plus you reading it from the wrong side of the lash.…
- 10k, the oil in the headstock was tar
Glitter after forty years of tar is not a surprise. If it is still making glitter after the second real oil change, then you have a bearing…
- leveling a logan on a slab, the floor thread was a 9A
One shim. The low foot is the one that lets the front get fat, usually the front headstock foot if the lathe is twisting that way. Cut agai…
- leadscrew has end play, the thread length drifts
Fifteen thou of end play shows up in the thread. Adjust the end bearings until the screw turns free and the push is a couple thou, not fift…
- soft jaws, two winters, they finally match
A thou in soft jaws on a 3-jaw is a result. Write down that you bored them under the ring. Next time you will forget and bore them empty an…
- import 6 inch chuck, runout, am I the problem
Mark the bad jaw so future you doesn't rediscover it at 11pm. Number is about 0.09 mm. Fine for rough. Not fine for a shoulder you care abo…
- o-ring groove, the chart and the lathe disagree
Grind the blade to the width. Two passes leave a rib the o-ring will find. Convert once, write the inch number on the chart, stop convertin…
- rotary or a vfd, garage, 3hp that already lies
Do not put the VFD on the output of the existing drum switch if you can help it. Feed the motor from the drive. Switching the output under…