Cross Slide Dial Too Loose

[Brent H]

Yo Calgary PT,

Here is the picture of the dial assembly for an 11/13 inch Utilathe (the cross feed and the compound feed use similar design) On this design there is a small knob you loosen to rotate the dial and tighten it up when you have set back to zero.

This was driving me nuts a bit as my lathe uses a "Marcel Spring" to provide the tension for the compound feed dial and uses this knob for the cross feed dial - sort of a high bred between two lathes made by the same company. Your lathe is either experiencing a worn spring or a worn spacer. You could always drill out the dial and add the knob like in the drawing here:

 

[CalgaryPT]

Thanks. I definitely prefer lathes with a way to tighten these knobs. Even my first mini lathe had one. This is a perfect example of why.

I ran into a guy with a CT089 over the holidays, and he had the same issue with his—although his sounds like it was an earlier model. He had phone pics of it and the crosslide looked different than mine. Anyways, he said to be careful when removing the dial because the spring has a retaining clip on it that is hard to get back on. I think I will wait until I have a stretch of time when I know I won't need the lathe before I do this. Right now I may need it soon, so I will hit pause and get back to it later. I can always use a dial indicator.

Just out of curiosity is the thrust race on yours a regular thrust washer or an actual needle bearing? Also, those Marcel Springs/wavey springs are kinda cool, but hard to source if I remember correctly.

Thanks for your post.

 

[Brent H]

Well Peter,

It is a very interesting assembly for sure. My lathe assembly is kind of like the one I gave you the drawing of, but: the center part is retained by a set screw and not a key so you can move the middle ring in and out a bit to set the gap between the graduation dial and the zero on the fixed bushing part. Over the set screw is a spacer button that takes up the hole where the set screw would be and allows the securing knob to tighten against the button surface if it is at that rotational position. The little knob is also very close to the zero and is a bit of a pain to see around. The "Marcel Washer" for the compound feed is in the shape of a square - open at one end. It is about 1/2" wide and like a 1 x 1 inch box. The Marcel washer for the cross feed would only be about 1/8" wide if was actually in use on the lathe. I don't mind the little knob (despite its location) as it does loosen off and secure the dial quite well.

the washer looks to be a washer:

Bore Fraction: 1/2"
Bore 0.5000OD
Fraction 15/16"OD
Decimal 0.9370
Thickness 0.0600
Interchange INA TWB-815
Weight 0.01

 

[CalgaryPT]

OK I think I understand now. Fascinating to me how different manufacturers solve the same problem. We don't see as much as that as we used to. That's the fun of taking apart different machines, at least to me.