Mill and lathe advice

[Alexander]

Concrete would be amazing. You could also use something like a welding table and secure it to that. Any size plate would do but I would personally look for some 1/4" plate or bigger for a table top. Busy bee in calgary had a lathe stand on clearance in there show room for $175 that would also work.

 

[Trent ks]

I think I will go with 1.5" concrete slab, should only cost 50 or 60 $ in material!

 

[PeterT]

Do you mean you can purchase a slab like a countertop material? or you would pour it yourself into a like a barrier dam integrated to your bench table?
Either/or concrete would seem an interesting option being both solid & vibration dampening. I know little about drilling holes like for your mounting lug holes.

Funny I was just thinking about the same thing for a different purpose. Make up some steel strips from C-section with threaded holes/nuts that matched the mounting lug pattern on a bench machine, then basically cast it in place with cement. I've read about guys using epoxy/aggregate mixture (as opposed to water type regular cement) on home brew CNC frames & they report excellent stability.

 

[Trent ks]

Do you mean you can purchase a slab like a countertop material? or you would pour it yourself into a like a barrier dam integrated to your bench table?
Either/or concrete would seem an interesting option being both solid & vibration dampening. I know little about drilling holes like for your mounting lug holes.

Funny I was just thinking about the same thing for a different purpose. Make up some steel strips from C-section with threaded holes/nuts that matched the mounting lug pattern on a bench machine, then basically cast it in place with cement. I've read about guys using epoxy/aggregate mixture (as opposed to water type regular cement) on home brew CNC frames & they report excellent stability.

I would pour it on melamine with some inserts matching the bolt pattern like this guy did below. He says on the last page that it worked perfectly. He even has the whole thing on wheels. He also has some threaded bolts on the bottom to level the whole thing.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/south-bend-lathes/building-beefcake-lathe-bench-317924/

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[Trent ks]

I ended up making the table out of concrete as it was all I could afford. All the metal I found in the back alley around my house (Including a 12'-2x2x1/4 tube) I lifted the 450lb cement slab myself using some sort of neolithic block moving techniques. The table can be leveled with those thick bolts in the legs. The casters were the most expensive part and they are rated at 1000lb each. I ended up spending about $250 on everything. I placed the lathe to seen how it would look but I still need to clean it up a bit. Does anyone have advice on cleaning a SB?

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[PeterT]

Your bench top looks great.

The YouTube channel I was mentioning BasementShopGuy does a lot of rebuilds & seems to favour Purple Power degreaser for his restorations. I bought some to try, seems to work ok but I haven't really soaked things or compared to other products. Some of the other 'environmentally friendly' solutions I've tried remove grease & oils but can do strange things like dull aluminum & almost promote corrosion on steel if you don't get it off. Lately I've been using a low odor paint thinner & then recycle the spent liquid for fire department drop off.

 

[Janger]

Try super clean from cad tire.

Really like your stand and the adjustable feet.

 

[Johnwa]

I completely disassembled mine when I got it. I boiled all the smaller castings in tsp before painting.
Cleaning or replacing all the wicks is a good idea. There used to be someone on eBay selling a kit of wicks along with instructions.

For a less complete overhaul, I'd do the apron, mine was full of crud, and check and clean the spindle wicks.

 

[Trent ks]

Thanks for the tips! There isn't any rust and everything moves smoothly so I don't know if I need to take everything apart just yet. There is a lot of old grease stuck on in all sorts of hard to reach places full of sawdust and chips from previous owner.

I'm having a hell of a time understanding how the motor is wired. The last owner didn't have it wired properly so I have nothing to go on. I'm scraping through some other forums and I have a couple leeds which indicated that I might be missing a relay. It has a GE 4.5 a, 110 v 1/4hp. The way it's wired now is causing some sort of problem with the motor not wanting to turn without a push (free running without belt), doesn't seem right at all.

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[Johnwa]

the motor on mine is either 1/2 or 3/4 hp capacitor start. 1/4hp sounds a bit small. on mine, one set of contacts in the drum switch switches the run winding on or off. The other two sets swap the polarity of the start winding for forward and reverse. Reverse is kind of useless if your using a chuck as it will tend to unscrew.
Is your motor capacitor start? If it is I could likely lead you thru the wiring bit.

 

[Trent ks]

I believe the capacitor would be on the outside and it definitely does not have one.

 

[Bofobo]

1/4hp and it needs a bump start? Is it a belt drive? My mini mill will stall due to a thermal circuit without any work load if the tension on my belt is to high, perhaps it's just tight somewhere it's not supposed to be? But before you spend on that little power plant perhaps you can find a better alternative

 

[Trent ks]

1/4hp and it needs a bump start? Is it a belt drive? My mini mill will stall due to a thermal circuit without any work load if the tension on my belt is to high, perhaps it's just tight somewhere it's not supposed to be? But before you spend on that little power plant perhaps you can find a better alternative

I figured out that the starter coil wasn't connected (for the last 30 years?) So i connected the starter coil on the furnas switch and now It starts without stalling and can go in reverse as well. I've found a few old 1/2 hp motors but they are a good 2 hours of driving away. I could buy new but I'd rather wait and get a crusty old one!

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[Trent ks]

I was thinking of replacing the old leather belt that came with it. I've read good things about serpentine belts, some people remove the spindle to get them on which seems about the same amount of hassle as splicing one. I can also check the bearings out. The previous owner used some kind of white grease to lube up some components, should I de grease that and put on some proper way oil?

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[Johnwa]

I've used a serpentine belt ever since I bought/refurbished my lathe. I think it may have more grip than a leather belt for the same tension. Of course it doesn't have the click-click sound of the splice if you're nostalgic for that sort of thing.
I had my headstock disassembled so it was easy to install. Spindle removal allows you to check the oil return holes for blockage. This isn't a bad idea anyway, especially if it's been used as a wood lathe.