13x40 lathe conversion

[zarzul]

I did get a speed pickup mounted and have been doing some threading,  seems to work just fine although I am using an older version.   .034 or something like that.

Also just finished installing a VFD,  my Harbor Freight motor died,  bad starting cap.  I had more trouble troubleshooting it to the cap than it took me to swap to a 3phase motor and vfd.
I went through the relay starter with a fine tooth comb until I discovered the leaking cap,  had that thing apart 6 times before the light came on.  Half the wires in the relay start/reverse were poorly connected, half loose, the relays were designed for larger wire and would not crimp down tight on the small guage wire they used.  That lead me down the path to thinking loose wiring.

[wlwoodall]

Thanks for the response.

I have a smaller lathe that I use for manual work and the start capacitor went out on it (distinct buzzing or humming sound), ordered that and replaced. A month later the run capacitor went out. Funny thing when a run capacitor goes out, the motor continues to run (however badly) and the motor gets extremely hot until the electrolyte melts out of the run capacitor and smokes up the whole place.

Needless to say, I have half a dozen of each capacitor as spares now!

[Tweakie.CNC]

Now you have spares it will never, ever happen again 

Tweakie.

[tgren]

More pics please! As I have the same lathe and would like to do the same mod. Also drug a bridgeport series II down from riverton, wyo. just a bit ago. It was a real adventure. Crossing South Pass was surreal.

[Matospeter]

Nice work ZarZ,  I have an HF 12x36 lathe and I gotta say it looks nearly identical to that machine.  I have often considered converting it and the way you did that machine is so damn simple it is not funny.  I was not aware you can remove the front of the apron like that.. It just seems like it makes mounting a ballscrew mount a piece of cake. Did you actually just use the existing bolt holes that used to hold the apron on to affix it?   The nice thing is that the old drive screws are now gone and ya just got that one screw going thru there... I wonder if a nice sheetmetal cover  over that screw would work somehow..   Is that a 1" screw or maybe 3/4 inch diameter?   I have some DC servos here that I need to put some encoders on and I could be running pretty easy... Gotta see what I can come up with.  Got any pics of stuff you have made with this machine?  I have had this lathe for many years now and it has been very accurate for the price point... peace

Pete

[zarzul]

Pete,

Yes the 12x36 is almost a twin of the 13x40.  I ended up using motorcycle fork boots for my ballscrew cover,  the screw is almost 1 1/2",  I got a unbelievable deal on ebay for it.   I had to sacrafice a few inches of stroke but it was worth it.  I haven't made a lot of big projects with it, mainly parts of other projects,  mostly milling stuff,  I did bore and thread an AR15 upper receiver.  It just love the ease of threading, any pitch, right up close to a shoulder you name it, it is a breeze. 

Yes I use the existing bolt holes for the apron.

You should dive in on your conversion,  once you get done you will wish you had done it years ago.

[Matospeter]

Zarz,
   Thanks for the info man,  that is one huge badass leadscrew ya got there...    I would think a 3/4 inch screw would be more than adequate...  What is your spindle indexing setup?  Got any pictures?   Are you gonna rig up some gang tooling for that bad boy?   Did you make the  AR receiver?  Ya got me thinking here now man... nice work.. peace


Pete