If you use etch primer on Alu the paint lasts well. The other thing we do on alu for boats is let it weather for a few months to get the oxide coating then paint and it lasts well. The latter method however would not be suitable for you unless you took the bits to sea for a while and let the salt air do its work
Anodising will work well though and is probably the best for something like a lathe.

Hood

Thanks for sharing the methods, Hood. While I could think there would be one like the first, the second one is interesting. Not as practical being a few months, but interesting nevertheless. Anyway, parts are sent out and it should take a few days.

Dan

Assembled the cross slide and linear guides and the X axis ball screw. Here are a couple of pictures:





It's just a preliminary assembly test so not all screws are there and it's not tightened yet. All fits nicely and look like it's going to work

Also made a spacer ring to mount the pulley on the spindle. It was needed because the original pulley was wider being 3 stage and plus there was a gear on the spindle. Just turned down the the original pulley and cut off the required length. Here is the spindle pulley mounted:


Dan

After the headstock had been aligned parallel to the ways by filing its V-guide, it became a bit lower and the tailstock needed to be aligned accordingly. I took apart the top part of the tailstock and milled 0.3mm off from the tailstock base:


Got it aligned to within 0.03mm vertically. It's quite a satisfactory for me.


Dan

Looking good Dan, curious though why you have the trucks on the cross slide?
Hood

Thanks Hood. The linear blocks are attached to the carriage for a few reasons. First flipping them around would have meant I had to drill 24 through holes in the cross slide right where the T-slots are, which preferred not to. Second, I did the design before I thought of putting a sheet metal guard on top to keep chips away and when the rails are on the top part they will always stay clean. With a guard it won't mean much, but it was a consideration at the beginning. And lastly I wanted to gain more X travel. The carriage is shorter then the cross slide and I couldn't mount the same length rails on the carriage.

I know that it may be problematic and I also had Graham tell me that I may have overhang problems this way. When the blocks are on the moving part the load on them is always the same regardless of their position. In my configuration the blocks are stationary, meaning the load on them will vary with the cross slide position. It's same as on a mill, where gaining X travel is desired and then you have a long table riding on a short bed. But the little difference is that on a mill the load is always at the bed centre .

Anyway, I can always limit the stroke if I see chatter problems at the extents. And if it's really bad I will consider flipping them over.

Dan

To be honest Dan it will likely be fine seeing as its a relatively light duty machine and you wont be taking massive cuts, I was just curious as I think I would have chopped the cross slide down by half and had all the trucks on it, in fact I probably would have just made up a sub plate as a cross slide and that would have given me the option to mount different configs of top slide on such as gang tool setups.
 I have been toying with the idea of making a wee lathe style machine as I have some beautiful heavy duty roller slides that came from a scrapped Bullard lathe and I need to use them for something
Hood

To be honest Dan it will likely be fine seeing as its a relatively light duty machine and you wont be taking massive cuts, I was just curious as I think I would have chopped the cross slide down by half and had all the trucks on it, in fact I probably would have just made up a sub plate as a cross slide and that would have given me the option to mount different configs of top slide on such as gang tool setups.

I see what you mean. Gang tooling was also in mind, so thought I could utilise the T-slots.

I have been toying with the idea of making a wee lathe style machine as I have some beautiful heavy duty roller slides that came from a scrapped Bullard lathe and I need to use them for something
Hood

Having them lying around is good enough a reason.

Dan

Been quite a while since the last update. Was a huge delay with the sheet metal parts. Eventually I got them and made some progress though

This is the cabinet assembled after welding and sanding:


And showing how the door opens:


I made the door open this way for troubleshooting convenience, so I can see the monitor at all times.

Working on the wiring now. And added some of the sheet metal parts to the lathe also. Will take some photos later.

Dan

Like the idea you had for the door, space saver as well I would imagine
Hood