fitting a drill chuck into a pillow block (building a maintenance lathe)

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m92gbCVyb0

i happen to have two pillow blocks, not unlike his, and a strong sewing machine motor, so i'm gonna build a maintenance lathe. got delrin collets, ball bearings and all i need to set it up - except the chuck part.

does anyone know how its done? the pillow block bearings ID are 20 mm. i'm thinking to scrap a cheap battery powered drill for the chuck part, and then get a pulley, but what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?
 

mortuarymike-nv

mortuarymike-nv
Silver Member
look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m92gbCVyb0

i happen to have two pillow blocks, not unlike his, and a strong sewing machine motor, so i'm gonna build a maintenance lathe. got delrin collets, ball bearings and all i need to set it up - except the chuck part.

does anyone know how its done? the pillow block bearings ID are 20 mm. i'm thinking to scrap a cheap battery powered drill for the chuck part, and then get a pulley, but what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?


Nothing works as good as a lathe,.......................................................
http://www.midamericapool.com/
http://cuesmith.com/index.php?menu1=menu_lathes&page=cue_lathe_micro_2

Have a nice day
 
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Blue Hog ridr

World Famous Fisherman.
Silver Member
Looks like you did a very nice job on that one Buddy.

If you fashion a steady rest, doing tips with a blade will be no problem.

If you care to visit the Machinery Forum, some nice deals come up regularly on lathe parts etc.

Jaden, is that you in the UTube video. That also is a very nice lathe. Super quiet.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2hqDBkHFPw&feature=youtu.be

The wooden blocks used as support for the pillow blocks were just temporary and I replaced them with a large aluminum I beam.

Jaden

that's a very nice build, congrats. you make cues on that? if so, i'd sure like to see one

my lathe is supposed to be just for changing tips and cleaning shafts though. it's not even supposed to be a lathe in the strict definition, just two pillow blocks with clamps that are easily removeable. i live in an apartment so i don't have much space for big stationary machines

and i dont really need a headstock with a jawed chuck etc either, a drill chuck will do just fine. i have joint pins for my shafts
 

peter_gunn

])3a]) s']['rok3
Silver Member
look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m92gbCVyb0

i happen to have two pillow blocks, not unlike his, and a strong sewing machine motor, so i'm gonna build a maintenance lathe. got delrin collets, ball bearings and all i need to set it up - except the chuck part.

does anyone know how its done? the pillow block bearings ID are 20 mm. i'm thinking to scrap a cheap battery powered drill for the chuck part, and then get a pulley, but what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?

You overcut the tip :eek::eek::eek:
 

RussPrince

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m92gbCVyb0

i happen to have two pillow blocks, not unlike his, and a strong sewing machine motor, so i'm gonna build a maintenance lathe. got delrin collets, ball bearings and all i need to set it up - except the chuck part.

does anyone know how its done? the pillow block bearings ID are 20 mm. i'm thinking to scrap a cheap battery powered drill for the chuck part, and then get a pulley, but what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?

I went an easier route and just used a cheap (less than $20 new at Harbor Freight) drill as my lathe. It's a perfect maintenance lathe, and I can do tips with it as good as any pro installer.

Also IMHO the foot pedal thing is more of a hinderance than anything. I use a harbor freight speed controller and it's way easier to just dial in a constant speed and not have to worry about pushing a pedal all the time. Because you'll want to have the freedom to move around a little while working on the cue. You won't be as free to do that if you have to keep your foot steady on a pedal.

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=339502

image_131104120026.jpg
 
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pdcue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m92gbCVyb0

i happen to have two pillow blocks, not unlike his, and a strong sewing machine motor, so i'm gonna build a maintenance lathe. got delrin collets, ball bearings and all i need to set it up - except the chuck part.

does anyone know how its done? the pillow block bearings ID are 20 mm. i'm thinking to scrap a cheap battery powered drill for the chuck part, and then get a pulley, but what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?

You can get a drill chuck off fleabay - many of them are threaded 3/8 - 24 .

"what do i fit in between the pulley and the chuck that is 20 mm thick?".

a 20 mm rod with 3/8 - 24 threads on the end.

Let us know how it goes.

Dale
 

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
yeah I don't need to...

Looks like you did a very nice job on that one Buddy.

If you fashion a steady rest, doing tips with a blade will be no problem.

If you care to visit the Machinery Forum, some nice deals come up regularly on lathe parts etc.

Jaden, is that you in the UTube video. That also is a very nice lathe. Super quiet.

I also have a grizzly 4003G gunsmithing lathe for doing the precision work and tips and such.

I really just use the cnc lathe for cutting tapers and v-grooves and some other work, although I have used it in the past for making cues, the progress pics I linked to were of a cue I made on that lathe.

I'll post up pics or video of my rig for finishing and wrapping. It's a german attachment for a drill to use as a lathe.

It has aluminum rods that were a little short, but just order some longer ones and it works great.

Here's one of the cues I've made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPyuSiRTu1U

Here's a link to a progress pic thread of a cue I ended up using as my player for a while. I'm about to switch back to it I think. I'll probably take some of the finish pics of it later.

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=275420

Jaden
 
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fastone371

Certifiable
Silver Member
Just a small tidbit I found interesting. Tony who owns Jackson Cue Company has 20 lathes in his shop. I asked why so many? He sets up each lathe to do 1 particular job on the cues so he moves the cue to different lathes rather than changing tooling. Very nice shop and he builds very nice cues. I am going to have him build a cue for me as soon as I iron out the details.
 

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
yep...

Just a small tidbit I found interesting. Tony who owns Jackson Cue Company has 20 lathes in his shop. I asked why so many? He sets up each lathe to do 1 particular job on the cues so he moves the cue to different lathes rather than changing tooling. Very nice shop and he builds very nice cues. I am going to have him build a cue for me as soon as I iron out the details.

That also allows you to make more cues because you can be working on 20 different cues at the same time in different stages of completion.

Yeah a cnc lathe takes a lot of that away. No need to setup for different operations when you have different programming for different operations. You also get the exact same taper every time. I still need to implement some other things on mine though. I need to put in auto stop switches etc... to prevent catastrophic failures although everything has gone good so far.

I also need to mount up the new stainless dovetail bed I have, but it requires reconfiguring the way it's setup right now, so we'll see when I can get to that.

Jaden
 
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