13 x 40 Geared Head Jet question

cueman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I bought a used 13 x 40 Geared Head Jet Lathe a while back. I can get it to cut all the thread pitches fine. But when trying to use the "P" gear I can't seem to get it to lock in right and give me the really slow feed I need for cutting smooth cuts with the power feed. Anyone else have this problem and know the solution?
 
I do not know if I understand your problem but sounds like an old problem in my lathe:

- Check power motor,may not have enough power.
- Check bed lathe, is diverted?
- Check leveling of the lathe.
- Check Geared, parts are very worn and slide?
- And 5th and like my last problem, check screw of rack in your carriege, some fissure or broken?
 
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I bought a used 13 x 40 Geared Head Jet Lathe a while back. I can get it to cut all the thread pitches fine. But when trying to use the "P" gear I can't seem to get it to lock in right and give me the really slow feed I need for cutting smooth cuts with the power feed. Anyone else have this problem and know the solution?

Chris, have you disengaged the spring loaded pin on the front of the large drive gear directly behind your chuck? It needs to be pulled out and twisted so that it stays disengaged allowing this gear to free wheel on the spindle, then the back gear can be engaged so that the gear train revolves very slowly. Once the back gear is engaged the lever on the front of the panel can be engaged so that the feed screw is engaged and the threading screw is disengaged. Once the feed screw is engaged the feed lever on your carriage engages or disengages the travail. However, the back gear is usually only used when cutting threads. The rest of the scenario stays the same whether the back gear is engaged or not. The lever on the carriage will feed both latterly and facing depending in which direction the lever is twisted.

Dick
 
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Dick,
I guess you are talking about the knob that has "O" of the ^^^^^ options. I disengaged the O but I am not getting a fine feed. It is like it is not accepting the P setting.
Thanks for the advice.
 
Hi Chris, do you have the bench lathe or the engine lathe? See link below, that shows both...

http://www.brandsplace.com/metal-lathes.html

I have the jet 13-40 geared engine lathe at work and might be able to help. I don't have it in front of me right now though. From memory, the P is one of the speed selection levers, or is it part of the feed knobs?

I think the spring loaded knob Dick is talking about is for a belt drive lathe with a backgear, like an old Southbend. I could be wrong though, and sorry if I misinterpreted Dick's comment.
 
I got it all straightened out today. It was operator errors of course. This lathe works much differently than the old Atlas I had for 20 years. This one does not use the same knob on the carriage for the thread gear and powerfeed. I found another position for the cross-slide powerfeed that also ran the carriage powerfeed. I felt real stupid and real happy when I figured it out.
I mounted one of my dovetail bed extensions upside down on the top of the headstock and put one of my steady rests hanging upside down to the left of the headstock in line with the spindle. I think this is the best way I have seen one of these set up so far. It would be expensive to set up one from scratch like this, but if someone had one of my Deluxe stead rests already they could do the rest for a couple of hundred dollars. I mounted one of my steady rests with the chuck mounted on it. I was able to grab one of my 50 inch long lead screws and turn the steps on it without it flopping around. I rarely use it for anything but metal work, so the three jaw chuck on a steady rest made the most sense. But that makes it about a $400 set up.
 
I got it all straightened out today. It was operator errors of course. This lathe works much differently than the old Atlas I had for 20 years. This one does not use the same knob on the carriage for the thread gear and powerfeed. I found another position for the cross-slide powerfeed that also ran the carriage powerfeed. I felt real stupid and real happy when I figured it out.
I mounted one of my dovetail bed extensions upside down on the top of the headstock and put one of my steady rests hanging upside down to the left of the headstock in line with the spindle. I think this is the best way I have seen one of these set up so far. It would be expensive to set up one from scratch like this, but if someone had one of my Deluxe stead rests already they could do the rest for a couple of hundred dollars. I mounted one of my steady rests with the chuck mounted on it. I was able to grab one of my 50 inch long lead screws and turn the steps on it without it flopping around. I rarely use it for anything but metal work, so the three jaw chuck on a steady rest made the most sense. But that makes it about a $400 set up.


Hey Chris, Can you please show a picof what you are talking about..
 
Hey Chris, Can you please show a picof what you are talking about..
I don't know if I will get any pictures posted up as I have to put them on my website then download them here. Picture a 3 foot bed for one of my lathes flipped upside down and mounted to the top of the headstock. You have about a foot and a half hanging over the left hand side of the headstock. Then the steady rest is hanging upside down in line with the rear of the spindle. It basically allows the same steady rest options you have on my lathes. Since you are mounting to the top of the headstock you can still use your door on the left. I doubt I will even bother mounting a rear chuck on the spindle after doing this. I would have had to cut a hole in my door or remove the door to mount a rear chuck.
 
I had a hadr time understanding what you were doing until the last post. If I understand correctly you are using the dovetail for a rear steady rest right?

John
 
I had a hadr time understanding what you were doing until the last post. If I understand correctly you are using the dovetail for a rear steady rest right?

John
Yes, a full dovetail bed flipped upside down with steady rest that can slide up and down it.
 
The belt driven jets are nice, one of the things i like is mounting the taper bars with no oil oil sump you can drill heavy bolts right into the casing for the extra sturdy taper bars. also you can go from a straight cut to taper bars in seconds with a simple spring and bearing. Jeff O
 
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