geared head lathe feed direction?

RBC

RBC

Deceased
I just picked up an extra lathe.

Its an Enco 12x36 geared head machine lathe. I picked it up really cheap from a friend who bought it in an auction buyout. It almost brand new, but had been damaged a little bit. The lead screw was bent and the motor control box was busted from the move.

Anyway, I have it all running and straightened the lead screw and noticed something interesting when I fired it up. When I engage my carriage feed and the direction is set to bring the carriage in toward the headstock, the corresponding cross slide feed moves the cross slide out away from the spindle center when it is engaged. That is backwards to me. I also have an import belt driven lathe, and it feeds both axis in with one feed direction, and out with the other direction.

Is this something with the geared head import lathes? Most of my experiences is with the belt driven models, so this could be normal. If it is, I definitely prefer the mechanism of the best driven model. When I am turning and facing, I want to be able to go back and forth without changing the feed direction.

Anyone out there with a geared head import? Which direction does yours travel?


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
RBC said:
I just picked up an extra lathe.

Its an Enco 12x36 geared head machine lathe. I picked it up really cheap from a friend who bought it in an auction buyout. It almost brand new, but had been damaged a little bit. The lead screw was bent and the motor control box was busted from the move.

Anyway, I have it all running and straightened the lead screw and noticed something interesting when I fired it up. When I engage my carriage feed and the direction is set to bring the carriage in toward the headstock, the corresponding cross slide feed moves the cross slide out away from the spindle center when it is engaged. That is backwards to me. I also have an import belt driven lathe, and it feeds both axis in with one feed direction, and out with the other direction.

Is this something with the geared head import lathes? Most of my experiences is with the belt driven models, so this could be normal. If it is, I definitely prefer the mechanism of the best driven model. When I am turning and facing, I want to be able to go back and forth without changing the feed direction.

Anyone out there with a geared head import? Which direction does yours travel?


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...

Dzuricky's lathe is a 12x40" geared head Enco. You might could send him a pm. His machine is fairly old though.

FYI, My Jet belt drive matches what you would have expected. That sounds weird to me.

Kelly
 
RBC said:
I just picked up an extra lathe.

Its an Enco 12x36 geared head machine lathe. I picked it up really cheap from a friend who bought it in an auction buyout. It almost brand new, but had been damaged a little bit. The lead screw was bent and the motor control box was busted from the move.

Anyway, I have it all running and straightened the lead screw and noticed something interesting when I fired it up. When I engage my carriage feed and the direction is set to bring the carriage in toward the headstock, the corresponding cross slide feed moves the cross slide out away from the spindle center when it is engaged. That is backwards to me. I also have an import belt driven lathe, and it feeds both axis in with one feed direction, and out with the other direction.

Is this something with the geared head import lathes? Most of my experiences is with the belt driven models, so this could be normal. If it is, I definitely prefer the mechanism of the best driven model. When I am turning and facing, I want to be able to go back and forth without changing the feed direction.

Anyone out there with a geared head import? Which direction does yours travel?


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...

Royce, I have a Grizzly 14x4 that is gear driven. There should be a lever to change the feed direction that works for both axes. You may want to see if there is a manual out there. If you can't find one then post a picture of the front of the lathe where the control levers are. Those international simbols aren't so easy to understand.

Jim.
 
Hi,

I have an ENCO 12 X 36 Gear Head and there is a lever that allows you to have the feed go in either direction for the cross feed and the saddle. The lever has a placard with two images of rods with a clockwise and counter clockwise arrow.

Rick Geschrey
 
scdiveteam said:
Hi,

I have an ENCO 12 X 36 Gear Head and there is a lever that allows you to have the feed go in either direction for the cross feed and the saddle. The lever has a placard with two images of rods with a clockwise and counter clockwise arrow.

Rick Geschrey
Click to expand...

How is this lathe Rich?
I can get a barely used one locally for less than 2K.
thnx
 
Joe,

I upgraded to the baldor motor. The china one sucked and it was screwed up when the lathe arrived from enco. They were very good about giving me credit for the bad one and I paid for the difference in price for the baldor. They even paid for shipping and 1/2 the price of the electrician to make the change out.

I also upgraded to a 6 jaw bison chuck, quick change tool post, and installed a back chuck.

I have this lathe dialed in and am happy with it. I put on a 34 inch tapper bar on it and do all my final cut on the butts on this lathe. I have 2 table saw tapering machines, one for buts and one for shafts. I do my final butt taper cuts in this lathe and get a perfect RMS finish for finishing.

The enco is not the best lathe and I have heard that the China co. that makes them also makes them for Grizzley and Jet. With Jet being the best, then Grizzley, then Enco.

I am planning to move my shop when I sell my pool hall and then I will get a Clausing for my precision machining and use this lathe for corring, tappering only so I do not have to change the set up for tapering.

If you get the Baldor motor this lathe is quite good for cue making. I don't know how good the head stock bearings are in the long runand am monitoring that.

I would try to talk them down to 1500.00 or under if it is used.

Rick
 
Guys, I am sure he knows where the lever is to change the feed direction. But that lever changes the direction for both the carriage and the cross slide. Normally, when the lever is set to run the carriage toward the headstock, the cross slide will advance into the workpiece. His lathe is sending the two components in opposite directions so to speak. If he is turning down OD cutting from right to left under power, then needs to face off, he is having to flip the lever between cuts, which just doesn't seem normal.

Kelly
 
Thanks Kelly!

You are right. I do know about changing directions on the feed screw.

My problem is that if I want to turn the diameter down, feeding right to left, and then face by feeding in, I have to stop the spindle and change the feed direction. On my belt driven lathes one direction feeds both axis "In" without changing the feed direction.

It looks like this is just the way the geared head models work. Seems backwards to me, but it is what it is. I guess I will just face by hand because I am not going to stop the spindle each time and change the feed direction.

I picked this machine up to do the joint work on the new Break Cues. I have been having the handles built for me, but I am bringing them in house so I needed a machine with the large spindle bore to machine the joints. My belt driven lathes would do it, but they are pretty tired! We use several small bore lathes to machine the joints on our cue shafts, so we can't do the cues on the same machines.

Anyway, thanks for the help! I just thought it was strange, and it is. That's what you get with the imports! Lol


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
Kelly_Guy said:
Dzuricky's lathe is a 12x40" geared head Enco. You might could send him a pm. His machine is fairly old though.

Kelly
Click to expand...

It's hard to think of my 13x40 gear head Enco as "old" since I bought it brand new - until I realize that I bought it in new in 1993.

Anyway, when mine is set up to move the carriage towards the headstock , it will also move the cross-slide towards the center of the spindle . I don't understand why yours is different.

This lathe, while cheaply built & sort of sloppy, actually works quite well considering its cost. It's taken 16 yrs of cuemaking abuse and still keeps ticking. My first addition was a long taper attachment and a quick change tool post. I did swap out the Chinese motor for an American motor and I've had that rebuilt twice since I've had it. I ground the inside diameter of my 3 jaw chuck jaws to true them up. I bought Sjogren 2J Speed Chuck and a lightweight 6" Pratt Burnerd 4 jaw that is awesome compared the heavy 8" 4 jaw that came with the lathe. And now I have a smooth running machine that does everything I ask of it. I think you'll be happy with yours.

PS In my former life as a toolmaker, I was exposed to just about every brand of lathe out there so I understand quality. But let me repeat: for the money, this isn't a bad lathe.
 
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Bob,

Thanks!

Now I have to wonder about mine! Obviously, this has to be in the carriage gearing. I wonder if it has been apart and not put together correctly. I did talk to a friend and his geared head machine works like mine, he thinks!

One of these days, I will open up the carriage gear box and take a look!

Until then, I will just face under hand power!

I really want to take one of my old worn out lathes and convert it to CNC and then it wouldn't matter anyway. Commercial CNC lathes are just way to much overkill for what we do, but a CNC Lathe, with controlled power chuck, would be extremely useful!

So, thanks again guys!

I am off to a league planning meeting. My business partner are starting a league based on our new game called Pool 300. Go to www.pool300.com to check it out. It's a really fun game.

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
Cool game Royce, hope It takes off for ya.

Wow that table in that video, Flashback city Man:grin-square:
 
RBC said:
Thanks Kelly!

You are right. I do know about changing directions on the feed screw.

My problem is that if I want to turn the diameter down, feeding right to left, and then face by feeding in, I have to stop the spindle and change the feed direction. On my belt driven lathes one direction feeds both axis "In" without changing the feed direction.

It looks like this is just the way the geared head models work. Seems backwards to me, but it is what it is. I guess I will just face by hand because I am not going to stop the spindle each time and change the feed direction.

I picked this machine up to do the joint work on the new Break Cues. I have been having the handles built for me, but I am bringing them in house so I needed a machine with the large spindle bore to machine the joints. My belt driven lathes would do it, but they are pretty tired! We use several small bore lathes to machine the joints on our cue shafts, so we can't do the cues on the same machines.

Anyway, thanks for the help! I just thought it was strange, and it is. That's what you get with the imports! Lol


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...

Wait, are you using the lead screw, or the feed rod? I reserve the use of my lead screw for when I am actually cutting threads. Other times, I use my feed rod. Does this mismatch in directions happen for both using the lead screw AND using the feed rod? Like you said, if something is put together wrong (I can't believe your machine was purposely manufactured this way), it has to be in the gear box underneath your saddle. Maybe whatever is put together wrong only affects one drive method, try the other method.

Once the feed rod or lead screw are turning to drive either the carriage or the cross slide, who cares how they got turned? My point here is, once they are turning, your lathe is no different than a belt drive Enco, or an Enco being driven by rats in a cage, AFAI understand things. My Jet is a belt drive, and the corresponding geared head Jet lathe is different only in the headstock.

Kelly
 
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Kelly,

This is only with the feed rod. I have not checked it with the Lead screw turning. I know with my belt driven lathes, I don't have a feed selector lever. With those lathes the lead screw is turning anytime the gear train is turning. With this lathe, I can shift the feed selector lever to the normal side, meaning non threading, and only the feed rod turns.

I will be back in the shop tomorrow so I will check it with the lead screw turning.

Thanks!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
RBC said:
Bob,

Thanks!

Now I have to wonder about mine! Obviously, this has to be in the carriage gearing. I wonder if it has been apart and not put together correctly. I did talk to a friend and his geared head machine works like mine, he thinks!

One of these days, I will open up the carriage gear box and take a look!

Until then, I will just face under hand power!

I really want to take one of my old worn out lathes and convert it to CNC and then it wouldn't matter anyway. Commercial CNC lathes are just way to much overkill for what we do, but a CNC Lathe, with controlled power chuck, would be extremely useful!

So, thanks again guys!

I am off to a league planning meeting. My business partner are starting a league based on our new game called Pool 300. Go to www.pool300.com to check it out. It's a really fun game.

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...


Just out of curiosity I went and checked my two gear head lathes and here are my findings. First is a 12x36 grizzly. With the carrage feeding toward the head stock the cross slide moves from the center of the lathe out. Second is is my 1975 machine world 14x40. With the carrage feeding toward the head stock the cross slide moves toward the center of the lathe. So there you have it two different lathes doing two different things.
 
Well I guess after all these years I have just never run into one the goes "Backwards"!

I call it backwards because I just can't imagine stopping the spindle to change the feed direction every time I want to move from turning to facing. For me, those 2 actions are almost connected. I always cut and face, cut and face.

I can still do it, I will just have to face manually.

The change has to be in the carriage gear box. Maybe I will tear into it some time. One of the belt driven lathes I have will be converted to CNC pretty soon, so I will remove the complete carriage and all the gear box parts. Maybe I can see if there are any parts I can switch over.

I still find it amazing that Syil made these lathes in 2 different configurations. It just goes against how they do things. Well it does to me anyways.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in!


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
RBC said:
Well I guess after all these years I have just never run into one the goes "Backwards"!

I call it backwards because I just can't imagine stopping the spindle to change the feed direction every time I want to move from turning to facing. For me, those 2 actions are almost connected. I always cut and face, cut and face.

I can still do it, I will just have to face manually.

The change has to be in the carriage gear box. Maybe I will tear into it some time. One of the belt driven lathes I have will be converted to CNC pretty soon, so I will remove the complete carriage and all the gear box parts. Maybe I can see if there are any parts I can switch over.

I still find it amazing that Syil made these lathes in 2 different configurations. It just goes against how they do things. Well it does to me anyways.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in!


Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
Click to expand...

I believe that mine behaves the same way as yours, but, not having anything to compare it to, it seems reasonable. My natural inclination was to face outside in, but I've been told that the correct way to get a clean face is from center out. While I still manually rough cut from outside in, when looking for the best surface I auto feed from the middle out and right to left.
 
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