Well you might not be so glad when it hits that glue and breaks a tooth off on your gear rack. Yes it will fit your handwheel. Handwheels don't concern me it is powerfeeds and glue on the bed that does.dave sutton said:a damaged rack is no good!
seriously i am glad you finally did this. man im sick of breaking them. i went through like 5 so far.
last week i got a little epoxy on the bed. i didnt see it and i was running my powerfeed and BAM. another one bites the dust.
i have the new wheel with the allen screw. will they fit?
Forcing your carriage over and over in the same little area with a hard pinion gear will wear on the rack. Unlock the carriage and then move it.Cue Crazy said:I'm glad to hear this too, and will need some new pinions soon, so I'll be in touch.
I think I'll stick to the regular ones for tapering, just in case a limit switch goes out on me, and it crashes. Cheaper to change the pinion then a rack should that happen, but it would be nice to have one for boring and some other handwork. Sometimes I like to lock the gib down alittle tighter, but it wears the standard pinion quicker. The harden one sounds like It would be perfect for that, without as much risk of damaging the rack, as a hard crash would have. I think I only crashed My one time trying to bump the feed in, and hit the tailstock, the rest of the time was on the hand wheel though, and I think this would really help there. I was actually gonna ask You If there was a source for them, but seems You were one step ahead of Me.
Greg
cueman said:
It does seem like it may be possible to blow one out from having the gibs too loose also. Wouldn't that let the pinion move off the rack alittle so the teeth only Hit on the tips at times?
On my Myford lathe, I have added some urethane pads inserts on the gib strips.These keep a constant load on 1 side and do put a little drag on the carriage. When using the power feed I get a much better surface finish than not having them.Cue Crazy said:Yeah I just read what I wrote. "lock" may have been a harsh word. Actually what I should have said was I snug My gibs. Although early on I may have done that one time and blew the pinion right out.
I'm hardly forcing anything though, but over time it does wear on the standard pinon just the same, and then the ocasional mishap. I Imagine the same could happen with the rack & a hardened pin as you say, but the little amount I'm talking about snugging them at is just enough to take away any chatter. There is a fine line there though, and easy to over do It. I can see It being one of the most common mistakes.
I do ride that fine line though, and stay just under when turning shafts, but I make sure the ways have been scraped of glue, cleaned, and lubricated. Then I try to ajust them to get the most amount of play out without effecting the carraige from moving freely. That's pretty much the same thing I do when boring so I may have overstated that one. It definatly takes place over time with those, not the same as a mishap, and I guess like You say even that will wear on the rack over time. All I know is the lathe cuts alot better when I ajust them like that, so if it cost me a couple of pinions a year, then That's a small price to pay. Still though even on a larger metal lathe, that area in front of the chuck gets used the most, and that area usually shows the first signs of wear.
BTW, I like that last batch of toolpost bolts you sent. Those nuts that you replaced the stock ones with work much better. I haven't stripped one yet. I have one that feels like it's getting close, but it's still holding, and they seem to last atleast 4 times as long as the stock ones. That was a nice upgrade.
Keep up the good work
