Who has machine tools?!?

[desertT1]

There is a bottom of the head that is pressed in and I think that might be unseated as soon as the spindle is pressed into the head. There is a video I saw a while ago where they removed the gears from inside the head and they show those bearings being pressed out but you have to remove the head and I’d really like to avoid that. In my current situation, that might not be an option, but the only path forward.

[DocsMachine]

Try this: Since the spindle is held in by the now-removed nut, you could push the spindle out downward, , which would force the spacer up.

Here's what I'd do: There's four bolt holes on that top face. Fine some all-thread that fits those, and cut it into four 6" or so lengths. Find a scrap of aluminum or even steel, that you can drill (hand drill is fine) to match that spacing.

Then drill a hole in the center, directly over the spindle. In that, you just place a bolt with a nut and washer, head down and with both under the plate.

Bolt everything up- allthread in the corners, plate over the top, bolt with nut and washer in the center. Nuts and washers on the allthread to keep the plate from rising. Use two wrenches to "unscrew" the nut from the bolt in the center- this will "jack" the bolt head downward, and force the spindle down out of the bearings.

It shouldn't take much force, and hopefully before everything's fully loose, the spacer should come off.

After that, just reseat everything- and it'll snug itself back up when you get the new gears on- and you should be good to go.

(Do NOT bat the spindle out with a hammer- even a rubber mallet. The impact can damage the bearings.)

Doc.

[XEMON]

If you can warm it up a bit (with a torch) without burning everything it might expand just enough to loosen a bit.
might also try to put a vicegrip on it and latch the puller on the visegrip, but that's going to scratch/damage the part quite a bit ...

[desertT1]

Swapping my chewed up plastic drive gears to the LittleMachineShop belt kit. Things were going well til I had to remove this spacer. It is keyed and has to slide straight up to come off, but it’s stuck. The reference videos I watched had practically new machines (and mine is not) and this part just slid right off.

Mine won’t budge. It’s been gargling PBlaster for a day, tapped with a hammer as I rotate and lift, attempted to pry from the bottom edge while rotating (so like a can of paint), and my bearing puller jaws can’t catch.

I did have an idea about making a pulley looking part with a few set screws and cram those into this spacer and then use my bearing puller, but my lathe doesn’t have a chuck, only a collet system, so that’s a struggle.

For all I know, it’s not debris holing it on, but a slight press fit that was “convinced” at the factory to go on.

[flyweightnate]

Appreciate the feedback... as my tasks would be different.

And yeah... the more I looked, the more fixturing looked like a nightmare.

[cougar20th]

Well time for a update. I am not currently a machine tool owner. I decided after a couple years of not touching the lathe (see link below) that I would give it to a friend. So I took it down to Baltimore when I went last spring. He will rehab it and use it. Something I truly don't have time to do.

https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/off-topic/the-garage/3459-who-has-machine-tools?p=255895#post255895

[hairball]

Does it count if you work at a Die shop and can use the equipment?

[XEMON]

I have the same one ... minus the thread dial ... but I'm putting an els on it 😅
Super nice lathe and easy to maintain 👍

[markdem]

South Bends are old but thanks to their popularity, parts are still available. This one has a 3d printed thread dial. Thanks ebay!

[DocsMachine]

I heard someone talking about the Coast Runner/ Ghost Gunner CNC mills recently [snip] Anyone have opinions on them?

-I was not impressed with the one I saw. They're very specialized for the task, tricky to program for anything but the task, and have a weird mounting system- you'd basically have to either invent a vise for it, or make a jig/fixture for every part you want to machine.

If you can find one for maybe half price or so, I'd say it might be worth playing with, but it's really kind of designed around that one task.

Doc.

[desertT1]

What do you do with your chips? I try to recycle as best I can in general, but does anyone know what the recyclers will actually process instead of just throwing away?

[cryogenic76]

Grizzly 10X22 (with a few modifications--flood coolant, reverse gearing, etc) and a Taig CNC mill. They have made paintball parts, tools, engraved, and done work on some real firearms too. I learned everything the hard way, but I learned a lot!




Copied an Orracle WGP LPR in brass:



Found an old Tippmann 98 barrel and threaded it for the CCI Phantom for reasons I still don't know:

[desertT1]

I have a Sieg X2 clone that I CNC kitted a while ago. The goal was to make molds, and had reasonable success at a learning level. I started running into lost steps and was trying to figure out if it was the gibs being poorly adjusted or my spindle drive assembly starting to go out. Plastic gears being the weak link, eventually.

Pretty sure the gear failed and pretty much hosed the job it was doing and I basically rage quit. I am considering getting back into things by replacing the gear drive with a belt drive from little machine shop. While I’d like to say having it up and running is the most exciting part, the noise reduction is actually the thing I look forward to the most.

I have a few more things I have to fund before I can get the belt kit, and then also redo the gib tension for the eleventy-billionth time. Once I get up and running again I think I should start off with a few projects that are way more simple, I just don’t know what.

[flyweightnate]

I heard someone talking about the Coast Runner/ Ghost Gunner CNC mills recently - I'm not into real steel (not that I don't like it... but the wife doesn't) but it looks like a reasonably capable CNC, around the right size for paintball stuff, for ~$2500. Anyone have opinions on them? An aluminum-focused CNC horizontal with a 4" x 10" envelope seems about right for all sorts of weird airsmithing.

Not chump change, but might be worth budgeting for if they're well regarded.

[flyweightnate]

Very cool, thanks