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, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 13:08:17
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I use 3 different lathes at the university machine shop I have access to at work. All run on 3-phase electricity, if that's a concern for you. Easy enough to get a phase converter or variable-frequency drive if needed, however.
I made the pinion housing on an American Pacemaker, 20x96, type E I think. It is for heavy work! It can easily peel off an 0.1" chip from steel. All American Pacemakers are amazing machines, well suited for hard and heavy turning of large objects, and you could even use one with some toolpost mounted rollers to true alloy wheels! I've used it for motorcycle rim dents. But it's a little bit cumbersome for smaller work. You can often get American Pacemaker lathes for cheap or free, because they are so big, heavy, and hard to move. But if you can get one, you should do it.
The second (more versatile) one is a Hardinge HLV. The HLV and HLV-H are, in my opinion, the best toolroom lathes ever built. They have single-tooth engagement and reverse gears for easy screwcutting in any pitch, even metric. This makes one-off threads easy! No fiddling with a threading dial, or engaging and disengaging halfnuts at the correct time. That along with a precise 5C collet chuck and continuously variable speed drive makes the Hardinge HLV the ideal "small" lathe. WAY better than a South Bend or whatever else.
The third is a Trak CNC lathe. Great for small production runs. You can program it conversationally, rather than having to deal with software postprocessors, gcode and CAM.
Thanks for asking! I have a lot of opinions about machine tools.
The bearing I'm using is the same as the old Swedish Dynamics (or Eriksson maybe?) "big bearing" kit, which eeuro briefly revived when Jordan Pagano was working with them. It's the same bearing spec'd in the differential on the old Vette C1 and various other GM vehicles from the '50s and '60s. Let's see... HM88547 inner race and rollers, HM88510 outer race. No sleeving required, goes right on the pinion shaft. That's the back bearing. Front bearing will be stock. This means the pinion housing is quite thin, which is why I made it of steel. Others have done it in high strength 7075 aluminum, which has a higher tensile strength than steel, and looks better on paper. But steel is more fatigue-resistant. If we believe that these fail due to repetitive flex, why not go with steel? It's hard to make, but I made quick work of the steel on the Pacemaker lathe.
posted by 71.184.11...
, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 08:38:54, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 12:56:06, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:23:19, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 19:40:30, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 13:08:17
, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:53:13, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:16:31, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:23:21, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:24:49, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:26:39, Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:00:23
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