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The premier source of parts and accessories for mini lathes and mini mills.

Mini Lathe User’s Guide

from LittleMachineShop.com

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Summary of Contents for Mini Lathe

Page 1: ...The premier source of parts and accessories for mini lathes and mini mills Mini Lathe User s Guide from LittleMachineShop com ...

Page 2: ...ved Frank J Hoose Jr of Mini Lathe com took many of the photographs in this document Be sure to visit the Mini Lathe com Web site which has a wealth of information about the mini lathe LittleMachineShop com http www littlemachineshop com 396 W Washington Blvd 500 Pasadena CA 91103 800 981 9663 info littlemachineshop com ...

Page 3: ...riage Hand Wheel 10 Cross Slide Feed Handle 10 Compound Rest Feed Handle 11 Compound Rest Rotation 11 Tailstock Lock Nut 11 Tailstock Quill Hand Wheel 11 Tailstock Quill Locking Lever 11 Adjustments 12 Carriage 12 Cross Slide Gibs 12 Cross Slide Nut 13 Compound Rest Gibs 13 Apron Position 13 Half Nuts 14 Lead Screw Mounting 14 Drive Belt 14 Lubrication 15 Lubricating the Transmission Gears 17 Chan...

Page 4: ... Turning Angles 23 Threading 24 Change Gears 24 Threading Dial 27 Tool Bit 28 Compound Angle 28 Setting the Cutting Tool 29 Threading Process 30 Common Accessories 30 Cut Off Tool Holder 30 Quick Change Tool Post 31 Indexable Turning Tools 32 4 Jaw Chuck 32 Faceplate 33 Centers and Dogs 33 Steady Rest and Follower Rest 34 Maintenance 34 Cleaning 35 Motor Brushes 35 ...

Page 5: ...er 2 Morse taper 2 Morse taper Spindle Bore 20 mm 0 79 Cross Slide Travel 65 mm 2 56 Compound Rest Travel 55 mm 2 17 Spindle Speed 100 2500 RPM 100 2500 RPM Automatic Feed Rate 0 1 mm Revolution 0 004 Revolution Screw Threads 0 4 2 0 mm in 10 steps 12 52 TPI in 18 steps Safety Considerations Always use common sense when using a power tool Review the safety instructions that came with your lathe Be...

Page 6: ...9 Compound rest feed handle 10 Tailstock quill 11 Tailstock quill locking lever 12 Tailstock 13 Tailstock quill hand wheel 14 Change gear cover 15 Lead screw 16 Carriage hand wheel 17 Apron 18 Cross slide feed handle 19 Threading dial 20 Power feed lever 21 Tailstock lock nut 16 14 1 2 3 8 5 17 18 6 9 7 15 19 12 21 4 13 11 10 20 ...

Page 7: ... 10 mm and 14 x 17 mm Cleaning Your lathe will arrive coated with grease to protect it from corrosion during shipment Follow this procedure to remove the grease 1 Wipe most of the grease off with rags or paper towels 2 Clean the surfaces with mineral spirits paint thinner 3 Coat the surfaces with oil See the lubrication section for specific recommendations for lubricants Mounting Your Lathe All mi...

Page 8: ...r the 7x12 lathe while the narrower bolt pattern is for the 7x10 lathe Mount the lathe to the workbench with 6 mm bolts The bolts should be about 10 mm longer than the thickness of the workbench Use fender washers on the underside of wooden benches to prevent the bolt heads from pulling through Operating Controls There are several controls used to operate the lathe Become familiar with them before...

Page 9: ... forces you to return the control to minimum speed when starting the lathe CAUTION Always turn the speed control to the minimum speed position before starting the lathe Starting the lathe with the speed control set to a higher speed can damage the speed control circuit board To power up the lathe 1 Turn the speed control to the minimum speed position 2 Place the forward off reverse switch in the o...

Page 10: ...Lever The power feed lever locks the half nuts around the lead screw which engages the power feed The power feed is engaged when this lever is down and disengaged when this lever is up Carriage Hand Wheel The carriage hand wheel moves the carriage toward or away from the headstock depending on which way it is turned Use this hand wheel to position the carriage Because this hand wheel moves the car...

Page 11: ... the angle of the compound rest 1 Using the compound rest feed handle retract the compound rest until the locking socket head cap screws are exposed 2 Loosen the two socket head cap screws 3 Turn the compound rest to the desired angle 4 Tighten the two socket head cap screws NOTE Use a protractor between the compound rest and the cross slide Don t depend on the die cast or plastic protractor that ...

Page 12: ...4 Loosen all the fasteners on both retainers 5 Snug the socket head cap screws so the carriage can move but without play 6 Snug the setscrews Do not over tighten or you might break the retainers 7 While holding the setscrews from turning tighten the lock nuts 8 Replace the apron 9 Replace the right lead screw mounting bracket Cross Slide Gibs A gib is a strip of metal placed between the bearing su...

Page 13: ... not tighten the far screw Compound Rest Gibs The compound rest also incorporates a gib for adjustment To adjust the compound rest gibs 1 Loosen the three lock nuts on the side of the compound rest 2 Slightly loosen all three setscrews on the side of the compound rest 3 Snug each setscrew equally This will lock the compound rest in position 4 Loosen each setscrew 1 8 turn to allow the compound res...

Page 14: ...o adjust the right lead screw mounting bracket 1 Remove the tailstock by sliding it off the end of the ways 2 Loosen the two mounting socket head cap screws on the right bracket 3 Move the carriage as far to the right as possible 4 Engage the half nuts on the lead screw 5 Tighten the bracket mounting socket head cap screws 6 Replace the tailstock To adjust the left lead screw mounting bracket 1 Re...

Page 15: ...e the motor is running move the motor to a position where the belt has sufficient tension and does not rub either side of the pulley 13 Tighten the nuts on the two studs that are aligned horizontally 14 Snug the setscrews that are aligned vertically 15 Turn off the motor 16 Tighten the lock nuts 17 Replace the control box 18 Replace the change gear cover 19 Replace the motor cover Lubrication We r...

Page 16: ...vel Apply oil to the end of the gib and the ends of the dovetails Retract the cross slide Lead screw bushings Oil Weekly There is an oil fitting on the top of each one Remove the change gear cover to lubricate the left bushing Other machined surfaces Oil Weekly Oil lubricates and prevents corrosion Chuck Oil Monthly Disassemble clean and lubricate Wrap with a paper towel secure with an elastic ban...

Page 17: ... screw or screws holding the ground wires to the front of the headstock 4 Insert the lithium grease can s spray tube into one of the open holes 5 Spray the grease while rotating the chuck by hand 6 Shift the high low speed shifter to the opposite position 7 Spray the grease while rotating the chuck by hand 8 Reconnect the ground wires 9 Replace the control box 10 Plug in the power cord Changing Ch...

Page 18: ... close the chuck about turn to engage jaw 1 6 Slide jaw 2 into the next slot counterclockwise from jaw 1 when you are looking toward the headstock 7 Slide jaw 3 into the open slot 8 While pressing jaws 2 and 3 into the slots turn the chuck key to close the chuck Grinding Tool Bits When you purchase a new lathe tool bit it might have an angle on the end but it is not properly sharpened for turning ...

Page 19: ...cuts when the tool is advanced into the work Nose The nose is a critical part of the cutting edge because it produces the surface finish of the work piece Side Rake The side rake produces the side cutting edge that cuts into the work piece Side Relief Side relief provides clearance for the side cutting edge Without side relief the side of the tool bit would hit the work piece and not allow the cut...

Page 20: ...10 works well While you are grinding the front relief you are also creating the front cutting edge angle Make this angle about 10 also so that the corner formed by the front cutting edge and the side cutting edge is less than 90 Grind the Left Side Relief Form the left side relief next Again create about a 10 angle You don t need to form a side cutting angle The side cutting edge can be parallel t...

Page 21: ...ally all quick change tool posts incorporate a mechanism for easily adjusting the tool bit height Turning The most common use of a lathe is turning down the diameter of a work piece Manual Turning Follow these steps to turn the outside diameter of a work piece To turn manually 1 Put a tool bit in the tool holder and adjust the cutting edge to center height 2 Angle the tool so that the front cuttin...

Page 22: ... of the work piece as shown in the illustration above 3 Move the carriage so that the tool bit is near the right end of the work piece 4 Move the power feed forward neutral reverse lever to the forward position 5 Turn the lathe on Adjust the speed to an appropriate speed for the material and diameter you are working on The LittleMachineShop com Web site has a calculator to help you determine appro...

Page 23: ... advance the tool bit into the work until it just touches the surface of the work piece 8 Move the cross slide back so that the tool bit is clear of the diameter of the work piece 9 Using the compound rest feed handle advance the tool bit about 0 005 10 Using the cross slide feed handle advance the cross slide slowly As the tool bit meets the work piece it starts cutting 11 Continue advancing the ...

Page 24: ...alled A B C and D A This is the top change gear position When you received your lathe it had a 20 tooth metal gear in this position B Gear positions B and C are on the same shaft between positions A and D Position B is the inside gear on this shaft When you received your lathe it had an 80 tooth plastic gear in this position C Gear positions B and C are on the same shaft between positions A and C ...

Page 25: ... the gears to use for various common threads per inch Threads per inch A B C D 12 40 Any Any 30 13 40 65 60 30 14 40 Any Any 35 16 40 Any Any 40 18 40 Any Any 45 19 40 50 60 57 20 40 Any Any 50 22 40 Any Any 55 24 40 Any Any 60 Threads per inch A B C D 26 40 Any Any 65 28 20 Any Any 35 32 20 Any Any 40 36 20 Any Any 45 38 20 50 60 57 40 20 Any Any 50 44 20 Any Any 55 48 20 Any Any 60 52 20 Any Any...

Page 26: ...gears 1 Using a 4 mm hex wrench remove the change gear cover 2 Using 4 mm and 5 mm hex wrenches remove all three retaining socket head cap screws from the ends of the shafts 3 Use a 10 mm end wrench to loosen the nut that is on the back end of the shaft in position B C This allows the B C shaft to move in the adjustment slot 4 Use a 14 mm end wrench to loosen the nut on the arc below and behind th...

Page 27: ... the lead screw When the half nuts are engaged the carriage moves and the threading dial stops turning The gear on the threading dial has 16 teeth and the lead screw has 16 threads per inch so each revolution of the threading dial represents one inch of motion of the carriage Each of the eight divisions on the dial represents 1 8 of motion If you are cutting 16 threads per inch you can engage the ...

Page 28: ... should have about 8 of relief and the right side should have about 10 of relief The tip of the tool should have a flat that is 1 8 of the thread pitch Compound Angle Set the compound rest at a 29 5 angle from a line perpendicular to the axis of the lathe This allows you to advance the tool with the compound rest At this angle the tool cuts only on the left side of the thread form This helps preve...

Page 29: ... to check the angle of the tool with respect to the work piece To align the tool bit to the work 1 Ensure that the point of the tool bit is set at the center height of the lathe 2 Place the center gage between the point of the tool bit and the work piece Leave enough room so that the center gage can be moved back and forth so you can check each side of the tool bit separately 3 Align the tool bit ...

Page 30: ... sufficient torque to make the cut 5 When the threading dial reaches an appropriate mark engage the half nuts Note that you must be right on the mark The half nuts will also engage half way between each mark but this will ruin your thread 6 When the tool reaches the end of the thread disengage the half nuts 7 Back off the cross slide exactly 2 turns After you have made the first pass which should ...

Page 31: ...ility to hold boring bars or cut off tools without an adapter of some sort Quick change tool posts provide several advantages They provide an easy way to adjust the height of the tool bit They provide a quick way to change from one tool to the other They provide a way to hold several different kinds of tools usually including turning tools cut off blades and boring bars And they are indexable mean...

Page 32: ...art number 1669 This set of indexable turning tools includes 5 tools AR AL BR BL TE wrenches and extra screws It comes in a fitted case The letters designate the angles of the cutting edge 4 Jaw Chuck The 3 jaw scroll chuck that comes with the mini lathe provides a quick way to clamp round and hexagonal work fairly accurately A 4 jaw independent chuck provides several advantages over a 3 jaw scrol...

Page 33: ...up to 80 mm 3 15 in diameter Faceplate A faceplate allows you to mount work that can t be held in a chuck You can bolt odd shaped workpieces to the faceplate LittleMachineShop com part number 1199 Faceplate for the Mini Lathe The faceplate is 6 25 in diameter and has 8 slots for mounting work Centers and Dogs A live center goes in the tailstock and is used to support the end of a long work piece i...

Page 34: ...over 3 8 Steady Rest and Follower Rest Steady and follower rests support small diameter work that would otherwise flex too much A steady rest mounts in a fixed position on the ways of the lathe A follower rest mounts on the carriage and moves with the cutting tool providing support where it is needed The steady rest is LittleMachineShop com part number 1197 The steady rest can support work up to 1...

Page 35: ...top down after each use Motor Brushes The motor brushes can be replaced without removing the motor Follow these steps 1 Unplug the power cord 2 Unscrew the motor brush retainer from the front side of the motor through the hole in the frame of the lathe 3 Replace the front motor brush 4 Replace the front motor brush retainer 5 Remove the motor cover from the back of the lathe 6 Unscrew the motor br...

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