Shop Smith Restoration.

[Worth1]

I need to put some sort of flywheel on this thing, it would greatly improve the performance of the 1/2 horse motor.
I have just enough space to put a 1/2 inch thick by 10 or 12 inch diameter steel flywheel between the upper pulley and the head stock.
Balancing will be easy.

Worth

[loulac]

Great work, how stupid of me to think you had never laid hands on a metal lathe when you bought it…

Still more questions : can the threaded part be dismantled from the part on its left ? If so, is it threaded, or a cone ? sI suggest you make as soon as possible a tool to drive the pieces of wood The nearer you work near the bearings the better. if the tool can’t replace the threaded part it can come to its end, tapered as a standard cone.
Now the tool. I’m too lazy to make conversions so I’ll use metric, the numbers are quite approximate, later on you’ll make different sizes.
Take a piece of soft steel about 4 mm thick, 4 cm long, 2 cm wide; Weld its center at the end of a part that will go on the lathe (threaded or tapered). Angle 90° you will get a T.
Now with a grinder make 3 teeth, i.e. small triangles, height 6 mm. the central one must be right in the middle the other two on each side, same distance from the center.
Now take another piece of soft steel, same size of the first, grind exactly the same teeth on it but with a difference ; the central tooth is longer than the others it will give you when you look for the center. Sharpen the teeth with a file.

Directions for use
Find the center of the piece of wood, place the long central tooth on it and hammer your part to drive the teeth into the wood. If it is very hard you may need to take a small bit and drill a hole on the marks left on the wood and hammer tool N°2 in the wood again.
Now you piece of wood is ready to be driven by tool N° 1 on the lathe.

I suppose you will be in a hurry to make bowls, vases etc. Weld a 6 or 8 mm one inch long screw on the part that will go on the lathe. Work on small pieces first !

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by loulac

Great work, how stupid of me to think you had never laid hands on a metal lathe when you bought it…

Still more questions : can the threaded part be dismantled from the part on its left ? If so, is it threaded, or a cone ? sI suggest you make as soon as possible a tool to drive the pieces of wood The nearer you work near the bearings the better. if the tool can’t replace the threaded part it can come to its end, tapered as a standard cone.
Now the tool. I’m too lazy to make conversions so I’ll use metric, the numbers are quite approximate, later on you’ll make different sizes.
Take a piece of soft steel about 4 mm thick, 4 cm long, 2 cm wide; Weld its center at the end of a part that will go on the lathe (threaded or tapered). Angle 90° you will get a T.
Now with a grinder make 3 teeth, i.e. small triangles, height 6 mm. the central one must be right in the middle the other two on each side, same distance from the center.
Now take another piece of soft steel, same size of the first, grind exactly the same teeth on it but with a difference ; the central tooth is longer than the others it will give you when you look for the center. Sharpen the teeth with a file.

Directions for use
Find the center of the piece of wood, place the long central tooth on it and hammer your part to drive the teeth into the wood. If it is very hard you may need to take a small bit and drill a hole on the marks left on the wood and hammer tool N°2 in the wood again.
Now you piece of wood is ready to be driven by tool N° 1 on the lathe.

I suppose you will be in a hurry to make bowls, vases etc. Weld a 6 or 8 mm one inch long screw on the part that will go on the lathe. Work on small pieces first !

First I have little experience on a lathe of any kind but have always been fascinated by them.
So I have for years read machinery hand books on the practice of machine works.
Books on everything, most of this stuff is common sense to me but not other people.

Not for sure what you mean by the first question.
Here is the part I made off the lathe it is one solid piece that slips on the spindle.
The thread diameter and pitch is the same as a 1 inch national coarse bolt thread in the US.

20160828_153010.jpg

I know exactly what your are describing with the T drive for the wood lathe.
I have seen them in shops but cant find a pictuer of one.
They are very old.

As for the drive screw you mentioned with welding the screw to something I will just turn the whole thing out of some steel.
The also have these at the store with machine threads on one end and wood threads on the other.
Later today I will draw up some pictures.
Worth

[loulac]

You are very lucky, the threaded part can be dismantled, this was my first queqtion. You can replace it by the tool I suggested. You can also weld the screw and check its alignment on the metal lathe . Don't buy tools when they are easy to make at your own specs. Before using a cone, check if it can easily be ejected.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by loulac

You are very lucky, the threaded part can be dismantled, this was my first queqtion. You can replace it by the tool I suggested. You can also weld the screw and check its alignment on the metal lathe . Don't buy tools when they are easy to make at your own specs. Before using a cone, check if it can easily be ejected.

No reason to buy what you can make.
They didn't have the right sized 5/8 drill bit at the store and they would have cost $30.00 anyway.
So I drilled out with the biggest bit I had 37/64th and bored it out to size.
I need to stop and clean the lathe again.
Worth
20160829_140929r.jpg

[Worth1]

Here it is with the set screw installed and a big backing locking nut on it.
It run out is about, 0.004 on the end.
This is no more than the spindle was on the lathe.'
The little feller is complete, it is made out of stainless steel from a big valve.

I did look at pictures of the spindles on wood lathes and they are right hand thread.
Worth

20160829_152604.jpg

[Worth1]

Here is what I made the spindle for a wood lathe chuck.
Worth

[Worth1]

Whittled the piece of stainless down to nothing.
Here is the last of it along with a per5t off off the front end of an old car.

Wood turning holding screw.

Worth
20160829_184708.jpg

[Worth1]

The drive screw passed the interrupted cut stress test with flying colors or wood that is.
Everything held together.
I see a mesquite bowl coming up.

Worth

[loulac]

Great thanks for taking so many pictures they were a great help.

You can imagine some day how to put the wood screw more on the left but the effort of the cutting tool on the axle can’t be compared with the effort on a metal lathe, the bearing shouldn’t suffer.

With the wood screw and the toothed T (teeth on the top of the horizontal bar of course) you can start 95% of works. 100% with the chuck.

Just a few thoughts at random :

If you work on hard wood ½ HP may be the limit, if you can lay hands on a 1 HP motor it will make quite a difference.

You may find a piece of wood with nice veins but so badly shaped you will hesitate to pick it up. Work on it with your chain saw to give it a better look.

I’ve just remembered the name of the Brit who wrote important books about work on wood lathes : Gordon Stokes. Must be dead by now but the books might still be on sale.

When you have made the toothed tool you will be ready to start any kind of work you like. Trust your imagination.

[Worth1]

I was limited to the materials at hand.
If I had a bigger piece of round stock I could have turned a flange and then threaded the adapter to where the stress would be closer to the bearings.

I did go ahead and turn a taper the same as an MT-2 in the one piece.
It works great a little tap with a hammer and I cant get a MT-2 taper pin out to save my life.

[Worth1]

All I can say is I am whipped.
Been turning steel cylinders all day to make the attachments to slide up and down the tubular ways on the wood lathe.
Completely forgot about eating again too.
What I am doing is making a carriage for a tool rest like all the other wood lathes have and a real tail stock complete with working quill that will slide up and down the ways.

Worth

[Worth1]

Now I have internal left hand acme threads to make in a tiny hole.

Worth

[Worth1]

Some of the stuff I am doing here is me making parts and not restoration.
So I am going to start yet another thread showing how I do this.
I took a boat load of pictures showing how it is done.
Some of it is old school and the way they would have done it many many years ago with hand tools.
People that are looking please look at that thread as you can use these same practices for other things around the house with simple tools.
One will be how to use a hack saw and not do a hack job.
The thread isn't started yet so I have no idea what I will name it.
Worth

[Fusion_power]

Name it "Lathe Hacking" Worth. You are hacking the lathe to make it do what you want it to do.

I found one of the Gordon Stokes books on Ebay for a tad over $10. Mine now!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161998083703