Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

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Steggy
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by Steggy »

NP317 wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:31 pm Personally, I would never remove A functioning spindle unless there was an obvious problem with bearings.
RussN

Ditto! The only reason I'd do it would be to replace the belt...something I will have to do with my lathe before too long. The old belt is starting to look like the dog's chew-toy.
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rmac
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by rmac »

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: The only reason I'd do it would be to replace the belt
Even then, you can avoid the disassembly with a link belt.

linkbelt.jpg
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NP317
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by NP317 »

Link belts.
My thought too.
RussN
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by bulgie »

rmac wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:50 am Even then, you can avoid the disassembly with a link belt.
Yes, this lathe currently has no belt on it. I cut the original at the seller's place to allow quick disassembly for lightening, to take the motor and countershaft assembly off. At the time I assumed I'd replace it with a link belt. Then I started thinking (uh oh, thinking = trouble), "what if I could get that spindle out, for cleaning, and then put a regular v-belt in".

Now I'm back to leaning towards cleaning with the spindle in place and installing a link belt.

I can't do the flood it with solvent method though, well I could but I don't want to, for environmental reasons and keeping peace with the neighbors (smell). I don't have a "wash tub" big enough to catch all that solvent, so it would be going on my driveway and thence into the soil, and my neighbor's house is about 10 feet away. Postage-stamp sized urban lot, we're crammed in tight here. I don't have a "back 40".

I might use a water-based degreaser, which I can suck up with the shop vac crevice tool, followed by alcohol to wash the water out. Then over-oil it a few times, wiping up the extra with rags. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the flash rust that happens from a few minutes exposure to water is anything to worry about, as long as I get it dry quickly. I can do this inside, with a heater, fan and dehumidifier running.

On the question of link belts: are they just as good, same grip at the same tension? My user manual says that overtightening the belt wears out the bearings, makes sense, but I still want to be able to take deep cuts, reaming and such without too much slipping. Of course if the link belt is actually better in every way then the question is simple, and no one should ever use regular v-belts ever again. I haven't researched it, what do you all think?

Thanks
Mark
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rmac
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by rmac »

bulgie wrote: Of course if the link belt is actually better in every way then the question is simple, and no one should ever use regular v-belts ever again.
Of course they're not better in every way. I don't know about the grip vs. tension thing, but ...

Some good things about link belts:
  • They don't take a "set" when not in use, so they don't induce vibration like a regular belt can after it's been sitting for a while.
  • You can quickly have any length belt you want without keeping an inventory of different sizes.
  • If a small section of the belt gets worn or damaged, you can repair it without replacing the entire belt.
  • You can install one without removing your spindle.:)
And some bad things:
  • They're a little noisy.
  • Although you can run them either way, they prefer one direction over the other.
  • They cost quite a bit more than regular belts.
-- Russell Mac
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by bulgie »

Russell, thanks for that summary. I can live with all those little downsides you mention. The expense is small compared to all the other lathe tooling I need to buy. So, I can try it out and go back to a regular v-belt later if I don't like it, and consider the cost of the link belt justified by the knowledge gained from the experiment.

The only reason I haven't ordered the link belt yet is I am still considering taking the spindle out. Yeah yeah, crazy I know, but I found a youtube from a guy with my same lathe who got his spindle out, and that guy is a bit of a moron. He fumbles around and does everything wrong, doesn't edit the video at all so it's painfully long, but the result was success. And if he can do it, I know I can. I'm on the OCD spectrum and that part of me really wants to get everything clean, at least once while the lathe is new (to me). And retired/hobbyist, so the extra time spent is not dragging down my bottom line.

Mark
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by bulgie »

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:02 am On some lathes, that collar also acts as a carriage stop—that is the case with my lathe. If it's acting as a stop it needs to have some substance to it.
Thanks, I think you nailed it. I just learned something.

-Mark
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take spindle out?

Post by bulgie »

bulgie wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 9:01 pm But I can't just keep pounding, because the large helical gear on the right, that's keyed to the spindle, is also moving right, and will soon hit on the inside of the headstock casting. And not hitting in a good way; it'll hit on one tooth on its outer rim only, where there's a bulge in the inside of the headstock casting for the oil guage/reservoir. So this can't be the way to remove the spindle.

What's the trick, guys?
OK spindle is out. I found a trick — can't say it's "the" trick, as in the correct way to do it, but it worked. The problem was the large helical gear on the right moving towards the right as I pushed the spindle out. I couldn't allow it to hit the inside of the casting or it would chip teeth or worse.

What I did was put two pieces of aluminum flat stock on there, as wide and thick as would fit between the helical gear and the inside of the headstock casting, as spacers. I think they were about 5/8" thick and 1-1/2" wide. Then when I rapped on the left end of the spindle with the mallet and the spindle shifted right, the helical gear couldn't move right with it, so the gear had to slide off the spindle.

Not too difficult, but as a wise man once told me, the fun is in reassembling. OK it was Mauro (@tornitore45) on page 1 of this thread.

As far as I can tell, everything looks great, no damage to bearings, seals, keys, setscrews etc all look good so reassembling should be a breeze (oh now I've jinxed it). After cleaning, bringing it downstairs, and buying a new belt.

Thanks all for your advice. This will probably be my last post for a while unless anyone has any questions.

Cheers
Mark
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Bill Shields
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by Bill Shields »

Question...how long did it take you to put it back together?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by bulgie »

Bill Shields wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:40 pm Question...how long did it take you to put it back together?
I'll answer that after I put it back together. Probably not before Solstice. Hopefully before Equinox!

-Mark
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Steggy
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by Steggy »

bulgie wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:22 pm
Bill Shields wrote: Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:40 pm Question...how long did it take you to put it back together?
I'll answer that after I put it back together. Probably not before Solstice. Hopefully before Equinox!

Did you shoot any video as you were disassembling your head stock?

BTW, the head stock on your lathe looks very similar to the head stock on mine. My lathe is a JET product, probably made in the same Taiwan factory in which yours was made. I'm not a fan of link belts, so I will sooner-or-later be pulling the spindle assembly and back gear countershaft to change the belt. The good news is the replacement belt won't be Taiwanese and will likely outlast both me and the machine's next owner.
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bulgie
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Re: Lathe disassembly question, take carriage off?

Post by bulgie »

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:57 am Did you shoot any video as you were disassembling your head stock?
No, I don't know how really. Never thought about it, but now that you mention it, maybe I should learn, get a tripod, whatever. It could be a whole new career for me as a youtuber. Yeah um, no.
BigDumbDinosaur wrote: Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:57 am BTW, the head stock on your lathe looks very similar to the head stock on mine. My lathe is a JET product, probably made in the same Taiwan factory in which yours was made.
Somewhere recently I saw a list that seemed pretty authoritative, of brands this lathe has been sold under. I didn't count and don't trust my memory, but I'd say it was over a dozen. Lots of 'em I never heard of. In that one video, that taught me the trick I needed, the lathe was named Tida.

-Mark
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