turret lathe

[steve schaeffer]

hey i was reading the post about the washers, and a couple of you said turret lathes are nice for this! i hate my turret lathe! i hate it i hate it i hate it i hate it.
my hatred comes from ignorance. i am truly ignorant when it comes to utilizing its capabilties. clausing 12" x 36 turret.
any ideas? it just seems to be such a hassle to use versus a convential lathe with a tailstock.

[Rustybolt]

Let me guess. Your having a hard time with the tools lining up with the spindle from one station to the next.
What size are the tool holes on the turret?

[bspooh]

I have a hitachi seiki turret lathe...Personally I think turret lathes are great machines...

They are excellent machines for production...but if you aren't doing production work, then don't bother using the turret lathe...they can take a little time to setup...but once they're setup, they can make parts with multiple operations quick and easy...you have to have a lot of tooling with it to make the machine effective...

don't give up on the turret lathe...give it a chance...

brent

[JoelK]

Steve, I'll give you ten bucks for it!

[tattoomike68]

i have run turret lathes from small to 55 ton monsters the have 3 cutting heads.
i love ours it has lots of stops and power feeds with rapid travers,5 post turit on the tail and 4 of the crosslide.
if you learn it well you can gang tool like a big dog.
we have an old #3 warner swazy i think #3 its the type but it was from before world war 2 and was mad for making 90MM shell casings for big guns , i love that dirty old beast it drills 2.9375 holes through big chubs of steel like nothing.
on drills that big you can run .015 feed and make chips fast.(we keep barels next to it.)
my olny complait with it is that a 6'3" man has to bend overf to use it because in ww 2 ill bet women did most of the machining .

[steve schaeffer]

thats part of the problem my tooling is about nill. i have a live center, a 1/2" bushing and a 5/8 bushing which allows me to hold my jacobs chuck in it. its my first lathe, i got it for 300 bucks, and ive made many parts for it to make it work. (including the half inch bushing). so far ive had to make a new forward reverse tumbler bracket and swivel shaft. damn hydraulic speed control sucks. somebody bastardized it a little. back gear is like 40 rpms max, then when you put it in high its like 600 rpm. i think its the variable belt thats worn. i just made a new half nut assembly for it, which im so very proud of because i am not a machinist by any means. but it came out "mint". i guess the other thing i dont like about it is cutting threads on it. i cant. and i dont want to spend five hundred on a die closer for the turret. i like making my own tools, ive made a dovetail cutter already, and like the above machine parts, im considering making a compound slide to make the turret lathe a little more like a turret/conventional lathe. as far as tooling the turret, my mind is blank, i just can visualize what some common tools might look like, the turret has six positions, with a 1" bored hole (at least i think its one inch, im not sure at the moment.)it would be interesting to get a little more use out of it. ive fixed a lot of mechanical problems with it. keep the ideas coming, this is great.
oh, my machining is in the home shop, making anything and anything. currently building three factory experimental tractors(thats the class, united states lawn mower racers association) ok, so throw em at me, and ten bucks doesnt seem like a bad offer, you may have been too anxious, haha.
steve

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extreme tractor racing

[steve schaeffer]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Rustybolt:
Let me guess. Your having a hard time with the tools lining up with the spindle from one station to the next.
What size are the tool holes on the turret? </font>

yeah, actually i figured out where the stroke locks down the turret, so i put a mark on there. i just have to remember to allow enough room. i end up having to move the turret back and forth because my tools are to wide a range to accomodate. (ex. a number 5 center drill in a bushing, versus a live center with a shank. )either that or i cant swing the turret with tools on it when im real close to the chuck, because they will hit the tool post. damn the bad luck.
steve

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extreme tractor racing

[Herb W]

Steve
There's a full series on making & using capstan (turret) tools under lathe attachments in the files of the mlathemods yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mlathemods/

The book "Turret Lathe Operator's Manual" by Warner & Swasey might inerest you. Got my copy from Abe http://www.abebooks.com/
Good reference book imo & not expensive.

[steve schaeffer]

herb,

now i like my turret lathe a little more. that yahoo site is packed with tooling ideas. i like the idea of a bush centered, box cutting tool. that is some really good info. i am printing it out as we speak. i almost want to go find some work now. haha
thanks.,
steve

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extreme tractor racing

[MikeHenry]

Do you have a Clausing 5900 series lathe? Those had options to make them into turret lathes (production cross slide and bed turret). I have a 5914 that came with the the standard and turret accessories. I'm really getting to like the bed turret for turning and threading small diameter flexible materials like plastics, but haven't found a need for the production cross slide yet.

If you don't have manuals for the lathe and accessories, call Clausing and order one along with a parts list. The lathe manual is around $25 and well worth the cost. They'll need your serial number as they have something like 25 different versions of the manual.

You might also want to join the Yahoo Clausing group and browse through the archives there. The hydraulic vari-speed system needs some periodic maintenance which is cheap to do if caught in time and very expensive to fix if allowed to wait too long.

Mike, near Chicago

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by steve schaeffer:
thats part of the problem my tooling is about nill. i have a live center, a 1/2" bushing and a 5/8 bushing which allows me to hold my jacobs chuck in it. its my first lathe, i got it for 300 bucks, and ive made many parts for it to make it work. (including the half inch bushing). so far ive had to make a new forward reverse tumbler bracket and swivel shaft. damn hydraulic speed control sucks. somebody bastardized it a little. back gear is like 40 rpms max, then when you put it in high its like 600 rpm. i think its the variable belt thats worn. i just made a new half nut assembly for it, which im so very proud of because i am not a machinist by any means. but it came out "mint". i guess the other thing i dont like about it is cutting threads on it. i cant. and i dont want to spend five hundred on a die closer for the turret. i like making my own tools, ive made a dovetail cutter already, and like the above machine parts, im considering making a compound slide to make the turret lathe a little more like a turret/conventional lathe. as far as tooling the turret, my mind is blank, i just can visualize what some common tools might look like, the turret has six positions, with a 1" bored hole (at least i think its one inch, im not sure at the moment.)it would be interesting to get a little more use out of it. ive fixed a lot of mechanical problems with it. keep the ideas coming, this is great.
oh, my machining is in the home shop, making anything and anything. currently building three factory experimental tractors(thats the class, united states lawn mower racers association) ok, so throw em at me, and ten bucks doesnt seem like a bad offer, you may have been too anxious, haha.
steve

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