Other Smithy Owners ?

[milmat1]

Hey guy's:
I was just wondering how many other smithy owners we have out there, Who would like to share experiences or ideas. Such as modifications you have done or special tools/jigs you have made etc..
Maybe some photos of special set-ups even. I have a smithy and i am relitively new to machine work(at least doing it myself). And would love to hear what some of you have been able to do with your machines.
Since the 3in1 machines are nearly always getting trashed on the forum, maybe we can share some set-up ideas or just complain about the machines lackings. I am building a scale model hit or miss engine on mine right now(well trying to !).
Tell me about your experiences with your machines. Or whatever !!!! MATT

[jdk]

Milmat1
Good to hear of someone else who has a Smithy. I was beginning to think I had made the only purchase.
I'm new at this too, and a tad old to try and grasp so much in so little time. But it sure is fun trying.
Keep in touch. Jim, Elmira, NY

[mot]

Hi milmat1,
I have had a smithy for about 5 years now, 1224xl, and every day I use it I can learn new stuff,mostly I am an old dog who teaches himself, but I find a lot of useful things in HSM and MW,.
My primary use is building muzzleloader black powder rifles and pistols, ramrods, cleaning jags etc.
not long ago they had an article on an EDM (electric discharge machining) in MW and I am in the process of building this,
but I am off on a tangent, since this is about a smithy, I did make a modification, and then i changed it back, but you might find it of interest, I attached a motor to the back of the milling head (similar to a larger unit)(can't think of the unit number right now), anyway, what this allowed me to do was have a power feed while I was milling,A small half horse motor ran the mill while the powerfeed ran thru the lathe,I hope you get the idea.
Smithy has always been there for parts etc. but I buy most tooling and things from enco or msc.
One of the things I would like to findis a way to index or lock the head from the headstock. (say you want to mill a flat on a piece of stock that is chucked in the lathe).
I know I am rambling, but this is another thing I have done that works for me, I have to change from four to three jaw and back quite often, so I replaced the bolts on the chucks with studs so the studs slide in the holes and make mounting a WHOLE lot easier.
The swarf be with you. MOT.

[jbucko]

milmat1: I have owned a 1220XL for about 8 years.I use it in my shop for small items and jobs that won't easily fit my larger lathe and mill.I was working at the time I purchased the Smithy (since retired),so I worked a little extra ot,and purchased most of my tooling for it from them.I have found the customer support people to be very friendly and helpful,and the prices and quality of the tooling to be reasonable and acceptable respectively.No you can't "hog" anything on the mill,but lite cuts and patience are fine for the small parts I modify or create on this machine.If I had to use this machine exclusively,I would probably go with the bigger Granite model,as it has features of the bigger machines,ie;gearbox,variable speed,threaddial,R8 spindle,D1 chuck mtg,etc.But the 1220XL has served me well and helped me earn a little extra cash to purchase my larger equipment. Jim

[jdk]

milmat1
I really like mot's idea for the mill head. I can see where the would be useful at time, and there is a definite need to be able to lock the head of the mill and chuck for certain opperations.
I purchsed a sall Horz/Vert. Rotary table for the times I need to mill a flat or such.I mounted a 4" 4jaw chuck to the table. It works fine and looks pretty SWEET for a dumbhead like me.
Heres a good one...When I decided to buy a rotary table. I found one on sale in HSM. It was an 8" and I thought -what a perfect size giving the small size of the mill table any way. """WRONG""" this thing weighed nearly 70 pounds and gave the UPS MAN hernia when he dropped it off at the house. It was a bad scene. So from that little experiment I learned just how small the table is on my 1220. I won't go into how much it cost to ship it back. Live and Learn.Good luck and keep in touch. Jim

[milmat1]

Thanks for the replies folks, I was starting to feel like the lone ranger to jim. Like i said before i am new to machine work though i have spent my whole life in and around machine shops. Just never really gained any experiance on the machines.
My machine seems to have a great deal of backlash in the leadscrews, though i have learned to compensate for it. One smithy 1220 owner i spoke with said he had a great deal of trouble with the millhead moving on him while he was milling, I was actually impressed with my machine in that respect i have taken some pretty big cuts on mine without any problems. I have days where i come out here and do a little machining or make a part. And i feel real good about the machine and myself. Then other times i try to make something and just can't get it right and end up feeling like throwing the thing in a dumpster(HAHA), But it always seems that once i calm down and think a little it is usually me and not the machine.
I am having a problem with the talestock, i just cant seem to get it aligned so it will bore true. Has anyone else had the same ?
Another problem is the short travel of the tailstock, If you need to use a center to hold the end of the part, unless the part is quite long the table either hits the tailstock or the lathe chuck. They sale an extension socket for that. But i really figured that it would be very unstable. Does anyone have one of the extensions for the tailstock ?
And thanks again for the replies, and keep it coming........matt

p.s. i may try the seperate motor idea, that sounds really helpfull.....

[mot]

milmat1
I sympathise about the dumpster and after I calm down, i realise I am still learning.
My tailstock bores O.K., but the tailstock does limit the table travel, I have built an extension from some 1" cold rolled (about 6" long) that i put in the drill chuck, this helps, but i have plans to make it again with a morse taper to fit right in the tailstock-(maybe about 8 or 9 inches long.MOT

[Locksmith]

Milmat,
I have one of Smithys tailstock extensions, and from my limited experience with it, it seems to work fine. I hasten to add that I'm not a Machinist by trade, but still, it seems to be Alright.
I got my 1324 in December and started a votech 72 hour course in February and so far it has been worth every dime. I won't be a 1st class machinist at the end of the class, but I will certainly be a little less dangerous.
Look and see if my original post "What I've learned..." is still on the bb.
PS the advice on my taking the class came from the guys on this BB.

[milmat1]

I would love to take some classes myself, But i travel with my job and my schedule is just to unpredictable. I never know when or where i am going to be.
As many of us i'm sure, i have burned up a tool or two ! The feed speed is still set-up the way it came from the factory. I really havn't found a need to change it yet. And the manuel is very vaque about the speeds. I geuss what i need is some videos and or books that i can take with me. Anyone know of a cd-rom based refference for machining?
The tailstock extension sounds like it would work ok as long as the tailstock is correct to start with.
The angle vise i got from smithy isn't much either, But the vises are expensive as heck.
I need to bore a piece of aluminum today, i have a couple of boring bars but none of them will do this job. I am thinking of making a holder out of round stock, milling some flats on it and cross drill the end, so that i can insert a re-ground drill bit in it and clamp it with a set screw. In think it will work ok for aluminum...

[jdk]

"milmat1"
You must get your hands on a MT3 tail stock extention. Its the only way to get some breathing room over the cross slide table.
I got mine from MSDC for about eight bucks. Worth the money as far as I can see. There is a fella' there at MSDC by the name of Isac. He has been quite helpful with my Stupid questions and its nice to hear a human voice with a quick answer.
As far as the tail stock alingment goes, I think if you center drilled a length of drill stock [1/2' shuold be about right] then chucked up in the 3 jaw chuck with a dial indecator mounted over the cross slide you should be able to get things pretty squared up after couple of full length passes with the lead screw. ""Question for You fellas"" What did you think of the 1/2 - JT-33 Drill chuck that came with the machine. Mine wouldn't even hold a 3/8 bit snug let alone a 1/16 center drill.
Have fun, Jim, Elmira, NY

[Techtchr]

Well, I'm not exactly a smithy owner, but we recently had one donated to our school from a local business. In moving the machine to our new lab area, our maintainance staff dropped the lathe, and it fell the height of the stand it set on down to a concrete floor.

Here's what I've found in repairing, obtaining parts and dealing with Smithy. 1) Found their website on line and 800 number easily, 2) Phone rang maybe twice before a gentleman who was very knowledgeable answered all of my questions about obtaining parts.3) I was expecting to be quoted $200 or more for the parts and was ready to say thanks but no-thanks I'll make my own, when he told me the bill would be $52.00 including shipping and a shop manual.

Unfortunately the quality of the machine isn't as good as my experience with their service department. 1) Fit on gear train mechanism under side cover is poor. 2) bearing holder in milling head has a very small support area for the retaining ring I could see someone getting carried away taking a collet out, and actually breaking this. 3) mechanism for changing from lathe to mill spindle power seems undependable. In the few times I've gotten a chance to run the machine the mill popped in and out of gear. 4) Odd method of attaching chucks to spindle back plate. 5)Fwd/Rev On/off is not typical of most machine tools I've used

Ok, What I liked: for the price it is an amazing little machine.(mine was free, but even if you have to pay it is a good value) My students will be able to use it to do milling in machinable wax and aluminum with no problem. I'm sure it will do steel too, but we don't do much of that. It is also convertable to CNC or can be purchased that way. It is also compact, and will substitute for a mill and lathe, and seems to be ideal for our prototyping needs.

I recently had a teacher friend call to ask me about this machine, and my advice was to come look at mine before he decided, but as I saw it, it was a pretty good value. It couldn't replace my 10" Sbend for quality, but then again I paid almost 1/2 for my 15 year old used sbend as I would pay for a new smithy with all the bells and whistles. I don't even want to know what a new Sbend lathe would cost.

Oh yea, the reason the lathe fell was because maitainance was sliding the lathe across the floor of a truck onto a lift gate, and the Kennedy work bench the lathe came with had one of its sheet metal legs fold, and the machine slid off the top( never bolted on). So if you purchase the Kennedy bench with the lathe, add reinforcements to the bottom of the bench where the legs meet the bottom shelf.

Matt

[witkowbj]

I am a Smithy owner as well (about 6 months), I have the Granite 1220LTD, and am a newbie. I got the 3in1 for the same reason as others, space. I have to share space in my garage with 2 cars, my table saw, bandsaw, etc, and all the other junk. I've done ok with it, mostly for some hobby stuff, but I've managed to make some money selling simple aluminum molds for cast urethane and have paid for all my tooling this way. I've used the lathe the most, and while its short on the features of the Logan that I used at a friends shop, it does what I need. The mill I need a bit more experience with, but I was thinking I may be able to fix the 0.040 spindle feed problem by making a gear setup with reduction to the hand wheel and mounting it to where the stepper motors would mount, I guess that will be the summer project, I'll be moving soon so the machine will be out of commission until mid june. Has anyone dis-assembled one for moving? I plan on removing the mill head and the table, tailstock and motors to make it light enough to get into my basement.

[This message has been edited by witkowbj (edited 04-01-2003).]

[mot]

jdk
Your right about the drill chuck not being top line,but here is a tip, tighten each of the three holes in the drill chuck whenever you tighten a bit (or anything) MOT

[jdk]

Thanks Mott. I'll try that tonight. But I made a 1/2-20 Drill chuck work for now by milling an adapter to fit my 1/2 MT3 holder I bought from Grizzly. This will work until I can afford a good jacobs chuck.
Atten. "witkowbj" Just follow your owners manual under *MOVING THE MACHINE*. It explains very well what you need to do to make this happen. I took my down in order to get into my basement. Its not a one man job.Plus it wouldn't hurt to pound down a couple bowls of Cherrios. Especially if your not big and bulky. But all kidding a side its pretty stright forward, but pay special attention to the gear for the mill head. Its plastic.!!! You know what that means. But it all just falls back into place very well. See Ya Jim

[milmat1]

Lots of good smithy tips going now ! Thanks everyone for your time and effort.
Ordered the tail stock ext. and a few other small goodies today.
Question : I noticed the mill head has a lot of play in the vertical axis. What i mean is with it unlocked i can grab the mill spindle and push it up, havn't measured the amount. But is close to 1/16". This is on a 1220xl..
Think i'll call smithy before i take it apart,It isn't a problem with milling because of gravity and the lock. But it makes it hard to drill a precise depth using the depth dial..
The drill chuck isn't the best thats for sure but i get by with it, as long as like was said earlier tighten all three places on the chuck.
I have heard of the mill head jumping out of gear though mine has never had a problem. First thing to do when you get the machine is to get the junk oil out of it and replace it with some good stuff.
Anyone found an affordable vise that is better than the one that comes with it?