I noticed a while back that the slide lock on the Craftsman Lathe wasn’t working, and when I pulled it apart I found that the bolt was stripped. I left the parts in the circular tray, but they don’t seem to be there anymore. Is someone working on getting a replacement part?
On the Logan lathe the handle that unlocks the reverse feed lever is broken. Tom Rice and I removed it, but we’re not sure how to fix it. We figured the best way would probably be to weld it if possible, but it would probably require someone with more skill than I have. We think it is cast iron or steel of some kind.
The handle needs to be Tig welded with nickle rod. Nickel is harder than the base cast iron so as long as the casting doesn’t crack when cooling it will be stronger than it started. I did a similar repair on another tool not long ago. I’ll try to stop by and grab it this week.
Thanks, Jeff. We’re not entirely sure what material it is; it looks cast, but I’d be more inclined to say it’s steel rather than iron. But on the other hand I don’t really know what I’m talking about. Do you know a good way to test that?
We think it had a pin to hold the spring in place in the hole where it broke, but we couldn’t find it. I was thinking a pin could be welded in when the repair is made? Might make it less likely to break in that area if it didn’t have a big hole in it.
From the photo it looks like there are threads in that cross hole that the spring was on. The missing item probably adjusted the spring pressure, guessing. Probably a good idea to find or figure out what was in there before repair. For welding, easiest test it to start welding and see what happens. Iron vs steel is + or – 2% carbon, steel has less than 2%. I suspect that cast iron is much more common, but cast steel is easier to weld so as I already know how to fix cast iron……
On the carriage lock, if the size of the bolt is known I’d lean towards replacement with a new bolt. For example : https://www.mcmaster.com/92316A724 The bolt that is being replaced was flanged, most likely to protect the carriage. As far as the “nut” that is a 5 min job on a manual mill… It won’t be made of a hardened material as you would not want it to wear the machine. Just my 2 cents.
I did get time to stop in and pick up the handle. I didn’t realize it was so small. I am looking for a pin to weld in during the repair. Hope to have it ready in just a few days. If someone knows the size and length of the carriage bolt, I could just add it to my order on the pin. I could also make the ‘nut’ if needed, but this will require taking a look to get dimensions down, unless this is already known.
I actually did find the parts for the Craftsman yesterday. The nut seems to be in good shape. The bolt is 5/16"-18 x 1 7/8". It has a 3/8" square head that fits the handle that goes with the machine.
We had to put the lever on the Logan in a position between forward and reverse to get a pin out, so it’s currently not in a usable spot.
Please forgive the delay, life and work have been nuts. Handle with new extra long pin are assembled. I’ll be in Wichita tomorrow and plan to drop it by during the day. I used a 4130 steel pin and the cast handle was welded with Nickel rod. It was a bit of a trick to get it all back together and clamped for welding and then the welding wasn’t normal either…… The pin is too long and will need to be trimmed as I had no idea how long to make it.
Christian, I found a bold that might work. It does not have a square head though.
It seems to work ok, but take a look at it when you get time and let me know.
Pulled the bolt, re-tooled the bolt head to fit square wrench, then re-installed.
See if this will work for you.
Christian, I found that one of the leaver knobs on the Craftsman lathe is broken again. I checked the thread, it seems to be 3/8"-20. I’ll see what I can come up with for replacement knob.
I filed down the end of the handle of the reverse feed lever a wee bit so that it will close all the way. It works much better now. Hopefully no one will need to put a clamp on it to get it to move anymore.
Christian, On the Craftsman lathe the tail stock chuck advance was extremely difficult to use,
took it apart to clean, lubricate and find out why, but had to leave. I’ll get back to it this evening or
tomorrow morning. Sorry about the inconvenience.
The chuck was lose off the tail stock spindle during my class Friday and was tapped back on with a dead blow, but the advance still worked afterwords. I wonder if the dead blox could have jarred something lose in the tail stock.
Nice work!