Help with Spacer

Mike907 · Post by **Mike907** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:46 pm

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This is a picture of the bottom of a cast iron lathe stand. A plastic foot plugs into the hole, but I would like to drill through and attach casters, which use 1/2" bolts. I'm looking for something that can be used as a spacer or bushing to keep the bolt centered. The hole diameter is 0.8415", which happens to match the OD of 1/2" black iron pipe, but the ID of black iron pipe is 0.62". I could probably turn down some 1/2" copper pipe to fit inside the iron pipe, but I am betting that someone has a better idea. The top of the stand is angled, so I will also need to be able to cut a wedge shaped piece of the bushing to go between the stand and the washer/nut.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:52 pm

A 5/8" x 1/2" x ??(hole depth) bushing?

Why not drill and tap the stand?

Is it thick enough?

Mike907 · Post by **Mike907** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:29 pm

27/32" OD x 1/2" ID x 7/8" Deep.

There is a bit under 1/2" thickness to drill and/or tap. I don't know anything about cast iron strength, so I don't know if that is thick enough.

Thanks,

Mike

rcplaneguy · Post by **rcplaneguy** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:55 pm

How about a custom turned oak dowel glued with epoxy, drill for the caster stud, fasten with washer/nut above?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:49 am

Mike907 wrote:27/32" OD x 1/2" ID x 7/8" Deep.

There is a bit under 1/2" thickness to drill and/or tap. I don't know anything about cast iron strength, so I don't know if that is thick enough.

Thanks,

Mike

More than enough!!! Tap to match caster threads.

7/8" long iron pipe with 5/8 x 1/2 x 7/8 bushing inserted.(reduce od of bushing if needed).

I assume the top of the caster is larger than the hole (.84).

Not sure you would need a lock nut on top. You could grind a flat on top.

Mike907 · Post by **Mike907** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:09 am

Thanks for the help. It will be a couple weeks, but when I get the chance, I will drill and tap the stand and install the leveling casters. The casters came with 1 1/4" 1/2"-13 cup point set screws for stems, but I will need at least 2" set screws to get through the stand to the top. Do you think that will be enough, or should I use 2 1/2" set screws, and add a nut on top?

Thanks again,

Mike

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:26 am

Mike907 wrote:Thanks for the help. It will be a couple weeks, but when I get the chance, I will drill and tap the stand and install the leveling casters. The casters came with 1 1/4" 1/2"-13 cup point set screws for stems, but I will need at least 2" set screws to get through the stand to the top. Do you think that will be enough, or should I use 2 1/2" set screws, and add a nut on top?

Thanks again,

Mike

Back up!

Are the stems threaded 1/2-13?

Are the stems 1 1/4" long?

Is the bore 7/8" deep.

Is the casting almost 1/2" thick?

That would make the casters go into the casting 3/8".

A screw from above could act as a 'jam' screw to lock the casters in position height wise.

Why would you need set screws?????

You do need the bushings to keep the lower part of the stem centered in the bore.

Mike907 · Post by **Mike907** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:29 pm

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The stems are set screws - they use a 1/4" allen wrench and have cup points. They only protrude 5/8" when screwed into the caster, so I'll either need longer ones, or go with bolts. The casters came with nuts, but if there is 1/2" of cast iron to screw into, maybe I won't need to add nuts. I like the idea of having the 1/2" set screw flush with the top of the stand leg. Shopsmith setscrew on the right for comparison.

Mike

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:35 pm

All thread 1 7/8" long!;)

Mike907 · Post by **Mike907** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:04 pm

I was finally able to make bushings, drill and tap the feet of the lathe stand, and install the leveling casters.

After wandering around Lowes, I couldn't find anything that I thought would work for bushings, so I ordered a 7/8" diameter piece of aluminum bar stock. 7/8" is about .02 too big, so I turned it down with a skew chisel, which worked fine, but catches in aluminum are impressive! The inverted cone in the Nova Live Center set worked great for holding the tail end of the bar stock and keeping it centered. Bored a 1/2" hole in the bar stock and sawed off the bushings.

After drilling and tapping the stand, I went with JPG's suggestion of all-thread without nuts.

The lathe rolls well and is very stable with the pads lowered.

Thanks again for the help.

Mike

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