This is getting ridiculous, another "Orphan"

[rjent]

I am getting the Mark VII pretty much squared away and love the design and machine in general (I will have more later if anyone is interested). I have a (I thought) major problem with one of my casters on the Mark VII. The casters move up and down off the cam(s) by a cast steel piston. Good idea, but not implemented very well. The cast steel seems brittle and weak and after doing some research and contacting JPG, I found that it is a common ailment. JPG sent me his last piston so I can move mine around, but what about JPG? So what to do. If I only had a lathe ..... (you know where this is going)

I had a friend of mine in the shop that I helped get set up with a Mark V a couple of years ago and we were making a mirror frame for his daughter and I started lamenting about "the current problem". He looked at me and said, "I will be right back". He comes back in an hour with a 60's vintage Atlas/Craftsman 6 inch mini lathe. All in boxes and a real basket case. He said "here you go, get it working and it's yours".

So I did:

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OK, now, the pistons.

Made one in steel first successfully, but didn't like the work it took (it's been thirty five years since I have even seen a metal lathe, much less did anything with one)

Steel and cast steel side by side.

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So I told JPG that I was ordering some tempered aluminum round bar stock and I would try some in aluminum for us both to try (the least I could do). I got two made today and hopefully get his other two made tomorrow. I tried the first two and they work perfectly. Time will tell if they hold up.

cast steel and aluminum side by side

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So, I have taken in another "orphan" machine that needs a lot of TLC, but is in pretty good shape, a few problems, but fixable, and the bonus, is my Mark VII is fixed and I will hopefully get JPG's back on her "feet" again too.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Machines are like clamps — you can never have too many.

But you CAN have too little space.

[nuhobby]

This is good stuff! Great story.

Chris

[garys]

I operate under a different theory. If any additional clamp doesn't fit in my clamp drawer, then it is too many.
And, for machines, I have one, and one more would be too many as it would prevent me from working easily in my small shop.

[chapmanruss]

Good job resolving that problem. Hopefully the aluminum caster piston can stand up to use and give you many years of service. Is your next project machining an aluminum cam for the speed control?

[rjent]

Good job resolving that problem. Hopefully the aluminum caster piston can stand up to use and give you many years of service. Is your next project machining an aluminum cam for the speed control?

LOL. Not yet. I have an alternative solution if I have the problem. The original owner obviously knew of the problem as he had alternate oiling holes drilled into the fork and it looked like it had been oiled regularly. If the cam goes bad (and I don't expect that at all with proper maint.) I will use an actuator to push on the button bearing. Since we have learned that a porkchop style mechanism will work with the standard bearing, I see a repair on this a non-issue. But then again, I could be fooling myself LOL

As for room, I have six machines operational, use them all regularly (actually have all of the spt's "permanently" mounted on various machines. I love the ability to lay out a room full of table space for working ply and long pieces. What ever works for everyone. This lathe got perma-mounted on a small workbench that I was really not using anymore because of my roll around bench/vise.

I was using the VII this morning with the new pistons "on the ground" and they are working better than the original.

Fingers crossed.

[moggymatt]

I've had an itch to try some small metal lathe work lately but at the moment I can't squeeze another machine in my garage bigger than a toaster.