3D Printing With PETG

When I bought my 3D printer I knew I wanted to print with something more durable and heat-resistant than PLA. PETG was the obvious choice, as that was what many folks on the internet said was becoming the new PLA. One very real downside with PETG though was the fact that it was a lot more finicky to print with. The first photo below shows how a skirt came out, not sticking to the bed at all.

The next photo shows the globby infill.

Angle Grinder Flap Disc Modification

I've got an old 4-1/2 inch angle grinder from Harbor Freight that just keeps on chugging away. It has a 5/8-inch arbor and most discs these days seem to be made for a 7/8-inch arbor. Fortunately it should be an easy fix to get discs with a larger hole to work with my grinder. I figure I'll just put a 7/8" diameter shoulder on the round nut to hold the larger-holed discs, and just flip the nut over to use smaller-holed discs.

Sheldon 11-Inch Lathe Reversing Tumbler Repair - Again - Arg!

Sigh. Sometimes old machinery is a bit of a bother. Take for instance my Sheldon 11-inch metal lathe from 1941. I got it a year ago and the lead screw reversing tumbler casting was broken. It had been repaired previously any number of times but was broken again by the time I bought it. I fixed it shortly after I got it but noticed when the left quick-change gear selector was in position B, the gearbox would lock up tight. I looked into the issue a few weeks ago and found what the problem was. A pin inside the gearbox was too long, which would contact a gear when the pin came rotating around. I didn't want to pull the gearbox off so I tried to reach in with a cold chisel and knock off the end of the pin. I was somewhat successful, or so I thought. I rotated things by hand and the problem seemed to disappear. I put the lathe in gear, turned it on, and it seemed to run fine too. Shut it off, turn it on, shut it off, turn it on, shut it off. Cool, it's working. Turn it on again and whang! The braze broke. Again. Sigh.

New Shift Knob for the 1966 Sport Fury

Yesterday I was helping my brother get his 1966 Barracuda Formula S (273, 4-speed - woohoo!) running after he'd done a lot of work to it. I noticed he made a shift knob from a red billiard ball for the factory Inland shifter in his car. He had several more billiard balls so he gave me one so I could make my own shift knob since I have an Inland shifter also.

Sheldon Lathe "Under-Drive" Speed Selector Explanation

There isn't much information online about Sheldon lathes, I've found out. Atlas/Craftsman, South Bend, Clausing/Rockwell? They have quite a presence online (OK, Clausing not so much, but better than Sheldon). When I picked up my Sheldon 11-inch lathe a few months back, I immediately started scouring the net for information. Sites like VintageMachinery.org and Lathes.co.uk are great sites and have lots of free and valuable information. Yahoo groups also are a good place to find that elusive manual. But enough rambling. This post is about Sheldon's very cool four-speed "Under-Drive" or "U-Drive" system and how it works. Here's a photo of the U-Drive in my lathe (the two handles are removed to get the pedestal door open - they fit onto the two shafts poking out).

Atlas 618 Progress - Part VI: More 3D Printing - Cross Slide Chip Guard

A couple days ago I showed a photo of my cross slide chip guard cobbled from a piece of sheet metal. It worked but didn't look that great. What do I have at my disposal that could possibly make a better guard? Why, a 3D printer, of course.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part V: 3D Printed 40t Gear

I never did get immersed in CAD/CAM software up to this point in my life, as I never really needed the skill at work or home. That was for the younger folks, don'tcha know. Well, times change. My daughter bought herself a 3D printer a year or so ago and has been making things. Hmm, that looks like fun. But I have no idea how to even start to learn the skill. But then Mr. Pete (Tubalcain), "your YouTube shop teacher", put out a few recent videos on how he learned to make things on a 3D printer, specifically lathe change gears. And my 618 lathe was missing a 40-tooth gear. If he can do it, so can I. And by jove, it wasn't that difficult.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part IV: Tailstock Handle Repair and New Cross Slide Cover

The third and final handle to be fixed on the Atlas 618 lathe is for the tailstock hand wheel. The original handle was snapped off flush with the wheel.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part III: Compound Slide Handle Manufacture

Now that the cross slide handle is glued together, time to concentrate on the compound slide handle. The handle on the compound is currently two 1/4-20 nuts jammed together, which makes for slow going.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part II: Cross Slide Handle Repair

There were a couple pieces of broken handle bits in amongst the goodies I got with the mini Atlas lathe, and they happened to go with the broken handle on the cross slide. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good handle bits, I attempted to repair the handle. Besides, I'm cheap. Or Frugal. Not sure which.

Atlas 618 Lathe Progress - Part I: Drum Switch Repair

The first item to check off on the to-do list for my new miniature Atlas lathe was to fix the motor / switch issue so I didn't have to give it a kick start to get it going. First thing I did was pull the motor off the mounting board and tear into it, which in hindsight was the wrong thing to start on. I'd figured the motor was the most likely culprit, and it was either the start winding was toast or the centrifugal switch was not working. Nope. The motor was fine, albeit a little grimy inside. Next step was to pull the Furnas Electric Co. drum switch apart. Hopefully I'd find a clue to the problem at hand.

Atlas 618 Lathe

I knew this would happen. Even after I picked up my Sheldon lathe, I kept looking at the want ads (Craigslist and OfferUp) for that great deal of the day. Funny thing, or maybe not so funny if you ask my kids, an Atlas 618 lathe popped up on OfferUp for a good price. And surprise, surprise, it almost magically jumped in the back of our car.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part IV: New Steady Rest and Clamp Modification

So, is it "IV" or "IIII" to depict the number 4 in Roman numerals? Watch dials usually have "IIII" (if they are sporting a Roman numeral dial) while pretty much everywhere else it is "IV". Moving right along to the real subject of this blog entry, I was able to purchase a steady rest for my 78-year-old Sheldon lathe. Here is a photo from the seller:

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part III: Tailstock Threads

Ok, I've realized that Super Glue has its place, but not where I used it on the lathe. My last post showed the tailstock screw insert that was just kind of floating in the spindle. I glued it in but the first time I tried extracting a chuck from the tailstock spindle, the threaded insert pulled free of the spindle. Soooooo, the option I chose was to repair what someone had previously done. There was a hole in the right end of the spindle that had been threaded at an angle to hold the insert in place but the both the insert and the 1/4-20 threads were damaged. I was able to drill the hole slightly larger and make new 5/16-18 threads, then insert a set screw. Here's the result:

That should hold things in place quite nicely. And me being a hobbyist, I'm sure it will last a long time.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part II: Tailstock Threads, Chuck Key

I've been able to check two things off my to-do list for the Sheldon lathe. The first item was the tailstock threads that felt sub par. They were very rough to the feel and the threaded screw felt bent.

Sheldon 11-inch lathe progress - Part I: Reversing Tumbler, T-bolt

Here are the specs on my new/old lathe:
11 inch swing
44 inch bed length, 24 inches between centers
Mounted on a cast iron pedestal base with chip tray
Power carriage and cross slide
2-1/4 x 8 TPI spindle thread
MT5 spindle taper

Serial number KBU1764
  K - early 11 inch lathe
  B - ball bearing headstock (apparently very rare, most were either plain bearing or roller bearing)
  U - under drive motor system
  1764 - sequential serial number, dates to late '40 or early '41 (the company started in 1935)

The "under drive" motor system has a transmission of sorts with two levers that poke out the front of the pedestal door. Each lever has two positions, which gives the lathe 4 speeds in direct drive plus 4 more in back gear drive, giving spindle speeds of 45 RPM to 1200 RPM. Most lathes of this vintage required the operator to move belts between pulleys to get different spindle speeds, so this was quite an improvement at the time, and still is even today. The below photo shows the two levers poking out from the lower left door for selecting gears.

Look what followed me home - a Sheldon 11-inch lathe from 1941...

I don't really need another lathe. Or another project. But that doesn't stop me from perusing the local Craigslist for a good deal. This lathe popped up on CL last week and it was just what I was looking for. And it was advertised at a very good price (yes, I'm cheap, er, thrifty). The seller didn't know anything about lathes so he couldn't tell me much about it, other than it is a Sheldon lathe and is old. It did not have a power cord so the seller also didn't know if it actually ran (part of the reason it was cheap), but he'd been told by the previous owner that it did run. We've all heard that before. Here it sits in all its glory (seller's photo):

Seneca Falls "Star" 10-inch lathe - cross slide chip guard

I have an old lathe in the basement, keeping the sewing machines company. The lathe is a little over 100 years old. How do I know that, you ask? It has several patent dates cast into the bed and the most recent is 1910 (the oldest is 1895). If it were made in 1916 or after, it would have a 1916 patent date also.

Recently I did get a new-to-me toy in the garage too. A Smithy lathe/mill: