I want to enable my newly aquired shopsmith.
by scott
What can I do to/with the shaft business end of the drill press quill when unit is in it's horizontal positionthe shaft came as a solid 5/8" x 1" long that the drill chuck's Allen set screw was mashed to. To all the "old school" machinist's, I'm no dope when it comes to machining, believe me I get down with the best. Of course I know "the right tool for the the right job",for me that was twenty-six years ago and don't mind saying miss it with all my heart.like too many before and I'm sure too many in the future, life at life's terms didn't afford me the resource to have the dream home shop. Now I finally have time to pursue what I always enjoyed. Only thing not much in the way of resources.This Shop-smith was one of the toys/tools that hit the market when I was too young to afford it. Here forty years later found this for the gotta- get it for old times sake, price 35 bucks. Being that I've never let anything mechanical beat me this too shall rise from it's previous severely flawed lac-luster past. In fact, if I have enough time to stay and play. This thing,with my help of course will using it's own self current abilities machine it's own new capabilities that I am certain others with similar background would insist on.i.e. full function of mini- gear head lathe,you know, power feeds threading 4-112 Tpi. etc, etc, etc. then in vertical, all the goodies afforded a well tooled Bridgeport. Oh and don't forget the DRO's to compliment the 3-axis functionality. Crazy to bother after dream list for this don't know when to quit machine and owner. Paralysis of analysis is in the first and maybe most important thing needed to over come what to do to this shaft. what ever it is needs to be able to support all the tooling I will be making/ providing as finance allows like 3-jaw 4-jaw, face plate Eventually if all goes well complete replacement of current head/motor with a my built that allows for cnc. and thru spindle for collets and tool change gallery. Keeping it real the best first modification I can think of is to grind a flat on the shaft to capture the setscrew then make a flange out of 2 1/2" dia. round, turned and faced mounted on the shaft. This will allow the original chuck to still be usable and give the new stuff a mounting point. You can tell doing these changes isn't a bother , It's the design I wonder about. Never did anything in the way of engineering, even though I can read a print very well.so what do ya think maybe add a key slot to the shaft as well? I'm not well versed on this platform of networking with computers, I'll submit all progress to this adventure. Remember do what you love, Love what you do and you'll never have to work another day for the rest of your life!
|
