hand wheels

I would like to polish the apron and tailstock handwheels on my 9 B ,does anyone know if the handles come off of the handwheels.

If they do any tips on how to remove them.

Thanks for any help.

Handles are usually an interference fit with the handwheels.

The handwheels are bored to standard, and the oversized shank on the handle effects the pressed fit.

I believe there are ANSI (or other) standards for handles, and most suppliers make handles to this standard.

Don't do this until paula responds with her
answer because she probably has a trickier
approach - but what I do is drill a small hole
in the handwheel right behind where the handle
presses in, and tap them out with a punch.

The problem with this approach is then you
have a nasty ugly hole in the handwheel. Though,
unless you have an inspection mirror or like
to crawl around under lathe beds, you can't see
it.

Jim

I polished the handwheels in my lathe with the handles in place. It seems I have removed blind press-fit handles before, but I don't remember how exactly.

The simplest way I can think of offhand would be to clamp the handle in the jaws of a bench vise (with suitable padding), and then pry upwards under the handwheel, or perhaps wedge the handle upwards with something tapered, like the fork of a tie-rod separator. With the right setup and homemade adaptors, you could probably do the job with an arbor press, or a slide-hammer, but this seems almost more bother than it's worth.

Jim's hole-and-drive-pin-punch method would be okay for the carriage handwheel, but the hole would be more visible on the tailstock handwheel.

Paula

Hi There,

I had a friend of mine that used Jim's suggestion. He would drill a 1/8" hole in the back and use a 1/8" pin punch.

The way he would center it was to first clamp a suitable piece of wood to the table of his drill press. Next, he would drill a hole in it the same diameter as the largest diameter of the handwheel handle. Then you can place the handwheel handle into the hole in the wood and have the back of the handle centered under the drill press.

I used to grab the handle in the vice with lead or wood padded jaws and tap the handwheel off by alternating taps to either side of the handle BUT I was always worried that I would break the handwheel! So, I would not recommend this method to the unexperience and weak of heart.

You can do a good job of poishing with a buffing wheel with the handle in place and that would be the simplest thing to do.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

Question:
How do you protect those highly polished but unprotected surfaces from acquiring a sheen of rust as soon as your back is turned? Here in sunny but humid Florida things can rust while you watch, and I remember cold, damp basements up north behaving much the same. I once tried a do it yourself plating kit that claimed to work by chelation. Don't recall having much success.
Chaz

Chaz,

One thing I've noticed is that a highly polished steel surface seems less prone to rusting than a rough one. Not sure why, but it seems to be so. I keep an old rag soaked with way oil in a coffee can and use it to wipe the unpainted machine surfaces after use, and periodically between usings, if more than a week or two has elapsed. Your mileage may vary, depending on local environment.

Have never tried the home plating kits, but that might be a way to go, if you can find one that works decently.

Paula

"I keep an old rag soaked with way oil..."

Me too. It's called my shop coat!



Jim

"One thing I've noticed is that a highly polished steel surface seems less prone to rusting than a rough one. Not sure why, but it seems to be so."

A rough surface presents a much, much greater surface area to the oxidizer than does a highly polished surface, which presents a minimum surface area to that oxidizer.

Also, casual contact with a highly polished surface tends to remove more oxides, particularly the beginnings of oxides, whereas casual contact with a rough surface hits only the high spots thereby leaving the low spots to continue to oxidize further and hence deeper.

Peterh,
I'll buy that, but at last count my lathe had about eight handles to polish, and I lack the patience to polish them all. There must be a better way, but NEVER PAINT!!
Chaz