What's new
What's new

Value priced draw tube?

MiamiCNC

Plastic
Joined
Dec 2, 2019
Location
Florida, USA
I recently purchased a 1995 Mazak QT20. It was purchased just so that I can get my feet wet on a CNC lathe without a huge investment. It runs well and seems to be in good mechanical condition. One problem though, is that it came with an oddball chuck. An autoblok TSR which is a closed center compensating application chuck that references off a centering point instead of the OD. Its a nice, expensive chuck ($10k), but pretty much useless as a job chuck. So I would like to replace it with a more versatile open center chuck like a Kitagawa B210. The problem is that I have a draw bar instead of a draw tube, so I should also replace this as well. Kitagawa wants ~ $2500 for a draw tube that would fit my S1875 actuator. Doesn't make much sense to dump this kind of $ into such an old machine. Does anyone know of a cheaper source for a draw tube? I've checked ebay and nothing available that would work. As I see it, these are my options:

1) Use a manual chuck
2) keep the draw bar and see if I can make an adapter that would mate to an larger bore chuck
3) Hopefully find a more affordable draw tube.

Thanks in advance for useful info.
Dan
 
A draw tube is a part you make for older machines. You make the tube, the nuts and the tools to install them all at the same time. If you can't make them yourself you draw them up and pay someone who can.

Lathes don't really change much over the last 40 years. I have CNC lathes from the early 80's through the late 2000's and the primary difference is the build quality and condition which is independent of age entirely. I don't believe newer makes much difference with lathes. So, 1995 QT20 is really quite a machine if you can apply it properly.

If you need to make it yourself you might figure out what your spindle nose is and buy a decent 4 jaw to fit or make it fit your spindle nose. Buy some quality tubing and have it honed to your sizes for the draw tube and sockets. if your machine lacks a tailstock you could probably figure out a way to center one end inside the spindle if you're crafty.
 
I have a 10" Powerhold 3 jaw, a drawbar and cylinder that I removed from a lathe we no longer use, and have about 100# of chuck jaws for it if you are interested. Its currently a D1-6 backplate, but that could be changed.
 


Perfect! I'll give them a call on Monday.

Lathes don't really change much over the last 40 years. I have CNC lathes from the early 80's through the late 2000'athe primary difference is the build quality and condition which is independent of age entirely. I don't believe newer makes much difference with lathes. So, 1995 QT20 is really quite a machine if you can apply it properly.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the build quality of this 'old' machine. So far everything seems to be in very good shape, despite the 8k hour of spindle use. The only real issue is the lack of EIA, but the mazatrol language is pretty easy to pickup.

I have a 10" Powerhold 3 jaw, a drawbar and cylinder that I removed from a lathe we no longer use, and have about 100# of chuck jaws for it if you are interested. Its currently a D1-6 backplate, but that could be changed.

I have an A2-8 spindle. I'll send you a PM for the details.
 
Doesn't make much sense to dump this kind of $ into such an old machine.

If $2500 is a lot of money to spend on this Mazak, then why even buy the machine in the first place?
If the machine runs good, you should be able to make that money back in no time at all.
And your #1 option of using a manual chuck..... that's not an option, that's asking for trouble.:nono:
 
Ha- actually I do still have them. you can e-mail me or send a PM thru the forum. My e-mail is DMCGEARSatYAHOOdotCOM.
I'm in California, so shipping might be ugly though.
 








 
Back
Top