jodifu6274
Plastic
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2011
- Location
- Connecticut, USA
I have a small mill/drill and an old Dalton-4 lot 6 toolroom lathe. I had to use the lathe to turn down a .169" pin to .555", and didn't have a chuck that would grab a pin that small. My first idea was to buy an Albrecht drill chuck from Ebay, and I was able to win one for $72. I got one with a 1/2" shank, figuring that if I had any runout after mounting it in the lathe's 1/2" 3C collet, I could use a 4-independent-jaw chuck to grab it and dial it in. I mounted it in the collet, and there was just-visible runout. Just out of curiosity, I mounted the chuck/pin in the mill, and there was runout there too. Just to make sure it wasn't the chuck, I mounted a 1/4" gauge pin in a collet, and again there was runout in the mill, thus ruling out the drill chuck as being the problem (this chuck lists for almost $600 new, and is supposed to be suited for milling).
To sum it up, I have runout in both machines. Admittedly, the mill is just a toy, but I live in a condo, and for the time being it will have to suffice. I have a full-size lathe in addition to the Dalton, but I got it for free, and was motivated to take it apart and drag it into the basement. I've made a bunch of improvements, like reinforcing the column and base using 1/2" steel plate, an inexpensive DRO, belt drive, some alterations that remove lash, and some other improvements that are known to give this a boost in stiffness, repeatability, etc. The lathe has babbitt bearings that I scraped with a bearing knife and Prussian Blue; a job that took a few dozen hours.
My question is: is there any way to reduce or eliminate the runout in these? Thank you!
To sum it up, I have runout in both machines. Admittedly, the mill is just a toy, but I live in a condo, and for the time being it will have to suffice. I have a full-size lathe in addition to the Dalton, but I got it for free, and was motivated to take it apart and drag it into the basement. I've made a bunch of improvements, like reinforcing the column and base using 1/2" steel plate, an inexpensive DRO, belt drive, some alterations that remove lash, and some other improvements that are known to give this a boost in stiffness, repeatability, etc. The lathe has babbitt bearings that I scraped with a bearing knife and Prussian Blue; a job that took a few dozen hours.
My question is: is there any way to reduce or eliminate the runout in these? Thank you!