Has anyone ever thought about making up some thread dial castings? Something similar to the MLA kits. I have to imagine it'd be cheaper than the $150 people ask for them on Ebay, and i'm sure lots of people would prefer that to the 3D printed version.
Anybody with a lathe can make his/her own threading dial body. It's handy if you have a welder and milling machine but you can do it without a great deal of effort using just the lathe and 4-jaw chuck. You need a hollow member for the dial's spindle to turn in. You need either a plain spigot or flanged spigot to mount the thing on the lathe carriage--depending on the lathe it goes with. The spigot can be threaded into the main member or welded to it if you have a welder. You should have but don't have to have a shroud to keep chips and fingers out of the driven gear which meshes with lead screw. This shroud can be threaded to attach to the main member and part of it needs to be machined away to allow the gear to contact the lead screw. This can easily be done with a 4-jaw chuck. Then you need an upper piece in which the dial rotates so that you can make a place for a witness mark.
That's it. It's a fairly straightforward lathe project. Making one yourself follows the tradition of the lathe which is an unusual machine in that it can make its own parts.
Anybody with a lathe can make his/her own threading dial body. That's it. It's a fairly straightforward lathe project. Making one yourself follows the tradition of the lathe which is an unusual machine in that it can make its own parts.
Wow! Nice looking job. You painted yours. Mine is still in the black oxide left over from Oxy/Acetylene welding the parts together. The finish sort of goes with what's left of the original finish on my 9 Jr.
Here is the 3d printed one I made several months back. The body is plastic (petg) all the other parts I made are steel. Works great!
I designed this one to look more like the factory original then the one on eBay. I you want the stl file just yell.
Grizzly makes a decent thread dial for their Taiwan 10K. The body is cast iron, everything else is steel. I have mounted one to an older 10k and last week to a Logan 12”. It can be fitted to almost anything with a 8 tpi lead screw
they used to sell it as a kit part# PSB10020554A THREAD DIAL ASSEMBLY for $50, but I think they have dropped the kit and still sell the parts. I need to order another.
This is the Logan, which required an offset adapter. It fits the South Bends directly. although I think I had to turn down the mounting stud slightly to fit the apron hole.
Even with a mediocre print, the dial turned out really good. I made all the metal components including the drill guide on the right side of the picture. I drilled in some oil holes too.
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