I have the same lathe . imperial , i think you can cut virtually all the metric pitches you will need with the set up you have , the gears are a fortune !! been looking for months on ebay, too tight to pay the prices they want , £175 for the compound gear is about avridge ! i would get in loads of practice cutting threads , before you attempt to make anything , also remember the thread dial indicator is no good with the metric gears on , you need to keep the half nuts engaged all the time when taking cuts . mr pete and this old tony have some great thread cutting vids, good luck !
Thank you Paul. My lathe is more than good enough for what I need I think and is getting put to work regularly. It's cool that once you make something, you instantly think "if I can make that, I could probably make this other thing as well...?!!" Hehehe... Great little lathe in my book.
A large printed template fixed to the gear blank and a pointer would be accurate enough for low speed gears btw, keyway broaching could be done on the lathe so a gear tooth cutter for the mill is the only real outlay
Just a wee tip, try and not use the halfnuts for normal turning ,always use the clutch ,save your "nuts" 🤣 for threading .The guys you mention on the vlog regarding gears always charge way too much ,personally I will not be ripped off . Look on ebay there are always sets of gears or single gears for sale at proper affordable prices . I know I'm a bit to the party in the comments ....
A very good tip matey... over time I've come to do all my roughing out passes by hand and then use the clutch for the final pass to get a nice finish. I'm learning as I go, but that's a good tip, thanks for chipping in matey 👍
Look yourself & your family I can't imagine what its like in the UK , thank god I'm in Tasmania a small Island with a moat. In the bigger picture our covid experience has been more of an inconvenience than anything, by comparison.
Hey there, how did you go with your gears? I have made a lot on my wee AUD boxford out of tufnol, cast iron and steel for smaller gears. Made a fly cutter set up that mounts where my tool post sits and index from the back of my spindle. Believe it or not I use an electric hand drill for my fly cutter drive and a Kenwood cake mixer for cutting steel gears. Works awesome for me.👍
See, I love that... it seems you can do all sorts once you get a lathe, all you need is a bit of imagination. I've been told you can use them as a tube notcher as well.... put the hole cutter in the chuck, a V clamp in the tool holder to hold the tube, set the angle you want the notch cut on the compound and feed the saddle in to make the cut. Haven't heard of a cake mixer being used before though 🤣😂😅
@@QuickBikes everyone I tell about the cake mixer they never believe it lol. I have a quick clip saved on an old drive somewhere, I'll see if I can find it and upload it lol. Might make someones day. Haha. I have a few photos of gear cutting as of late with my drill and some tufnol gears.
Have a look into phenolic for homemade gears mate, no reason for hardened steel as you said. Even cast iron would be a hell of a lot easier to work with
You only need one or two more gears to cut virtually every metric thread with the setup you have already got. Delrin gears on fleabay are only a tenner or so each and perfectly adequate. I've been using a set for two or three years now. You definitely don't need a 72/18, not certain but I think that's the conversion gear for the variable speed lathe. Sure you've worked this out yourself by now though.
Yup, just waiting on Jamie to do his wiring thing and we should be in. Basically I need to be able to reverse it without disengaging the gearbox. Once that's done, I'm sorted 👍
Can you post up who the guy is that helped doing the bits ..I've got a southbend 9b that I'd love to be able to use for threads but it's a yank and imperial
facebook.com/marklord44/ This is his Facebook page matey.which he does.most things through I think and.its got.loads of great info on it. His name is Mark Lord. If you speak.to him, tell him I said "Hi..." 😁👍
0.2 to 6 covers everything you'll need for metric threading unless you're doing full-on "art" stuff like that 10 start bidirectional bolt that crazy russian put on youtube recently. I've never seen anything bigger than a 6mm thread used anywhere, and I've done a lot of *big* stuff. Anything over 4mm is pretty much exclusively stuff like leadscrews. Does the boxford not have a setting for auto-feeds that doesn't use the leadscrew directly, instead driving off the groove in the leadscrew? That's the normal setup, and it doesn't wear out your split nuts, andit's normally internally geared on a feed per revolution basis that's way lower than the leadscrew gives you (it's usually around 4:1). I'm just jealous that your lathe does threading, though. Mine don't :) As for "don't have a stud"... You have a lathe and a mill.
Unfortunately the power feed is thr lead screw, not a separate shaft, but I'm not complaining 🤣😂 The other gears I ordered turned up today so I can do all thr usual.threads now I think, but I'll have to check again to be sure 🤣😂
@@QuickBikes Yeah, it's through the leadscrew rather than having a separate feed shaft, pretty common setup that, but it should be driven by the groove in the leadscrew rather than the threads themselves. You use the feed change lever and feed clutch control that are found between the handwheel and the half nut lever. IIRC they interlock with the half nut lever, so you can't engage both at the same time, but, from memory (it's been a while since I've played with a boxford): - half nuts disengaged - move the feed select lever up for cross feed, down for saddle feed, in the middle to turn it off entirely and either hand feed or use the half uts. - screw in the clutch knob until it "bites". - robert is your mother's brother. Can't remember if there's a quick disengage. Like I said, it's been a while. The difference in doing your power feed this way is that you don't have to engage the half nuts (which *do* wear out, and *will* cost you a new arsehole to replace), unless you're actually cutting threads, you get a finer feed and thus better finish, and you should be able to power feed the cross slide as well as the saddle (a low speed power feed cross slide can be really good for cutting off. Or breaking cutoff tools :). Stay safe.
Sorry, I misunderstood you. Yes, you can drive the saddle and.the cross slide via the clutch, but as you say there's no quick release for it, you have to.turn thr knob which is rotating.with the clutch assembly. I've never used it for that reason but maybe I should have a play and see how I get on with it 😁👍
@@QuickBikes Hi again , your power feed the for saddle and crosslide , which you engage the clutch to use, is run from the long keyway in the lead screw, quite seperate from engaging the half nut for screwcutting , when you engage half nuts the saddle is running direct from lthe lead screw threads , cheers Paul
If you haven't got one I would highly recommend a book called engineers little black book second edition it covers gear cutting and the math to make then as well as thread forms and sizes bolt hole position drill bit grinding and different angles different tapers and there sizes hss tool grinding and different carbide tooling and identification heat treating and a lot more there about £35 from eBay but worth it most of what I use to goole is in it
It's crazy small.... lol I can now cut the most common threads I think, so will just buy the gears I needas I need them. I can't really see the need in getting a full set just in case.... 😁👍
Perhaps check this out: www.herosteamengine.com/RideTheGearTrain/ - You just programme in the change gears you have and what you want to do and it spits out all the options. As you have the gearbox, you'll find that you can actually cut a range of threads with only a few change gears.
Thanks for.that, I've already gone through the manual to find.out what I can and can't do. I'm just going to get the missing gears as and when.I need them.I think to spread the cost 😁👍
@@QuickBikes No worries. I have a Model A (even older than yours) and find the resource very helpful. The manuals generally give one way of doing things but the software gives options - often you can achieve a lot just by changing the settings on the gearbox whereas the charts might have you getting the spanners out!
Making your own gears isn't that hard once you have a way of indexing. *You do not need* a set of module gear cutters (which are stupidly expensive) to do it either. Actually, thinking about it, they're probably "diametric pitch" cutters, which are even more fucking stupidly expensive, and depending on the age of the machine you'll need to worry about what pressure angle they have, too. The easy and cheap way to do this is to make a fly cutter, and grind a form tool for cutting the teeth. It's slower than cutting with a dedicate cutter, but frankly who cares if you're not making enormous series of gears anyway? You'll also find that you can get away with using softer material for the gears. Sure, cast iron gears are stronger, but aluminium is fine for occasional use, and so is plastic (heresy)
Looking into the cost.of a dividing / indexing head and I think I'm just going to buy thr gears I need as and when I need them. Can't really justify the expense at the minute... 🙄🤔
Printed manuals definitely work best for markup, notes and references 👍♥️
A good point.... I just find it easier, but each to their own I guess hey 😁👍
Learning so much about lathes. I remember having a go on one at school once. I wasn't very good ...
I don't think you will ever stop learning... sooooooo much you can do with one 😁👍
Good luck with it all fella👍👍👍
Thank you dude 😁👍
I have the same lathe . imperial , i think you can cut virtually all the metric pitches you will need with the set up you have , the gears are a fortune !! been looking for months on ebay, too tight to pay the prices they want , £175 for the compound gear is about avridge !
i would get in loads of practice cutting threads , before you attempt to make anything , also remember the thread dial indicator is no good with the metric gears on , you need to keep the half nuts engaged all the time when taking cuts .
mr pete and this old tony have some great thread cutting vids, good luck !
Thank you Paul. My lathe is more than good enough for what I need I think and is getting put to work regularly. It's cool that once you make something, you instantly think "if I can make that, I could probably make this other thing as well...?!!" Hehehe... Great little lathe in my book.
A large printed template fixed to the gear blank and a pointer would be accurate enough for low speed gears btw, keyway broaching could be done on the lathe so a gear tooth cutter for the mill is the only real outlay
I really want to have a go at it on my kit. I've had a word with the tool room and confirmed what I'd need 😁👍
Just a wee tip, try and not use the halfnuts for normal turning ,always use the clutch ,save your "nuts" 🤣 for threading .The guys you mention on the vlog regarding gears always charge way too much ,personally I will not be ripped off . Look on ebay there are always sets of gears or single gears for sale at proper affordable prices . I know I'm a bit to the party in the comments ....
A very good tip matey... over time I've come to do all my roughing out passes by hand and then use the clutch for the final pass to get a nice finish. I'm learning as I go, but that's a good tip, thanks for chipping in matey 👍
Look yourself & your family I can't imagine what its like in the UK , thank god I'm in Tasmania a small Island with a moat. In the bigger picture our covid experience has been more of an inconvenience than anything, by comparison.
We've got a.moat too nit that it did any good. Crazy times.round here matey. I now know 16 people with it
Hey there, how did you go with your gears? I have made a lot on my wee AUD boxford out of tufnol, cast iron and steel for smaller gears. Made a fly cutter set up that mounts where my tool post sits and index from the back of my spindle. Believe it or not I use an electric hand drill for my fly cutter drive and a Kenwood cake mixer for cutting steel gears. Works awesome for me.👍
See, I love that... it seems you can do all sorts once you get a lathe, all you need is a bit of imagination. I've been told you can use them as a tube notcher as well.... put the hole cutter in the chuck, a V clamp in the tool holder to hold the tube, set the angle you want the notch cut on the compound and feed the saddle in to make the cut. Haven't heard of a cake mixer being used before though 🤣😂😅
@@QuickBikes everyone I tell about the cake mixer they never believe it lol. I have a quick clip saved on an old drive somewhere, I'll see if I can find it and upload it lol. Might make someones day. Haha. I have a few photos of gear cutting as of late with my drill and some tufnol gears.
Have a look into phenolic for homemade gears mate, no reason for hardened steel as you said. Even cast iron would be a hell of a lot easier to work with
Awesome, thank you matey 👍
You only need one or two more gears to cut virtually every metric thread with the setup you have already got. Delrin gears on fleabay are only a tenner or so each and perfectly adequate. I've been using a set for two or three years now. You definitely don't need a 72/18, not certain but I think that's the conversion gear for the variable speed lathe. Sure you've worked this out yourself by now though.
Yup, just waiting on Jamie to do his wiring thing and we should be in. Basically I need to be able to reverse it without disengaging the gearbox. Once that's done, I'm sorted 👍
Can you post up who the guy is that helped doing the bits ..I've got a southbend 9b that I'd love to be able to use for threads but it's a yank and imperial
facebook.com/marklord44/
This is his Facebook page matey.which he does.most things through I think and.its got.loads of great info on it. His name is Mark Lord. If you speak.to him, tell him I said "Hi..." 😁👍
Do you know if this mark fella does the gears for myford laiths as well?
I'm not.sure matey. I know.he specialises in Boxford lathes, but does others as well... try.giving.him a call fella 😁👍
@@QuickBikes just found your link to his facepoke and looks like it's all boxford. I'll show the farther inlaw see if hes any use. Ta matey
What happened to the blue Boxford AUD?
It's now grey and sitting in the corner. Brilliant little lathe 😁👍
0.2 to 6 covers everything you'll need for metric threading unless you're doing full-on "art" stuff like that 10 start bidirectional bolt that crazy russian put on youtube recently. I've never seen anything bigger than a 6mm thread used anywhere, and I've done a lot of *big* stuff. Anything over 4mm is pretty much exclusively stuff like leadscrews.
Does the boxford not have a setting for auto-feeds that doesn't use the leadscrew directly, instead driving off the groove in the leadscrew? That's the normal setup, and it doesn't wear out your split nuts, andit's normally internally geared on a feed per revolution basis that's way lower than the leadscrew gives you (it's usually around 4:1).
I'm just jealous that your lathe does threading, though. Mine don't :)
As for "don't have a stud"... You have a lathe and a mill.
Unfortunately the power feed is thr lead screw, not a separate shaft, but I'm not complaining 🤣😂
The other gears I ordered turned up today so I can do all thr usual.threads now I think, but I'll have to check again to be sure 🤣😂
@@QuickBikes Yeah, it's through the leadscrew rather than having a separate feed shaft, pretty common setup that, but it should be driven by the groove in the leadscrew rather than the threads themselves. You use the feed change lever and feed clutch control that are found between the handwheel and the half nut lever.
IIRC they interlock with the half nut lever, so you can't engage both at the same time, but, from memory (it's been a while since I've played with a boxford):
- half nuts disengaged
- move the feed select lever up for cross feed, down for saddle feed, in the middle to turn it off entirely and either hand feed or use the half uts.
- screw in the clutch knob until it "bites".
- robert is your mother's brother.
Can't remember if there's a quick disengage. Like I said, it's been a while.
The difference in doing your power feed this way is that you don't have to engage the half nuts (which *do* wear out, and *will* cost you a new arsehole to replace), unless you're actually cutting threads, you get a finer feed and thus better finish, and you should be able to power feed the cross slide as well as the saddle (a low speed power feed cross slide can be really good for cutting off. Or breaking cutoff tools :).
Stay safe.
Sorry, I misunderstood you. Yes, you can drive the saddle and.the cross slide via the clutch, but as you say there's no quick release for it, you have to.turn thr knob which is rotating.with the clutch assembly. I've never used it for that reason but maybe I should have a play and see how I get on with it 😁👍
@@QuickBikes Hi again , your power feed the for saddle and crosslide , which you engage the clutch to use, is run from the long keyway in the lead screw, quite seperate from engaging the half nut for screwcutting , when you engage half nuts the saddle is running direct from lthe lead screw threads , cheers Paul
so ....... soon you will be making close ratio gearbox for the gixxer then ???? lol. cheers.
Hehehe... not until I get a HUGE milling machine 🤣😂😅
If you haven't got one I would highly recommend a book called engineers little black book second edition it covers gear cutting and the math to make then as well as thread forms and sizes bolt hole position drill bit grinding and different angles different tapers and there sizes hss tool grinding and different carbide tooling and identification heat treating and a lot more there about £35 from eBay but worth it most of what I use to goole is in it
Ah right. I've got the Machinerys Handbook which sounds similar, but I'll definitely look this up. Thank you matey 😁👍
Considering a micrometer has a thread pitch of 0.5mm, I think you're more than covered with a 0.2mm pitch😉
It's crazy small.... lol
I can now cut the most common threads I think, so will just buy the gears I needas I need them. I can't really see the need in getting a full set just in case.... 😁👍
Buy the gears. You won’t be able to get the contract patch you need with the equipment you’ve got , and it’s a dividing head you’d need
Yup, that's what I decided to do. I can't really justify thr expense at thr minute and would rather get a better mill first 😁👍
I have a metric gearbox, and I only have two gears to do all metric gears,
Oh the joys of having the right gearbox hehehe.... I couldn't pass this up though for the money so happy to suffer with an imperial setup 😁👍
Perhaps check this out: www.herosteamengine.com/RideTheGearTrain/ - You just programme in the change gears you have and what you want to do and it spits out all the options. As you have the gearbox, you'll find that you can actually cut a range of threads with only a few change gears.
Thanks for.that, I've already gone through the manual to find.out what I can and can't do. I'm just going to get the missing gears as and when.I need them.I think to spread the cost 😁👍
@@QuickBikes No worries. I have a Model A (even older than yours) and find the resource very helpful. The manuals generally give one way of doing things but the software gives options - often you can achieve a lot just by changing the settings on the gearbox whereas the charts might have you getting the spanners out!
Making your own gears isn't that hard once you have a way of indexing. *You do not need* a set of module gear cutters (which are stupidly expensive) to do it either. Actually, thinking about it, they're probably "diametric pitch" cutters, which are even more fucking stupidly expensive, and depending on the age of the machine you'll need to worry about what pressure angle they have, too.
The easy and cheap way to do this is to make a fly cutter, and grind a form tool for cutting the teeth. It's slower than cutting with a dedicate cutter, but frankly who cares if you're not making enormous series of gears anyway?
You'll also find that you can get away with using softer material for the gears. Sure, cast iron gears are stronger, but aluminium is fine for occasional use, and so is plastic (heresy)
Looking into the cost.of a dividing / indexing head and I think I'm just going to buy thr gears I need as and when I need them. Can't really justify the expense at the minute... 🙄🤔