Thanks for the photo of the whole truck! Nice one for sure!

 

Finally got my old lathe moved out and my newer larger lathe in to its final resting place.
I decided to mke a trundle /trolley below the large center drawer to carry heavy attachment items and it has worked out well.

 

I just recently converted one I picked up about that size to CNC.

 

That lathe looks very similar to my Enco brand lathe. Mine has a "gap" that you can remove, near the spindle, so it can be used on bigger diameter stuff. Does yours?

Also the lathe came with a nylon gear in the gear train from the spindle to the quick change gear box. They get real brittle with age and break. But in the box of things that came with the lathe(I bought it new) there was a cast iron replacement gear. I guess they put the nylon one in so new users can make mistakes and not ruin the lathe.

 

I just recently converted one I picked up about that size to CNC.

Boy Max, from where I sit, I could only dream of having a CNC conversion or capability.
Well done my friend, I'm sure you must being having fun with it.
Must be a joy to operate.

 

That lathe looks very similar to my Enco brand lathe. Mine has a "gap" that you can remove, near the spindle, so it can be used on bigger diameter stuff. Does yours?

Also the lathe came with a nylon gear in the gear train from the spindle to the quick change gear box. They get real brittle with age and break. But in the box of things that came with the lathe(I bought it new) there was a cast iron replacement gear. I guess they put the nylon one in so new users can make mistakes and not ruin the lathe.

Yes, those lathes were produced with so many different brand names.
Mine is called a LAM.
I recall a small lathe being sold called an EMCO, but not heard of a ENCO around these parts at least.

Yes, mine also has the removable gap in the bed.
Such a great idea, I always wondered why all lathes did not come with this feature.

My gears appear to be all metal of sorts.
The lathe came with two nice chucks, 3 and 4 jaws, however, I have a much smaller 3 jaw chuck that I used on my old lathe which is just right for a lot of the small stuff I do and is quite accurate and true.
I'm trying to work out how I can acquire an face plate that I can attach it to, that will then screw onto my newer lathe drive shaft.
I need to determine what thread my drive shaft runs, as it is not the more modern collet lock system I see on my buddy's lathe, also from Taiwan...

 

Boy Max, from where I sit, I could only dream of having a CNC conversion or capability.
Well done my friend, I'm sure you must being having fun with it.
Must be a joy to operate.

Yes turned out good, I actually got a brand new lathe free.
A guy in southern states imported some better quality machine tools from China.
The one I bought from him fell off the truck somewhere along the line, and smashed the lead screw, he sent me another lathe free of charge.
I was not intending to use the lead screw anyway as I was fitting ball screws,
So the second was sold locally for the price I paid.

 

Yes turned out good, I actually got a brand new lathe free.
A guy in southern states imported some better quality machine tools from China.
The one I bought from him fell off the truck somewhere along the line, and smashed the lead screw, he sent me another lathe free of charge.
I was not intending to use the lead screw anyway as I was fitting ball screws,
So the second was sold locally for the price I paid.

Yes turned out good, I actually got a brand new lathe free.
A guy in southern states imported some better quality machine tools from China.
The one I bought from him fell off the truck somewhere along the line, and smashed the lead screw, he sent me another lathe free of charge.
I was not intending to use the lead screw anyway as I was fitting ball screws,
So the second was sold locally for the price I paid.

Wow, my dad always said better to be born lucky than rich.
Sounds like on this ocassion my father would have been impressed.
Nice to get a break once in a while at least...
Good for you.

 

My gears appear to be all metal of sorts.
The lathe came with two nice chucks, 3 and 4 jaws, however, I have a much smaller 3 jaw chuck that I used on my old lathe which is just right for a lot of the small stuff I do and is quite accurate and true.
I'm trying to work out how I can acquire an face plate that I can attach it to, that will then screw onto my newer lathe drive shaft.
I need to determine what thread my drive shaft runs, as it is not the more modern collet lock system I see on my buddy's lathe, also from Taiwan...

Wow, that lathe is much older than it looks. Most now days ha the"D" camlock on them. Do the chucks you have have a name and model number? With that you might find what thread is used. Maybe look on line using the name and model of the lathe to find an owner/operators maual other than having the spindle information it's a good thing to have.

Did you get a faceplate with the lathe? Those aren't used much so maybe you could machine the faceplate to accept you other chuck.

 

Yes, my lathe is an old low use machine.
The cam lock would have been nice as this lathe runs reverse which soulds a bit scary to me.
I'll need to check my shop for chuck info.
I have an old machinist buddy who maybe willing to help me fabriacate a face plate if I'm lucky and I could learn a lot from the exercise.

 

I need to work out what thread is on my main drive shaft as I want to make or acquire an additional face plate to run a small 3 jaw chuck that I have and find very useful.

It is from my Hercus and hence wont fit to the LAM lathe.

My main drive shaft thread OD is about 56.25mm and a thread of 3.0mm or close to 8TPI
Not sure if metric or imperial at this point.
I'm guessing metric going by all the fasteners used on the lathe...

 

My main drive shaft thread OD is about 56.25mm and a thread of 3.0mm or close to 8TPI
Not sure if metric or imperial at this point.
I'm guessing metric going by all the fasteners used on the lathe...

Not knowing the brand or when it was made, I looked at threaded back plates for lathe chucks. You diameter is what would be suspected for a common lathe spindle. 2 1/4 - 8 thread. They are still available from many places, at least in the US.

You need to watch when making a home made back plate. There is a "register" diameter on the part of the spindle closest to the headstock. your back plate needs a diameter that matches that diameter plus a couple of thousandths. With out the register the chuck can and will rock a little bit when taking a cut. Don't ask me how I know. The register is needed because there needs to be some looseness in the threads.

Here is a link with dimensions shown - https://www.carbideanddiamondtooling.com/Lathe.Chuck.Back.Plates.Threaded.A.D-1.L.Zero.Mount

 

Wow Shortbus, that is good info indeed.
I'd say, its hardly worth making a backing plate at those prices, even when shipping is added.

 

If you buy one get one that is semi finished. Thread it on the spindle and cut it to fit your chuck. There can be some differences between runs of making chucks, and machining to fit gets it as accurate as possible. I'd do some research on line there may be somewhere near you selling them, or somewhere less expensive. That was just the first place I found the drawing.

Also threading them yourself without some thing to try in the hole it's hard to get a good fit. The ones I made were for my old lathe it had 1-8 pitch threads and borrowed a tap to finish the threads to size after thread boring to what I guessed was close.

Just curious, what is the size of the through hole in the spindle?

 

Shortbus, funny thing with the thru hole is at the chuck end it is 43mm dia and maintaines that size into the hole for about 50mm or 2".
However at the opposite end the diameter is 35mm.
Locally they sell a clamp in milling collet arrangement that connects via the tru hole but sadly, my thru hole is just undersize and will not go thru .
I was hoping that that was going to be a helpful addition to my newer lathe, but not so...

 

That seems like a funny through hole for a lathe with that thread size. Personally I'd never use milling collets for lathe work, they aren't made in the ranges of diameters.

Maybe your lathe used on of the other "C" type collets, the most common ones are 5C but they did come in different types. I have a very old South Bend bench lathe that uses a smaller version of the 5C but right off hand I don't know the number. Here's a link to most of the sizes and types of collets with their dimensions -
http://www.tools-n-gizmos.com/specs/C_Collet.html

 

Apparently, 4C is what is recommended for my lathe and all expect the thru hole size works for 4C.
So no milling for me it seems...

 

Apparently, 4C is what is recommended for my lathe and all expect the thru hole size works for 4C.
So no milling for me it seems...

I forgot you have a milling angle plate to fit your lathe saddle. You can use lathe collets to hold an end mill. I thought you wanted to hold round stock in the spindle.

Usually the spindle has a Morse taper in it and then a sleeve fits the taper and adapts the collet to the lathe.

Do you know about this web site? They may have information on your lathe or even a manual - http://vintagemachinery.org/home.aspx

 

Yes, I used that site about 1 year ago when offered an oddball free milling machine.
It helped me work out why it was free and hence turned the offer down.

Yes, that spindle setup I've had here works as you say.
Way better that holding mill cutters in the chuck going by limited experience.

I did not realise at the time of acquiring the newer lathe how much it was going to take to bring it up to the level of my old lathe.
The old lathe I'd accumulated odds and ends for years and now I realise I'm kinder starting over again, but want it done now rather that taking years as my skill level has improved now...

I guess it will all work out in the end.
Money usually solves most problems, just wish I had more to spare...

 

@fiftyv8 Another way to use collets on the new lathe would be an ER collet chuck, like this - https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=5452 ER collets are used in CNC mills to hold cutters, very accurate and don't slip. The 40 series goes up to 1 inch, while they are made to hold cutters you could also hold round stock to be machined. You would need another back plate and machine it to mach the collet chuck.

Not trying to tell you what to do, just giving ideas.