INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL OLD LATHE :- at old times the lathe was foot operate like sewing
machine. Lathes closely reflected the standard design practices of their day,
that is, they already had many of the features of lathes that would still be in
production a hundred years later - but were of a comparatively light build.
Because all the larger Britannia lathes featured a "plate", supported on twin
posts, that passed across the left-hand end of the headstock spindle to absorb
spindle-end thrust,  they (the spindles) could not be made hollow. The makers,
with their Victorian training, must have assumed that the machines would have
been largely used in the traditional way, with work supported between centres,
and did not consider the needs of  the general repair shop or mechanic to
whom a hollow spindle (or "mandrel" in contemporary language) would have
been of great use. The increasing use of self-centring 3-jaw chucks also
created a demand for hollow spindles and, by the early years of the twentieth
century, Britannia, together with most other makers, followed the practice,
established more than 50 years previously, of arranging for the spindle thrust
to be taken on the inside face of the headstock casting, allowing the end of the
spindle to be left and open and clear….
The smaller, plain-turning lathes Numbers, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 had a headstock
spindle carried in a single bearing - with its left-hand end held against a
pointed support carried in an adjustable holder that fitted into the space
normally occupied by the left-hand bearing. This was a popular way, at the
time, of arranging the headstock of a light-duty lathe and, despite its many 
shortcomings, was a design that many makers persisted in using for several
decades. The 3-step headstock pulley was not intended to be driven by a V
belt - it would be several decades before they appeared - but a round leather
"rope", "gut band" or "cord" as it was variously called, that severely limited the
amount of torque it was possible to transmit.
LATHE

Lathe machine is known as father of machines. The main function of a lathe is to

remove Wood from a piece of work to give it the required cylindrical shape and
size.
TYPES OF LATHE GENERALLY USED :-
1) Speed Lathe.
2) Engine Lathe.(Centre Lathe.)
3) Bench Lathe.
4) Tool room Lathe.
5) Capstan or Turret Lathe.
6) Special purpose Lathe.
7) Automatic Lathe.

Wood turning
Wood turning is a woodturning method referring to a piece of wood on a
molding lathe that is being turned on its center axis between the headstock and
tailstock of the lathe. The wood is generally removed by running a turning tool
down the slope of the wood from a larger diameter in the wood to a smaller
diameter. Woodturning is the method used for items such as chair and table legs,
lamps, cues, bats, and candlesticks etc. i.e. long and thin objects.

Woodturning is a form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on

a lathe. Woodturning differs from most other forms of woodworking in that the
wood is moving while a (relatively) stationary tool is used to cut and shape it.
Many intricate shapes and designs can be made by turning wood.

There are two distinct methods of turning wood: wood turning and faceplate
turning. In wood turning, the grain of the wood runs lengthwise, parallel to the
bed of the lathe. In face plate turning, the grain of the wood runs perpendicular to
the axis of rotation. Most bowls, platters and many vessels are face plate turned.
Pens, furniture legs, woods, and some vessels are wood turned. It is the
orientation of the grain that determines the method in use. Wood turning is
named for the type of product originally produced, while faceplate turning is
named for an early method of attaching the material to the lathe.

The distinction between wood turning and faceplate turning is due to the fibrous
nature of the material. When wood is cut in such a way that the fiber being cut is
not supported by the fiber below it, it tends to separate and tear. This "tearout"
exhibits a rough, highly undesirable surface texture and greatly reduces the value
of any product exhibiting it. The direction of cut is different in wood turning and
faceplate turning because cutting in the wrong direction causes tearout. Wood
turning cuts are made from high points toward the axis on the outside of the
piece, and from the axis toward the outside when hollowing. When faceplate
turning, the opposite obtains.

History

The origin of woodworking dates to around 1300BC when the Egyptians first
developed a two-person lathe. One person would turn the wood with a rope while
the other used a sharp tool to cut shapes in the wood. The Romans improved the
Egyptian design with the addition of a turning bow. Early bow lathes were also
developed and used in Germany, France and Britain. In the Middle Ages a pedal
replaced hand-operated turning, freeing both the craftsman's hands to hold the
woodturning tools. The pedal was usually connected to a pole, often a straight-
grained sapling. The system today is called the "spring pole" lathe (see
Polelathe). Spring pole lathes were in common use into the early 20th Century. A
two-person lathe, called a "great lathe", allowed a piece to turn continuously (like
today's power lathes). A master would cut the wood while an apprentice turned
the crank.

The term "bodger" stems from pole lathe turners who used to make the chair legs
and woods. A bodger would typically purchase all the trees on a plot of land, set
up camp on the plot, and then fell the trees and turn the wood. The woods and
legs that were produced were sold in bulk, for pence per dozen. The bodger's job
was considered unfinished because he only made component parts. The term
now describes a person who leaves a job unfinished, or does it badly.

During the industrial revolution the lathe was motorized, allowing turned items to
be created in less time. The motor also produced a greater rotational speed for
the wood, making it easier to quickly produce high quality work. Today most
commercial woodturning is done by computer-operated machinery allowing for
mass-production that can be created with accurate precision and without the cost
of employing craftsmen. Despite this, there is still a demand for hand-turned
products. Woodturning is also a hobby enjoyed by many people. Modern
professional woodturners are typically either "production" turners producing large
quantities of functional pieces, or artistic turners producing smaller numbers of
pieces, often enhanced after turning by carving, piercing, coloring, applying
pyrography, gilding, or a number of other techinques to produce objects for the
art market.

CENTRE LATHE OR ENGINE LATHE:

Centre Lathe is an important Lathe most widely used. It is a versatile machine
capable of machining any or say every type of jobs within its limit. It has basic
parts like bed, headstock and tail stock. Headstock is much robust in construction
and it contains additional mechanism for driving the Lathe spindle at multiple
speeds. It can feed the tool in both cross and longitudinal direction with reference
to Lathe axis with the help of carriage, feed fed and lead screw.
Center lathe are classified according to various designs of headstock and
methods of transmitting power to machine. A Lathe that receives its power from
an over-head line shaft is a ‘Belt driven Lathe’ and is equipped with a speed-cone
and one or more back gears to get a wide range of spindle speeds. A Lathe that
receives its power from individual motor integral with machine is called a Motor
driven Lathe. A ‘Geared-head Lathe’ gets its power from a constant speed motor,
and all speed changes are obtained by shifting various gears located in the
headstock. It has no cone pulley.

MOULDING LATHES are versatile and inexpensive machines are a good choice
for model makers, experimenters, inventors and just about anyone else who is
interested in woodworking or has a need to fabricate small precision parts.
These lathes are molding versions of industrial wood working lathes and are
quite different in design and use than wood working lathes, but they can
certainly be used for shaping wood, plastics and other materials, especially if
very accurate dimensions are required. 
Terminology
To gain a good understanding of the lathe, you will need to know the names of
the various components, as illustrated below. The carriage, in the circled area,
consists of the apron, the vertical casting on which the carriage hand wheel is
mounted, and the saddle (not shown), the H-shaped casting that rides on the
ways to which the apron is attached.

General Construction
In the photo below, the carriage and tailstock have been removed to show the
basic construction of the lathe. This is the 7x10 model. The 7x12, despite it's
designation, is actually 4 inches longer. The bed is a single sturdy casting with
cross braces. Attached to the base of the bed is a sheet wood chip tray. A sheet
wood chip/splash guard runs behind chuck and along the back of the lathe. 
 MOTOR

JOB
CHUCK

LOCK LOCK
HANDLE HANDLE
PULLE
Y BELTL

MOTO
R
BASE

SPC
HANDLE TOOL

PROFILE BASE
TAMPLET
Varmint Al did not like these and removed them, but I find them pretty helpful in
keeping chips under control.  Well, come to think of it, the chips get all over the
shop anyway, and the tray does have a way of getting small bolts, taps, drills,
etc. hidden under its edge.  Four rubber feet are mounted on the bottom of the
lathe under the chip tray.  I removed these and bolted the lathe directly to my
workbench after retapping the metric threads to 1/4-20.

Headstock and Control Levers

The headstock comprises the rectangular wood casting at the left end of the
lathe. It contains the spindle shaft and its support bearings and the Hi/Lo speed
shift lever and gears. Normally, the headstock is mostly hidden behind the
electronics box and the spindle is hidden by the gear cover.  In the following
photo these have been removed to reveal the headstock casting and spindle
shaft. Instructions for removing and lubricating the headstock .

On the back of the headstock are two levers

 The tumbler gear lever

 The Hi/Lo speed lever

The tumbler gear lever sets the rotation of the leadscrew which advances the
carriage under power. It has three positions:

 Forward (up) -  carriage moves towards the headstock when spindle

rotates forward
 Neutral (mid)
 Reverse (down) - carriage moves away from the headstock when spindle
rotates forward

There is a knurled spring-loaded sleeve on the lever which must be pulled back
with considerable force to move the lever from one position to another. A locking
pin engages with detents in the headstock casting to hold the lever in place. This
is not a very robust design and has caused minor troubles for some users when
the tumbler gears did not engage or disengage fully.

Tumbler gears are an unexpected feature on such a low cost lathe.  They allow
you to reverse the direction of the leadscrew relative to the direction of spindle
rotation.  Note that this is not the same as merely reversing the spindle direction,
which would also reverse the lead screw rotation. The most common use of this
feature is in cutting left-handed threads. The Hi/Lo speed lever selects the
spindle speed range by engaging different gear ratios within the headstock. In Lo
range, the speed range is approximately 150 to 1500 RPM and in Hi range, 460
to 2900 RPM - at least that's what's marked on the speed control knob legend.
The Hi/Lo speed control lever should never be shifted when the lathe is moving
and this fact is clearly marked on warning labels on the lathe.

Many 7x10 users recommend opening up the headstock and lubricating the
gears and shift mechanism with white lithium grease. On mine, I was compelled
to do this when the shift lever seized up after a few months of use. A good
workover with grease solved the problem and made the lathe run a little quieter.
Opening up the headstock is probably best left until you are comfortable with
other maintenance operations on the lathe.

Spindle and Chuck

The spindle is the main rotating shaft on which the chuck is mounted. It is
supported by precision thrust bearings mounted in the headstock casting and is
driven by a toothed pulley and belt which runs down to a smaller toothed pulley
on the motor.

The spindle plate is 3" in diameter and has a raised lip which mates with a recess
in the back of the chuck, providing precise centering of the chuck. The spindle
bore is a #3 Morse Taper so you can purchase and use any standard MT3
accessories such as live or dead centers.  A nice feature of the 7x10 is that it has
a relatively large through-the-spindle diameter of 3/4"; bigger than you might
expect for a lathe of this size. This bore can be safely reamed to 13/16" to
provide a little additional clearance.

Note that there are 6 mounting holes in the spindle. The extra mounting holes
mate directly with the 3" 4-jaw chuck - a great accessory. Some older models of
the 7x10 and the HF 39916 cam-lock tailstock model, are lacking these extra
mounting holes.

The stock chuck is a 3" 3-jaw made in Japan. It is of excellent quality and
accuracy considering the price of the lathe. Users have often reported less than .
001" runout. Optional chucks can easily be added to increase the versatility of
the mouldinglathe

Here's a shot of the chuck in my hand to give you a better idea of the size:
Three 6mm studs are threaded into the back of the chuck. The chuck is mounted
the lathe spindle by mating these studs with holes in the lathe spindle plate and
then securing it with 3 nuts from the backside of the spindle plate. There's very
little clearance behind the plate, so this is one of the more challenging setup
operations on the lathe. Here are some hints on how to work around this.
Before removing the chuck for the first time, you may want to make a mark on
the edge of the spindle plate and a corresponding mark on the edge of the chuck.
This will enable you to reinstall the chuck in the same orientation in which it came
from the factory. This is not critical, but may help you gain a little extra accuracy.

Both outside and inside jaws come with the chuck. The maximum diameter you
can safely hold with the inside jaws is about 1.25"; with the outside jaws it is
about 2.5". This photo shows the outside jaws and the chuck key. For maximum
accuracy, it is a good idea to always mount each jaw in the same slot that it
originally was in.  Before removing the jaws from the chuck the first time, assign
an arbitrary number to each jaw and mark the jaw and its slot with a Sharpie pen.
After removing the jaws, look closely at the slots on the sides of the jaws and you
will see that they are numbered from the factory.  Use a center punch to make 1,
2 or 3 dots on the chuck slot corresponding to the factory numbering of the jaws.
When reinstalling the jaws, you must always follow the factory numbering
sequence.

Bed and Ways

The bed is the main body of the lathe, made from rough but sturdy cast iron. The
ways are the ground surfaces on the top side of the bed on which the carriage
and tailstock ride.

The ways have a inverted V-shaped ridge on the front side and are flat on the
back side. A matching groove on the underside of the saddle rides along this
ridge. The headstock casting also has a V-groove which aligns it with the ways.
The ways are not hardened so you must be careful not to drop tools or the chuck
on them or you will create dents and gouges.

Carriage and Saddle

The carriage supports the cross-slide, compound and tool post and moves along
the ways under manual or power feed. It comprises the saddle, a casting that
rides across the top of the ways, and the apron, a casting which extends down
from the saddle in front of the lathe and supports the carriage handwheel, half
nut assembly and threading dial.   The lever to the right of the carriage
handwheel is the half-nut lever. It engages and disengages the power feed to the
lead screw as described in a later section.

The carriage handwheel moves the carriage along the ways by means of a rack
and pinion drive.   The rack teeth are visible just below the ways in the photo
above. The next picture shows the back side of the apron. The pinion is driven by
a reduction gear connected to the handwheel.

For short cuts, it is often more convenient to just use the carriage handwheel to
advance the carriage, but it is hard to get a nice even finish like you get with
power feed.
Cross Slide and Compound

The cross slide consists of a dovetailed slide that moves at a right angle to the
ways. The compound  is mounted on top of the cross slide. In the following
picture the compound has been removed, showing the cross-slide mounted on
the saddle. The compound bolts into the disk in the cross-slide which enables the
compound to be rotated.

The cross feed advances the cutting tool into the work at a right angle to the
workpiece by means of a leadscrew and handwheel. More expensive lathes have
power feed capability on the cross feed but this lathe does not. It's not a big
limitation, though, given the small diameter of typical workpieces. The compound
sits on top of the cross slide and can be rotated to set the tool to advance at an
angle to the work piece. For example, by setting the compound at a 4 degree
angle, you can cut shallow tapers suitable for making handwheels. An angle of
30 degrees is sometimes used so that advancing the compound hand wheel by .
001" actually advances the tool by .0005" (since sine of 30 = .500).

One particulary inconvenient feature of the lathe is the location of the locking
screws for the compound. They are underneath the compound slide and to get to
them you must crank the compound slide back almost to the end of its travel.
Partly because of this, I find that I don't change the angle of the compound very
often. Here's a picture showing the compound cranked back to reveal the screws:

A coarse but still useful protractor scale is attached to the front of the compound
as an aid to setting angles. Since the divisions are about 1 degree wide you won't
get a lot of precision but, most of the time, not much is needed.

Three adjustable gib screws are visible along the side of the compound. Each
consists of a set screw and lock nut. The set screws press against a steel gib
strip on one side of the dovetail, enabling you to mouldingmize any play between
the sliding surfaces. A similar set of four screws (not visible in the picture) adjusts
the cross slide.
Here's a picture of the underside of the cross slide showing the lead screw. The
wood gib strip is  visible just above the leadscrew.

Chromed handwheels with a ball on one end and a crank handle on the other are
used to move the cross feed and compound. They work pretty well, allowing you
to crank quickly or make small precise movements as needed. Unfortunately, the
screw head that holds them in place tends to scrape your knuckles when you are
cranking. Also, on my lathe, at least, if the cross feed crank was at the low end of
its swing, it could be hit by the handwheel handle of the carriage feed - thus
shifting its setting and possibly driving the tool into the workpiece (not good). For
these reasons, I replaced the stock handles on my lathe with aluminum
handwheels I made on the lathe.

The cross feed and compound are marked with 40 divisions of .001" which on
newer models are a satin finish with nicely etched divisions and numbers. While
accurate enough for most work, the divisions are not truly exactly .001". This is
because the leadscrews for the cross feed and compound are actually 1mm
thread pitch. Therefore, each rotation of the handwheel is actually .03937 inches
instead of .04000 inches and a single division is thus .000984 inches rather
than .00100 inches. Note: (10/01) Micro Mark sells a 7x12 version of the lathe
with true inch leadscrews and divisions.

Does this drive you crazy? Here again, you have to recognize the limitations of
the machine and work around them. In practice, I find that much of the work I do
requires precision of less than .005 anyway. When I need more accuracy I use a
dial indicator and/or frequently check the diameter of the workpiece (with the
lathe stopped!) using a dial caliper. Or, if you are handy with a calculator, you
can just calculate the number of divisions you need to move the handwheel to
get the true distance you want.
Toolpost and Tools

The toolpost can hold up to four tools at once, each locked in place by hex-head
cap screws. The newer model lathes (1999 and later) use 5/16" tools, but some
older models and the Homier 7x12 use 3/8" tools. Strictly speaking, these lathes
were presumably designed to use metric tool blanks, so imperial size tools will
probably not align exactly with the centerline.  You can use shims or an
adjustable tool holder to solve this problem.

Tools can be ready-made carbide tipped tools of various types or high speed
steel (HSS) ground to shape by the user from commonly available tool blanks.

The toolpost rotates around a large bolt on top of the compound slide and is
locked in place by a clamping lever. You can set it to any convenient angle.
Underneath the toolpost is a spring-loaded indexing pin which engages with
detents in the base of the tool holder. I, and some others, did not find this useful
and removed the indexing pin. No cutting tools are provided with the lathe and
you can't do much without them, so be sure to order about 5-10 blanks or
premade tools when you order your lathe! Of course, if you intend to grind your
own HSS tools, the lathe does come with a tool holder. Reviews on the quick
change holder have been mixed: some users have returned them and those who
have kept them have found it to be of limited value but useful for boring and
knurling. More recently, HF started selling a QC toolpost for $99.  This one
seems to be OK, but I don't have much feedback on it yet. JW Early has modified
several 7x10's to use a commercially available QC toolpost. You can make your
own toolholders for holding boring tools, knurling tools and other special purpose
tools. I will add info on this later.

Leadscrew, Power Feed

Extending from the gear drive train on the left side of the headstock, through the
speed control box and out to a pillow block supporting the right end, the
leadscrew can be driven under power to advance the carriage in either direction
for turning or threading.

 Manually adding and removing gears to and from the gear train can adjust the
rotational speed of the leadscrew relative to the spindle speed. These adjustable
gearing ratios also, of course, determine the number of threads per inch during
threading operations.

Half-Nut and Threading Dial

A standard feature on all lathes that have power feed, the half-nut consists of two
parts threaded to mate with the leadscrew which are engaged from above and
below the leadscrew by turning the half-nut lever. The lever engages or
disengages the carriage from the turning leadscrew to advance or stop motion of
the carriage along the ways.

 On the 7x10 the half-nut pieces are cast iron and ride in a crude dovetail to
engage the leadscrew. Adjusting screws, accessible from the right side of the
apron, can tighten or loosen the grip of the half-nut on the leadscrew. . When the
half nut lever is in the up position it is disengaged; in the down position, engaged.
If the leadscrew is turning when the half nut is engaged the carriage will move
towards the headstock or tailstock depending on the direction of leadscrew
rotation as determined by the leadscrew direction lever on the back of the
headstock.

Most often the carriage is advanced towards the headstock when making "long"
(a relative term on this lathe) turning cuts. Of course you must pay attention
when cutting under power and disengage the half nut as the cutting tool
approaches the chuck. You can reduce this risk in some cases by reversing the
leadscrew direction so that you are cutting away from the chuck. This is
especially handy for short threading cuts where the carriage is moving fast
compared to the chuck speed.
Cutting Screw Threads

With the supplied gears, the lathe can cut a variety of threads - many more, in
fact, than are listed on the chart on the gear cover. Metric threads can also be cut
within reasonable accuracy, using the appropiate combinations of gears.