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Craftsman 109.20630 Lathe, modifications and upgrades. | Visitors: |
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I have been trying to improve things. First modification was replacing the cross-slide Gibbs with brass. That reduces the friction. The second mod was the carriage hold down. The front ones were replaced with brass stock. The rear was a bit trickier (shown above.) I tapped two 6-32 holes through the carriage. Then used a block of brass as a clamp (1" x 1/4"). Hard to see is there is a 1/16" piece of welding wire used as a pivot along the top edge. The back edge of the brass block was beveled to prevent interference. The center adjustment is very loose, the two screws set the force. The third mod was a new cross-slide feed screw. The stock is 24 TPI; that makes 1-turn 0.041666". Hard to do accurate turns: |
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| It now is 0.050" per revolution. With a graduated dial, I could do more accurate turning. The center plug was turned and threaded. The screw feed end was turned and threaded. A 1/4-20 stainless steel threaded rod was used as it is durable and smooth.. Works better. A PDF file on how to make one is described here. |
| However, the cross slide has a lot of play and needs constant adjustment. It was also a bit worn. I wanted something better. I found on ebay a Sherline milling table (for the 4000 series lathe.) This was low enough to mount right on the cross-slide carriage: |
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