Elliott OMNISPEED lathe

[Agroshield]

I can forward the bearings on for you no problem if the website don't send to Malta/it is too expensive etc.

A lot of the price suppliers charge is because they only want to provide limited postage options. For those particular thrust bearings, you could line each piece up side-by-side on a piece of card, sellotape them down and send as a letter.

Looks like Royal Mail large letter to Malta is £3.25.

Best not to click Mali in the country selector...

 

[Pawcu]

A lot of the price suppliers charge is because they only want to provide limited postage options. For those particular thrust bearings, you could line each piece up side-by-side on a piece of card, sellotape them down and send as a letter.

Looks like Royal Mail large letter to Malta is £3.25.

Best not to click Mali in the country selector...

I never thought of that xD Smart hehe

 

[Pawcu]

@Smouser sorry to bother you again but do you happen to have any pics of the shear pin cover on the apron? My glass was broken and I'm not sure if it's just a flat piece of glass cover? Thanks

 

[Smouser]

@Smouser sorry to bother you again but do you happen to have any pics of the shear pin cover on the apron? My glass was broken and I'm not sure if it's just a flat piece of glass cover? Thanks

Not sure if mine is standard or not but mine is just a piece of triangular metal.

 

[Pawcu]

Not sure if mine is standard or not but mine is just a piece of triangular metal.

View attachment 415125

Ah OK I guess I can do that as well xD
Thanks

 

[Smouser]

Lathe updates.
I bought a taper bush pulley that would fit on the replacement motor ages ago. I initially thought the old pulleys and belts were SPZ pulleys and belts.
However, there was a slight variation when I closely inspected the old and new pulleys. The spacing is not quite the same albeit very close. It is difficult to see in the photos.

Because the belts are fairly long, I am hoping that the small difference won't matter too much with the length of the belts taking up the slight misalignment.
In theory, the belts will wear out on the sides a little bit quicker but, in reality, as the lathe will only be used in a hobby capacity and not 8 hours a day I think it won't matter too much.

Because the replacement motor has a different frame size and the existing bolt holes wouldn't align, I decided to mount the motor on a 'motor slide base' which will give me enough adjustments while also simplifying the fitment of the motor.

Guess I forgot to paint the motor mount

The time finally came to swap the mighty Warco with the Elliott Omnispeed. Out with the old and in with the new!
The notorious Chinese engine crane came in handy to lift the mighty Warco onto a pallet.

Next up was to turn the Elliott 90 degrees using my pump truck and old-school trolley thingamajiggy.
I just about managed to get it turned but it was not easy, the Elliott is heavy!

 

[Smouser]

This is as far as I got before it would not move anymore.

I pushed, I pulled, I swore, I sweated, but move it would not.
Unfortunately for the wife, she was the closest person to assist

Even with the two of us, it was not easy getting it into the garage transitioning between the driveway and the garage floor.

I also got an earful multiple times from the wife due to oil spillages and the state of the drive which I caused over the last few months.
I guess one of my next jobs is to paint some drive seal onto the drive again.

Due to my excessive hoarding and lack of space, I could not go much further into the garage otherwise I would not have been able to withdraw the pallet truck.

I had a rethink and swapped the trolley and pallet truck around and used my two engine skates for the front of the machine.

The garage floor is not very smooth and the engine skates kept sliding and turning, and I had to re-adjust them a few times until the lathe was in position.

I anticipated that I would have a problem withdrawing the skates/trolley/pallet truck from underneath the lathe so I ordered a Chinese toe jack. Unfortunately, it did not arrive in time.
The next best thing would be to put the lathe on machine feet.

@RobCox showed me his lathe's feet and spacers.
Very fancy!

Mine, however, not so much

At least the lathe was in the garage and I could get the pallet truck out from underneath it.
I was well-chuffed with my quick bodge job until a certain guy with fancy lathe feet and spacers pointed out that he hoped the lathe would not walk off the wooden blocks if there were ever to be an unbalanced workpiece in the lathe.
Doh

I guess it is a wait-and-see situation with a rework if needed.

Next up was using my precision level to get the lathe set up.

Perfect! #pinocchio nose

I installed the motor but could not find the old drive belts (they were knackered anyway and I must have thrown them out). I, therefore, used the super sophisticated method of measuring the inside length of the required V-belts by using a piece of electrical wire wrapped around the pulleys and then measuring the length of the wire.

I was approximately 1803mm. The closest SPZ belt with an inside length of 1803 mm is an SPZ 1837 belt (inside length 1799 mm).
There will be enough adjustments on the two motor mounts to make the belts work.

The main 'big' tasks remaining are:
Clean the three-jaw chuck
Fit the drive belts
Do all the wiring and set up the VFD.

I never did find a bargain branded 3kW VFD so a trusty Chinese AT1 VFD will have to do.

I believe the biggest 'problem' with this VFD is that you can't wire/setup a true emergency stop into it.
I am pretty sure I have read something like that before about these AT1 VFDs. Further investigation is required.

Finally, guess what turned up this morning.
Sigh

 

[RichardM]

Must admit, I wouldn't leave it on those blocks of wood.

 

[Martin Hocking]

Blimey smouser, having got my Cardiff into a similar position with the aid of my neighbours hiab I can only say well done getting up that step! Top work!

 

[Martin Hocking]

Someone who knows will be able to give answer. But the Cardiff manual says to level with wedges that are placed slightly differently to the bolt holes I don’t know if this actually makes a difference when you use levelling feet. Maybe adding support in these places might stave off some of the worry about the wood blocks. This might all be nonsense if the omnispeed is levelled differently, i should check but I don’t have time to find the pdf again.

 

[Smouser]

I think I will have to rework the spacers aka wooden blocks. Possibly adopting the same principle as Rob with spacers with a 'cutout / detent' for the feet to go in.

It might even be the first job of the lathe.

But first, lets get the beast running!

 

[Smouser]

Blimey smouser, having got my Cardiff into a similar position with the aid of my neighbours hiab I can only say well done getting up that step! Top work!
View attachment 415553

I need neighbours with hiabs!!
That seems much easier.

 

[Martin Hocking]

I need neighbours with hiabs!!
That seems much easier.

Yeah tell me about it!
It was a little embarrassing because the lathe moved in before we did, so literally the first time I spoke to him was asking to move it into the garage! He’s a top bloke though thankfully and got me out of a jam for definite!

 

[minimutly]

This is as far as I got before it would not move anymore.

View attachment 415491

I pushed, I pulled, I swore, I sweated, but move it would not.
Unfortunately for the wife, she was the closest person to assist

Even with the two of us, it was not easy getting it into the garage transitioning between the driveway and the garage floor.

View attachment 415492

I also got an earful multiple times from the wife due to oil spillages and the state of the drive which I caused over the last few months.
I guess one of my next jobs is to paint some drive seal onto the drive again.

Due to my excessive hoarding and lack of space, I could not go much further into the garage otherwise I would not have been able to withdraw the pallet truck.

I had a rethink and swapped the trolley and pallet truck around and used my two engine skates for the front of the machine.

View attachment 415493

The garage floor is not very smooth and the engine skates kept sliding and turning, and I had to re-adjust them a few times until the lathe was in position.

I anticipated that I would have a problem withdrawing the skates/trolley/pallet truck from underneath the lathe so I ordered a Chinese toe jack. Unfortunately, it did not arrive in time.
The next best thing would be to put the lathe on machine feet.

@RobCox showed me his lathe's feet and spacers.
Very fancy!

View attachment 415494

Mine, however, not so much

View attachment 415495

At least the lathe was in the garage and I could get the pallet truck out from underneath it.
I was well-chuffed with my quick bodge job until a certain guy with fancy lathe feet and spacers pointed out that he hoped the lathe would not walk off the wooden blocks if there were ever to be an unbalanced workpiece in the lathe.
Doh

I guess it is a wait-and-see situation with a rework if needed.

Next up was using my precision level to get the lathe set up.
View attachment 415496

View attachment 415497

Perfect! #pinocchio nose

I installed the motor but could not find the old drive belts (they were knackered anyway and I must have thrown them out). I, therefore, used the super sophisticated method of measuring the inside length of the required V-belts by using a piece of electrical wire wrapped around the pulleys and then measuring the length of the wire.

View attachment 415500

I was approximately 1803mm. The closest SPZ belt with an inside length of 1803 mm is an SPZ 1837 belt (inside length 1799 mm).
There will be enough adjustments on the two motor mounts to make the belts work.

The main 'big' tasks remaining are:
Clean the three-jaw chuck
Fit the drive belts
Do all the wiring and set up the VFD.

I never did find a bargain branded 3kW VFD so a trusty Chinese AT1 VFD will have to do.

View attachment 415502

I believe the biggest 'problem' with this VFD is that you can't wire/setup a true emergency stop into it.
I am pretty sure I have read something like that before about these AT1 VFDs. Further investigation is required.

Finally, guess what turned up this morning.
Sigh

View attachment 415504

You were playing a dangerous game moving that lathe with those pallet trucks, but you got away with it.

 

[Smouser]

You were playing a dangerous game moving that lathe with those pallet trucks, but you got away with it.

Probably more 'dangerous' to the lathe/fence/garage wall than to us.

If it were to tip over, it would have gone sideways. Our positioning meant that we were pretty safe. The lathe was surprisingly stable on the pallet truck and trolley.

What I have not shown/talked about was that I lowered the lathe multiple times onto wooden blocks and repositioned the trolley/pallet truck whenever the lathe was no longer optimally positioned on the pallet truck and trolley.

I guess everybody has got a different risk appetite/see risks differently.

Without starting a massive H&S argument I would like to say there is definitely a need for H&S (having lived in a country with poor H&S rules/regulations/practices before). But, I feel the UK has gone overboard with H&S rules/regulations. The UK being so risk adverse, many things can't be done/takes so long to do/so expensive to do.

Maybe natural selection and Darwin awards are not so bad....

 

[Smouser]

Quick update on the lathe before the rugby starts!

I installed a light above the lathe as it was very dark in that part of the garage.

The belts also arrived and I am glad to report that they fit.

I also finished the electrical box off. In the end, I also mounted my VFD inside the electrical box. I made two vents at the bottom of the box so that the VFD can 'breathe'.

As I was in a hurry and so excited to get the lathe finally running, I did not even take any further photos of the electrical installation

I am happy to report that it runs and it can make chips!

The first actual 'job' I did was to prepare a metal disc that was cut on a bandsaw that was not set up correctly. The resulting cut from the saw was a disaster!
The disc was too big for my mighty Warco and I am planning to use the disc as a back plate for a chuck on a rotary table.

Lots of waste!

Once again, I did not take a finished photo of the disc
I was extremely happy with the finished result. I measured the disc's thickness while it was still on the 4-jaw chuck and I got the following measurements next to the chuck jaws:
1 = 32.12mm
2 = 32.11mm
3 = 32.12mm
4 = 32.12mm

All the feeds seem to work fine, but I have not tried to cut a thread with the lathe yet.
I believe everything has gone back together correctly

There are a few small jobs and setups remaining but I have a working lathe!!!

 

[Smouser]

Now anxiously waiting for @Pawcu to stop holidaying and design the way covers for 3D printing!

 

[Pawcu]

Wow great progress xD
Yes dw it's on my mind xD will work on them once I get back and settle down all the stuff that is waiting for me

 

[Smouser]

This week I installed a RPM meter on the lathe. Unfortunately, I could net seem to get good photo of the display, there must some sort of mismatch between my camera and the display's refresh rate.

@Pawcu kindly sent me his designs for the 3d printed way covers. I pestered one of my mates who are local and he printed them for me.

The covers fit but most of the bolts holes do not line up. I suspect the bolts holes have been drilled by hand and every lathe's bolt hole spacings are slightly different between lathes.

I am waiting for some step/stp files from @Pawcu and then I can get my mate to slightly alter the hole locations on the covers.

I bought a rusty 20mm thick metal plate/road plate to temporarily cover the post hole when I built our driveway gates. As it was still lying around and not getting used I decided to try and cut circle out of it which I want to use as a backplate for a 12" 4 jaw chuck which I can then mount on my Elliott 12" rotary table.

I have got nothing with the capacity to cut 20mm thick steel at the size of the circle so it was dirty dirty grinder work

Round enough!

On to the lathe.
The size of the plate was about the max my 4 jaw chuck could handle.

That is how far I got.
I need to flip it over, dial it in and ensure I get the 2 faces parallel to each other.

Ps. The lathe is still standing solidly on the wooden blocks

 

[6ply]

Rather you than me cutting the 20mm plate with an angle grinder. When I try things like that I normally set my pants (UK) on fire.

Lathe looks nice.