Hi Eric,
It will give a finer feed as it drives through a screw rather than a rack and pinion. I have considered adding one to my lathe. (Chester DB10G) As the lathe I used for most of my life (From about 10 to 60) had one.

Les.

The leadscrew handwheel was an optional extra on new lathes.

You will notice that the leadscrew handwheel is graduated against a pointer on the end of the bed, enabling precise movements on the leadscrew. The apron handwheel is just for fast movement of the saddle and is usually pretty sloppy.

However there is nowadays an excellent conversion, designed by Graham Meek, for the apron handwheel which enables precise measurable movement from there.

If hand feeding I find the leadscrew handwheel gives a smoother slower travel than the apron handwheel.

Phil

I have one of those hand wheels made to Graham Meeks design by Steve Tracy tooling, and have found it very useful. I wish my workman ship was in the same class, however since buying the imperial hand wheel I've changed my lathe for a metric Myford, I have thought about fitting to the lathe but would prefer a metric hand wheel. So if you know of any one with a metric version for sale or any one interesting in buying a pre owned imperial one then please contact me via a PM.John

Like John F I fitted a Steve Tracy/ Gordon Meeks graduated hand wheel to my S7 and it is by far the most useful accessory that I have ever bought. Beautifully made and pleasure to use also very easy to fit.

Hi Eric,

I've made both mods to my mini-lathe. Details of Alastair Sinclair's mini-lathe leadscrew handwheel mod, including plans, are included in an article which is being reprinted in the 25 Years of MEW special.

For comparison, my leadscrew handle is graduated in 1/1024" steps (rough 0.001&quot the apron handwheel dial is graduated in 0.01" steps. They have complementary uses.

Neil

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 18/04/2015 17:44:53

Although not constantly needed, a very useful fitting when precise positioning of the Saddle is required.

I made up a graduated handwheel for the Leadscrew on my ML7.

Mike Cox made and fitted a Leadscrew Handwheel for his Mini Lathe.

I made a slightly less sophisticated one for mine, but with an outrigger bearing similar to Alistair Sinclair's.

With 60 graduations and a 1.5mm pitch Leadscrew, each 0.025mm division is about 0.00098 Imperial thou.

As Alistair Sinclair pointed out, it is advisable to disengage the Leadscrew from the change gear train.

Otherwise, a) it takes a lot more effort to turn all the change wheels, even with the tumbler gear set to neutral. Being idle, I just remove one of the changewheels!

b) If the tumbler gears are engaged, it will take a LOT of effort to turn the leadscrew, and as soon as the chuck rotates, the setting will be lost!

Go for it!

Howard

Colin, you commented on my YouTube vid didn't you?? I did post a reply. I have a spare myford handle if it is of use to you? It isn't graduated but as explained in this thread it does help with finer feeds, and it makes the travel intuative to the handle orientation. Whereas the handle on the apron turns the wrong orientation moving the saddle towards the chuck when rotating clockwise.

Let me know if you are interested in the handle, it should as long as you have thread left after the nut lock onto the leadscrew up against the nut.

My ML4 just has a plastic handwheel mounted onto an adapter. Threaded for the lead screw one side, and the other side tapped for a retaining bolt for the handle.

Although not complete, I've tried to put together some of my experience in setting up the ML4. Click here to see the thread

Edited By Jon Cameron on 11/10/2017 01:11:31

On the setup I have now with the ML4, (mine doesn't have tumble reverse fitted, some did as an optional extra). All I'd do is unscrew the stopper on the very left of the lead screw, which is held in place with a slotted grub screw, and use the lathe as so, if I found that there was too much noise from the final gear moving on the lead screw, and rubbing against the other gears, (still in mesh with the spindle), is loosen the bracket that holds the gears so this falls away from the spindle gear.

The stopper engages the gear and leadscrews with a small pin into the gear, and the grub screw locking onto a flat on the lead screw.

I've turned the handwheel with the gears on, though not connected to the spindle gear. There is a fair bit of resistance turning all those gears.

One of the first mods I made to my chester was fit a handwheel to the leadscrew. It is an easy job IF the screw will go thru. the mandrel. Turn bit of steel to fit a handle and drill the leadscrew to suit. Glue with araldite or similar. I used a handle from Arceuro and marked lines on the boss ,using a gear as a divider. Does not need super accuracy. I always have the gear train out of mesh except when using it.