Amadeal AMABL210E Review Issue 4769

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

With the latest Digital issue now available, I’ll add some additional images that did not make it to the printed review.

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Don’t worry if the box says Amadeal or Harry’s, as the latter is Amadeals e-bay shop name.

The hidden fixing holding the lathe to the pallet

What’s in the box

This shows the motor driving the layshaft,two ratio drive from the layshaft motor to the spindle, spindle drive to the encoder and tucked down bottom right is the stepper motor which drives the leadscrew via another toothed belt.

The big 38mm bore spindle (just takes 1.5″) as does the supplied 125mm 3-jaw

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Some larger images of various cuts made and screwcutting examples, click any to get even larger.

5mm depth of cut in 30mm dia steel. Using metric feed rates (for those that need them) of 0.03 and 0.05mm/rev

M12 x 1.75 thread again in steel. Cut to preset length.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Video of some of the above being cut.

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Certainly looks impressive Jason, thanks for sorting out the test and for taking the time to do it!

is the stepper closed loop? (sorry, I’ve not actually looked at the spec for it yet) If not did you ever notice any losses, especially threading etc?

It looked like it was pretty straight forward to use.

🍻

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’m not sure of the exact setup but did not notice any problems with it going out of sync. Seems to be quite accurate when checked with a plunger type indicator.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

In my experience with 6 open-loop steppers on lathe and 2 mills over 10+ years, they have never missed steps except when crashed or stalled.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

When I read your review yesterday, I was struck by the similarity of the software to that provided by the Electronic leadscrew module site that I’ve fitted to my (Amadeal) mini lathe. It’s only the single axis version, but is a great accessory and includes B.A. threads as standard.  The similarities are so close that I was wondering if there was any cooperation between them?

Why anyone would choose a gear-driven leadscrew over an ELS is a mystery to me, and I’ve had both types of lathe, although my previous lathe was converted to ELS in pretty short order, once I had realised what I was missing.

Thanks for the review, it was most informative and quite comprehensive in filling in the gaps apparent on the Amadeal web site.

John

 

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Screw cutting to a set length is certainly a nice feature, unfortunately my Clough42 inspired version doesn’t do that.

Tony

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Thanks John

 

I think the threading to length, pausing and returning is almost a better feature than not having to play with a gear train.

It’s a Meek clutch and auto return all in one.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Thanks John

 

I think the threading to length, pausing and returning is almost a better feature than not having to play with a gear train.

It’s a Meek clutch and auto return all in one.

Jason

Absolutely so.

It’s same as the way my P&W B is designed to be driven. Albeit with 1920’s era mechanical technology rather than electronics. Once you get your instincts aligned it’s amazingly easier than the standard way. For both threading and normal cuts.

Preset retract for tool withdrawal is the icing on the cake. Something I’m surprised the Amadeal lathe doesn’t have as the P&W mechanism is almost trivially simple to add at the design stage. Don’t even need to use angular infeed with the topside offset. Although I consider that way of working better.

Clive

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Hi Jason, re-reading your review of this lathe with greater interest, a couple of queries arose.

Did you turn a length of stock down and measure along its length to determine accuracy of turning, that it turned true?

I also noted that you did not bolt the lathe down.  It is unclear to me how many bolt holes and their disposition there are, although there appears to be one under the array of pulleys in your photo – could you enlighten me please?  Had you bolted it down, do you think there would have been a likelihood of pulling the lathe out of true – do you see this as a potential issue?

Thanks in anticipation,

Chris

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Hi Chris

 

From the article

Subsequently I made a very slight adjustment to the tailstock set over as turning a long piece of steel showed a slight taper of 0.015mm in 170mm. I quickly got this down to just under 0.005mm but did not spend too long as the lathe was just sat on a bench and not staying there.

I used a piece of 12mm EN1a (230M07) and took a 0.5mm depth of cut along a 170mm length using tailstock support, the cutter was a CCGT 060208. On initial measuring, there was 0.015mm (0.0006″) or just over half a thou difference one end to the other.

A quick adjustment of the tailstock offset got that down to 0.005mm (0.0002″) or 2 tenths of a thou over 7″. I probably could have got it better but did not spend more time chasing down such a small difference as the lathe was not staying long term and I only wanted to spend a certain amount of time on the review.

It does not look like I kept a photo but will take one of the test piece tomorrow, quite a good finish over the long length and no signs of chatter or deflection in the middle considering it was quite a large insert radius. The test piece is in the lathe in Photo 5 but almost totally obscured by the Dti I was using to check how much I moved the tailstock over.

There are two fixing holes, the one you mention and another centrally in the foot at the tailstock end.

So much will depend on what the end user bolts their machine down to if they do decide to bolt it down. To be able to twist a lathe you really need to bolt it to something more rigid that the actual casting, the usual thin metal stands or wooden worktops are more likely to conform to the lathe bed that make the bed conform to them. You have no doubt seen all the engines I have made, my lathe is just bolted to the stand but the stand is just sat on a wooden shed floor, no more leveling than a Stabila builders level on the floor so I’m not really of the school of thought that lathe needs be boted down and fancy machinists levels needed to “level” the bed to make typical engineering models.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Sorry – I missed the point that you turned the stock over 170mm in length and got that degree of accuracy. For some reason I had it in my mind that you put a pre-turned piece in between centres and then ran the DTI over it, my mistake, should have read it more closely.

I had anticipated placing it on a wooden workbench that is very flat and just bolting it down, not really hard but hard enough to stop it moving about.  Your comments confirm the degree of rigidity inherent in the lathe bed.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my queries, and also that the surface finish was so acceptable.  Your comments are very reassuring.

Chris

[dixiethedogParticipant @dixiethedog]

What a great review. I want to buy an ELS lathe so at the moment anything I can read or look at comes in very handy.

The Amadeal range looks good (as does the Warco range, including their new ELS lathes) (they are probably all built in the same factory…). So, thank you for sharing your experiences with your new machine. Brilliant stuff.

Brett

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