Taig Backshaft Project

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

I posted a question a few weeks ago about the best place to mount the bearings in a backshaft setup for my Taig lathe and the responses helped with the thinking.

The gadget is now finished(? are they ever!). In case anyone is interested in the approach, I have added a few photos in my Taig Lathe album.

It works as designed. Gives me a 10.5:1 reduction between the motor and the spindle, and gives good useable torque at the spindle down to about 50rpm.

Again thanks for the advice given here – I am learning a lot as I go along. I now have a new list of things "I wish I hadn't done that way" but must confess the lathe has become a project rather than a means to an end.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Very tidy, Peter

MichaelG.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Just wondering what you are doing to warrant 50 rpm? I spent my time on the bearings etc to get it to 9800rpm, fantastic for 1mm shafts!

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Well done you, looks great

It's a slippery slope, you now need three

one as a high speed lathe, one as a low speed lathe and one as a mill

…and then there's the DRO CNC conversion to mull over…

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Thanks,

Bernard – the next project is a screw cutting follower based on the one described by Keith Brooke (A Thread Cutting Attachment for the Taig Lathe (cartertools.com)) which itself is based on a Unimat version described in MEW. For that low speeds will be handy. The other reason is to improve the torque available at low(er) turning speeds. The DC motor has little power below 500rpm which with the original setup is about 200rpm at the spindle. I could actually have used the extra grunt when turning the 90mm billet of aluminium down to make the pulley – it was a lot of very light cuts to avoid stalling.

Mine has the ER16 spindle which I think is rated for 10,000rpm as standard, so now I can go from 50-10,000 rpm – should I feel the need.

Ady, I am already well down the slope I have high and low speeds on the Taig (see above), a watchmakers lathe and have already bought a micro mill – although not the Taig one. The roundtuit project list gets longer every time I step into the workshop!

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