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Help with old Shopmaster lathe

W

WoodDoc

Joined
Sep 28, 2005
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Location
La Crosse, WI
I recently became the proud owner of a new old Shopmaster lathe. This was built probably 40 years ago, but still runs well. It is very sturdy, ~15" swing and 40" length.

The problem is with the spindle. This machine seems to have a threaded spindle that is not a Morse taper. The outside is 5/8" diameter with ~12 TPI. It is threaded internally as well, unsure of the diameter, 1/4-3/8". It came with an iron faceplate that attaches via the outer threads and has threaded holes for 2 spurs to be inserted at various distances, as well as for countersunk screws to go into a blank.

I do not see any way to use a typical 4-point spur or other chuck on this machine.

Is anyone aware of any type of conversion for this lathe spindle, or any other thoughts?

This is my first post on this forum; looking forward to the reply.


Jeff
 
Jeff,

The only Shopmaster lathe that I could find was a 10" swing lathe having a 3/4x16 spindle thread. Suggest you recheck your 5/8x12 measurement to make sure, although I've seen chucks and faceplates that fit a 5/8" plain spindle. It's a simple matter of about $60 to get a spindle adapter if your spindle is of a size not currently used. You can also have an adapter made at a local machine shop.

Can't help you with the threaded interior, however. You can get spin-on spur drives, and you can use a small steelfaceplate with 4 drilled holes to set up a very effective 4-point spur drive by fixing point-ground hex bolts through the mount holes and tightened with hex nuts.

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/

http://www.bestwoodtools.com/

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/index.html

are all good sources with on-line catalogues. You can also call them for information and they may know what your actual machine takes.

Good Luck

Mark
 
Echo the recommendation of the Bestwoodtools source for a threaded spur center. You could also use a regular chuck on the machine if you bought the unbored insert and had your local machinist do the boring/tapping. Then you could use the spur center that manufacturers provide for their chucks.

Is the headstock spindle open opposite that threaded end? If it is, I might run a piece of cold-rolled steel rod inside and give a few taps to see if I might have some unauthorized #1 MT hardware stuck in there. Of course, if there's no suggestion at all that what you see at the business end might be two pieces, it'd be a waste of effort.
 
Thanks for the advice. I have examined this spindle many times. It looks like it is a unique proprietary part that only accepts the OEM 5/8" threaded faceplate. There is no internal taper. The live spur for the foot is similar--no tapered insert, cannot be removed.

I guess I'll have to make do as long as I use this lathe. I may jerry rig a 4-point spur as was suggested above. At some point I may move up to the HF 34706 lathe or get a Jet mini with bed extension.
 
Jeff,

A 5/8 x 11 thread is a standard bolt thread that it should be easy for you to get an adapter to fit.

Good luck.

M

[the JET is the better option, although the other has 2" more swing over the bed]
 
My suggestion would be to pick up a Oneway, Nova, or Vicmarc chuck with a spur drive insert. This will gain you both an excellent chuck and a spur drive. Mount up the chuck and figure that it is a semipermanent attachment, as you can also get faceplate mounts that work with a chuck.

Good luck,
Dietrich
 
Good suggestions all. For a quick fix, I made a disk out of 3/4" maple and mounted it to the faceplate. On the disk I countersunk some 1" screws to make a 4-point spur with a central point. This seems to work very well. I will look at the other chucks mentioned.

While this machine will do OK for an introduction to turning, eventually I think I would like to move up to nicer model that is more versatile.
 
adapter

Hi,all the suggestions will work,but if I were you,I would ask someone with a metal lathe to make an adapter(or two,one for head and one for tail) from the 5/8?(sure its not 11) to 3/4-16 and buy every thing that works on the out side of the shaft-like drive points . My reasoning being that you won't continually wonder how to fit the next chuck etc. Make the adapter removable if you want to use your existing face plate. The 3/4-16 face plates are realtively cheap(ala Sears) so you could go that way. The Habor Freight lathe will present a similar situation,but you do have a source for the components. I like the idea of going to the jet mini best of all,but thats not solving the problem -thats just a good way of getting rid of it ha ha. 🙂
 
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