From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Richard Smith"  wrote in message news:m18qoxveyt.fsf@void.com...   
      
   "Jim Wilkins"  writes:   
   >> Before I bought a house with shop space I used my father's wood lathe   
   >> to make machine parts such as pulleys and rollers. ...   
      
   >Comment about wooden pulleys appreciated.   
   >This is considering rigs which will likely be run for a few hours only.   
      
   I pretty much had to attach the larger wooden pulleys directly to the load,   
   such as a windmill rock tumbler drum. Without a metal lathe I couldn't make   
   a steel flange to attach the pulley to a strong steel shaft. Water pipe and   
   floor flanges didn't work out very well, welded-seam pipe is never quite   
   round and standard sized bearings don't fit it. I didn't try cast lead   
   bearings because of the pipe's irregular surface.   
      
   Hardwood end grain bearings held up for a while under light loading, they   
   needed to be easily and frequently replaced. I used oak from flooring   
   scraps. Lignum Vitae propeller shaft bearings are an example.   
   https://lignumvitaesolutions.com/products/marine/marine-bearings/   
      
   Dad's machine is a cast iron Shopsmith 10E which sacrificed rigidity to   
   versatility and we knew could break if abused, he had a friend at work braze   
   the broken table lift arm, so I didn't cut metal harder than aluminum on it.   
      
   Wood and steel machine frames can be made with hand tools or a bandsaw but   
   power transmission components may be very difficult without a lathe,   
   especially custom shapes for uncommon uses or used / surplus parts that are   
   available because they don't fit standard sized shafts.   
      
   Purchased parts are expensive, one 3/4" shaft, jaw coupler, steel pulley and   
   pillow blocks for my sawmill cost as much as the new gas engine. The jaw   
   coupler protects the engine shaft and bearings from any misalignment or   
   frame twist from the load; shaft and bearing alignment on a weld-distorted   
   frame can be difficult. I studied the "Audel Millwrights and Mechanics   
   Guide."   
      
   A cheaper zinc alloy pulley from the hardware store deformed loose in other   
   use although the shaft connection to the hydraulic pump was a   
   custom-broached 6 spline press fit instead of the usual single key. I   
   replaced it with a lower flow pump run faster, the same power at lower shaft   
   torque and belt tension.   
      
   Much of the backwoods engineering I could get away with for low HP electric   
   motors failed with higher HP gas engines, I needed to understand and stay   
   within components' ratings.   
      
   With the lathe I can make the hub adapters and roller and ball thrust   
   bearings I want, a pipe sized solar array thrust bearing and wet location   
   wheels made from stainless steel pipe and rod scraps. The lathe and milling   
   machine add precision to weldments and off-sized scrap metal and largely   
   eliminate filing and shimming. I needed to grind, file and shim only   
   assembles too large to machine such as the weld-warped engine mount plate on   
   my log splitter.   
   jsw   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)