Hi George,
The HF gadgets fit the Speedway fine. I bought HF's drill chuck with
MT2 taper and it fits my Speedway 7x12 properly.
Easiest way to thread is with taps and dies when that is possible.
Assuming you are interested in single point threading with the lathe:
For outside threading, you just need to grind a toolbit to 60 degrees
(assuming standard thread), set it perpendicular to the work, put the
right gears on (a little tricky the first time out) and have at it
using very light cuts. Best to practice on scrap until you develop a
rythm per the reference below.
Inside threading is a bit more problematical in that you'll likely
want a boring bar to hold a small tool bit. I made a boring bar from
a piece of 3/8 round stock: cross drilled a small hole 1/2 inch from
the end, filed this hole square to hold a 1/8 tool bit, end drilled
and tapped the bar for a 10-32 set screw to secure the bit. Grind a
1/8 tool bit to 60 degrees and cut it to length and put it in your
shiny new boring bar. Then it works much like outside threading
except now you need a boring bar holder...
There is some magic to do with the threading dial vs tpi but it boils
down to: pick any number and ALWAYS start with that same number (I
use 5) and forget the magic. On my lathe the numbers weren't lined
up with the index mark when the leadscrew was engaged -- this is
adjustable by just twisting the threading dial which is a friction
fit, similar to the other dials.
There is a good detailed and practical description of single point
threading here:
Your lathe needs the gibs adjusted to avoid chatter and once this is
done threading works amazingly well on the 7x12. Initially, I
chucked a 16 tpi bolt up, set the gears for 16 tpi, adjusted the tool
just above the existing thread, turned it on low speed and watched as
the tool followed along just above the existing thread -- made me a
believer very quickly.
John
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "kgmk99" <kgmk99@y...> wrote:
I am a novice and just purchased a 7 X 12 Speedway mini lathe from
Homnier. Will attachemts from Harbour Freight tools such as the
drill
chuck work in this lathe? I will also want to do some threading and
need to know what else I should purchase to do this? Any help on
this
would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
George Kaplan
