JET parts help?

Re: JET parts help?

Oscar

>William, I don't know what you are making but I made a steady rest and just used some plywood and a couple of bolts and wing nuts to secure it to the ways. One piece to fit between the ways and a slightly larger piece underneath, you need a little gap between the 2 pieces of wood so it will tighten on the ways. Drilled a couple of holes through both pieces inserted some bolts and use wing nuts to tighten with. Oscar

Re: JET parts help?

Bob Persing (Skillman, NJ)

>As Oscar already mentioned, plywood can work quite well if if the the accessory does not get a lot of forces.

A do-it-yourself alternative would be to use two different sizes of bar stock, smaller size to fit between the rails and larger size to stradle the rails. Use machine screws to secure the stock together (drill and tap one, drill clearance in the other). The down side to this is the WORK to cut the bar stock unless you have a power hacksaw.

Whatcha buildn'?

BobP

Re: JET parts help? More info

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Thanks, guys. I'm building a heavy duty spindle steady rest, so I worry a bit about the strength of plywood, and I have also considered that wood doesn't slide as easily or wear as well as iron.

The other problem with bar stock is that the bolts I'm using are 3/4"-10, and I don't have a twist drill that big. The twist drill, including shipping, would cost a lot more than the JET parts, but the drill and the power hacksaw are tempting :^)

I may try turning the parts from some dense hardwood and see how they hold up, but I would prefer just buying metal clamps off-the-shelf, if I could find them reasonably. If the extension that slips between the ways were elongated, it would keep the grain oriented for maximum strength.

The rest has to be strong enough to dampen vibrations, etc., from nine foot long 16/4 bed post stock. (No, I don't turn those on the JET, but the rest will do double duty on two different lathes.) My metalworking tool set is much more limited than my woodworking tool set, so I'm building the carriages from hard maple. When I get it working, and have some construction photos, in-use photos, and measured drawings, I'll post the story.

Re: JET parts help? More info

Don Orr

>There was a thread a while back from a man who made slip-resistant bottom clamps for the tailstock of the Jet Minis. Looked like machined barstock with a hole for the bolt. It replaced the wishy-washy washer under the tailstock. Don't know if this is what you're looking for but might get you closer to what you want. I think the price including shipping was about $28.

Good Luck!

Re: JET parts help?

Sam Dean

>You could probably make your step washer out of big washers stacked together of the appropriate sizes. If you need too, sandwich the whole stack together with a couple of small machine screws. Shouldn't cost more than a couple bucks at the hardware store.

Thanks,

Sam

Re: 3/4-10 is huge overkill.

Al Crandall --NE of Indy--

>Anything you bolt to a 1236 Jet will tip the lathe over if it is large enough to really require a 3/4 bolt to secure it in place. I have a bowl steady with a 25" inside diameter and it is very stable when mounted with two 3/8" carriage bolts. I have used red oak for the pressure washer on several lathe attachments and it works very well. I don't make the "washers" round however. I always make them rectangular so there is more bearing surface to withstand the pressure. As for the part of the washer which fits up between the sides of the slot, there is no requirement for strength or durability. It is only there to keep the washer centered in the slot while you tighten the bolt, and it could be made from balsa wood and still work. Just make it from a scrap of hardwood and use super glue to fasten it to the top side of the pressure washer if you feel you need to have steel for the lower part of the assembly.

Re: 3/4-10 is huge overkill.

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I agree, 3/4"-10 is way, way overkill for the 1236, but I do have a couple of reasons for choosing it. First, I'm going to be using this steady rest on two different lathes, the other one much larger, and I need to consider compatibility with other attachments that make our tooling work with both lathes. The banjo and tailstock threads for the JET are 3/4-10 (go figure), so when we move these JET parts to the other lathe, whose bed is two 3"x9" oak timbers, we need to extend them. We do this with a threaded connector and a length of threaded rod. Then, the standard JET clamp (which is the object of my quest) and nut work fine on both lathes.

Re: JET parts help? More info

Robert Cox

>That was me.

Shoot me an email and I'll talk to my machinist about what you need.

Re: JET parts help?

Walter Ahlgrim

>You could make a square part from aluminum with a table saw using a carbide tiped blade.

Do you need it to step up between the ways? Wouldn�t a flat square plate that fits closely under the ways work just as well?

Re: JET parts help?

Pete in Holland MI

>I agree costs on the part are high, but think about it....

That factory worker is probably making $15/hour, making the shop rate of the empolyee with benefits and cost of warehousing the parts around $50/hour. Accepting your order, wandering back to the right shelf to pick it out, wrap it in a box and get ready for shipping may take 15-20 minutes of dedicated time to your part. There in lies the reasons for the costs.

We Americans enjoy the high wages and often great hospitalization programs, but these add costs to doing business. If customers are not willing tp pay these prices for American based businesses, these services and jobs go off shore, hurting us all in the end.

Can't have your cake and eat it too.......

Re: JET parts help?

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>No, the step is not essential, but it is definitely a time saving and frustration saving feature, since alignment by touch only without a visual reference can be difficult. Also, the original is made of cast iron, which is brittle, and for tool rests and tailstock attachment it really needs the additional stiffness provided by the raised boss. I'm sure JET, or whoever they copied the design from, thought of this, and decided a single piece of cast iron with a little simple machining of one mating surface was the best way for their foundry, but it sure makes it frustrating for the small shop owner on the horns of the build vs. buy dilemma.

I'm not the only one using these lathes, and I therefore have to always be aware of one of the corollaries of Murphy's Law: Non-interchangable Parts Will Be. The originals have the advantage of being almost indestructible.

Re: JET parts help?

Jerry Whitaker

>I know where to get exactly what you need from:

fred226@aol.com

He makes a slightly rectangular tailstock/banjo plate for the Mini Jet. It is milled from a solid piece of steel and gives you about twice the amount of surface contact. Well done and only $10 plus shipping.

Re: JET parts help?

Jerry Whitaker

>Ooops...Sorry, I did not read your post correctly. I had the mini Jet in my head and you were talking about the 1236.

Re: Here's What I Did

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Thanks for helping me get my head straightened about this. I finally decided it was easy to build my own, in less time than it would take to order them from a supplier, so this evening that's what I did.

This pic shows two original JET cast clamps, one right side up and one turned turtle. Also shown are two different views of the clamps I made myself from hard maple. They are shown with the 3/4-10 nuts and bolts that will fasten the steady rest to the ways.

I started with a blank about 3/8" thick, cut it to the width of the originals, and then cut two 1/4" deep rabbets in one face, across the end grain. Then I drilled 7/8" diameter bolt holes, and cut two clamps out of the stock with the band saw. I decided, since the grain had to run perpendicular to the ways, for strength, that the boss needed to be oblong, instead of round, to enforce that grain orientation.

I tried one of them on the tool rest. I worked fine, so I shouldn't have any problem with the steady rest.

I appreciate all the help. It was all useful. I hope my solution to the problem will help others with similar challenges.