One of the things that I always wished my Grizzly lathe had come with is a Handwheeel on the outside of the spindle. It is a real pain having to constantly reach for the wrench especially when I know I could unscrew what ever attachment I had on by hand if I had something to hold onto. I have searched all around and never found anything that would work. I did find a handwheel that would screw into the left hand threads for $70! The problem with this is that you lose the ability to use the knockout bar.
I decided to design my own to fit my needs. My design called for a two piece unit as I want to be able to remount the side cover and I dont really want to cut a big hole in it. So this is what I came up with today;
The outside diameter of the handwheel is right at 4 it then steps down to 3 and the to 2. I tapered all the sharp edges and knurled a band around the outside of the wheel to help with gripping it.
I left quite a bit of metal on the spindle as I wanted the strength. The assembly slides onto the spindle 1-1/2 and is locked all together with 4 set screws. Once I got it mounted I find that it runs very true and I do like it.
I left the exterior machined flat as I want to machine for a vacuum adapter later as well as a drawbar system. I had originally thought that I would turn a wheel to bolt over top of this out of wood at about 6 to 7 but when you look inside you see there is a lot of spindle hanging there with no support. Later if I decide to do something like that I will mount another bearing.
Anyhow, one more thing done on the list of I wish my lathe had.
I decided to design my own to fit my needs. My design called for a two piece unit as I want to be able to remount the side cover and I dont really want to cut a big hole in it. So this is what I came up with today;
The outside diameter of the handwheel is right at 4 it then steps down to 3 and the to 2. I tapered all the sharp edges and knurled a band around the outside of the wheel to help with gripping it.
I left quite a bit of metal on the spindle as I wanted the strength. The assembly slides onto the spindle 1-1/2 and is locked all together with 4 set screws. Once I got it mounted I find that it runs very true and I do like it.
I left the exterior machined flat as I want to machine for a vacuum adapter later as well as a drawbar system. I had originally thought that I would turn a wheel to bolt over top of this out of wood at about 6 to 7 but when you look inside you see there is a lot of spindle hanging there with no support. Later if I decide to do something like that I will mount another bearing.
Anyhow, one more thing done on the list of I wish my lathe had.
Comment