Saturday, February 09, 2013

ShopFox M1017 12x39 lathe/mill combo


I bought a well-used ShopFox M1017 12x39 lathe/mill combo in the spring of 2012.  I found a manual on the WoodStock International web site, but ordering parts was a painful experience.  I had to find a dealer, and they had to accumulate $200 worth of orders before they could deal with the manufacturer.  Additionally, Wooodstock only had a limited selection of parts.  I noticed that the Grizzly 4003 12x36 lathe looks quite similar to my older lathe in all areas other than the headstock and change gears.  I then ordered some parts from Grizzly (some fit, some needed modification) and spent months waiting for my ShopFox order (in all, it took 6 or 7 months).  Let me caution others that there are no guarantees that Grizzly parts will work.  Particularly, the headstock and change gear selection is different.  My lathe has twist knobs, the new lathes have selector pins.

Now that I have enough parts to get started, I am working on my lathe

The carriage feed control switch was busted - the cast iron collar around the feed rod was broken, and the cast iron plate that holds the control handle to the carriage was also broken.  This photo shows the white original collar, the new red one, and the green plate that attaches to the carriage (both replacement parts from Grizzly - the red handle part fit great, the green plate has bolt and pin holes that do not match my old ShopFox).






By the way, the collar had a key inside that attached with a small screw, so don't chisel it out like I did, or you will have to extract or drill out the screw.  I chose to re-tap it as National Course Number 6-36, instead of 2.5 or 3mm, since I don't have any metric taps below 6mm.

I like to tap on my drill press with a cut-off nail loosely held in the chuck.  This helps me square up the part and the tap, reducing breakage.  Of course, patience helps, and I like to "back-off" a quarter turn or more every time I do a half turn or when resistance increases.


Broken hub from the carriage wheel
I really hope some machinist out there can help me remove the broken hub from my lathe carriage!  All I can see is a roll pin on the graduated collar.  Will that do it?

I haven't mentioned the mill, but the ears that bolt the mill column to the lathe were broken off when someone tried to move it (not me).  I am pretty sure that can be brazed.  The mill is a bright spot in this effort, as the mill seems to run and move just fine - all I have to do is fix the carriage, mount the mill table, braze the column ears, and start using it.

I'm partly posting this so I can refer to it in my introductory post to Home Machinist, but others are welcome to chip in!