Lathe cradle with handls for heavy chuck lifting

[Clark]

I got some old monster chucks that came with my surplus 1967 Clausing lathe.

Anticipating being too old to lift a 63 pound 10 inch chuck covered with
oil from the floor to a chuck cradle on the ways of my lathe, I put
handles and feet on my chuck cradles.

The handles, when held with one hand, are clamped together.
Likewise, when the cradle is on the floor, the weight on the feet keep
the handles together.
The handles capture the chuck in this position.
When the cradle is on the ways, the hand or floor release their force
and the handles open to free the chuck.

The handles are made of:
3/8"-16 threaded rod
3/4" ID 1" OD PVC pipe
.187" x 1" flat steel stock

The 10" cradle is made of rock hard maple.
The 9" cradle is made of Douglas Fir

The 9" chuck and cradle weighs 60 pounds.
The 10" chuck and cradle weighs 70 pounds.

I wish I could say that 70 pound chuck has chambered more than one rifle for me, but so far, it is just giving me a weight lifting work out

 

[HSMITH]

Good idea and nicely executed Clark!

 

[DeBee]

Yeah, that's a great idea! Definitely will save the ol' back...

Part two of the project is making the miniature crane to hoist it up to the bed and hold it steady while you thread it on the spindle...

Is your Clausing a 16"???

 

[Clark]

I think this is a 13".
It is the same lathe as seen in the book "Accuracy Facts", except mine has a really beat up paint job.

I paid $1200 for the 1200 pound lathe with 600 pounds of tooling and turning stock at an auction. I then scraped 1/4" of grime off the lathe and converted from 440 VAC 3phase to my 220VAC single phase house wiring.

I am not a great metal worker/ gunsmith, but I am a good wood worker, so the cradle project was right for me.

Here is the auction company's picture [with grime and three layers of paint]

 

[TarpleyG]

I'd say you got a hell of a deal. I used to work for a guy that sup'd up jet skis and he had a machine shop with pretty much the same lathe and I can tell you he paid way more than $1200 for it.

GT

 

[Clark]

The lathe came with the big Buck chucks and that was a good deal, but I don't think a Clausing with nice original paint will go for $1200.

I spent week dissasembling, cleaning, repairing, and reassambling that lathe.

First it was at Boeing and got painted seafoam green.
Where I got it, it was in a big ship rebuilding shop making bronze bushings as needed for repair. They used compressed air to clean the lathe, and it had bronze chips in places you would never think a chip could get. That and a layer of grime from being next to sand blasting made it a big effort.

I think the reason the repair shop went out of biz, was one of the partners could not lift the lathe chucks anymore.