Building a Hybrid Unimat DB200

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I got this poor thing off eBay. It has hidden beauty though.  It is a cast iron machine. It will clean up well. Since then, I have acquired a cast iron headstock, rebuilt spindle, slow speed drive and other goodies.

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So it begins...
It appears that I have managed to piece together one of the last cast iron versions of the little lathe. Made in the late '50s. I'll start with getting it running and then disassemble and clean the bed and tailstock. The headstock is all new (and rebuilt) stuff.  The chuck will need freshening up too. I believe it may be a Sherline chuck, it is a little more compact than the normal Unimat 3 jaw. The 4 jaw chuck will also get cleaned up.

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One of the accessories for the Unimat is a scroll saw. They are just plain stupid expensive. So, I decided to look for ideas for making one. A scroll saw is a very handy tool for making lots of parts like revolver grips or cannon wheels.

Here's what the original looks like. This is the round table version, there were variations, but all are RARE and expensive. Also, notice that the whole mechanism is exposed.

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While snooping the web, I found this setup on the Yahoo Unimat site.

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Hmmm... maybe an old jig saw would give me the parts I need. Well, serendipity is one of my favorite words... and look what I snagged off ebay! Here it is mounted on my lathe. I'll need to build the mount and table and overarm, but none of that is rocket surgery. Also, this version has an enclosed, greased gearbox.

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Sorry for the extra posts... I misunderstood the file limit on pics. I finally READ it. 

I tore down the lathe to start the cleaning process. The good thing about the cast iron version is that it is heavy, and both the carriage and cross feed are cast iron, which will wear better than the Zamak or aluminum versions. I'll get the bed assembly cleaned and reassembled and then do the headstock and motor and tailstock.

Here's the thing after being wiped down, but before any serious cleaning starts.

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 I got my QCTP, it is a beautiful little thing. I also got a spare carriage, intending to make a milling attachment out of it. This one looks like NEW, so it will become the carriage on the milling machine and the carriage from it will become the milling attachment.

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I got the lathe base and carriage all cleaned and oiled and reassembled. Here she is in all her slippery and slick and oily glory.

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For those of you who may get one of these little toys some day, the $33 2" three jaw chuck from Harbor Freight fits the Unimat perfectly. I had one already, bought for a wood lathe project. The threads are M12x1, Unimat size. Cheap, well made little chuck.

And, for those who worry about the through-headstock hole size, this lathe has almost a quarter inch hole!  The brass stock in the pic goes all the way through. And, yes, those are brass chips... I had to test the slow speed attachment. Works great.

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The Brown Truck brought some goodies... 

I thought long and hard about the next two modifications I'm making. I like the Unimat a lot for it's unique features, but some of the basics like tool holder, tailstock and accessories have their drawbacks. One of the biggest drawbacks is cost of accessories; there are lots of 'collectors' it seems.  So, I decided to make or buy something that isn't Unimat for the bits I need.
I found that the Taig drilling tailstock is a perfect addition to the Unimat, as I hoped. I'll need to make the adapter to fit the base of it to the Unimat round ways, but this seems to be a very simple change. The center of the tailstock is adjustable horizontally and making the adapter for the ways will address the height nicely. That ability to offset the tailstock is the main reason for this addition; turning tapers in a conventional manner. This will work!

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I started on making the tailstock raising block for the standard Unimat tailstock. I need to perfect this process since several of the accessories I'm building depend on duplicating the shape and spacing of the Unimat round ways.
For this one, I cut a chunk of aluminum in the bandsaw, squared it up to suit and milled the channels for the round stock. Two pieces of 1/2" O1 made the 'ways'. I'll have to turn the stock down for the next project, the 1/2" stuff is just a tad too big to work right.
Here's the start... (done on the big mill and saw in the shop, I'm still working on chip control for inside the house)

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And... TADA!!! The new variable speed motor got here! Pretty cool. Hope it works as well as it looks.

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I got the 'incubator' for chip control figured out. I got a plastic tub from Walmart. I turned over the plastic tub and used the lid as a base. Some 3/4" plywood forms the bottom, with a sheet of masonite on the inside. I cut out the humped lid and sandwiched what was left of the top between the plywood and masonite and screwed the thing together. Some of those felt 'feet' finished the under side so it won't scratch the table. Now I need to seal the wood and masonite with varnish and replace the screws with proper finish head screws, but this will work for sure. I also got rid of the wood 'feet' and installed some solid plastic ones.
The top can be 'hinged' back for access to the machine. I'll make a couple of little props for that. It can also be easily removed of course. The doors will be about where the black tape is. I'm waiting on cutting those, still haven't finalized the design. There is room for the extended bed too! Hooah!

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Ha! We have a working Taig-i-mat tailstock! Some machining to the bottom side of the Taig tailstock base and some minor cleanup of the original Unimat clamping plate and it fits. I had to drill and counterbore a hole in the Taig base for the Unimat clamping bolt and all is well.

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That brings this one up to date. I'm ordering the extended bed parts now that I know how big the incubator is. I also have some other parts ordered and still need to finish the standard tailstock raising block and the scroll saw attachment. I have to pace myself, can't do too much at once. I start therapy for my back on Tuesday, so we will see...