The sealed bearing in my shopmade vacuum adaptor is no longer sealed and it's too far to drive to get another. (translation, I'm too lazy) Any advice re the E-Z vacuum adaptor and the Hold Fast for 25 bucks less?
Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter
arch - why don't you just buy a bag of replacement bearings and change it out. just read the numbers off the bearing and look for a box full at surplus prices
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Arch.. what lathe are you using it on?
As to shop built with "sealed" bearings, I found that sealed bearings are great for well pumps but suck (not in a good way) for air/vacuum.. It did help to smear a bit of Vaseline over the sealed races whenever the vacuum fell off..
I bought the vac accessory from Nova when I bought the new lathe and I'm very impressed with it.. especially since it was only $30..
mac
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Mac, Thank you very much for reviving my question. Hopefully someone has advice re both commercial adaptors. I want to order one or the other this week.
I had cut two lengths of 3/8" tube to fit my Nova 3K and Jet mini.
Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter
Well, Arch, I'm still using the shop-made "rotary valve" on the mini, but you should look into the Nova adapter for the Nova.. It's misleading, because Nova says that it's for hooking up a shop vac.. I ran a 3/8" plastic hose from the vac system to the adapter, and it works great.. It slides inside the handwheel (if you have one) and locks with an allan screw.. It seems to seal and turn better than any that I've built before and I saved a lot of time for $30.. probably would have taken several hours and at least $10 to make my own..
Personally, I don't like the "through the spindle" rotary valves... PITA to use the rod to knock spur centers out, etc... And I'm not sure if you could use a chuck without removing the tube and fitting from the business end of the spindle? Also, I agree with Bill Noble that it's sort of redundant to put a tube inside what's already a tube.. ;-]
mac
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Thanks for the great tip, Mac. Bet others will profit from it. Could the Nova rotary valve be adapted to the Jet mini hand wheel?
Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter
Good question, Arch...
I went out and tried it, and the answer is "yes and no"..
The nova has a different shape than the Jet, as the mini has the inside taper on the wheel..
OTOH, my shop-made valve on the mini is a corian dish inside the handwheel with a hole for the bearing.. So, if the hole was the same size as the bearing on the Nova adapter, it would work..
I guess you could taper the hole slightly for a press fit, if you were going to use the same adapter for both lathes.. The adapter is made to let the bearing fit tightly inside the Nova handwheel and be held with an allen screw..
mac
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