A couple of years ago I decided to invest in a lathe. I had some projects (probably more excuses than projects) so that time came with no surprise. I spent a few months checking which lathes were available and comparing prices, features, shipping and if they had some level of quality control guaranteed.
I don’t have space for a big lathe, so I ended up purchasing a small bench top lathe – an HBM, model 250×550 profi vario. I’m more interested in achieving a good level of precision rather than having capacity for big parts, so I think in terms of size this lathe will serve me well.
I will make a lathe stand for it one day, but for now I’ll use it in a normal workbench – it’s far from ideal, but it will have to work until I have some time to think about the design of that stand.
The first thing I did was to take the lathe apart. Why? Well, I have an itch and… sometimes I need to take things apart. And cleaning gets easier too. The end result of this process is quite scary because you’ll see things that cannot be unseen.
THE REBUILD
Yes. I managed to put it back together. Please calm down. Yes, it powers ON and the thingy on the front spins while the sticky bit also moves. It’s a good lathe. In case you don’t trust my word, you can have a look.
3D PRINTED ACCESSORIES
I have made some 3D printed accessories for the lathe and you might be here for that. If that’s the case, serve yourself, but know that I have made these parts for my lathe and they are a bit tight on tolerances. Some scaling might be needed for your lathe.
COMPOUND POWER FEED ADAPTER
This fits into the compound wheel without any modifications. It drives the wheel via the 2 handles. A 1/2″ square driver can be used in a power drill to power feed.
Adapter dimensions (not the lathe parts):
– Compound wheel hole diameter: 40.2mm
– Handles distance (center to center): 35mm
– Handles holes diameter: 9.2mm
– Wall thickness: 4mm (should clear the cross-slide in every direction)
– Square driver: 1/2″
OTHER DOWNLOADS
Cross-slide covers:
10.2mm width
10.8mm height
Long (180mm)
Short (59mm)
Cover plates
Headstock chips cover plate
Chuck guard safety switch cover plate
2 Comments
Thanks for the stl files. I think my lathe is very similar to yours but maybe not exactly the same. For the Power Feed Adapter, what is the c/c distance for the two handle hole and their diameter? What size square drive fits?
Thanks,
Craig
Hi Craig,
Sorry, I’ve just added that information to the page (check above).
Thanks