Adapting lathe for 8mm collets

I have a Unimat 3 lathe and would like to adapt it so I can use 8mm.
collets. Do you know of a source for a drawbar and adapter or
drawings so I can make my own? Thanks, Jim

    Do you know of a source for a drawbar and adapter or drawings
so I can make my own? 

FWIW, I have a Sherline mill and use their WW collet set which is
great. They’ve also got a 8mm collet adapter PN 1163 but that’s for
a Sherline, of course, and not a Unimat (don’t know the taper on a
Unimat headstock).

The point I wanted to make though was that scattered throughout
Sherline’s helpful and interesting “Accessories Instructions” pages
(http://www.sherline.com/accessor.htm) there are a few papers on
collets and collet adapters. Perhaps you could find something in
there to help you modify or adapt an existing tool to your particular
application. I know I have on a number of occasions.

I’d also recommend the lathe and milling groups at Yahoo. Again, I
know it’s not Unimat specific, but the guys in the Sherline group at
Yahoo (Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos) are very helpful and
knowledgeable. I’ll bet if you asked them how to adapt the Sherline
8mm collet adapter to your Unimat, for example, they’d help you out.
Actually they’d probably go ahead and do it, post pictures and ask
you if you wanted one for Christmas. That’s the kind of group it is.

Trevor F.

Clock Doktor has taps and drawbars for the 8mm collet thread. I’m
not sure if the drawbar will fit through the unimat spindle - what
diameter is the bore through the headstock?

I bought a neat little adapter in an estate that was a 10mm collet
closer that just would chuck up in the 3 or 4 jaw chuck (or in fact
in a larger collet). The body dia was 1/2" and it had an internal
taper to match the collet and a nut at the back to tighten the collet
with a wrench. The whole thing was the same length as the 10mm
collet. If you’re interested I’ll dig it out and take a picture.

If the bore of the unimat is too small then a screw on adapter for
the spindle nose, with a drawbar that necks down so it fits through
the bore would work, just not allow pass through of larger diameter
stock.

There is a yahoogroup for unimat lathes in addition to the Sherline
group (which is great) and the Taig group (which is excellent, but
I’m biased since I moderate it.) Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos

Nick @Felice_Luftschein_an is Felice Luftschein and Nicholas Carter. See
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