I have an ancient Hendey lathe that I have had for nearly fifty years. I took a couple of adult education machine shop courses at a local high school, but I am certainly not a machinist.
The lathe doesn’t have a threading dial, and I have always just locked the half nuts and reversed the motor when threading.
Somewhere recently I saw a discussion of the Hendey lathes that mentioned a reversible lead screw. I tried using it today for the first time. I was just extending the threads on a couple half inch bolts, nothing major. Whipped them out in no time. Not really a lot faster than reversing the motor, but easier on the nerves. Can stop the carriage right where you want to, just like opening the half nuts on a lathe with a thread dial. No cutting the power and hoping the machine stops before running the tool into the chuck.
I wish I had learned this a long time ago.
The lathe doesn’t have a threading dial, and I have always just locked the half nuts and reversed the motor when threading.
Somewhere recently I saw a discussion of the Hendey lathes that mentioned a reversible lead screw. I tried using it today for the first time. I was just extending the threads on a couple half inch bolts, nothing major. Whipped them out in no time. Not really a lot faster than reversing the motor, but easier on the nerves. Can stop the carriage right where you want to, just like opening the half nuts on a lathe with a thread dial. No cutting the power and hoping the machine stops before running the tool into the chuck.
I wish I had learned this a long time ago.