Customizing a Unimat

[mklotz]

-This all right here is more my speed! I got 2 of these little gems, and love them both dearly....... Used often (nearly everyday) and enjoy all the old ways of them! I just got a good ER-16 6 pcs collet set with collet chuck for mine that came with a Dividing head and fixture plate from ebay.... I also just got a complete new to me machine thats just the cats meow in a model shop, setting! (Which is what I have), so having 2 one is set up as a metal lathe, and the other a Milling machine/drill press.... I got 2 Dividing heads (both with 48 placement gearins in them) I'd like/love to get the other 2 that goes with the machine. I got a Dremel hanging between the 2 machines with a flex-Shaft attachment to use on either machine as needed powered/controlled by a sewing machine foot pedal....

I do a lot of little model things on model cars & trucks and these mini machine centers are priceless that way! Makes so much of what I make and model possible I can't even begin to explain!

There are a few attachments I'd LOVE to have yet for the machines, a 3 inch rotary table, and a Dremel pin-vice like holder to hold the Dremel collets as well as Dremel's 3 jaw chuck for using in the 2 machines, YES I go down THAT small on some things!

Then to top it all off, I have a much larger Metal Lathe then the Unimats thats out of order. a Grizzly ? 7 x 14, thing came with plastic drive gears, and turning a worn socket front edge flat again to "grab" a bolt of the size it was made for, chunked off 3/4th of the teeth on I think 2 of the plastic drive gears. I wanna get new metal ones for it out of the Micro-Mark catalog when funds allow.... But because its now sat for over 3 years, its gonna need some TLC as rust has set in and I wanna get on that ASAP as I don't want to hurt the machine! (It was after all new but over 6 months old when the gearing issue happened so I couldn't return it) so...... it sets till I have the $$$$$ to go and buy the gear set in metal!

BUT My true love of metal work falls onto the Unimats, LOVE that they can interchange so easily.... Only hitch so far I have found is that the mill table is T-Slotted with 2 different "T-Nuts" on the clampings to clamp down things to the mill table, I have to say tho, I have A LOT of attachments for these 2 machines tho. an a few things, I have 2 of because I have 2 machines! BUT, thats OK, I'm working on a rather large medicine cabinet to "house" all of it, wall mounted behind that 2 machines!

Remember that the plastic gears act like mechanical "fuses" to protect the rest of the machine. Replacing them with metal is going to remove this protection. That said, if I wanted metal gears, the last place I would look would be Micro-Mart. Their prices are simply absurd. Do yourself a favor and check with Little Machine Shop...

Tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists - LittleMachineShop.com

located here in Pasadena, CA. I know the owner and can vouch for their operation - very professional and excellent custormer service. (No, I have no business connection with them.)

On a different note. Rather than adapting a Dremel chuck, why not get some conventional pin vises, e.g....

https://www.amazon.com/SE-8408DH4-Do...ords=pin+vises

and chuck those in the Unimat 4jaw? Even if their precision is less than perfect, the work can always be made to run true with the 4jaw. That arrangement should give you adequate angular access to the part.