Unimat Lathe Faceplate and Faceplate Clamps

Shown is a 2.5” diameter faceplate and set of small faceplate clamps for my 3” swing Unimat SL 1000 lathe. The faceplate is made from 12L14 steel machined on the face with evenly spaced 0.1” witness marks. The clamping holes are evenly spaced and tap for 10-32 screws.

I also made three faceplate clamps from C360 brass. These have an additional 10-32 round C360 brass nut on the backside for the clamping screw to use on the faceplate that came with the Unimat and shown in the last photo. The round nuts are not needed for the 2.5" faceplate. Each clamp has separate 4-40 screw for leveling the clamp.

The idea for the brass faceplate clamps came from one of the tool articles published at Adventures in Watchmaking** - Home and I previously posted another version of the clamps at Homemade Faceplate Clamps.

Nice set up Paul for those small hard to cut parts. I like it because its fast Great job...:O):clapping:

The picture makes it look so big than when you read it you than realize it will fit in your hand but nice job.

It has come in handy several times. Thanks

Very nice, Vernon. More ideas added to my personal knowledge base.

Thanks Paul! I've added your Unimat Faceplate and Clamps to our Lathes and Workholding categories, as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones' Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="/unimat-faceplate-and-clamps"><img src="/uploads/103341/unimat-faceplate-and-clamps.jpeg" alt="Unimat Faceplate and Clamps" /></a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="/unimat-faceplate-and-clamps">Unimat Faceplate and Clamps</a> <span> by <a href="/builder/Paul+Jones">Paul Jones</a></span> </div> <div class="tags"> tags: <a href="/tag/machining">machining</a>, <a href="/tag/lathe">lathe</a>, <a href="/tag/clamp">clamp</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Hi Paul,

An awesome project, as well as interesting and useful homemade tools! Your Unimat Faceplate and Clamps are the 'Tools of the Week'!

You'll be receiving one of our official HomemadeTools.net T-shirts:

Attachment 2493

Let me know (via PM) your size, color choice, and mailing address. We'll get the shirt in the mail to you directly.

Congrats!

Ken

This thread has been moved to the Must Read subforum. Congrats (and thanks) to Paul for making such a valuable contribution!

Very nice, thank you for taking the time to show us.

Hi Chisk7,

This small lathe and the homemade accessories have proven to be be very useful over the years on projects requiring a small lathe ( http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/m...0111#post11976 ).

I bought the 3” swing Unimat SL1000 lathe new in 1970 when I worked part-time in the School of Oceanography, University of Washington designing and building underwater oceanographic research equipment. My part-time job helped to pay for my undergrad degree education physics and geophysical oceanography before going on to a MS and PhD in geophysics. In grad school starting in 1973 I thought I would continue designing and making underwater geophysical research equipment in grad school but my future career changed forever when our my research was performed using computer simulations with mainframe computers and minicomputers for geophysical research in oil and gas exploration. My new development platform became FORTRAN programming rather than machine tools. I have been involved in information technology most of my career but still wanted to do machining. That is when I decided to continue being a hobbyist machinist (I started when I was 14) and the passion has continued and only gets better over time.

Thank you for your comments,

Regards,
Paul Jones

interesting!!!
please,i don't knows your motor..is it a new model.?. i seen other model,too small..and same color as the lathe-grey ou green.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alainbiggun

interesting!!!
please,i don't knows your motor..is it a new model.?. i seen other model,too small..and same color as the lathe-grey ou green.

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Alain, If I'm not mistaken about what you asking about, that is a 100watt motor that was available for the Unimat SL & DB models. They're rare, and expensive if you can find one. Just one of their advantages is that they can be run for hours! The U90 model motors are more common, but rated 80%, so you are supposed to run the the lathe for 8 minutes, and let it cool for 2 minutes. I, and several other folks, are working at converting our Unimats to use a 150watt 24VDC motor that is relatively cheap, and readily available.

I had started making a faceplate myself, but the piece of mystery metal I used turned out to be very hard, and even on a larger lathe and with carbide tooling, was very difficult to cut. Gave up on that piece, and made a couple milling tables instead. Paul does some nice work, doesn't he? There are other folks here: https://groups.io/g/Unimat who also do nice work.

merci!!! :arc:

j'en ai vu un monté avec ce moteur en France... mais

quoi ??

-j'ai dejà vu des Unimat SL et mod 3 avec moteurs 24v-..

:applaudissements:


i hope doing steel/iron diopter sight and alu bullet mold as LEE model.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alainbiggun

merci!!! :arc:

j'en ai vu un monté avec ce moteur en France... mais

quoi ??

-j'ai dejà vu des Unimat SL et mod 3 avec moteurs 24v-..

:applaudissements:


i hope doing steel/iron diopter sight and alu bullet mold as LEE model.

---

I hope to do similar work, as well! I have made a sizing die for a Lyman 450 lube and sizing press, as well. Attachment 45303
The die and punch on the left side is a factory original, while those on the right side are the ones I made. I have still not gotten to test it to see if I have gotten the size correct. It is supposed to be 0.3160", and is for sizing cast lead bullets for a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 model 7.62x54R rifle with an oversized bore. This was not done on a Unimat, however! ;) Though I believe it would be possible. I did not have the Unimats when I made these parts.

Bill

for me: like as a Bulhozer 10.4 mm swiss for old -160y- BP precision carbine..

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Thanks WmRMeyers! We've added your Sizing Die to our Firearm and Weaponry category,
as well as to your builder page: WmRMeyers's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-sizing-die"> <img src="/uploads/259058/homemade-sizing-die.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-sizing-die">Sizing Die</a> <span> by <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/builder/WmRMeyers">WmRMeyers</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/die'>die</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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