Turning a crank slowly makes me lazy so I looked to make a power drive for the carriage of the copying device.
On my metal and drill mill I made the power feed out of the motor drive of a 12VDC battery operated drill. The advantage, one does not need any microswitch at the endstops, the motor unit having already a clutch and even a torque adjustment.
A simple collet for the stop is sufficient and when the carriage reaches the stop, the clutch disengages and makes a sound which warns the motor has to be stopped.
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Power feed of the copying device
The motor is held by the aluminum clamp on the right.
In the middle the torque adjustment and the mechanical clutch which are part of the motor
On the left the "drill"chuck.
The demultiplication ratio is so large (1/10" per feedscrew revolution) that for returning quickly to the starting point I had to add the above gear.
The crank is just there to adjust the starting point by hand.
At the back the feed screw of the copying device carriage.
The white knob at the front left is a push button for quick speed.
The aluminum knob at the front left is the speed setting.
The lever is the power feed direction (left - 0 - right).
Right under the wiring there is a variable power regulator. The grey cable leads to a remote control box for all the above at the front of the lathe.
