Switching the Mini Lathes Gear Lever to the Front

I'm planning to install a new electrical cabinet to my Mini Lathe machine soon which will take place on the back of the machine. Unfortunately there lives the lever for switching between low and high gear. As this is also very unconvenient and hard to reach, I decided to put the gear lever to the front of the machine. That's how it is common for real size machines, so why don't make it the same here.
To do this I mounted an aluminium cover plate the headstock which holds a bronze bushing for the new gear lever shaft. Switching the gear switching mechanism inside the headstock to the other side was pretty straight forward.
In the end I designed a machine sign and ordered the printed aluminium plate online. It gives the hole project a nice finish.
I hope, you enjoy this video.
If you have questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments.
And if you want more of this content please consider to subscribe to the channel.
Thank you very much!
If you want to support my work via Patreon I would be very thankful!
www.patreon.com/wecandothatbetter

[@recurvestickerdragon]

Ooh, yes! My favorite type of modification: quality of life and ease of use

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! Yes, this are the little things which make working with the machine a lot more pleasant. But even the "little" things tend to get complex and time consuming :)

[@gordon6029]

You inspire me.

[@alanclarke4646]

Great mod, and the aluminium front plate gives it a very professional look.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! Yes, that made the difference :)

[@antonimartin7837]

Always elegant. Thanks a lot for your videos.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment!

[@CRILIKk]

Very nice modification & also all your other improvements , this lathe is he best mini lathe so far on KZbin, well done

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks, I'm humbled!

[@claeswikberg8958]

That printed aluminum plate really seals the deal

[@ianday38]

Have to admit, I was slightly disappointed when the stock black knob went on. I was waiting for some beautifully crafted steel item. Very impressive as usual though, nice work.

[@Boblebe]

Great job, you make it look really easy. It's an upgrade that I would also like to do on my mini lathe

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! It is a really useful upgrade.

[@davidandrews8566]

You made a very nice job of that.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@275jesuss]

I understand that maintaining precision is important. Have a nice day.

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

I will never understand why they made them this way, surely they could see that mounting the control box on the back of the headstock and the gear lever and tumbler gear lever on the front would have been so simple ! Fantastic Mod and great video !

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes, I have no idea why. Probably nobody really thinks about it and rethink the design. I gets built just the same over decades, no ambitions of improving the design...

[@danielstewart3507]

Your content always gets me so inspired. I love your attention to detail. The cover plate was such a nice addition as well.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I really do appreciate that!

[@nonameyet7162]

You ought to put a "We Can Do That Better" sticker on that printed aluminum plate!

[@hoernst2762]

Wow, bin mal wieder begeistert! Verfolge diesen Kanal schon lange, das Ergebnis der vielen Verbesserungen hat eine gute Maschine hervorgebracht.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank für den netten Kommentar und Kompliment! Freut mich :)

[@daye3998]

Dem kann ich mich nur anschließen, da gibt es nichts auszusetzen 👌👍👍👍👍

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@daye3998 Danke :)

[@johncrowley5612]

Lovely work! At 7:13 I saw your machinist's jack and immediately thought "You can do that better!"

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

haha :D Oh yes, well observed. That was wildly improvised. Have no real machinists jacks, so perhaps sometime I should make some. Thanks for your comment! :)

[@paulconrod4504]

Well done mate

[@lensman5762]

I like this very much. Genuine improvement to the ' work in progress Chinese lathe'. Thank you.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! I really do appreciate that!

[@keithslayback4626]

I've had similar ideas to a lot of what you've done and no idea how to do them you have shown me how plus you have a lot I never thought of and now can't wait to do them, thank you for great content.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment and feedback! Happy to hear it is helpful for you. Good luck with your machine.

[@samrodian919]

A very nice professional job sir, you would not know looking at it that it did not come that way from the factory. Well done!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your kind comment! I really do appreciate that. And yes, the cover adds a professional look to it.

[@Rustinox]

Nice job. And all this using only limited tooling. Brilliant.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! I really do appreciate that! Sometimes, you have to be a little bit creative when you have limited resources.

[@steved8038]

Superbly done, looks and works fine what a great update. This is the mini lathe everyone will want to own !! Thank you.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I really do appreciate that!

[@Litzwire]

Nice touch! Another job for my to do list😀

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@colinmcmillan2642]

Thank you again for bringing us along on your journey to the perfect lathe!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for following and your kind comment ;)

[@mftmachining]

Gute, solide Arbeit, einwandfrei.👍

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank, das freut mich! :)

[@sky173]

Very well done. Thanks for sharing.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment!

[@owenclark7210]

Beautiful work. Between you and Steve Jordan, I have way too many upgrades and improvements to make to my mini lathe.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much! Good luck ;)

[@joell439]

Stunning execution 🎉

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you!

[@dlstanf2]

Really enjoy the small lathe work. Great job!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@gpz550a2]

Another excellent and useful upgrade! 😎

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you!

[@werschkowdennis6533]

Super Arbeit. 👍👍👍 Wenn du nichts dagegen hast, dann nehme ich ein paar Ideen aus deinen Videos. Ich wünsche dir alles gute und bleibt gesund.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Dankeschön! Klar kannst du die Ideen übernehmen. Vielen Dank, du auch!

[@marshallguerra1353]

Great modification.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@MirekDvorak]

Perfect video as always. And thanks for the inspiration to modify my lathe.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your feedback! I really do appreciate that!

[@nortonp240]

i just can't understand why you only got 30K subs. You deserve 130K minimum

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

:D That would be great, yes. I didn't understand it either ;) Thank you so much! I really do appreciate that!

[@nortonp240]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter maybe talk with other good machining KZbin channels to do a collaboration, this could boost your viewer count. (this old tony / Abom79 / rotarySMP / Blondihacks / Machining and Microwaves / Inheritance Machining)

[@Pushyhog]

above my pay grade but l watch, gutted my tiny redlathe, put huge a/c motor out behind it with belt. And bought a new bed from little machine shop/overall length 31", useful 16" or less. Thanks again mister.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! A new and longer machine bed is something I consider too to change on the machine.

[@mfs5493]

Very nice.

[@tooltimechris7217]

Nicely done!!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@excalibur7969]

Admirable que buen trabajo

[@jimsvideos7201]

Very neatly done.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@ngauge22]

Outstanding!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@eddietowers5595]

Oh, wow! Nice job. I saw something like this years ago, guy modified the whole mini-lathe headstock, can’t seem to find the website but if you search “7” mini-lathe mods” you’ll see a stand alone grey headstock on the bed, and the new location and look of the lever of the headstock. Awesome job you did, also makes sense.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you for your comment! I have to look that up, sounds interesting.

[@BruceWSims]

Beautiful Work!! But you need to get a HURST decal for the side of the lathe:😊😊😊😊

[@adriankohli4870]

Top-Job, Sir👌

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@VanFlausch]

Like the Factory should done it the first Way, great Job!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks ;) Yes, would be much more convenient. Originally on the front side there was the electrical installation, so no space for the gear lever.

[@analuo...]

très ingénieux. bravo

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Merci!

[@bmfbmf5954]

Beautiful as usual :).

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@older-wiser-better]

Awesome !

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@daveys]

Excellent!

[@DIYTinkerer]

Are you sure it wasn't just on backwards! 😅 surely they wouldn't deliberatly make them this way. Great build, such high quality.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha, thanks! :D

[@user-sr2gk2op1u]

Good as usual !

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you!

[@rickpalechuk4411]

Most excellent! Cheers

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@Fbiking40]

Very good job ! I like watch yours videos, lot of good ideas and the result is clean everytime. I have the "same" minilathe but not the milling machine ... 😭

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you so much! I really do appreciate that!

[@ZOREDA100]

Me quedo flipao con lo de usar la mesa del taladro de banco para fresar en el torno😮

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

:D yes, you can ;) I did this in one of my first videos and it worked well. It helped me this time again a lot.

[@arduinomaquinas]

Very good machine❤ awesome🇧🇷😉👍🇧🇷👏👏👏👏👏

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@elluisito000]

I think u may have voided the warranty 😞 just kidding, awesome mod and thanks for sharing 😀

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

haha :D I think warranty is gone already.. Thanks for your comment!

[@warpspeed9877]

Superb modification and execution. Only thing I would do differently is to make the extra faceplate out of steel instead of aluminium. Adding weight to the head improves the vibration dampening.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! That is a really good idea. I actually thought about making the plate from cast iron. That would be better I guess as it might stiffen the headstock or at least add extra weight and perhaps helps damping vibrations. Perhaps I will change this later.

[@warpspeed9877]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter if i may add a tip that may seem strange: if you do remake the plate use between the two plates a thin self adhesive (one side) bituminous layer of 1.5 mm. When compressed with screws it will reduce to under a mm thickness. It will greatly improve dampening vibrations and the two metal plates will behave as one solid piece. Just my 2c...

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@warpspeed9877 That sounds really good. I keep that in mind! Thank you :)

[@Bob_Jones_]

cool

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@andli461]

Wow! 👌

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@Lone-Wolf87]

Little by little you keep improving that mini lathe. Very well done. I'm in the market for one of those mini lathes. Any recommendations out there? There is a lot of make/ models out there and is difficult to decide which one would be of a dissent quality to buy.

[@tomaslainas695]

judging from all these DIY upgrades that seems to be needed, this brand probably isnt a good choice though

[@jesseservice7828]

Muito bom !

[@therealemmpunkt]

Schön wie immer👍 Die Kugelarretierung gibts übrigens auch in Fertig. Nennt sich "federndes Druckstück". Hat den Vorteil das man die Kugel nicht verliert😂

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Dankeschön :) Ja, zum Glück hab ich die Kugel nicht verloren. Allerdings hat sich die Feder auf immer und ewig im Gewindeloch verkeilt. Wollte sie nur probehalber montieren und schon saß sie fest.. Deswegen gibts davon leider auch kein Video :)

[@AnEmptyspacefullofstuff]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Da hätte ich einen kleinen Vorschlag, einfach an die Madenschraube einen kleinen Zapfen drehen so das die Feder eng auf dem zapfen sitzt und sich nicht im Gewinde verhaken kann . Aber trotzdem sehr schön die umbauten die du bist jetzt schon an der kleinen Drehmaschine vorgenommen , freue mich schon auf das nächste Video ;)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@AnEmptyspacefullofstuff Vielen Dank für den Kommentar. Im Moment sitzt es fest und funktioniert gut, deswegen ändere ich jetzt erstmal nicht mehr ;)

[@williamsworkshopuk]

This is really interesting and very enjoyable to watch. May I ask what quality of lathe you bought in the first place? Was this a costly machine, or a cheap one? Whatever case the result is amazing, but I'm just curious as you're achieving excellent results with your tools regardless.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi, I bought this machine used about 2 years ago. It costs 400 back then. I don't know the price for the new machine but guess it was around 700-800€. Today you can buy similar machines from a lot of different manufacturers for different prices I guess. The quality may vary as well. But overall it is still a cheap and mediocre made lathe:)

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

Great mod! Curious to see how it looks like when the control box is completed.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! Yes, I can't wait until this is done and the electrical cabinet is installed and all electrics are properly in place. At the moment all this stuff is flying around. The electrical cabinet waits almost a year for installation, but there are connector parts missing which have delivery issues since months. So I have to wait...

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter It's a big effort, and these things do take time, but what you already achieved is very noteworthy.

[@freeride8951]

Sehr schick 😁

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank :)

[@lefrancoisjeanpierre3098]

exellent

[@turukmakto3642]

Месье знает толк в извращениях =)

[@ronnyherrmann256]

Super Video, ich schau deine Videos schon seit längerem und finde sie sehr gut gemacht. 👍 Aus welcher Ecke von Deutschland kommst du eigentlich?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Vielen Dank für den netten Kommentar. Aus BY

[@joansparky4439]

Ok, that explains the whirring sound in the other video where it's about swapping the motor and the belt drive.. 🤭

[@theahmadperson]

Fantastic video! What's the countersink used at 6:14?

[@Carnold_YT]

That's a nice update, I like that ball and spring mechanism. Really adds a quality feel when you select gears. Do those gears have some sort of lubrication too?

[@jw200]

Yes they must have some grease.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! The gears had no grease or other lubricant on it. But they looked quite good nonetheless.

[@jameshisself9324]

As always, great content and video. I am wondering though, instead of the longer shaft and large alloy plate on the front, why not just an oversized steel plate bolted to the inside front of the headstock housing? To take up the same depth as the cast in thickness of the back, and to add even additional strength with it's size and stronger material? I figure there must be some obstacle to this that isn't shown, but I can't tell what it might be from the video.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thanks for your comment! Your idea would work as well I think. I just wanted the aluminium plate on the front side to add a little bit more thickness to the headstock. Perhaps I redo the plate some day from cast iron to add more weight to the headstock which hopefully dampens vibrations as well.

[@termlimit]

Excellent work as always. Where did you get the aluminum plate printed? Thank you!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you! I ordered the printed plate from Schildermaxe

[@benstrait333]

Well done modification. I think you missed an opportunity though by not putting your logo on the cover plate 😉😁

[@volodymyrsav1463]

thank you, very interesting video, what is the brand of your mini machine?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! It is an Artec CJ-9518 similar to the Sieg C2 mini lathe machines

[@gillywild]

Hervorragend 😊

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Danke! :) Freut mich!

[@SuperGleep]

Top job as always! The front plate looks great. I'm curious if you've already swapped out the headstock spindle bearings for something better, or if that is something yet to come.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! The bearings in the headstock are still the original ones. When you listen in the end when I show the high gear, the bearings make some really strange noises. I'm planning to replace the bearings and the spindle soon, but there are other things to do first. And I'm not quite sure how to modify and which bearings to use yet.

[@SuperGleep]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Go full Stefan Gotteswinter and machine out the headstock and moglice in a new bearing tube ;) I just picked up a pair of German made FAG 7206-B-XL-2RS-TVP singular angular contact bearings for my mini lathe. Drop in replacement. We'll see how they go.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@SuperGleep Yeah, I thought about that, but I will keep the gears inside so a tube with bearings won't allow that. But I will definitely switch to angular contact bearings or even spindle bearings. But that's not decided yet

[@user-dc5bi9bb6s]

Молодец!

[@AliHureiby]

Pardon me to ask, where di you order that printed aluminium label? Do you design the table? What software do you use for design the label. Your work is amazing. Very clean.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

I printed it online at Schildermaxe. The design was made by myself with affinity designer as a vector graphic.

[@DiipsRatsAirsoftPortugal]

you should consider buying the steel gears for that lathe or making them and in my opinion the perfect milling machine for your projects is the proxxon FF500, its an amazing small millng machine

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! Yes, I thought about changing the gears to steel ones. For now I left that untouched. But someday I will change the spindle bearings and spindle and probably the gears too. For now they looked astonishingly good.

[@tluanem]

👍👍👍

[@pawekowalski7469]

👍👍

[@boblewis5558]

REALLY nice job! Makes you wonder why the original design put the lever in such a daft place ... You don't REALLY want to be leaning over a machine to operate gears. Nice touch to mount a faceplate rather than engraving or marking up the ali mounting plate. I liked your idea of the ball detent ... Nothing like a bit of KISS! 😁 Question though ... What did you do to seal up the original shaft hole on the back surface? Another, but plain cover plate? Or did you just plug the hole?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you ver much for your kind comment! The old position of the gear lever was really impractical. It is now much more friendly to use and also looks quite nice :) Good question on sealing the back hole. Till now I did nothing to plug the hole but I should do something about it. Either a little plastic plug or something to screw in. When the electrical cabinet is mounted on the backside, the hole is covered anyway.

[@boblewis5558]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter if all else fails, and it's out if sight, there's always Gaffer tape (Duct tape)! 😋😋

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@boblewis5558 :D

[@Ironman9665]

👍

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Nice job! For the life of me I can't understand why they put the lever on the back of the headstock.🤔

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! Yes, that's a bit stupid but there was a plastic cover on the front side which originally contains the electrical stuff. As I have a new motor I don't need that anymore and can put the gear lever to the front. Much better now.

[@kencroft7933]

What were those 4 things you unscrewed from the front of the lathe?

[@AK-ns4mg]

Is this loose lever you pointed out is for right/ left thread processing?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

You mean in the very beginning? No this is the lever for first and second gear, low speed and high speed.

[@ParsMaker]

nice work as always, eventually u will turn your lathe into UFO😇

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha, thank you! We'll see ;)

[@jw200]

What drill bits are you using ? I need good ones. Any link or brand to recommend ?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

I'm using a set of metabo ground ones. It's a box from 1mm to 13mm. They work really well.

[@Sigmatechnica]

I wonder how much it really needs that gear with that high power brushless motor

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

It is less for the power but for the rpm reduction. The motor has enough power on it's own but I sometimes need the low rpm range, that's why I kept the gears.

[@69ballsmahoney]

How hard is it to have those custom printed plates made? I’ve got a 1997 model lathe and all the print is wiping right off :(

[@yousseffaid8133]

That beautiful lathe need only lube system

[@jw200]

It's in the back so user won't move it by accident, because this will destroy the gears if lathe is running

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

That's why I wrote on the cover plate "Change gears only when the machine isn't running" ;)

[@alexnet8943]

Не рационально покупать станок и потом всю жизнь его модернизировать 🙂☝

[@gsxeddexsd9192]

We Can Do That Better on the custom plate would've made it for me.

[@LLsjourney]

What brand lathe is that?

[@ikkiiiieee]

What type of cloth are you using for the way covers at 0:30?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

It's a fabric for protecting your windows against sunlight :) I bought it in the supermarket. Works well so far :)

[@chopper3lw]

Nice job. Why wasn't it in front to begin with?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! There was an electrical cabinet on the front side of the headstock. On older videos you might see this. Next here is to install a new electrical cabinet on the back side of the headstock. It already sits here on the bench, waiting to be finally installed soon.

[@BTSensei]

⭐🙂👍

[@user-nu7tx2cg3s]

Well, to get some better results - please, REPLACE YOUR SPINDLE BEARINGS :) They are bad quality already from factory. We've started with all this China lathes - from hand scrapping. And only after geometry fixing - this "lathes" become Lathes. :) But I'm sure - you already know this. :) In fact, your lathe just have a few contact points instead surfaces. I mean - contact between bed and spindle box, and all swing. Only after scrapping, you will get much more precision results. Even on this machine. P.S. I've already installed electronic gear system. If you need - I can to send you Russian firmware with translation in English for: -Cone cutting (internal and external) -Thread cutting -Rough ball cut

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment and input! Yes, the spindle bearings will definitely be replaced in the future. Sometimes they sound really bad. I'm just not sure now which bearings to choose and how to arrange them. Scraping the surfaces of the bedslide and the crossslide in is definitely on my list too for the future. Still so much to do to this machine...

[@user-nu7tx2cg3s]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Feel free with any question about this modification.

[@user-nu7tx2cg3s]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Look here. Old Tony already did this upgrade. :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/foqymKCepaeIgNU

[@Pushyhog]

china lathe (harbor freight) builders should pay u to save em. Once u showed em real life and they re-tooled, price could still be low. But they do not care.

[@mfletch392]

Bang on my Internet friend a good job and mod there; buy cheap and modify it's a great pleasure.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!