Grizzly G4000 Lathe: Belt Cover Thumb Screw

Making an easy to use thumbscrew for the belt cover on the 9x19 lathe.

Lots of ways to make something like this. I had a scrap of 1" (25mm) round steel rod about 1.5" (35mm) long and a scrap of copper water pipe. Thread on the screw is M6x1.0, needs to be at least 1/2" (12mm) long.

The rod was divided in half, one end turned down slightly to fit the copper pipe over. I overshot that OD and just soldered the copper to the steel. The copper end was knurled for better grip. The middle of the rod was left full diameter to serve as a flange on the thumb screw. Turn down the end to 6mm and thread up as close to the flange as possible.

A closer look at the parts manual shows the belt cover hinge may be bolted to the lathe, so I'll have to look into removing that to see what's going on with the hinge. I think the M6 socket head cap screw and washer were the original hold down for the belt cover. 25+ years of use had worn out the sheet metal where that screw was.

@Don Brandt video:
https://youtu.be/0YmRjwFO6Z4

3D Printed Knurled Knob:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:177400

More to come...
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