M33x3.5mm thread. How much of a pain?

[Doug McKnight]

I'm somewhat interested in a used Oneway Lathe. It's got the M33x3.5mm threading on the spindle, which seems like a bit of a dead standard.

How difficult is it to deal with this thread? I believe I can get an insert for my Nova chucks.

In general, is this size to be avoided, or no big deal?
Regards
Doug

[Brice Rogers]

If you are getting a reasonable-enough deal, I wouldn't sweat it. Many chucks have the required metric inserts for you. Plus, there are a number of companies selling adapters to 1" x 8.

I have a Grizzly G0766 that is equipped with a 1-1/4x8 spindle. I bought a 1" x 8 adapter because (1) it is a bit more common of a thread and (2) my spindle is undersized and I wanted to limit wear and tear from constantly screwing on and off faceplates, etc.

I suspect that if you wanted, you could buy a new spindle for the oneway that would have imperial threads rather than metric.

[Trevor Mills]

It is a bit of a pain. I just bought a new Oneway lathe, which I love, but I had to get the Oneway spindle adapter in order to use the Nova chucks I already owned. I believe it was $79 Cnd.

[ALAN HOLLAR]

There is not enough room in a Nova chuck for a 33mm insert. There wouldn't be enough metal left to cut the male and female threads. Nova chucks could at one time be bought threaded directly into the body for 1-1/2" or 33mm but I don't know if anyone still offers them in the US. Vicmarc, Oneway, and Best Wood Tools chucks are all available to fit 33mm. The #3MT tailstock is a bit aggravating at times, but adaptor sleeves are available for that as well.
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=113403&Category_Code=lathes-acc-tapacc-mrsadt

[Peter Blair]

As has been stated above. I have a Oneway and love it and purchased it after I had 3 chucks. Dealing with the existing chucks was no problem compared to owning one of the best lathes made. I did purchase two adaptors from Oneway. they are very 'beefy and as far as I can tell without a gauge turn true. An added advantage is that when used they move work a little further from the Headstock which sometimes gives me a little more room to get into that side. To me the bother was very minor.

[Tom Albrecht]

I'm somewhat interested in a used Oneway Lathe. It's got the M33x3.5mm threading on the spindle, which seems like a bit of a dead standard.

How difficult is it to deal with this thread? I believe I can get an insert for my Nova chucks.

In general, is this size to be avoided, or no big deal?
Regards
Doug

It is not a "dead standard" at all. I just moved over from a Oneway to a Robust and the Robust can be ordered with the M33 or 1-1/4". From what I have seen, all of the good modern chucks are available with an M33 as a choice.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

As the only country in the world that keeps hanging onto the dead standard of inches, the rest of the world is using metric, try to get all these obsolete inch sizes in Europe for instance, (where the 33mm is the most common standard on wood lathes).

I’ll give you some American standards that are/have been used on lathes, where it seems everyone and his brother are using a different size, and try to find fitting parts for them.

1 1/2X8

1 3/8X6

1 1/4X12

1 !/4X8

1 1/4X7

1 1/8X8

1X10

1X8

7/8X16

7/8X14

3/4X16

3/4X12

3/4X10

And there are some more in the so called standard sizes

As for the #3 Morse taper and larger are a industry standard size, where a #2 or even smaller ones are hardly ever found.

[Jason Edwards]

Leo, there are two kinds of countries, those that have been to the moon and those that use the metric system :)

BTW, Robust standard spindle is 1 1/4 x 8, but as Tom said above, the metric is optional. You cannot get an 1 1/4-8 spindle from Oneway, it's 33mm or nothing.

[Doug McKnight]

Well, clearly I used the wrong word when I said "dead" standard. Maybe I should have said "unpopular", which it seems to be in this country.
In any case, it doesn't seem like it should be too much of a problem.

I'm a fan of metric units, and in my line of work it's a great irritation to be constantly juggling between metric (microns) when I'm working on small things and thousands of an inch for talking with mechanical engineers.

With respect to "countries that use metric and countries that have been to the moon", NASA did actually lose a Mars orbiter due to a confusion between contractors, one using metric and the other using imperial...

Doug

[ron david]

Leo, there are two kinds of countries, those that have been to the moon and those that use the metric system :)

BTW, Robust standard spindle is 1 1/4 x 8, but as Tom said above, the metric is optional. You cannot get an 1 1/4-8 spindle from Oneway, it's 33mm or nothing.
and what has been getting to the moon done for you? and that is almost 50 years ago
ron

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Well Ron....a lot of the micro-electronics used around the world were developed as a result of miniaturizing electronics for use aboard space craft.

Instead slinging international insults, let's get back on the subject of this guy's lathe.

[Doug Ladendorf]

As Leo points out, Moon shot or not, we are the only country who can't complete the conversion to Metric. :p (When I was a kid in the 70's we were preparing for it…) M33 is far from dead. In fact, I would suggest it has a better future. When I ordered an adapter from Best Wood Tools for my Oliver pattern maker lathe (1-7/8" x 6tpi) I went with M33. Why? Because spindle strength increases with size. An M33 spindle is slightly larger than 1-1/4" and therefore slightly stronger in theory. Area: 1"=3.14 1.25"=4.91 M33=5.3. Overthinking it? Probably, but I was also moving from Nova to Vicmarc chucks so didn't have the same concern as you do about using what I had.

Get an adapter and you will be able to use whatever you need. It's a great lathe. Have fun!

Doug