It's national dismantle-a-lathe weekend

[skotl]

Well, not really, but it seems like it for me!

Took apart the Denham today and cleared some space for the Colchester. Me, a mate, a trailer and an engine hoist are away to get the new-old lathe tomorrow - likely take several trips as the trailer's only good for 400KG.

Oh - and the Rapidor as well. I tried to move that yesterday on my own but they are much heavier than they look!

From this:

To this (or more correctly, "these"):

Now need to do the same to these, tomorrow:

 

[roofman]

I have only ever taken a headstock off a lathe once in my life and i swore i would never do it again and i never have...it takes a millennium to get it to cut true again iff it ever does

 

[skotl]

I have only ever taken a headstock off a lathe once in my life and i swore i would never do it again and i never have...it takes a millennium to get it to cut true again iff it ever does

I only took it off cos it is held on by four bolts with zero adjustment, so there doesn't seem to be any way to mess it up

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I have only ever taken a headstock off a lathe once in my life and i swore i would never do it again and i never have...it takes a millennium to get it to cut true again iff it ever does

Lucky there. My headstocks are machined to sit on the ways.
Touch wood. It's cutting true

 

[ronan]

On some of the colchesters, at the back of the headstock where it sits on the bed, there is a jacking screw that can swivel the head left or right.

 

[roofman]

I only took it off cos it is held on by four bolts with zero adjustment, so there doesn't seem to be any way to mess it up

there are gib screws at the front

 

[skotl]

On some of the colchesters, at the back of the headstock where it sits on the bed, there is a jacking screw that can swivel the head left or right.

there are gib screws at the front

We're definitely talking about the Denham, right, not the Colchester?

 

[roofman]

We're definitely talking about the Denham, right, not the Colchester?

yea

 

[500e]

Whoops still character building

 

[slim_boy_fat]

o there doesn't seem to be any way to mess it up

Famous last words....

 

[skotl]

Well, that's the new one in! At least it is, physically - still need to put the belts back on and resurrect the wiring - seven hours it took to extract the rapidor and colchester (the easy bit) and squeeze them into my garage (the not-so-easy bit!)

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@skotl A lot of those tins need to go.....

 

[skotl]

@skotl A lot of those tins need to go.....

That's the garage that it came out of - I have a completely different collection of 1/4-full tins in my garage

 

[roofman]

great job...its ever so easy to click the mouse and buy this sort of old machinery from the comfort of the house..its a complete mare to collect and set up and i bet there would be a customer market for anyone offering this sort of service...not just delivery but the whole 9 yards of putting it in place and making it operational for the punter i know my self i would of paid someone to collect my Harrison 11" from 200 miles away and get it into my shop all fully working as it was a day i will never forget

 

[4String.]

Last headstock I carried weighed 50 tons, without the chuck .

 

[500e]

Skoda?

 

[4String.]

Craven.

Back in the day, we bought and sold machine tools that made people's bottom jaw drop to the ground . Vertical borers that you could park 3 double decker buses on the table, planer-millers that were big enough to sit my 18 metre long artic truck on, horizontal forging presses where the main heading slide weighed 15 tons and the main casting weighed 135 tons, rolling mills that were genuinely frightening, and lathes that would swing 4' over the bed and 40' between centres.

Epic stuff, which I really miss, but I'm glad I was there.

 

[skotl]

great job...its ever so easy to click the mouse and buy this sort of old machinery from the comfort of the house..its a complete mare to collect and set up and i bet there would be a customer market for anyone offering this sort of service...not just delivery but the whole 9 yards of putting it in place and making it operational for the punter i know my self i would of paid someone to collect my Harrison 11" from 200 miles away and get it into my shop all fully working as it was a day i will never forget

Absolutely spot on!

 

[skotl]

...also... lathes must be the biggest pain in the butt to get a sling around. All the weight is at one end, it's top-heavy, full of smooth surfaces and festooned with bendable lead screws and handles!

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

...also... lathes must be the biggest pain in the butt to get a sling around. All the weight is at one end, it's top-heavy, full of smooth surfaces and festooned with bendable lead screws and handles!

Now I know my way around my lathe cann have it in 4 reasonable pieces for moving in about 5 minuites. Which it what il do on moving day