Show us your lathe

[Pete.]

I got it for £500, spent perhaps £300 more on it and maybe a hundred hours work. Came with the quick-change post, taper attachment, hardinge collet chuck and 39 2j collets. Won't see any heavy use in my hands - at 73 yrs old it deserves an easy life

 

[Shox Dr]

Even better. WHat was it used for?

 

[MattF]

Nice looking machine. Not usually a fan of the more modern, enclosed style machines, but that one does have a chunky charm about it.

Very nice, How much if you don't mind me asking, and what are you going to be using it for, and where was it from.

You forgot to ask his wifes measurements....

 

[Shox Dr]

Matt how dare you, we're tooling tools, man!

 

[Pete.]

Nice looking machine. Not usually a fan of the more modern, enclosed style machines, but that one does have a chunky charm about it.

Modern? It was built 73 years ago

Even better. WHat was it used for?

Anything that takes my fancy. Some repairs for work, stuff for my bikes/mates bikes. Tonight I turned up a set of PB shims 0.3-1.1mm thickness in 0.1mm increments.

 

[MattF]

Matt how dare you, we're tooling tools, man!

Modern? It was built 73 years ago

I'm a collector of rusty old tat though, (so people keep telling me ). Owt post 20's is modern in my book.

How long did you spend doing those shims Pete? That's the type of task where I'd likely take far longer than necessary.

 

[Pete.]

They took me about an hour. The machine has a built-in micrometer stop so it was just a matter of adding 65 thou to each shim thickness for the parting blade.

 

[Pete.]

Sorry Shox I just noticed you asked what WAS it used for. Well I can tell you it was supplied new to a US defence contractor (Cardanic corp) since that's stamped on the bed then later in the 60's/70's it was owned by a corporation making early guidance computers because I found a paper tag inside from a repair shop.

 

[Stueeee]

Here's my "small" lathe:

it's a 1961 era Smart & Brown Model "A" toolroom lathe. I bought it in an MOD auction in the '70s: it was well equipped but fortunately hadn't had much use when I bought it. I fitted the secondhand Heidenhain DRO on this machine a few years ago when I started to suffer from "old gits eyesight"

My "big" lathe is a 1943 vintage Colchester Triumph, being a wartime machine it has a "Utility" finish -so the bits which aren't important to the machine's running - castings etc. aren't as nicely finished as they would be on a peacetime lathe. Not hugely accurate, but does the job on bigger work.

 

[Pete.]

Nice, I nearly bought a Model A just recently, but changed my mind and bought a Mk1 Clarkson T&C grinder instead.

 

[brightspark]

Here's my "small" lathe:

it's a 1961 era Smart & Brown Model "A" toolroom lathe. I bought it in an MOD auction in the '70s: it was well equipped but fortunately hadn't had much use when I bought it. I fitted the secondhand Heidenhain DRO on this machine a few years ago when I started to suffer from "old gits eyesight"

My "big" lathe is a 1943 vintage Colchester Triumph, being a wartime machine it has a "Utility" finish -so the bits which aren't important to the machine's running - castings etc. aren't as nicely finished as they would be on a peacetime lathe. Not hugely accurate, but does the job on bigger work.

what are u machining on the crank as it looks as though its set up in a 3 jaw chuck and no tailstock center used .and u point out its not that acurate??

 

[Stueeee]

what are u machining on the crank as it looks as though its set up in a 3 jaw chuck and no tailstock center used .and u point out its not that acurate??

Was polishing the crank journals in this shot. Once I was certain that the crank was good, I machined the rear oil thrower off so as to use this early RV8 crank in in a late crankcase -set it up the four jaw for that job obviously.

 

[madkayaker]

They both look really nice

 

[brightspark]

Was polishing the crank journals in this shot. Once I was certain that the crank was good, I machined the rear oil thrower off so as to use this early RV8 crank in in a late crankcase -set it up the four jaw for that job obviously.

just checking

 

[MattF]

How do you prevent crap from that chop saw? covering the lathe when you use it? Top notch on keeping that place clean, btw. That workshop looks clean and tidy as owt.

 

[Pete.]

My friend runs an engineering firm, mostly sheet metalwork and fabrication, and you could
eat off the floor even in the welding and grinding area and behind the guillotine. They all clean up mess as they make it so it only ever takes a few moments.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

I recon that chop saw won't put any much out, just a gentle few chips dropping with the coolant if it's anything like ones I've used before.

Dan

 

[MattF]

My friend runs an engineering firm, mostly sheet metalwork and fabrication, and you could eat off the floor even in the welding and grinding area and behind the guillotine. They all clean up mess as they make it so it only ever takes a few moments.

If only more people were like that. Clean up when you're finished doing something and it takes no time. Leave it until it's a pile and it takes yonks to tidy up and just looks messy. Was in one place, a year or two ago, where they hadn't even bothered sweeping the floor before packing up for the day. Wherever you walked, there was swarf crunching underfoot. Not pleasant.

I recon that chop saw won't put any much out, just a gentle few chips dropping with the coolant if it's anything like ones I've used before.

Dan

Not as bad as I thought then. Not something I've personally ever used, but they always seems to throw dust and sparks out everywhere when I see someone else using them. The thought of that spraying over a lathe would be gutting.

 

[Robotstar5]

My friend runs an engineering firm, mostly sheet metalwork and fabrication, and you could
eat off the floor even in the welding and grinding area and behind the guillotine. They all clean up mess as they make it so it only ever takes a few moments.

We tend to be like that as the production manager does an inspection every few weeks and if there's any problems our supervisors get a rocket which comes back to us.

We've been so good the past few months he uses the maintence shops as a shining example when bo!!ocking the production supervisors about the poor state of their areas!

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Matt, those chop saws use a tct blade with a lot of little teeth and run a lot slower than say a Makita or the likes, they just produce little chips which rarely jump from the work very far, and they usually use flood coolant to keep them from blocking the cut.

Dan